Thrive the Podcast
Thrive the Podcast
Neuroception: How Your Body Knows Before You Do
Ever wonder why you get a bad vibe from someone you just met, or why certain places just feel “off” (or totally comforting) for reasons you can’t quite name? In this episode of Thrive the Podcast, trauma therapist, author, and yoga teacher Rebecca Kase unpacks the fascinating science of neuroception—a key principle from Polyvagal Theory introduced by Dr. Stephen Porges. Discover how your nervous system is always scanning your environment to detect safety and danger—without you even realizing it.
Join Rebecca as she explains how neuroception influences intuition, relationships, and emotional regulation, and learn practical tools to tune into your body’s cues and foster a greater sense of safety. You’ll walk away with insights on how to navigate triggers, shift your awareness to cues of safety, and leverage your body’s natural wisdom for healing and growth.
Key topics covered:
- What neuroception is, and why it matters for trauma healing and everyday life
- How your body interprets signals of safety or danger (often before your mind catches on)
- The three domains of neuroception: people, places, and your internal environment
- Practical exercises and tips to increase nervous system regulation and resilience
- Stories from Rebecca’s professional and personal experience, plus a sneak peek at her upcoming book, The Polyvagal Solution
If you’re seeking to understand the hidden language of your nervous system, and move from surviving to thriving, you’ll love this episode!
Subscribe to Thrive the Podcast for more neuroscience, psychology, and practical inspiration from Rebecca Kase.
Are you ready to thrive as a trauma therapist, author, yoga instructor, and healed human? I personally and professionally know what it means to live stuck in survival mode. I've learned a few things in my healing journey and my career that can help you transform into your best self. Join me, Rebecca Case, as I use neuroscience, psychology, spirituality, and personal experience to help you find the tools and techniques to thrive. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Thrive the Podcast. I am your host, Rebecca Case. You know that feeling you get sometimes when you've maybe met somebody for all of a couple of minutes and all of a sudden something inside of you says like, I really don't like this person, but they haven't done or said anything that is really offensive or that would give you a clear reason to not like them. Or those stores that you're just really drawn to when you need some self-care, like the place you like to go because it just kind of feels grounding and settling to you. All of that is informed by something called neuroception. Neuroception is this neurophysiological process through which your nervous system keeps tabs on your environment and lets you know, or gives you a heads up rather, danger, danger, or this is safe, I feel comfortable here. And it is one of your most powerful tools senses, I would say. I know that we don't think of neuroception as one of our senses, but it truly is. And we're going to dive into this in today's episode, help you learn what is neuroception, why the heck it matters, how it's influencing your life, and how you can use it to bring in a little bit more regulation into your nervous system. So I'm excited you're here. Let's dive in. Are you ready to unlock your body's hidden potential for healing and connection? Discover the power of your nervous system and the incredible role of the vagus nerve in my new book, The Polyvagal Solution, coming May 1st, 2025 from New Harbinger. In The Polyvagal Solution, you'll explore how the vagus nerve, the key player in polyvagal theory, guides your emotional regulation and transforms stress into strength. This isn't just another self-help guide. It's a practical roadmap grounded in cutting-edge science and real-world strategies. Whether you're recovering from trauma or simply seeking balance, this book offers actionable exercises and insights that help you harness the power of your vagus nerve to reclaim your inner calm. Get your copy now wherever you like to buy your books. The Polyvagal Solution, because your body and especially your vagus nerve hold the key to transformation. All right, y'all. I'm super excited to talk about this concept with you because it is such a small but impactful concept. thing to understand from polyvagal theory and just neurobiology that I personally apply to my life every day, typically multiple times a day. So let's first get into what the definition is, what it is, why it matters, and then we'll apply it to just how we go about living a good life. Neuroception is a concept defined by Stephen Porges, the OG of polyvagal theory. And it stands for, quite simply, detection without awareness. Detection without awareness. And this is a job of your nervous system, of your brain, your brain and your nervous system. So your brain and your nervous system have this job of... The number one job is to keep you alive. And to do so, your brain needs to be... Perceiving and assessing stimuli in your environment, anything from the people to the animals, to the quality of the air, to access to doors, to the organization of the space, to where the exits are, to does it smell like anything is on fire? Are there any clear signs of danger? that I need to quickly respond to to keep myself alive and survive. And it does so through this process that Porges has called, deemed as neuroception. So again, it's perception detection without awareness. So I like to think of neuroception as like your internal home surveillance system. It's always on, it's always functioning, but it's kind of outside of your awareness, meaning you're not having to constantly throughout the day check in on, am I safe? Am I safe? Am I safe? Am I safe? If you had to do that, it would just be like impossible to get done with anything because you'd have to constantly be like, okay, I'm cooking dinner. Let me pause and check in. Is everything safe around me? Because there isn't a part of my brain that is actively doing that. So because we have neuroception, our brain is constantly monitoring our environment, but it's not requiring our conscious, logical, kind of rational attention to... do so and to then appraise and read said stimuli and then decide how to react. So it does all of this without