Afraid to Navel Gaze? This One Maybe the Ultimate Intimately Attuning Experience

[Randy Eady]

This process is inspired by the in vitro state of consciousness experienced while underwater.

As well as the first toy & illuminated plaything we ever had: our umbilical cord.

Our belly button is a reminder for life just how attached to and dependent on our mother we once were:  floating in our liquid universe like a wee astronaut with our line-of-life cord to the mothership. 

The cord, and in particular the vestige at the navel (that button on the belly) continues to speak not only to our physical separation w/the umbilical cord, but the connective tissues of internal parts of the vestigial cord that becomes part of the circulatory system (found in the pelvis region).  Ever noticed that when you stick a finger in your belly button you can feel tingling around your bladder and pelvic area? Now you know why. Once a highway of blood from mother to baby turns into ligaments and some continued connection to blood supply deep inside your body.

Internally the veins and arteries in the cord close up and form ligaments, which are tough connective tissues. These ligaments specifically divide up the liver into sections and remain attached to the inside of the belly button.

The part of the umbilical arteries closest to the belly button degenerates into ligaments serving the polyvagal response (as a sort of "gut check") while internal circulatory filtering systems of the cord are found in the pelvis -- supplying blood to parts of the bladder, ureters and ductus deferens (a tube for sperm to move through).

The umbilical cord is probably the baby’s first toy, as they are sometimes caught on ultrasound playing around with it. 

The umbilical cord is made up of one large vein and two smaller arteries. The vein carries the oxygen-filled blood from the mother to the baby. The arteries carry the oxygen-depleted blood and waste products from the baby back to the mother. The cord inserts into the placenta so it’s not directly connected to the mother’s circulation.

After being born and taking that first breath, another semblance of us dies, blood gets instantly shunted to the lungs, which have been suitable ably quiet up to that point as they have been filled with fluid. 

This amazing switch happens in the circulation with the two arteries constricting to stop the flow of blood to the placenta and then the vein collapses in a series of steps. Internally, as the cord closes up as the veins and arteries begin to form ligaments (tough connective tissues vital for our future two-legged mobility and extremity circulation. These ligaments further divide up the liver into sections and remain attached to the inside of the belly button. 

As Hildegard von Bingen, noted in her Causae et Curae:  "the liver is for listening inside the body" to provide our “emotional” brain feedback to aid in our perceptual awareness. 

The more internal part becomes part of the circulatory system found in the pelvis to supply blood to parts (also woven into fear response) of the kidneys, bladder and ureters.

Fear may be as old as life on Earth. It is a fundamental, deeply wired reaction, evolved over the history of biology, to protect organisms against perceived threat to their integrity or existence. Fear may be as basic as a cringy recoil of an antenna in a snail touched, or as complex as an existential anxiety.

Love or hate experiencing fear, it’s hard to deny we certainly revere it –holidays like Halloween are devoted to fear's celebration.

Within brain~body electro-biofields, some of the main chemicals (biomarkers) that contribute to the “fight or flight” response are also woven into other positive emotional states, such as the happiness of mending and sheer excitement of putting up a good defense.

So, it makes sense (in looking through a polyvagal lens) the high arousal states we can experience in startle reflex/response are also intertwined w/the vibratory cord of our very first connection to another being (our birth mother).

In treating (and preparing to deal with) trauma, fear, anxiety & depression it's wise to tap into this overlooked source of neurobiology.  Tracing it back to the origination of heart, respiratory, brain & thymus-health in the (olfactory smell-triggered) spleen-manubrium-thymus immune alignment axis.

Studies and clinical/therapeutic interactions suggest major factors in how we experience fear has to do with the sheer context we ascribe between our “thinking” brain and our “emotional/gut” brain and the very existential nature of how we perceive ourselves as being in a safe or unsafe space.

And, yes, through spatial and temporaceutical (Space and Time) approaches, we can then quickly shift the way we experience and process that high arousal state, going from one of fear filled trauma to one of enjoyment, excitement and tremendous neuro-regenerative potential.

P.S. ~ RECENT SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE HAS MADE US RETHINK HOW SOON SHOULD THE SEVERING OF THE CORD OCCUR AFTER BIRTH; WITH EVIDENCE THE BABY CAN RECEIVE AS MUCH AS ANOTHER 80-100ML (ALMOST A THIRD OF ITS TOTAL BLOOD VOLUME) IF WE MERELY DELAY CLAMPING AND CUTTING THE CORD FOR THREE OR MORE MINUTES AFTER THE BIRTH. NOT ONLY DO BABIES GET MORE BLOOD THIS WAY BUT THIS EXTRA BLOOD VOLUME HAS A POSITIVE IMPACT ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT.