Functioning in Harmony

The way the nervous system, and in a larger sense the entire mind and body, prefers to function is in communication and harmony with the community around it.

Whether it’s family, old friends, new friends, or meeting new friends at the park, people of all ages thrive when they can interact with each other.

Everyday at Pure Light, we educate our patients and objectively measure the two main branches of the autonomic nervous system: the parasympathetic (rest & digest) and the sympathetic (fight or flight) branches.

The sympathetic nervous system handles life’s stressors while the parasympathetic system handles life’s regenerative functions.

A researcher named Stephen Porges has hypothesized a third branch, called the vagal branch. This branch is dedicated to our social interactions, and is therefore often called the “social vagus.”

The key finding from social vagus research shows that the body prefers to use the newest evolutionary system—the social vagus— to process and adapt to most of life’s stressors.

The people around you allow your pattern of brain waves to enter into a calmer, larger field that offers protection.

If you don’t have social outlets for stress, such as a community of friends or family that you can regularly and honestly communicate with and get your needs from, then the body retains a fight-flight physiology.

This isn’t a sustainable state, and if you do not transition back out of it then your body and mind begin to shut down.

The manner and degree to which we choose to interact with other people, then, dictates a very important part of our health.

Can you imagine the impact a group of people with a peaceful and blissful brain-wave pattern has on other people they meet in the community?

The interaction between one another’s social neurology can be a powerful agent for change.