your conscious awareness. I mean, how amazing is that? It's how you're able to go about your day and put your time and attention to various tasks and conversations and things you need to get done, but it means you're not sacrificing your safety. So this is why I kind of refer to this or make a parallel to a home security system because my smoke detectors are just on, right? And they're always sensing the environment and reading the air, I would say. And they're going to make a noise if those detectors detect something dangerous like smoke or... carbon monoxide. Similarly, if you have a home security system, like you actually turn on your security system when you leave the house or you go to bed at night, you're trusting that that security system is monitoring your environment, the environment of your house, and it's going to sound an alarm and call 911 if a door opens that shouldn't, if there's a window that breaks, if there's movement in the house when there shouldn't be, right? So That home security system allows you to close your eyes and drift off into never, never land at night without having to wake up periodically, constantly throughout the night to check your safety, to check your environment, because you're trusting that that system is going to alert you if there's danger. That system is going to alert you if there's danger when you're away from home and if a door opens that shouldn't. And those smoke detectors are going to alert you if they detect smoke or something that could be dangerous. And these systems do this in a way to increase our safety without stealing our time and attention. So they're passive. They're just happening without your awareness. So neuroception is similar It's a similar process that you have in your neurobiology. It's your internal home surveillance system that's constantly keeping tabs on your environment. And if it perceives something to be dangerous or unsafe, it's going to get your attention by shifting your physiological state. Meaning if something feels, if neuroception, sorry, rather perceives that this person may not be safe, it will start to give you some heebie-jeebie feelings. You'll feel a need to maybe retract or step away. Maybe you want to get off the phone with them. Maybe you're like, how do I get out of this conversation? I'm noticing I'm feeling really defensive right now. And then your conscious brain kicks in and it says, hmm, I wonder why I'm feeling that way. Many times you can identify why you're feeling that way. So I'm using an example of a person, but we can apply this to your physical environment and also your internal physical body. So the actual environment within which you're existing and then actually what's happening in your body. So let's say, for example, you are in a store and all of a sudden you smell a really strong odor of smoke. It smells like something's on fire. your brain will be able to consciously identify, oh, I'm feeling a little on edge because I'm smelling something in this environment that could be a sign that I'm not safe. And I'm aware that the smell of smoke should not be present in this aisle at Target. It shouldn't smell like this. So that could be... It's dangerous. But sometimes neuroception has picked up on something and your conscious brain hasn't necessarily caught up to it. And I find that this can certainly be the case when we just get a bad vibe from somebody, but they're not calling us names. They haven't done anything physically threatening to us. We're just like, I don't dig you. Neuroception might've picked up on eye contact or tone of voice or gestures or all kinds of things. Maybe their smell or maybe how organized they look, how clean they are. Whatever that is that your brain is making... judgment calls on. And it's making those judgments to try and keep you alive. The same thing is true for our physical environment. So neuroception is always perceiving the physical environment within which you are existing. And it's also keeping tabs on your internal environment. So these three domains of neuroception, interpersonal, external physical environments and the space within your physical internal body are the three environments that neurosuction is always keeping tabs on. So right now, as you're listening to this podcast, your nervous system is taking tabs on how you feel about me, even though we're not in direct physical proximity and we're not having a live conversation, your nervous system is still making judgment calls based on if you can see me, if you're watching the video, if you hear my voice, the tone of my voice, how fast I'm talking. the language that I'm using, it all gives you a vibe. And hopefully I'm giving you a vibe that I'm safe and that this feels appealing and interesting. And if I'm not giving you that vibe, you're probably gonna turn off this podcast and you're not gonna listen to any others. So your neuroception is always perceiving the interpersonal space. So it's keeping tabs on the people that you come into contact with and animals too. So you might meet a dog for the first time and that dog gives you a couple of cues, a couple of signs from its tail and its eyes and its ears that say, hey, I'm really friendly or hey, I'm not. And that's going to cause a reaction in your nervous system. A dog that gives you cues of I am not friendly probably cause your physiology to like, I'm going to back up a little bit. I'm going to be mindful here. I don't want to get bit. I don't want to upset this pooch, right? Or a dog that is looking really happy, looking really excited to see you. You know, you might lean in and pet the dog and talk to the dog and try and befriend that dog. So it's always perceiving people and the animals that you come into contact with. Neuroception is also reading your external environment. So as you've been listening to this podcast, your nervous system has been keeping tabs on things like the organization of the space that you're in and what you can smell and the temperature and sounds around you and how much light there is, where the exit to the door is. If your physical environment is feeling safe, if you're listening to this at home, your neuroception is kind of keeping tabs on who else or what else is in the house with you. Neuroception is keeping tabs on if you're outside in the world, if you're in a coffee shop or something. It's keeping tabs on everyone around you and what's