AUTUMN 2026 SEMINAR: Foundations in Autonomics (Semester 1 of 2)

Please note that this course is by application only. Apply here.

Hearth Science, in collaboration with our clinical and research teams and faculty, has continued to evolve a new Foundation Model of Autonomics. The model builds on advances in clinically-applied neurophysiology, including the Polyvagal Theory, as well as the Evolved Nest work of Darcia Narvaez, PhD, trans-cultural indigenous lineages, and other mentors and advisors of ours pioneering in neurophysiology.

In this graduate-level seminar, we will rediscover the interconnected, animate intelligence of the human body and nervous system.

Within this framework shift we will explore:

• •A non-brain-centric worldview of the human nervous system and collective body
• •Refined understandings of distinction between neuroanatomy and neurochemistry
• •Concentric (rather than linear) dynamic movement between autonomic states in relation to the neuroceptive contexts of safety, danger or life threat
• •A comprehensive map of vagal pathways
• •Foundational contributions of various neural structures (in the body, in the periphery, fascia, skin, etc.) in identity, feeling, and cognition

We will centralize our learning within our own body experientially. This seminar is deeply experiential and practical, and involves the following forms of commitment and assignment:

• •Live engagement and tracking during each seminar class
• •Basic interoceptive exercises practiced throughout the 12 weeks
• •Video and written homework
• •Final project
• •This class is the first semester, with instructor approval, of our yearlong practicum in Autonomics

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR:

Researchers, integrative physicians, naturopathic physicians, psychologists, nurses, trauma therapists, addiction therapists, practitioners of mindbody medicine, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, licensed professional clinical counselors, occupational therapists, physical therapists, bodyworkers.

We will consider applications from individuals across the spectrum of research and the healing arts, with the caveat that you need to have a clear scope of research or practice in which you will be applying this learning.

Course is BY APPLICATION ONLY. Regretfully we are unable to offer scholarships for this course at this time. If accepted however, we will work with you to create an installment plan for tuition if paying it in a single lump sum is overwhelming. Apply here.

Our autonomic physiology seminar was, in brief, and I say these words with potency, an altogether grounding reorientation of my connection to Self and my Environment which manifested itself during a period of deep and painful metabolization of emotions and nervous system states which were previously unexperienced by my physical body. Not only was it meaningful for me, but it was in fact quite necessary for me in order to remain acutely conscious, observant, and attentive to the ways in which connection and safety desired to show up for me in a life context/situation which seemingly provided very little. In this way, it meant a great deal to me - and as I've always felt, known, and seen, this connected world knows the confluences of support, required growth and stretch, invitations to expansions and safeties in contraction much better than I am necessarily consciously aware. This course provided the banks and power charge to a river of insight, of revelation, and of reorientation.

Personally, it allowed me to apply grounded theoretical learning to the movement of energy within my own body and community. In turn, it contextualized the physiological requirement of containing, of holding, and of relating in a way that illuminates the beautiful symbiosis between our unconscious lives and our automated physiology. This course brought phenomenal clarity, with neurophysiological acuity and revelational attributes, the relationships between my own fields of study - restoration, creative expression, conflict dissolution and contextualization, and the general notion that in fact all of these fields are not separate at all.

-J. Ariel Guy, Counselor, Conflict Consultant, Artist & Mental Health Eductor (presently residing in Tel Aviv)