The incidence of chronic illness in the modern world is skyrocketing. From Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) to Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), from auto-immune issues to mold toxicity to chronic Lyme disease, the number of people incapacitated by forms of chronic illness is accelerating globally.

Chronic illness is highly individual, and arises at the confluence of the nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system. Underpinned by disruptions to digestion and inflammatory responses, chronic illness presents a bewildering array of symptoms, often leaving patients in a seemingly endless process of whack-a-mole, attempting to knock down surprising and distressing symptoms as they arise without apparent rhyme or reason.

In this handbook, pioneering ancestral neuroscientist Natureza Gabriel brings an Autonomics lens to understanding the ways that our early childhood patterns of relating till the inward ground for chronic illness. He explores the ways in which our Autonomic Nervous Systems, which govern the energy-processing templates through which we metabolize our experience, are shaped by early interactions to create unconscious autonomic habits of relating that can become pathogenic in particular ways that often create the deepest strata of chronic illness.

The book focuses specifically on understanding the deep biology of lifethreat responses, which characteristically undergird chronic illness, teaching readers how to understand the specific autonomic relational habits at the root of these injuries. By developing autonomic fluency, people with chronic illness can become more agentic in working with this primary facet of their conditions, developing awareness and skills to become active agents of their own healing.