going on in that coffee shop. And it's doing so to try and make sure, am I safe enough to be regulated enough to listen and learn and be curious? But if neuroception picks up on something that feels dangerous, like the smell of smoke or... Maybe a whole bunch of people came in and it just got really loud. And the level of sound in the environment is just too much for your nervous system. All of a sudden, it's hard to concentrate. You want to leave. That's going to change where you can place your attention. Likewise, if you're somewhere and you don't know where the exit is, think about when you go to a movie theater or a concert and they typically say, find where your exits are. Certainly that's for everybody's safety, but that also does something for your nervous system where you know, this is how I would get out of here. This is how I would flee if I needed to. So that physical environment, neuroception is always perceiving the stimuli that is present within your physical exterior environment. Neuroception is also keeping tabs on your internal physical environment. So it's keeping tabs on how much pain or how comfortable you feel. It's keeping tabs on the level of how rested you feel, I should say. It's keeping tabs on how hungry, how thirsty you are. If you feel... at ease, how comfortable your clothing is and the textures you're coming into contact with. So all of this stimuli, your nervous system is reading from your internal environment. So for example, a lot of us, when we get sick, most of the time you get a heads up that you're getting sick before you get super, super sick. Even if you get the stomach flu, which can come on really quick. We typically get a little heads up, maybe 5, 10, 20, 30 minutes before we're running to the bathroom of, uh-oh, something's wrong. And when you notice those aches or cramps in your stomach, or you notice a certain headache coming on or a tickle in your throat, when we're aware of that, it allows us to intervene. It says, hey, do something. I think I'm sick. I'm not well. Neuroception does all of this without your conscious awareness. And if we could just take a moment and reflect on how powerful that is, that you have this part of your neurobiology that is always watching your sixes, that's always keeping tabs on your environment, that's always working to keep you safe without stealing your attention. That's really amazing. Because if we didn't have this skill, We'd have to constantly be checking in throughout the day. Let me check my physical environment. Let me check what's going on inside. Am I sick? Am I sick? Am I sick? Nope, I'm not. How does this person feel? How does this person feel? How does this person feel? And it would require our conscious awareness, our logical mind to try and sort through details and data that sometimes our conscious mind talks us out of. For example, going back to that, have you ever met someone that just immediately gave you some bad vibes? How many of you then found yourself trying to talk yourself out of how you were feeling? This person gives me bad vibes, but I don't know why, so that must be wrong. Especially for those of us who have been cultured in our environment, in our society, around female gender norms, we're often talked out of listening to our intuition because it might mean that you have to be a bitch or you have to set a boundary or you have to say no. And these are some societal constructs that we've been taught through a kind of gendered norming way to often disregard our intuition. And that can get us into a lot of trouble because our intuition is in part governed by neuroception. And we know that neuroception always has our best interest in mind. Neuroception may have picked up on in that conversation with that person that's given you the heebie-jeebies a couple of, I guess, triggers or a couple of rather, I should say, data points that tell your nervous system, I don't know that I should trust this person. So it might have been how that person is speaking. Maybe they're speaking really loud and something about that feels like kind of grandiose to you. Perhaps it's about their eye contact, too much eye contact, too little eye contact. Maybe it's physical proximity. Maybe they're standing incredibly close to you, closer than societal norms would really allow for or that relationship. It's one thing for your dog to come sit on your lap and right next to you or your kiddo. It's totally something else for somebody you've never met, a stranger to come sit right up next to you and leave no social space whatsoever. It might have been what they're talking about. It might have been, wow, this person just been talking about themselves the whole time. They haven't asked me a single question. You know, it could be all kinds of things. And so much of that is going to be dependent on the context. So I really encourage you that anytime you are in a conversation with somebody and your nervous system gives you the heebie-jeebies,
SPEAKER_00:Don't gaslight yourself. Come back to this conversation and
SPEAKER_01:remind yourself that those heebie-jeebies are coming up because neuroception has picked up on something that maybe your conscious logical mind hasn't yet identified. And pay attention to that because it's trying to keep you safe. And it's probably caught on to something that is really important and legitimate. I feel... In my life, I can't really think of any times or many times where I could say, I wish I hadn't trusted my intuition. I feel that often we're saying the opposite. Well, I really wish I had trusted my intuition. And so your intuition is partly governed and guided by neuroception. Let's practice connecting with our neuroception a little bit right now. So I invite you to just become aware
SPEAKER_00:of of your physical environment, the space around you. And
SPEAKER_01:check in on the lighting and the colors and the objects and the organization
SPEAKER_00:of the space. Notice the temperature and the smell. Notice what you hear. And as you do so, notice if there's
SPEAKER_01:any stimuli, any cues is another way to think of that. Any cues that
SPEAKER_00:feel uncomfortable or even dangerous to you. Hopefully there's no rabid animal in the
SPEAKER_01:room charging at you about to gnaw off your ankle. That would be a clear cue of danger. But, you know, we could also be looking at, oh, that picture is a little crooked on the wall.
