The body's intuitive surveillance system
Sending and receiving signals 24/7
I have a question for you…
Have you ever chosen to ignore a hunch that a certain place, situation or person wasn’t safe or good for you in some way only to regret that choice later on?
These hunches are easy to ignore— and sometimes we don’t even notice them. Especially since we have no idea what they’re about or how trustworthy they are. Often, they go totally against what our mind wants to believe about a person we want to date or a job that pays the bills.
We shrug the hunch off as nervousness, anxiety or paranoia. Then, after a few minutes, days, weeks or years— we get burned. Filled with regret, we realize this hunch was trying to tell us something crucial that at the time we weren't prepared to receive or put to good use.
Here’s some good news. These seemingly random feelings are our body’s neuroception system functioning just as it is designed— to help us navigate safety and threat and distinguish healthy risks from harmful ones.
Psychologist and founder of the famous “Hierarchy of Needs,” Abraham Maslow said:
“Life is an ongoing process of choosing between safety (out of fear and need for defense) and risk (for the sake of progress and growth). Make the growth choice a dozen times a day.”
In order to choose growth as often as possible, we must also recognize and mitigate the many threats in our midst.
Neuroception is our body’s intuitive surveillance system that detects safety and risk. Neuroception is similar to perception, except that perception delivers cognitive insights such as thoughts and sensory info while neuroception functions within the body, entirely outside of conscious thought.
A real life example
I still sometimes ignore the signals my neuroception sends and often miss the signals entirely. And yet, knowing about neuroception has upgraded my life in countless ways.
First, I now understand my gut feelings from a physiological standpoint, which is grounding. I used to mistake them for anxiety or lack of self-confidence.
Second, the neuroceptive signals help me figure out what to do during iffy situations based on what’s happening + the info provided.
Here’s an example of how neuroception saved my hand. Recently, I met a neighbor walking their cute little dog on the street near my house. This adorable mutt is named Butter and she and I have always gotten along famously. Normally, I call out and wave when I see them and Butter answers by barking happily, tail wagging. Once I’m closer, I reach out my hand to pet Butter as I approach. On this particular day, though, as I saw them and waved, I got the hunch that something was off with Butter. As I approached, I kept my hand in my pocket despite the awkwardness just as my neighbor exclaimed, “Don’t pet Butter she’s taken to snapping at people, including me and others she loves dearly!!!” This news made me feel so sad, I wanted to somehow console both of them but was also really glad I had gotten that hunch and kept my hand in my pocket.
Pretty nifty little system our body has, right?
Is this info about neurocception resonating with you?
Maybe you’re remembering neuroceptive situations from the past? Did you heed or bypass the hunch(es)?
Sharing about neuroception always feels like I’m bearing long-awaited, good news. People are so glad to finally know what these hunches are about and that they’re actually helpful harbingers.
Here are a few more amazing tidbits about neuroception also likely to make sense or jog your memory.
Neuroception also signals when we’re safe, which is why we can have irrational amounts of courage to do things that daunt our mind even as we hear our brain screaming “NO!”
In addition to receiving neuroceptive signals, our body also sends them.
We send and receive messages of welcome and caution via neuroception 24/7. We even experience it in our dreams and can suddenly wake up when we’re in danger.
Neuroception is not cognitive knowledge and can be a far more effective way of knowing. For one thing, it’s faster, almost instantaneous, in fact.
You now have an opportunity to find out more about how neuroception works, its role in our evolution + why it functions the way does…
This month’s edition of my monthly subscription WANDERING AROUND VAGUS is a deep dive into neuroception and here’s your reminder that you’re invited to check out WANDERING AROUND VAGUS for 14 free days.
You have until March 7 (tomorrow) to take me up on this offer.
You’ll get access to:
the work on neuroception described here, which includes an audio, transcript and practices.
access to three other sets of audios, transcripts and practices on the vagus nerve + the autonomic (automatic) nervous system that operates outside of cognition.
discounts on private sessions with me around this nervous system work.
email support from me for the 14 day duration.
context, info + experiential learning to help clarify the threatening experiences you’ve had— and will have— in your life.
explanations around why we tend to ignore the warning signals from our neuroception in the name of survival.
a practice inviting you to explore your own past reasons for overriding neuroceptive signals.
a practice to help reclaim any trust in neuroception that’s been lost.
inspiration and knowledge to help you recognize and process neuroceptive signals in real time, so you can move forward with more confidence in your choices and actions.
If you’re still subscribed in July, you can join our 2 hour practice where we’ll explore all the work we’ve done so far. You’ll also have access to a recording of the call.
Sound inviting? I’d love to have you. This info will shift the way you move through your everyday life.
Questions? Leave a comment below or reply to this email.
Free 14 DAY SUBSCRIPTION TO WANDERING AROUND VAGUS
More info about WANDERING AROUND VAGUS, including a full list of benefits
Once you join, you have instant access.
The vagus nerve is called the “wandering nerve” for so many reasons. I would be thrilled to wander around the vagus with you. For the fun, for the awakening, for the deepening and the community.
