Understanding the Autonomic Nervous System, Subconscious Processing & Kinesiology

Have you ever walked into a room and immediately felt uneasy, even before you could explain why?


Maybe you noticed your heart racing, palms sweating, stomach tightening, or muscles tensing before you consciously realized you were stressed?


That isn’t your imagination.


It is an example of something fascinating about the human body: your nervous system is constantly receiving information, processing it, and responding, much of it outside of your conscious awareness.


And understanding this distinction is important when we talk about the nervous system, what people commonly call the “subconscious mind,” and how I incorporate kinesiology into my wellness practice.


What Do We Actually Mean by the “Subconscious Mind”?


“Subconscious mind” is a phrase we hear frequently, but neuroscience generally uses more specific terms such as nonconscious, unconscious, implicit, or automatic processing.


Your brain doesn’t require conscious thought for every decision or bodily response.


For example, you don’t consciously instruct yourself to:


increase your heart rate when you’re frightened
produce saliva when you smell food
tense certain muscles when you anticipate danger
coordinate thousands of small movements while walking reacts automatically to something you’ve encountered many times before
The nervous system is continuously processing sensory information, learned associations, memories, internal bodily signals, and environmental cues.


Researchers studying implicit cognition have demonstrated that information can influence behavior and physiological responses without necessarily entering conscious awareness.


So, when I use the word subconscious, I’m not talking about mind-reading, predicting the future, or accessing some hidden supernatural source of information.


I’m talking about biological processes occurring outside our immediate conscious awareness.


Meet Your Autonomic Nervous System


One of the body’s major automatic regulatory systems is the autonomic nervous system (ANS).


The ANS helps regulate functions including:


heart rate • blood pressure • digestion • breathing patterns • sweating • pupil responses • bladder function • sexual function • blood-vessel tone


Traditionally, we talk about two major branches:


The sympathetic nervous system helps mobilize the body during activity, challenge, or perceived threat—the familiar “fight-or-flight” response.


The parasympathetic nervous system supports functions associated with recovery, digestion, energy conservation, and restoration—often simplified as “rest and digest.”


There is also the enteric nervous system, an extensive neural network associated with gastrointestinal function.


None of these systems operates completely independently. Your brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, endocrine system, immune signaling, organs, muscles, and sensory systems are constantly exchanging information.


Stress Isn’t “Just in Your Head”


This is where the conversation becomes particularly interesting.


Psychological stress can produce measurable physiological changes.


Stress activates pathways involving the autonomic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, influencing hormones such as cortisol and catecholamines.


Short-term stress responses are normal and can be protective.


Problems can arise when physiological stress responses remain activated repeatedly or for prolonged periods.


Bruce McEwen’s influential research described allostatic load—the cumulative physiological burden associated with repeated or chronic adaptation to stress.


This doesn’t mean that “every disease is caused by emotions.”


It means something much more scientifically grounded:


The brain and body are interconnected, and experiences can influence physiology.


So Where Does Kinesiology Muscle Testing Fit In?


This is also where terminology matters.


Manual muscle testing is legitimately used in conventional rehabilitation and clinical settings to evaluate aspects of muscle strength and function.


Applied kinesiology, however, extends muscle testing into broader interpretations about health. Research evaluating applied kinesiology has produced inconsistent results, and there is currently insufficient scientific evidence to establish muscle testing as a reliable standalone method for diagnosing diseases, nutritional deficiencies, infections, organ dysfunction, or other medical conditions.


That distinction is important to me.


Within my own wellness practice, I may incorporate kinesiology as a complementary biofeedback-style tool alongside client history, observation, conversation, movement, bodywork, and other wellness approaches.


I don’t use muscle testing to tell someone’s future.


I don’t consider it mind-reading.


I don’t use it as a replacement for laboratory testing, imaging, medical evaluation, or an appropriate medical diagnosis.


And I don’t believe a muscle response gives us unlimited access to everything occurring within someone’s mind or body.


Instead, it is one tool within a much larger conversation.


The Body Is Constantly Adapting


One of the things I find most remarkable about human physiology is how incredibly adaptive the body is.


Every second, receptors throughout your body are providing your nervous system with information.


Your brain receives signals about what’s happening outside your body through systems such as vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.


At the same time, interoception provides information about what’s happening inside the body—such as heartbeat, breathing, hunger, fullness, temperature, pain, and other internal sensations.


Proprioception provides information about body position and movement.


And the autonomic nervous system continuously adjusts internal functions according to the body’s changing circumstances.


Much of this happens before or entirely without, conscious thought.


That’s physiology.


Why I Believe This Conversation Matters


There is tremendous value in learning to pay attention to our bodies.


But there is an equally important responsibility to distinguish between what science has established, what research is still investigating, and what belongs to an individual practitioner’s complementary approach.


Those things don’t have to be enemies.


As research continues to expand our understanding of the brain-body connection, stress physiology, interoception, neuroplasticity, and autonomic regulation, we’re discovering just how sophisticated communication throughout the human body really is.


My goal isn’t to convince someone what they must believe about their body.


My goal is to encourage curiosity.


Ask questions.


Learn your body’s signals.


Seek qualified medical evaluation when it’s needed.


And become an informed participant in your own wellness.


Because one thing physiology makes abundantly clear:


Your body isn’t sitting silently waiting for your conscious mind to tell it what to do.


It is sensing, signaling, regulating, adapting, and responding around the clock.


And that conversation is worth learning how to understand.


Rooted in Wellness,
Natasha Baker, BS,LMBT,CST,CTT-PACT,BMT, FMT




References & Further Reading


Bargh JA, Morsella E. The Unconscious Mind. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2008;3(1):73–79. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00064.x.


Hall JE, Hall ME. Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology. Elsevier. A standard medical physiology reference covering autonomic nervous-system physiology.


National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Dysautonomia. National Institutes of Health. Information on the autonomic nervous system and disorders affecting autonomic function.


McEwen BS. Protective and Damaging Effects of Stress Mediators. New England Journal of Medicine. 1998;338:171–179. doi:10.1056/NEJM199801153380307.


Hall S, Lewith G, Brien S, Little P. A Review of the Literature in Applied and Specialised Kinesiology. Forschende Komplementärmedizin. 2008;15(1):40–46. doi:10.1159/000112820.


Haas M, Peterson D, Hoyer D, Ross G. Muscle Testing Response to Provocative Vertebral Challenge and Spinal Manipulation: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Construct Validity. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 1994;17(3):141–148.


Khalsa SS, Adolphs R, Cameron OG, et al. Interoception and Mental Health: A Roadmap. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. 2018;3(6):501–513. doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.12.004.


Educational information only. Kinesiology and complementary wellness services are not substitutes for medical diagnosis or treatment. Health concerns should be evaluated by an appropriately licensed healthcare professional