Mind-Body Connection and the Nervous System

Understanding Your Nervous System

Have you ever gotten goosebumps while watching a suspenseful movie? Felt mentally refreshed after exercising? Then you’ve experienced the power of the mind-body connection. Mind-body connection is a term used to describe how your beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, and feelings can affect your biological functioning. In other words, what you do with your physical body – how well you move, how well you sleep, and how you hold your posture – is influenced by your mental state. This means that mental stress can be experienced in physical ways. Conversely, it also means that the benefits of calming your mind can be felt in the body.

The nervous system is the body's command center, regulating everything from movement and sensation to stress response and digestion. It consists of two main parts: the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS).

The CNS consists of the brain and spinal cord and is responsible for processing and sending information. The PNS is the network of nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. This network is divided into the Somatic and Autonomic Nervous Systems.

The Somatic Nervous System is responsible for voluntary movements, such as moving the muscles, while the Autonomic Nervous System involves involuntary functions, like heartbeat and digestion.

The two branches of the Autonomic Nervous System are the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and the Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS). The SNS is known as the “fight or flight” response, which is activated in moments of stress. The PNS response is called “rest and digest” because it promotes recovery and balance.

Supporting the nervous system is crucial for overall well-being. Chronic stress can keep the SNS overactive, leading to burnout, poor digestion, and weakened immunity. Foundational practices like breathwork, mindfulness, movement, and balanced nutrition support nervous system resilience, helping shift into a parasympathetic state for healing and optimal function. These foundational practices are great for dancers in class and performance settings. Similarly, these practices benefit non-dancers since supporting the nervous system impacts hormonal health, digestion, inflammation, sleep, blood sugar, and more!

Three States of the Autonomic Nervous System (Polyvagal Theory)

Understanding the nervous system is also essential for overall well-being because it shapes how we experience stress, connection, and healing. The Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, expands on the autonomic nervous system by introducing a third branch beyond just "fight-or-flight" (sympathetic) and "rest-and-digest" (parasympathetic) called the Dorsal Vagal State.

The Ventral Vagal State (Safe and Grounded) is linked to the parasympathetic nervous system. This state allows for relaxation, connection, creativity, and healing. It supports digestion, immune function, and overall well-being. The Sympathetic State (Fight or Flight) is activated during perceived threats, increasing heart rate, tension, and stress hormones. Short-term, this helps with quick responses, but chronic activation can lead to burnout, anxiety, and inflammation. The Dorsal Vagal State (Shutdown) is activated when the body perceives extreme stress or danger, leading to fatigue, numbness, depression, or dissociation. This is the body’s last-resort survival mechanism.

The Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve originates in the brain and branches out, like the roots of a tree, into a network throughout the body. Known as “the wandering nerve,” it is a communication superhighway that carries sensory information between the brain and internal organs. The vagus nerve controls the muscles used to swallow and speak. It also regulates heart rate, gut motility, and glucose production. It’s a pivotal player in the body’s inflammatory reflex that controls the immune response during illness or injury(1). Interestingly, the vagal transmission is not a one-directional flow.

Researchers have also identified how “gut instincts” or intuitions travel to the brain via the vagus nerve and are connected to fear responses (2). Biochemical compounds like hormones and neurotransmitters also serve as critical mind-body connectors. These chemical messengers travel between the brain and body, sending signals in both directions and helping the brain regulate heart rate, digestion, and muscle movement. These hormones also have psychological functions, including managing mood and aiding learning.

In addition, regions that play critical roles in the mind-body connection are inside the brain. These brain areas include the prefrontal cortex, which helps us think through our actions; the hippocampus, which regulates emotion; and the amygdala, which turns on our body’s “fight or flight” response. This “fight or flight” (stress) response is a dramatic example of the mind-body feedback loop you’ve probably experienced. This sympathetic response is an evolutionary adaptation designed to help humans survive a dangerous situation (like an attack by a wild animal) by either fighting back or running away.

