The Science Behind the Experience
Innate Wisdom Guided™ is, first and foremost, an experience. But if you're someone who loves to understand the "why," this page is for you. Here is a gentle tour of what researchers have discovered about imagination, emotion, the body and learning, and how it connects with the work we do together.
1. Your Brain and Imagination
When you picture something in your mind's eye, your brain doesn't treat it as "nothing." Researchers have found that imagining a scene can engage many of the same brain networks involved in actually seeing it, including areas that process vision. In a very real sense, imagination is a form of inner perception, which is why it can feel so vivid and meaningful.
Research
- Kosslyn, S. M., Ganis, G., & Thompson, W. L. (2001). Neural foundations of imagery. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2(9), 635–642.
- Pearson, J. (2019). The human imagination: The cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 20(10), 624–634.
2. Imagination and Emotion
Have you ever felt your heart lift while imagining something you love, or tense up while picturing something you dread? Studies show that mental images can stir emotions more strongly than words alone. That is part of why imagery can open such a rich doorway into your inner world, helping you notice feelings and explore new perspectives.
Research
- Holmes, E. A., & Mathews, A. (2010). Mental imagery in emotion and emotional disorders. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(3), 349–362.
3. The Body as Part of the Experience
Your body is constantly sending signals: a flutter in the stomach, a warmth in the chest, a sense of ease or tension. Scientists call this awareness of the body's inner signals "interoception," and research suggests these signals play a part in how we feel, decide and understand ourselves. Researchers studying "embodied" or "grounded" cognition also find that our thinking is closely connected to our bodily experience.
That is what the science describes. Innate Wisdom Guided™ adds an experiential invitation: in sessions, you are welcome to explore your body's sensations with curiosity, as possible expressions of your innate wisdom. That way of listening is part of the Innate Wisdom Guided™ Method (IWGM).
Research
- Craig, A. D. (2002). How do you feel? Interoception: The sense of the physiological condition of the body. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3(8), 655–666.
- Barsalou, L. W. (2008). Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 617–645.
4. Emotions, the Nervous System, and the Endocrine System
What if the way you experience your emotions is connected to far more than your thoughts?
Your brain and body are in constant communication. Through an extraordinary network of nerves, hormones, and sensory signals, your body participates in how you experience emotions, interpret sensations, and perceive the world around you.
Neuroscience shows that emotional experiences involve communication between the brain, autonomic nervous system, and endocrine system. The brain can influence hormonal and physiological responses, while information from within the body helps shape emotional awareness and perception.
This two-way communication is part of what makes our emotional experiences so deeply personal.
Exploring the Chakra System Alongside Modern Neuroscience
For centuries, spiritual traditions have described chakras as centers associated with different aspects of human experience, including emotions, expression, intuition, and awareness.
Some contemporary interpretations draw parallels between chakra locations, endocrine glands, and important regions of the nervous system.
While these correspondences have not yet been established as anatomical or physiological relationships by modern science, they offer an interesting framework for exploring the relationship between our emotional experiences and bodily awareness.
Within the Innate Wisdom Guided™ Method, we can explore these different perspectives while honoring both the scientific understanding of the body and the personal meaning of our inner experiences.
As we become more curious about our emotions, bodily sensations, and perceptions, we open ourselves to discovering new ways of understanding our experiences and developing a deeper relationship with ourselves.
Research
- Ulrich-Lai, Y. M., & Herman, J. P. (2009). Neural regulation of endocrine and autonomic stress responses. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(6), 397–409.
This research examines how brain networks coordinate endocrine and autonomic responses to stress.
5. Imagination, Learning and New Possibilities
Imagination isn't only about the past or present. It helps us rehearse and prepare for what's ahead. In one well-known study, people who mentally rehearsed a piano exercise showed measurable changes in brain areas involved in movement, even without physically practising the exercise. Physical practice produced greater improvements in performance, but the findings demonstrated that mental rehearsal can also contribute to changes in the brain. Other research shows that the same memory systems we use to remember the past also help us imagine the future, which is how we envision new possibilities for our lives.
Research
- Pascual-Leone, A., Nguyet, D., Cohen, L. G., Brasil-Neto, J. P., Cammarota, A., & Hallett, M. (1995). Modulation of muscle responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation during the acquisition of new fine motor skills. Journal of Neurophysiology, 74(3), 1037–1045.
- Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Buckner, R. L. (2007). Remembering the past to imagine the future: The prospective brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8(9), 657–661.
6. Not Everyone "Sees" Pictures, and That's Perfectly Okay
Some people experience vivid inner images; others experience very few or none at all. Researchers have a name for little or no visual imagery: "aphantasia." This is simply one of the many ways human minds differ. In Innate Wisdom Guided™, your wisdom may come through feelings, sounds, sensations or simply knowing. There is no right or wrong way.
Research
- Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery: Congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378–380.
7. Your Beliefs, Your Perception, Your Reality
What if the way you perceive your world is influenced by what you believe is possible?
Your brain does not simply receive information from the world around you. It continuously interprets that information through the lens of your previous experiences, expectations, memories, and beliefs.
Neuroscience suggests that perception is an active process. Your brain combines incoming sensory information with what it has learned to expect, helping shape how you experience and understand what is happening around you.
This means two people can experience the same situation and walk away with entirely different interpretations, emotions, and beliefs about what occurred.
And something extraordinary becomes possible when you begin to recognize this.
You can become curious about the beliefs that influence your perceptions. You can explore new perspectives, imagine different possibilities, and begin developing new ways of interpreting and responding to your experiences.
As your beliefs and expectations evolve, your emotional responses, choices, and experiences of life can evolve with them.
Within the Innate Wisdom Guided™ Method, this is part of the invitation to become more conscious of how you perceive your reality—and discover the possibilities that open when you begin seeing yourself and your world differently.
Your perception creates your reality.
Research
Research Area One: Predictive Processing
Garlichs, A., & Blank, H. (2024). Prediction error processing and sharpening of expected information across the face-processing hierarchy. Nature Communications, 15, Article 3407.This study investigated how prior expectations influence the processing and perception of faces.
Research Area Two: Cognitive Reappraisal
Buhle, J. T., et al. (2014). Cognitive reappraisal of emotion: A meta-analysis of human neuroimaging studies. Cerebral Cortex, 24(11), 2981–2990.This meta-analysis examined 48 neuroimaging studies and found that changing the interpretation of emotional information engages brain systems involved in cognitive control and emotional responding.
Research Area Three: Expectations and Bodily Experience
Wager, T. D., & Atlas, L. Y. (2015). The neuroscience of placebo effects: Connecting context, learning and health. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16, 403–418.This review explains how expectations, learning, and treatment context can influence brain activity and physiological or subjective outcomes.
These studies support the relationship between expectations, interpretation, emotional experience, and perception. They do not establish that beliefs alone determine external events.
Your Wisdom. Your Life. Authentically You.