Somatic spirituality

This is FASCINATING ... it's Stephen Porges (father of the Polyvagal theory) on the intersection of his theory and how contemplation works (emphasis mine):

In the early 90’s, I went to India to study yogis and learned some interesting things from them. Many of their practices are designed to trigger the older vagal shutdown response that drives the faint or freeze reflex.

The idea is that through training, you can begin going into these immobilizing states normally linked with faint and freeze, but more aware and less frightened. In my own model, the older evolutionary part of the vagus —with is circuits in the back-facing dorsal side of the brainstem—is a very powerful system of calming that enables the deepest forms of connectedness and intimacy. But it can only be consciously recruited for social life when our bodies are in safe states. That’s where the newer vagus literally is your shield. It’s the protector that says, “It’s OK now to explore this and go there.”

Yogis who hold their breath, like deep-sea divers, are in a sense saying, “If I can master this biological shutdown reflex by controlling my breath, I can now visit these powerful physiological states.” When we visit these states without fear, it’s a type of “self‑intimacy,” the ability to go deep inside oneself and feel secure that it’s not going to be life‑threatening.

If we think of religion as a human practice of group connectedness, we see why even the structures that were used for religious worship enabled people to experience their body without being hypervigilant. In massive churches, they have large organs that play very low sounds. The extremely low notes from these organs produce in the listener a natural response that dips us into the older vagal state. When this happens in an internal state of safety and connection, it evokes a sense not of fear but of awe.

Invoking this state of awe offers one type of self-intimacy, of going into that deep part of our body in safety and awareness. These practices are exercises that simultaneously stimulate the newer part of the vagus, based in the ventral vagal complex, which function to promote social engagement behaviors. If we survey various religions, the Sufis use dance, the Buddhists chant, and the Muslims and Jews use posture and vocal prayers. These are all vagal triggers that promote self-intimacy, but they are framed in contexts that promote social engagement, it’s not only bodies moving, it’s bodies moving in a social context. This socially engaged movement helps stimulate both parts of the vagal system, evoking a deep state of connection of the kind that fosters not just awe but also empathy and love.

Oh, the implications!