SPEAKER_00:Or it's a little dark in here. It could be anything at all. And when I say a cue
SPEAKER_01:of danger, it might be imminent extreme danger or just a cue that your nervous system says, I'm not real comfortable with that. And I invite you to change anything right now if you want to and you can, or just notice. Now, as you examine this space, also bring into your awareness the cues of safety, things that feel comforting, grounding.
SPEAKER_00:Pleasant. So again, that might be a picture on the wall. Maybe it's a sleeping cat in a chair. Maybe it's a calming sound in the background. The wind blowing through the trees. And just notice that. Now let's check in with our physical environment. So shift your awareness to your body. How are you feeling today? Notice how thirsty or hungry you are, aches, pains, or even places that feel comfortable in your body. Notice your body temperature. Notice how rested you feel. Notice if there's any
SPEAKER_01:cues from inside of your body that feel like a cue of danger, uncomfortable. Maybe you notice, oh, you know, my shoulders are really tight and achy and that's kind of affecting my mood. Maybe you
SPEAKER_00:notice you're hungry or thirsty. Maybe go grab a snack. But also notice anything in your body that feels pleasant. And rest your awareness on any cues of safety. Any cues that are comforting. So it might be, for example, you feel grounded. You feel a sense of feeling really present.
SPEAKER_01:And you feel that feeling and sensation somewhere inside. Or maybe you notice you feel rested. Maybe
SPEAKER_00:you notice an absence of pain. Just notice all that. So we just went through a little short exercise
SPEAKER_01:in which we actively bring our awareness to what neuroception is proceeding. So while neuroception is a passive process, we can make it active and get curious about what is my brain and neurobiology really doing assessing in my environment, in that external environment, in my internal environment, and even when you come into contact with other people and animals. Now, how do you use this with intentionality? First off, next time you notice yourself feeling triggered and activated and you're not completely sure why, check in with neuroception. Scan these three environments. Get curious about, wow, what's coming up in this interaction with this human being? Am I noticing anything that's giving me cues of danger? What's happening in my physical environment? And what's happening in my body? Sometimes you'll become aware of things that are really interesting that your nervous system is appraising. A great place to practices, especially the external appraising component of neuroception is in a store. So take yourself to a store that maybe you don't really care for and notice what happens there and get curious about what neuroception is perceiving that's telling you, I don't really love this store. Maybe it's the lighting. Maybe it's how clean it is. Maybe it's how nice the people are there. Maybe it's how high the ceilings are. Maybe it's how busy the parking lot is. It can be all kinds of things. Maybe it's the background music they're playing. For me personally, I am not a fan of really big box stores. And part of that is because the ceilings are really high and the parking lots are really big and overwhelming. And my nervous system just really doesn't care for that. I don't know what my nervous system has against high ceilings. I also noticed this in airports. Certain airports I travel to that have really high ceilings, I have more travel anxiety than airports that have lower ceilings. I don't know. You know, sometimes what neuroception is perceiving has to do with our history and it's meaningful. And sometimes it's like, I don't know, just doesn't like this. Who knows what that's related to for my genealogy. I don't know. Maybe somebody... Who knows? I can't even speculate. But sometimes there's a rhyme and reason. And sometimes it's like, I don't know. This is just how I'm wired. Now, next time you go to a store you really like, one of those places of like, this is where I go for comfort. It's part of self-care, right? Maybe that's Target or Whole Paycheck or... a local vintage clothing shop or a music store or a coffee shop, whatever that is, place that you're like, ooh, this is one of my favorite places to go. Next time you're there, check in with what is it about this space that my nervous system likes so much? Again, it can be the layout of the aisles, how clean it is, the lighting, how organized it is, what it's like walking into the store. Great places to check. neuroception. And you'll find some really interesting, valuable data like I have of like, my nervous system doesn't seem to like high ceilings. Okay, got it. So starting to explore neuroception, especially in times when you're feeling activated and it's not clear why, will help you to align with your neurobiology, get curious about what's activating those physiological responses of fight, flight, freeze, or collapse. And then you can choose how to engage with that information and data. For example, perhaps you are at the store and you realize my nervous system is not digging this. I feel like I'm going to have an anxiety attack before I even walk in the door because the parking lot