In our autonomic mapping we have identified thirteen primary autonomic states (fight and flight are two different states, both reside at 3 o’clock on the mandala). In our research, we have found that most modern people spend most of their time moving between these.

Five of them are health-creating. Staying in them increases our wellbeing. All of these states arise from an experience of enough safety that we can bring online all of our autonomic neurological systems and reside in the neurobiology of connection. This is where our flourishing happens.

Six of them are disease-creating. Staying in them decreases our wellbeing. All of these states arise from an experience of danger or lifethreat that take some or most of our autonomic neurological systems offline and push us into the neurobiology of defense. While our bodies are designed to move into defensive states when needed, getting stuck in them makes us sick.

Two of them are context-dependent, which means that under certain conditions they can be health-creating, and under other conditions disease-creating.