This model is designed to be a roadmap. The Hub is the central, unifying cause. The Spokes are the distinct, yet interconnected, systems where the dysfunction manifests. This is an actual case so none of this is theory.
The integration of neuroscience and biochemistry with classical oriental medicine for the treatment of neurological disease and trauma has become my life's work. (c) Polyvagal Acupuncture 2024
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Friday, August 22, 2025
The Startle Reflex: The Initial Spark of Freeze–Fight–Flight Activation
The Startle
Reflex is the earliest postural motor reaction to sudden sensory input,
emerging in utero between 9–12 weeks gestation. It serves as a primitive
survival mechanism, activating the reticular brainstem in response to
unexpected threat—auditory, tactile, vestibular, or visual. Unlike the Moro
Reflex, which follows a full arc of extension and recoil, the Startle reflex is
a pure flexor response, rapid, involuntary, and globally defensive.
When triggered, the response begins with a bilateral blink, followed by immediate contraction of the neck, shoulders, diaphragm, and deep core. This sequence occurs within 30–50 milliseconds, bypassing cortical processing. It is not a social or communicative reflex—it is pure brainstem defense, marking the first motor imprint of hypervigilance.
Tuesday, August 19, 2025
The Fear Paralysis Reflex (FPR): The Primordial Freeze Response

Unlike the Startle or Moro reflexes, which produce visible motor output, FPR is a silent, full-body inhibition. Its role is to make the fetus "invisible" in response to intrauterine or environmental threat—predator, vibration, or maternal stress. It is autonomic, vagal-dominant, and deeply subcortical, involving cranial and sacral parasympathetic regulation.
Monday, August 18, 2025
The Moro Reflex: The Core Disruptor of Gut–Brain–Body Integration
- The Moro
Reflex, distinct from
the simpler Startle Reflex, is a higher-order primitive reflex that appears at
birth and is typically integrated by 4–6 months of age. It is triggered by a
sudden loss of support—as if the infant is falling—and results in a global
motor response: the arms and legs shoot outward, hands open wide, then recoil
in a grasping motion, often accompanied by crying. This reflex is not a mere startle—it
is the first vestibular–sympathetic integration event, combining full-body
motor discharge with thoracoabdominal bracing, vocalization, and diaphragmatic
lock.
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Freeze-Based Reflexes: The Missing Foundation in Primitive Reflex Work
Core Tendon Guard Reflex (CTG): Architectural Overview
Most primitive reflex training programs, particularly those focused on pediatrics, emphasize postural and motor pattern reflexes such as ATNR, STNR, and TLR. Yet many of my early classes omitted the most foundational layer of the reflex hierarchy: the freeze responses.
Startle, Fear Paralysis Reflex (FPR), and Core Tendon Guard Reflex (CTG) all precede the Moro reflex—not just in development, but in function. These are the body’s last line of defense against threat. I first encountered this tier of reflexes through Masgutova’s Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI) work for PTSD. While most pediatric and OT-based programs I have taken did not cover the freeze responses, Masgutova’s system explicitly maps them in the context of trauma and autonomic dysregulation. Dr. Karen Pryor’s neuroplasticity training also explored these reflexes in detail.
Most primitive reflex training programs, particularly those focused on pediatrics, emphasize postural and motor pattern reflexes such as ATNR, STNR, and TLR. Yet many of my early classes omitted the most foundational layer of the reflex hierarchy: the freeze responses.
Startle, Fear Paralysis Reflex (FPR), and Core Tendon Guard Reflex (CTG) all precede the Moro reflex—not just in development, but in function. These are the body’s last line of defense against threat. I first encountered this tier of reflexes through Masgutova’s Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI) work for PTSD. While most pediatric and OT-based programs I have taken did not cover the freeze responses, Masgutova’s system explicitly maps them in the context of trauma and autonomic dysregulation. Dr. Karen Pryor’s neuroplasticity training also explored these reflexes in detail.
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Head Righting Reflex
Head
Righting Reflexes are a
set of midbrain-driven postural responses that begin emerging around 2–3 months
of age and remain active throughout life, albeit in a more refined and
voluntary form. These reflexes govern the body’s ability to maintain head and
eye alignment with the horizon—a prerequisite for balance, coordinated
movement, and autonomic regulation.
They are not primitive reflexes in the
traditional sense, but rather transitional postural reflexes that replace
primitive patterns like TLR, ATNR, and STNR. Their presence indicates maturation
of vestibular–ocular–spinal coordination and the emergence of cortical control
over postural tone.
In the last two decades—especially since COVID—we’ve seen a dramatic rise in retained Head Righting reflexes in teens and young adults. Most present with fascial rigidity from T3 upward, compromising cervical rotation, vagal tone, and in severe cases, carotid and sympathetic ganglia function.
Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR): Foundational Flexion–Extension Drive and Gravitational Orientation
The Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex (TLR)
is one of the earliest reflexes to appear in human development, emerging in
utero and typically integrating by 4–6 months of age, though postural traces
often persist in clients with dysregulation. It establishes the infant’s first
global response to gravitational orientation, mediated not by surface contact
but by vestibular input from the otolith system, which senses head position in
space. When the infant’s head tilts
forward (into flexion), the body reflexively moves into total flexion; when the head tilts backward (into extension), the body extends. These total-body tone shifts form the first flexor–extensor map across the fascial and muscular systems, organizing anterior–posterior tone in both prone and supine positions.
forward (into flexion), the body reflexively moves into total flexion; when the head tilts backward (into extension), the body extends. These total-body tone shifts form the first flexor–extensor map across the fascial and muscular systems, organizing anterior–posterior tone in both prone and supine positions.
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Landau Reflex: The Postural Bridge Between Core Extension and Spatial Autonomy
The Landau Reflex emerges around 3–4
months of age and typically integrates between 12–24 months, depending on trunk
tone maturity and the resolution of earlier primitive reflexes. It appears only
after foundational flexor patterns—particularly the Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex
(TLR), Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex (ATNR), and residual Moro activity—have
begun to recede. This staged emergence reflects the infant’s growing ability to
sustain antigravity postural extension.
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