How the Vagus Nerve and Subconscious Patterns Influence Mind-Body Coherence
Written by Jenna Ellis, High-Performance Somatic Coach
Jenna Ellis is a High-Performance Somatic Coach specializing in nervous system regulation for women with autoimmune conditions. With 17 years of lived experience with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), she guides women from symptom management to embodied self-leadership through evidence-based somatic practices.
Have you ever understood exactly why you respond a certain way, yet found yourself repeating the same pattern? Perhaps you know you are safe, yet your body responds with tension. Perhaps you understand the importance of boundaries, yet find yourself compromising them so as not to disappoint anyone.
Why doesn’t understanding a pattern always change our response to it? The relationship between the vagus nerve, subconscious learning, and mind-body coherence offers an interesting perspective on how we experience ourselves and how we can begin creating different responses.
What is the vagus nerve, and why does it matter?
The vagus nerve is one of the major communication pathways between the brain and the body. It plays an important role in the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps regulate functions such as heart rate, digestion, hormones, and inflammation.
What makes it particularly interesting is that communication travels in both directions. The body sends information to the brain, and the brain sends signals that influence bodily functions.
This means our physical experiences and our mental and emotional experiences are constantly interacting. When we experience stress, our bodies respond through a number of interconnected systems. We might notice a racing heart, shallow breathing, muscle tension, or a feeling of uneasiness before we have consciously identified what is happening.
Understanding the vagus nerve helps us appreciate that nervous system regulation is about more than simply calming ourselves down. It is about understanding the ongoing relationship between our bodies, our experiences, and the environments we move through.
The vagus nerve isn’t an on-and-off switch for stress. It is one part of a much larger system that helps our bodies respond and adapt.
How do subconscious patterns influence our behavior?
Many of our responses are shaped by experiences and learning. Over time, certain behaviors become familiar enough that we repeat them without consciously deciding to.
Consider someone who learned early in life that conflict leads to rejection. As an adult, they may understand that disagreement is a normal part of a healthy relationship. Yet when tension arises, they might withdraw, overexplain, become defensive, or try to make everything right.
Their conscious understanding and automatic response don’t always align. We see this in everyday situations. We know we don’t need to please everyone, yet feel uncomfortable disappointing someone. We understand that rest is important, yet experience guilt when we slow down. We want to establish a boundary, yet feel compelled to abandon it when someone expresses frustration.
These responses aren’t necessarily signs that something is wrong with us. They may reflect patterns we’ve learned through previous experiences.
Psychologists and neuroscientists study implicit learning, which helps explain how we can acquire associations and behavioral patterns without always being aware of how we learned them.
Recognizing these patterns gives us an opportunity to approach ourselves with curiosity rather than criticism. Instead of asking, “Why do I keep doing this?” we can begin asking, “What have I learned to expect, and is that response still serving me?”
Why isn’t understanding a pattern enough to change it?
Intellectual awareness is valuable. Understanding our triggers, recognizing limiting beliefs, and identifying recurring behaviors can help us make sense of our experiences.
Yet knowing something intellectually doesn’t always mean we can respond differently in the moment. We can understand that a conversation is safe while still feeling tension in our chest. We can recognize that a relationship dynamic isn’t serving us while continuing to participate in familiar behaviors. We can know we are allowed to say no while struggling with the discomfort that follows.
This is where I believe the relationship between the mind and body becomes particularly important. We often approach personal growth by trying to change our thoughts. We analyze, reflect, and work to understand why we behave the way we do.
What happens when we include the body in that conversation? Imagine preparing to express a boundary. You know what you want to say and understand why it matters. As the conversation approaches, you notice your jaw tightening, your breathing becoming shallow, or an urge to avoid the interaction.
Rather than immediately pushing through or criticizing yourself, you pause. What am I feeling? What am I noticing in my body? What response am I automatically moving toward? Is there another way I can approach this situation?
This is one of the foundations of somatic work. It invites us to move beyond simply understanding our experiences intellectually and begin noticing how we experience them physically and emotionally, too.
What is interoception?
Interoception is our ability to sense and interpret signals coming from within the body. These signals might include changes in heart rate, breathing, temperature, hunger, or muscle tension.