is so busy and I know I'm going into a store with really high ceilings, you know, I'm going to choose to drive an extra five minutes and go to this other store just because I don't want to tolerate the distress. Now, I know that we don't always have that luxury. Maybe it is, I just got to go in the store. It is what it is. But then you could also use neuroception to think about how can I decrease my level of anxiety or overwhelm? For me, for example, when I have to go through airports with really high ceilings, I'll put on noise-canceling headphones. I'm not putting on noise-canceling headphones playing music so that I don't hear, but I use it to dampen the sound because part of what happens in places with high ceilings is there's more of an echo, so it's louder. I'll also shift my awareness in those spaces to try and rest my attention on the cues of safety that are there. That's right. Your nervous system can be perceiving cues of danger, but there's also cues of safety available. You just have to shift your awareness to look at it. So this is the second way to use neuroception to just improve your day-to-day living. That is looking intentionally for cues of safety. So going back to the airport example, a couple of years ago, my husband and I were on an international trip and we had had quite a messy experience trying to get to our final destination. There were lots of flight delays and flight issues. We were traveling way longer than we expected. We had been on a long overnight flight, so we hadn't slept. And we land waiting for our final flight, and we are in one of the busiest airports in the world. We are in another country, so there's lots of cues of danger to my nervous system. I don't know the context here. There's lots of signs and languages that I can't read necessarily. There's lots of sounds. There's lots of people. I've Never been here before. I'm jet lagged. So my body, my neuroception is reading all the internal cues of danger. I don't feel good. I'm not well rested. I'm thirsty. I'm dehydrated. My body aches. I haven't eaten a good meal in about a day. All of these cues. And then the other cue was also coming from my husband who was also grumpy and tired and jet lagged. And so his facial expression looked like this and he was a little short, like we weren't arguing, but we were both in moods. So my neuroception is also perceiving, oh, cues of danger because my person who I'm traveling with is dysregulated and kind of grumpy. So what I did is I'm sitting in this airport waiting for my final flight. I can't leave the airport. I can't change my husband's mood. Like it is what it is. I have to accept some things. But I can shift my awareness and actively try to take in the cues of safety. So I put on my noise canceling headphones to dim the sound. I took a couple of deep breaths and felt the air move in and out of my lungs. That felt safe. I took a big drink of water. I stood up and I stretched. I went to a little corner where I had some privacy and moved my body and that felt good because I was able to release some of the pain and tension. I allowed my awareness to rest on the blue sky that I could see out the window. And then I felt a little bit more regulated after about five minutes of doing these things, shifting my attention, shifting what my nervous system is giving its time and attention to and looking for the cues of safety. So finally, when I was a bit more regulated, I went over to my husband, I gave him a big hug. I said, hey, why don't you have some water? And I tried to help offer him some co-regulation and that helped as well. So this is an example of how you can use neuroception to try and regulate when you're feeling really triggered. So notice what the triggers are. What do you have to accept? What is how it is? What can you change? So notice where your power lies there. And then next, how can you shift your awareness to cues of safety? Cues of safety to try and thwart, dampen those survival mechanisms of fight, flight, freeze, and collapse. I did not need those survival mechanisms when I was in the airport. It wasn't needed and necessary. So in times when we don't need those survival mechanisms, we can try and shift our attention to those cues of safety because your nervous system is always gonna be looking for the danger. That's how you stay alive. So we have this negativity bias and we can get super hyper-focused on the danger, on the threats. Again, that's just how you stay alive. But you can intentionally try to expand your awareness, take off those blinders and notice, are there cues of safety here? Where are they? And when we can connect to them, we can get connected a bit more to our window of tolerance, that ventral vagal pathway where we feel more regulated and grounded and life just feels better. All right, my friends, I hope that diving into neuroception left you with some curiosities and lots of tips of how to integrate this information into your day-to-day life. Remember, this is a passive process, but you can make it active with intentional conscious awareness and getting curious about what your brain is perceiving. Until next time, thanks for joining Drive the Podcast. Thank you for joining us Until next time, this is Rebecca Case signing off. Thrive on.