Kevin Tracey
Acupuncture for Autoimmune Modulation
Autoimmune disease — where the immune system attacks the body's own tissues — affects approximately 5-8% of the global population and is increasing in prevalence across every category: Hashimoto's thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1...
Bioelectric Medicine: Clinical Applications of the Body's Electrical System
The human body is an electrical system. Every cell maintains a voltage across its membrane.
Breathwork and Altered States: The Breath as a Consciousness Tuning Dial
Human beings have been altering their consciousness for as long as there have been human beings. Archaeological evidence suggests that psychoactive plant use dates to at least 10,000 years ago.
Heart Coherence, the Vagus Nerve, and the Autonomic Nervous System: Where Polyvagal Theory Meets Heart Science
Beneath conscious awareness, every second of every day, an ancient biological system governs the fundamental operations of your body. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls heart rate, breathing, digestion, blood pressure, immune function, hormonal release, sexual arousal, and the balance...
Chronic Pain: Rewiring the Pain System
Acute pain is a gift. It tells you to pull your hand from the fire, to stop walking on a broken ankle, to rest after surgery.
The Vagus Nerve: Master Switch of Health
The word "vagus" comes from the Latin for "wandering" — the same root as vagabond, vagrant, vague. It is the longest cranial nerve in the body, and the name is earned.
Inflammation: The Fire Inside (Understanding Your Body's Alarm System)
Think of inflammation as fire. Acute inflammation is a controlled campfire — purposeful, contained, and essential for survival.
The Vagus Nerve, the Microbiome, and Meditation: The Positive Feedback Loop of Consciousness
There is a feedback loop operating in your body that, once you understand it, reframes meditation, gut health, and consciousness optimization as aspects of a single system — not separate domains, but a unified circuit in which each component amplifies the others.
Psychoneuroimmunology: How the Mind Hacks Immunity
In 1975, Robert Ader, a psychologist at the University of Rochester, accidentally discovered something that should not have been possible. He was studying taste aversion in rats — a standard Pavlovian conditioning experiment.
The Cervical-Vagus Nerve Orgasm: A Direct Consciousness Channel That Bypasses the Spinal Cord
In the early 1990s, a woman with a complete spinal cord injury at the T10 level walked into Barry Komisaruk's laboratory at Rutgers University and told him something that the textbooks said was impossible: she could still experience orgasm.
The Inflammatory Reflex: Vagus Nerve Control of the Immune System
In 2000, Kevin Tracey — a neurosurgeon at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research — made a discovery that rewrote the relationship between the nervous system and the immune system. He found that the vagus nerve directly controls inflammatory cytokine production.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation: The Body's Master Reset Button
Cranial nerve X — the vagus nerve — is the longest and most complex cranial nerve in the human body. Its Latin name means "wanderer," and it wanders extensively: from the brainstem through the neck, chest, and abdomen, innervating the heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, kidneys,...
Yoga for Autoimmune Conditions: Immune Modulation and Gentle Practice
Autoimmune disease is the immune system's fundamental confusion — the failure to distinguish self from non-self. The same immune mechanisms that protect against pathogens turn inward, attacking the body's own tissues: the thyroid (Hashimoto's, Graves'), the joints (rheumatoid arthritis), the gut...