Neuroception: The Hidden Key to Mental Health

Have you ever found yourself suddenly anxious for no clear reason — your heart racing, your mind replaying thoughts over and over again, your stomach churning all the while all around you seems “normal”?  Perhaps you are a college student in class or in a staff meeting at work. 

You might find yourself thinking, “I’m having a panic attack!” or questioning, “Could this be a heart attack?” Maybe you try to brush it off, telling yourself it’s just stress or anxiety. The truth is, it could be any of those things—but the real source runs much deeper within your mind, rooted in your central nervous system, that has been with you since birth. It is called neuroception.

According to Dr. Stephen Porges, the distinguished scientist who coined the term, neuroception refers to the subconscious process through which the nervous system detects and interprets environmental cues of safety or danger. 

While studying at the Vitalist School of Psychospiritual Transformation, we explored this concept and read The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy by Deb Dana to better understand it. In simpler terms than what Dr. Porges defined it as, I came to think of it as the way our body quietly senses whether we’re safe or in danger—like an inner alarm system that works automatically, without us even realizing it. What I learned, from our required research and classwork, is that neuroception is a process – not a truth teller of what is or is not always dangerous. It might seem we know that a hot burner would be dangerous for our skin, but we know that AFTER we have learned by being told or experiencing it — then that information is stored in our minds.

What happens when the signals our brain receives about what is safe or dangerous get “mixed up”? What if we think something is safe when it’s actually risky, or the opposite—something dangerous isn’t really harmful at all? A simple example many can relate to is meeting someone and immediately disliking them, even though you can’t explain why. Maybe they remind you of someone from your past who hurt you—a particular smile, a mannerism, a haircut, or even their age. Or consider walking into a room and catching a familiar scent from a past experience, like visiting a loved one or going on a vacation. Instantly, memories and feelings of comfort and safety can flood back. Even though a smell itself isn’t “safe,” the calm and ease you feel in that moment is your body recognizing safety.

In fewer words, we experience the world through our senses—sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch—which enables us to gather information. After perceiving something, this information is processed by our neuroception, which signals whether what we are sensing is safe or potentially harmful.  Yet, that information is not always accurate to what is safe or not.

The Good News: You Can Re-Train Your Safety System and How is this helpful to understand?

Even though neuroception happens beneath our conscious awareness, we can help it relearn what safety feels like. The key is creating consistent moments where your body truly experiences calm—again and again—until it begins to trust that feeling of safety.

When I was working through my own trauma responses and PTSD, learning about neuroception was a turning point. It helped me shift how I approached self-care and quieted a lot of that harsh inner dialogue. I realized I wasn’t “crazy”—my nervous system was simply doing what it had learned to do from earlier experiences. And the best part? That awareness showed me it was possible to heal. I could reprogram my neuroception and teach my body a new way to respond.

Earlier, I mentioned that feeling an instant dislike for someone you’ve just met can actually be a response from your neuroception. Depending on what your nervous system picks up, your body might react in one of two ways:

• If it senses you're unsafe, you might go into fight-or-flight mode.

• If it feels trapped or overwhelmed, you might shut down or freeze.

Take a moment to check in with yourself—why might you be reacting that way? If you feel the urge to push someone away or leave the situation, ask yourself: Has someone in your past made you feel this way before? Maybe it was a traumatic experience, an argument, or a difficult relationship.

Here are a few other practices that have really helped me when I notice my reactions don’t quite match the actual level of safety in a situation (and yes, I’ve used all of these myself—they truly work when it comes to rewiring your sense of safety):

• Breathwork or mindful breathing – Taking slow, steady breaths can help calm your nervous system almost immediately.

• Grounding through your senses – Tuning into what you can see, hear, feel, and smell in the present moment helps bring you back to safety.

• Connection with safe people – Spending time with kind, grounded people can remind your body what it feels like to be secure and supported.

• Body-based therapies – Modalities like somatic experiencing or polyvagal-informed therapy are powerful for helping the nervous system process and release stored tension.

Over time, these practices helped me shift out of survival mode and into a more connected, present state—and that’s really where healing starts.

If you're curious about exploring this kind of work yourself, I offer Somatic Therapy Sessions (trained and practiced through the Vitalist School of Psychospiritual Transformation). You can find more information and book a session through my booking page.