Think about the last time you felt anxious before an important conversation. Perhaps your stomach tightened, or your heart began racing before you could put words to what you were feeling. That is part of our internal experience.
Researchers are increasingly exploring the relationship between interoception, emotional awareness, and regulation. Some studies suggest that practices involving attention to bodily sensations may improve aspects of interoceptive awareness, although the evidence is still developing.
For me, this is an important part of learning to reconnect with ourselves. When we become more familiar with our internal signals, we have an opportunity to recognize what is happening before automatically reacting.
The goal isn’t to analyze every sensation or eliminate discomfort. It is to become more aware of our experiences so we can make choices with greater intention.
Moving from automatic reactions to conscious choices
Meaningful change often requires more than recognizing a pattern. It requires opportunities to practice something different. Consider someone who habitually abandons a boundary when another person becomes disappointed.
This time, they notice the familiar discomfort. They recognize the urge to explain themselves repeatedly or take responsibility for someone else’s feelings.
Instead of immediately reacting, they pause, take a breath, and consider what they actually want to communicate. The discomfort may still be there. The other person may still disagree. Something has changed. There is now an opportunity to respond differently.
Over time, practicing new responses can help us develop different behavioral patterns. This doesn’t mean change happens overnight or that every pattern can be resolved through awareness alone. Sometimes additional therapeutic support is important.
The point is that we don’t have to automatically follow every familiar response. We can learn to notice it, understand it, and explore another choice.
What is mind-body coherence?
In my work, I explore this integration through the lens of mind-body coherence. I use this term to describe the growing alignment between what we understand, what we experience, what we value, and how we choose to live.
Consider how this might show up in everyday life. We may value rest while continuing to organize our lives around productivity. We may desire meaningful connection while withdrawing whenever vulnerability appears. We may recognize that a relationship no longer aligns with our values while continuing to prioritize keeping the peace over expressing what we need.
These moments can reveal a disconnect between what we know and how we actually live. Mind-body coherence invites us to become curious about those gaps.
Where am I not honoring what I know to be true for myself? What am I noticing in my body when I encounter that disconnect? What familiar response might be influencing my behavior? What would it look like to make a different choice?
Coherence doesn’t mean being perfectly calm, eliminating internal conflict, or getting everything right. It is an ongoing process of bringing greater awareness to the relationship between our thoughts, emotions, bodily experiences, and actions.
It is also important to recognize that physical illness is not evidence of a lack of coherence. Somatic practices are not a replacement for appropriate medical or mental health care.
The value is in developing a deeper understanding of ourselves without shame or the expectation that change should happen overnight.
The body is part of the change
We live in a culture that often encourages us to do more, think harder, and push through discomfort. Sometimes, however, the next step isn’t another strategy. It is the willingness to pause long enough to notice what is happening beneath the surface of a familiar response.
The vagus nerve is one part of a much larger physiological system. Our subconscious patterns are shaped by learning and experience. Our bodies offer information that can help us better understand how we move through the world.
This is why I believe personal transformation deserves a conversation that goes beyond mindset alone. Our thoughts matter. Our experiences matter. Our bodies matter.
We are not simply minds attempting to manage bodies. We are integrated human beings, constantly navigating the relationship between what we think, what we feel, what we experience, and how we respond.
Sometimes, the mind understands the change long before our familiar responses have caught up. The work is learning how to bring them into conversation, one moment, one choice, and one new experience at a time.
If you are interested in exploring the relationship between somatic awareness, nervous system regulation, and personal transformation, I invite you to learn more about my work here.
Read more from Jenna Ellis
Jenna Ellis, High-Performance Somatic Coach
Jenna Ellis is a High-Performance Somatic Coach who specializes in nervous system regulation for women with autoimmune conditions. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at 21, she was told she'd never run again. Today, she's in better physical condition than 17 years ago. Through her transformation journey, Jenna discovered that autoimmune conditions aren't the body attacking itself, but the body's intelligent attempt to protect and survive. She now guides women beyond symptom management to authentic self-leadership, serving clients globally from her base in New York. Her mission is to help women with autoimmune conditions reclaim their power and create lives aligned with their authentic truth.
