In recent years researchers like Stephen Porges have brought a newfound understanding of the body's all-important polyvagal system to greater and deeper awareness. The tenth cranial nerve, or vagus nerve, has a great impact on the health of major organs (including the brain), and even a direct impact on a human being's 'higher' functioning. Interestingly, however, is the historic fact that the wandering nerve has also been the subject of research and speculation for hundreds of years, among the scientists of the West - as well as the mystics of the East.
This week on MindMatters we discuss a new development in research that seeks to bring together these seemingly separate subjects with Susannah Hays, MFA Ph.D. In her doctoral thesis and subsequent papers 'Nature as Discourse: Transdisciplinarity and Vagus Nerve Function,' and ‘A Generative Art of Our Own Evolutionary Transmutation’ Dr. Hays lays out not only the historical precedent for polyvagal system research but also what the great teacher and mystic G.I. Gurdjieff may have been seeking to do with his contemplative exercises - and where a broader look at all of this information may be leading us towards. Join us, (Harrison Koehli and Elan Martin) as Dr. Hays takes us on a transdisciplinary journey through Gurdjieff, Polyvagal Theory, and education’s possible future.
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