By Fleet Maull, PhD
Over decades of exploring contemplative practices and teaching mindfulness in diverse settings—from meditation centers to prisons—I've been consistently struck by one profound truth: our capacity for transformation is intrinsically linked to our ability to inhabit our bodies with awareness. This realization led me to develop Neuro-Somatic Mindfulness (NSM), an approach that bridges ancient wisdom with modern neuroscience, offering a path to healing and awakening through deep embodiment. NSM doesn't just add another technique to our spiritual toolbox; it fundamentally reorients our practice by accessing the body's innate intelligence, activating powerful neural networks that support psychological resilience, emotional balance, and, ultimately, spiritual liberation.
NSM is, at its core, a deeply embodied, neuroscience-informed approach to mindfulness-awareness meditation. While traditional meditation instructions often assume we can easily connect with direct bodily experience, NSM acknowledges that our relationship to our body is often conceptual—made up of thoughts, memories, and images rather than direct sensation. NSM guides practitioners to move beyond the "psychosomatic body" (our ideas about the body) to experience what my first meditation teacher called "body-body"—the direct lived experience of physical sensation free from conceptual overlays.
The Five Neural Networks of Healing and Awakening
Recent advances in neuroscience have revealed five key neural networks that regulate our capacity for healing, personal evolution, and spiritual awakening. By understanding and deliberately strengthening these networks through NSM and complementary practices, we can dramatically enhance our well-being and consciousness.
1. Attention Network
The attention network includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, parietal cortex, and thalamus. It governs our capacity for focus, sustained attention, and cognitive clarity—qualities essential for any contemplative practice.
NSM strengthens this network by training deep somatic awareness through interoception. By anchoring attention in the felt sense of the body—physical sensations from head to toe, both external and internal—we strengthen prefrontal function and reduce mind-wandering. This builds attentional stability, the foundation for all other aspects of meditation practice.
When we practice NSM, we're cultivating what neuroscientists call the task-positive network, which counters the default mode network (DMN)—that busy, discursive cognitive activity that keeps us lost in thought. As attention stabilizes through direct somatic experience, cognitive chatter naturally subsides.
2. Self-Regulation Network
The self-regulation network includes the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, hypothalamus, and vagus nerve. This network governs autonomic nervous system balance, helping us move between sympathetic (alert, stressed) and parasympathetic (relaxed, restorative) states.
NSM activates an organic, internal system of neuro-biofeedback through interoceptive awareness. As we become more sensitive to internal bodily sensations, we receive more data about our autonomic state. This awareness allows us to self-regulate more effectively, engaging the parasympathetic "rest and digest" response when needed.
Through regular practice, we develop greater resilience to stress and emotional upheaval, as well as increased neuro-physiological coherence—reflected in improved heart rate variability and other biomarkers of well-being.
3. Task-Positive Network (TPN)
The task-positive network includes the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, anterior insula, and supplementary motor area. It stabilizes attention, reduces mind-wandering, and supports goal-directed behavior.
NSM engages the TPN by providing a clear focus—the direct experience of the body. As our attention stabilizes on somatic experience, the TPN becomes more active, while the default mode network (DMN)—associated with mind-wandering and self-reference—becomes less active.
This shift from DMN to TPN leads to greater present-moment awareness, cognitive clarity, and the capacity to engage in flow states—where action and awareness merge. In NSM, we're synchronizing body and mind, strengthening our ability to remain fully engaged with the present moment rather than lost in thought.
4. Emotion Regulation Network
The emotion regulation network includes the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and hippocampus. This network governs our capacity to process emotions skillfully, fostering psychological well-being and resilience.
NSM enhances emotional intelligence by deepening our somatic awareness of emotions. Since emotions are experienced in the body, becoming aware of their physical manifestations allows us to recognize and work with them before they escalate into reactivity.
The practice nurtures an accepting and compassionate attitude toward emotional experience. We learn to feel whatever we're feeling—pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral—without being driven by habitual patterns of clinging to pleasure or avoiding discomfort.
5. Empathy-Connection Network
The empathy-connection network includes the medial prefrontal cortex, insula, mirror neuron system, and amygdala. It enables social awareness, interpersonal connection, and compassion—qualities essential for both personal well-being and spiritual development.
NSM enhances this network by developing greater sensitivity to our own internal states, which is the foundation for understanding others. As we deepen embodied awareness, we naturally develop more capacity for resonating with others' experiences.
This network is particularly important for transcending egoic boundaries and experiencing the interconnected nature of consciousness. As we become more attuned to subtle dimensions of experience, we can more easily recognize our fundamental non-separation from others and the world.
Practice Stacking for Synergistic Enhancement
While NSM alone provides tremendous benefits, we can amplify its effects through what I call "practice stacking"—combining multiple complementary techniques that work synergistically to enhance the five neural networks.
Consider these powerful combinations:
Enhanced Self-Regulation: Combine rhythmic breathing (6 seconds in, 6 seconds out) with EFT tapping and affirmations like "I am calm" or "I release tension." This practice powerfully activates the vagus nerve, reduces cortisol, and downregulates the amygdala, creating a state of balanced autonomic function.
Deepened Attention: Layer mindfulness meditation with visualization practices and gratitude contemplation. This combination strengthens prefrontal-parietal pathways, enhances sustained attention, and reduces cognitive interference.
Optimized Task Engagement: Visualize goals while maintaining rhythmic breathing, adding affirmations related to focus and purpose. This practice synchronizes the task-positive network, fostering productive flow states and reducing default mode network activity.
Enhanced Emotional Resilience: Practice self-compassion meditation combined with heart-centered affirmations like "My emotions flow in harmony." This activates neural circuits of positive emotion while calming reactivity.
Expanded Empathic Connection: Combine loving-kindness meditation with visualizations of shared positive experiences. This strengthens mirror neuron activation and expands heart-centered awareness, fostering deeper interpersonal attunement.
The beauty of practice stacking is that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Each practice reinforces and amplifies the others, creating a powerful synergy that accelerates growth and transformation.
Conclusion: The Path of Integrated Evolution
NSM offers a comprehensive approach to strengthening the five neural networks that support healing, personal evolution, and awakening. By developing deeply embodied awareness, we activate our innate capacity for self-regulation, attention stabilization, emotional resilience, and compassionate connection.
As we progress in this practice, we move from mindlessly being lost in experience, to mindfully witnessing our experience, to relaxing the witness and moving into direct experiencing, and eventually relaxing further into pure being. This journey leads us to restorative embodied self-awareness—a state of profound equanimity, peace, and wholeness.
The integration of these five neural networks through NSM and complementary practices creates a virtuous cycle of psychological stability and spiritual expansion. As we develop greater coherence in brain function, we simultaneously cultivate deeper levels of embodied presence and expanded awareness.
Through this deeply embodied approach to meditation, we can unlock our highest potential for well-being, clarity, compassion, and awakening—realizing the inherent wholeness and goodness of our being not in a conceptual way, but through direct, lived experience.
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