Understanding Polyvagal Theory: How Neuroception Impacts Mental Well-Being 

Article Written by Denver Therapist, Meghan Stetson

Polyvagal Theory, often called “the science of safety,” provides us with a helpful map of our nervous system. It also provides us with a word for how our systems scan for safety: Neuroception, which is one of the three main organizing principles of PVT. 

What is Neuroception?

Neuroception means the sense (“ception”) of the nervous system (“neuro”). It essentially refers to what we know intuitively as our “sixth sense.”

Read More: “Polyvagal Theory & Mental Health Series: A General Overview

It is your “gut feeling,” or the “spidey” sense we get when something feels “off”; when the hair on the back of your neck stands up, it is because your nervous system has subconsciously picked up a signal of danger, even if your conscious mind is not aware of it. 

PVT tells us that our nervous systems are constantly scanning for signals of safety or danger as a way to communicate through the Vagus Nerve throughout our mindbody systems.  

Our system is looking for these signals in three different spaces: in our bodies, in relationships, and in our response to our environment 

Neuroception and Your Body 

The first is inside of our bodies, which can be impacted by our heart rate, breathing patterns, feelings of pleasure, pain, love or fear, critical or positive thoughts, pathogenic threats like the flu or covid, any experience of illness, a broken bone, and much more.  

How Relationships Impact Neuroception 

The second is in our relationships, which of course can be impacted by any type of violence or abuse, but also can be impacted by whether or not you feel seen, heard, validated, and valued by those in your life.

It shows up as our reactions to being hurt, misunderstood or threatened and also shows up when we feel excitement, connection, and curiosity. 

How Our Environment Impacts Neuroception  

The last of the three spaces neuroception is present is in your environment. This can mean your immediate environment – the room that you are in. Have lights and sounds shifted significantly? Do you feel calm and at ease in your immediate environment?  

It can also be your sense of home and sense of place: do you feel safe, rooted, and supported?  

This can also mean the political climate of the city, state, and nation in which you live. Is it a high-conflict time? Do your state and nation’s politics support your human rights, or are there threats that you feel?  

And lastly, this can also refer to your planetary environment. Is the environmental climate conducive to your health, or are there current or possible threats of climate change and disaster?  

What do our systems do with Neuroception?

Our nervous systems use these signals to mobilize us when we are in danger to protect ourselves, to shift us when love is present into a state of connection, to allow us to down-regulate so that we can sleep, and so much more. 

You can picture the function of neuroception like an iceberg, with the tip of the iceberg representing what our cognitive minds pick up, and the vast majority that is hidden below the surface as what our nervous systems pick up that lies beneath the layer of conscious awareness. 

That is to say – neuroception happens almost entirely outside of our conscious awareness.

It is not a cognitive process, but a full-system process where our nervous systems are – without us needing to try – constantly scanning for any signals that feel safe or dangerous to us.  

These signs that our nervous system are picking up are predominantly coming from the body back up into the brainstem, through the mostly body-to-brain Vagus Nerve. 

How Neuroception Dictates the Stories We Tell Ourselves

As humans, we tend to have a strong drive to make cognitive sense out of the “felt” sense that our mostly body-to-brain neuroception registers.  

We are meaning-making machines and we are constantly coming up with stories that we think explain what we are feeling. 

Sometimes we are right and sometimes we are wrong.

Sometimes these thoughts are soothing and helpful, and sometimes they keep us spiraling. This is where neuroception meets mental wellbeing. 

How Neuroception Impacts Our Well-Being 

By bringing perception (or conscious awareness) to Neuroception, we can begin to see that the meanings we make of things are rooted in our nervous system states.

Read More: “Counseling for Chronic Illness: Making the Invisible Visible”

The story that we gravitate towards has the flavor of the autonomic state in which we are located in that moment. Over time, many of these stories that we tell ourselves harden into our sense of self and very identity. 

However, as we bring awareness to this, over time we begin to see how the stories we tell ourselves fluctuate depending on our autonomic state.

We begin to see there is actually fluidity and how we see things entirely depends upon how we are feeling and what our neuroception system is sensing in that moment in time. 

The wonderful benefit of this for our mental health is that our most stubborn, recurring thoughts begin to loosen up, and we begin to not take our thoughts so seriously all of the time.

This can allow for a greater sense of choice and empowerment in our mental health and in our overall wellbeing.  

A Neuroception Exercise: Separating Story from State

Let’s get practical – try this practice out to see how the story you tell yourself about something is born out of your nervous system state. 

For this exercise, pick a small, somewhat distressing incident that has happened in the last week or two. For example, spilling food on a white tee shirt, a pet bathroom accident, or not being able to find something important.  

Recall what the incident was for you.

Read More: “What To Know Before Starting EMDR Therapy”

Try to recall – what kind of state were you in right before this incident happened?

Would you say you were stressed out or in a moment of flight or fight already?

Or, were you in a more calm and centered space to begin with? 

Now, recall what your inner monologue was regarding this incident – what stories did you tell yourself about what happened, about you, about anyone else involved? 

And lastly, bring yourself into the opposite nervous system state right now – if you were calm & centered, touch in briefly to a flight or fight state; or vice versa.

Now, how does the same exact incident feel to imagine? What is your inner monologue now? 

Notice any differences here; they are due to nervous system state that has been informed by your sense of neuroception!  

In our next Polyvagal Theory & Mental Health Series blog, we’ll explore the other two organizing principles of PVT: Co-Regulation and the Autonomic Hierarchy. 

In the meantime, try out this exercise. For more on Polyvagal Theory and Mental Health, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on instagram for more helpful exercises @denvermetrocounseling and @meghanstetson

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Denver Therapist, Meghan Stetson

Meghan is a mind-body or Somatic trained therapist from Naropa University.

Meghan takes a nervous system approach to helping people move through experiences in their bodies. Meghan works with people who experience trauma, co-dependency, chronic illness, chronic pain, anxiety and depression.

She brings compassion, curiosity, and passion to her learning and work with her clients.

Meghan provides trainings to therapists on Polyvagal Theory and working with chronic pain and chronic illness.