Sublime

You might have used amygdala-quieting techniques if you’ve ever cared for a human baby, a puppy, a kitten, or any other vulnerable being. You automatically knew that it would help to move gently, breathe deeply, make soft sounds, and avoid scaring the creature by attempting to totally immobilize and control it.

To help it to survive, the nervous system is partially ‘hard-wired’ at birth, with breathing and the heartbeat occurring automatically, but this is not enough to ensure survival. The baby also needs to eat, and so it arrives with a rooting instinct: an ability to nuzzle in search of the nipple and, once it finds it, to suck. In fact, the instinct t

Neuroception suggests that the body can work below the level of awareness to give us information at an implicit level. Jamie has long told her clients, “Your body will alert you to what’s going on ten steps before you even realize that anything is the matter.” This teaching exemplifies neuroception. In keeping with the theme of this chapter, more t

hardwired through habit or reflex.

Place your warm hand on your cool belly. Does your belly feel the warm or does your hand feel the cool? This, I think, is one of the fundamental mysteries.

Starlings. The synchronized movement patterns of a starling flock is also known as a murmuration. Guided by simple rules, starling murmurations can react to their environment as a group without a central leader orchestrating their choices; in any instant, any part of the flock can transform the movement of the whole flock. Collective leadership/par