How It Works

Consider you are in a situation where you feel threatened, which manifests as an emotion, such as fear or anxiety. Your body’s stress response system kicks in. You may experience physical symptoms, such as increased heart rate, muscle tension, nausea, difficulty breathing, and lack of mental focus. This expression of emotional distress through physical symptoms is called somatization and is an outcome of the mind-body connection. Once you feel safe from harm, your body responds and returns to normal.

Cell Core Biosciences Diagram

While most humans no longer need to be concerned about a wild animal attack, the body’s stress response system turns on and off constantly. This can happen when emotions trigger the release of stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline. These chemicals will then initiate the “fight or flight” response.

For example, if you’re anxious before speaking in public, you may notice your palms sweat and your breathing quickens. Once you finish your speech and feel calmer, your body responds and returns to normal. You don’t need to prepare for a specific activity to engage in the “fight or flight” response. Simply experiencing anger during an argument may result in digestive issues or an elevated heart rate.

Life’s daily stressors can activate this response, and calming activities like dance, movement, or meditation can help turn it off. However, if an individual does not learn to support the nervous system, a sustained stress response may lead to physical and mental imbalances, chronic inflammation, and disease.

Understanding how this essential alliance works can help you create bio-individual well-being and aid healing. This information serves dancers and non-dancers. Understanding the nervous system is necessary for overall well-being because it shapes how all humans experience stress, connection, and healing. 

Why This Matters for Foundational Health

Chronic stress and dysregulation keep people stuck in fight-or-flight or shutdown, impacting digestion, hormones, and recovery. Supporting the nervous system through foundations, breathwork, movement, social/spiritual connection, and mindfulness helps build resilience and adaptability. Dancers and active individuals, in particular, benefit from nervous system support to enhance performance, recovery, and emotional well-being. Ultimately, the primary determinants of mental and physical health are not simply genetic or biological factors.

Irene Lyon said, “You are not broken, your nervous system is doing exactly what it needs to do to survive.” Understanding that the causes, development, and outcomes of a physical or mental illness are determined by the complex interaction of psychological, environmental, and social factors is critical in knowing the best ways to support the mind-body connection. Because mental health is physical health and physical health is mental health, various foundational health tools and strategies can have an impact! Remember, a hack might offer temporary relief, but healing requires consistent inner work to rewire the patterns of your nervous system. Healing is a journey of self-discovery and reflection that takes time, patience, and compassion.

Stay tuned for my next blog with tips and practices for supporting your nervous system and mind-body connection!

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Footnotes

1| Pavlov, V. A., & Tracey, K. J. (2012). The vagus nerve and the inflammatory reflex—

Linking immunity and metabolism. Nat Rev Endocrinol 8, 743–754. Retrieved from

doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2012.189

2| Klarer, M., Arnold, M., Günther, L. Winter, C. Langhans, W., & Meyer, U. (2014)

Gut vagal afferents differentially modulate innate anxiety and learned fear.

J Neurosci 34(21), 7067–7076. Retrieved from doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI

.0252-14.2014

3| Baminiwatta, A., & Solangaarachchi, I. (2021). Trends and developments in

mindfulness research over 55 years: A bibliometric analysis of publications

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doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01681-x

4| Broken heart syndrome. (2021). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from mayoclinic.org

/diseases-conditions/broken-heart-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20354617

5| Michalski, C. A., Diemert, L. M., Helliwell, J. F., Goel, V., & Rosella, L. C. (2020).

Relationship between sense of community belonging and self-rated health

across life stages. SSM Popul Health 12, 100676. Retrieved from doi.org/10.1016

/j.ssmph.2020.100676

6| Puchalski, C. M. (2001). The role of spirituality in health care. Proc (Bayl Univ

Med Cent) 14(4), 352–357. Retrieved from dx.doi.org/10.1080/08998280.2001

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7| National Institutes of Health. (2018). The power of pets. News in Health. Retrieved

from newsinhealth.nih.gov/2018/02/power-pets