@zachharris.eth
The Interoceptive Hypothesis: Why Chronically Ill Patients Intuitively Seek Yoga (And What Neuroscience Says Happens When They Do)"
Thesis: Chronic illness (pain, autoimmune, eating disorders) = interoceptive dysfunction (body can't sense internal state accurately)
Mechanism: Yoga directly trains interoceptive accuracy (heartbeat detection, body awareness, somatic reappraisal)
Outcome: Restored interoception → adaptive self-regulation → ANS rebalancing → immune system normalization
Testable prediction: Patients with higher baseline interoceptive dysfunction should show (a) higher yoga initiation rates, (b) greater IAc improvements, (c) larger inflammatory marker reductions