This month’s post introduces neuroception, our nervous system’s way of helping us balance the need to take healthy risks in order to grow vs. the need to stay safe in order to protect ourselves from harm and unnecessary nonsense.

Neuroception is one of the most misunderstood functions of our nervous system. And sharing about neuroception always feels like I’m a messenger bearing long-awaited good news. Hearing about neuroception lights people’s eyes up, their heads nod and they sit up straighter in their chairs to listen more attentively. It’s as if their bodies are saying “YES! finally, this key aspect of my work is being explained.”

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.”

Neuroception provides a reliable way to choose growth as often as possible by helping us distinguish the healthy risks from the truly dangerous ones.

By the end of this 15 minute audio you’ll have a better sense of:

• how our body’s neuroception sends and receives messages that help keep us all safe

• how our bodies communicate with one another entirely unbeknownst to us via neuroception

• how to begin to reclaim and reshape any trust in neuroception that has been lost in the past

What is neuroception?

Have you ever had the experience of suddenly (and for no apparent reason) feeling a sense of danger in an otherwise safe situation? You’re doing something you enjoy, are in a place you know well or are with someone you trust (or all three) and suddenly for no apparent reason, you become aware that you don’t feel okay somehow. Maybe this moment is dramatic— a cold metallic wave of fear rises from your gut and you freeze— or the impulse to run away overtakes you to the point you almost leap out of your chair like Forest Gump. Or maybe it’s more subtle— you get a vague sense that something is “off”…

Perhaps you write off these moments as free-floating anxiety or paranoia. Whatever your interpretation, these unexplainable feelings of unsafely or “off-ness” are neuroception, one of the oldest functions of the body. Our body sends these signals to take care of us and help us function at a higher level.

Intuition is our ability to know something without having to think about it or use facts to understand it. Neuroception is our body’s intuition, a surveillance system that detects danger before our cognitive mind knows a thing.

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. Our ancient neuroception system evolved much earlier than our conscious mind. This is why our mind can declare we’re out of harm’s way even as our body is setting off alarm bells.

Neuroception also signals when we’re safe. Maybe we’re approached by a stranger on a dark, deserted street and fearlessly stop to speak with them despite the norm to keep walking. There’s the sense THIS particular stranger is safe— maybe even instantly likable, or that speaking with them feels important somehow. This instinctive knowing that we’re safe is the intuitive discernment of our neuroception at work.

As we speak with the stranger on this dark street, our body also sends messages to the stranger’s body that we pose no threat to them. As we talk with the stranger, our bodies silently converse through the language of neuroception, moment to moment.

How neuroception works

We constantly send and receive messages of welcome and caution via neuroception. Neuroception is a way of knowing that is very different from our cognitive knowledge. While our brilliant mind might like to believe it’s solely responsible for making judgments, the autonomic nervous system actually makes decisions long before information reaches the brain.

The autonomic nervous system that neuroception functions within operates primarily outside of our conscious awareness. Physiologically, a lot of the neuroceptive process occurs at the brain stem below the brain. (See image below) So, often, what we perceive as a purely cognitive “choice” is actually one based on decisions our body has already made.

The inner surveillance system of neuroception operates behind the scenes to support our survival and shape our days, collecting information through three pathways:

1. INSIDE our bodies

2. OUTSIDE our bodies in the world around us

3. BETWEEN ourselves and others