Viscero-Autonomic Emotional Integration™ framework (VAEI)

Most pain, fatigue, and emotional dysregulation aren't random. They're maintained by a specific feedback loop operating between your visceral organs, your autonomic nervous system, your emotional history, and your lifestyle foundation.

The VAEI assessment maps your symptoms across all four levels — and generates a personalised results page showing exactly where your loop is most active and what you can do about it right now.

25 questions. Takes 5–8 minutes. No fluff — just a clear clinical picture and practical next steps.

VAEI body assessment

A four-level clinical assessment based on the Viscero-Autonomic Emotional Integration framework. Takes 5-8 minutes. Identifies which levels of the VAEI loop are most active and exactly what you can do about it.

Level 1 - visceral substrate

Physical and pain patterns

Rate each from 0 (not at all) to 4 (severely or constantly).

1.My pain or discomfort shifts location - it moves between areas rather than staying in one place.

Not at allSeverely

2.I have pain or tension in the right shoulder, right-sided upper back, or right ribcage area.

Not at allSeverely

3.I have lower back, hip, or pelvic pain that does not fully resolve with structural treatment.

Not at allSeverely

4.My pain or tension fluctuates with stress, emotional state, or food more than with physical activity.

Not at allSeverely

5.I experience digestive symptoms alongside my other symptoms - bloating, constipation, reflux, or gut sensitivity.

Not at allSeverely

6.My breathing feels restricted or shallow, or I catch myself holding my breath without realising.

Not at allSeverely

7.Treatment has helped my symptoms temporarily, but they keep returning to roughly the same pattern.

Not at allSeverely

Level 2 - autonomic regulation

Nervous system and autonomic state

These questions assess how regulated or dysregulated your nervous system currently is. Rate each from 0 to 4.

8.I feel chronically tired even after adequate sleep - as if rest does not fully restore me.

Not at allSeverely

9.I find it difficult to fully relax - even in safe comfortable situations I feel a background tension or vigilance.

Not at allSeverely

10.My sleep is disrupted - difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking unrefreshed.

Not at allSeverely

11.I experience palpitations, racing heart, or noticeable changes in heart rate at rest.

Not at allSeverely

12.My symptoms are noticeably worse after periods of sustained stress, even when the stress has passed.

Not at allSeverely

13.I notice significant differences in blood pressure or circulation between my left and right sides.

Not at all / unsureSignificant difference

Level 3 - emotional history and pattern

Emotional experience and history

These questions explore the emotional layer of the VAEI loop. Rate from 0 to 4, then answer the open questions briefly.

14.I experience anxiety, emotional reactivity, or overwhelm that seems disproportionate to the immediate situation.

Not at allConstantly

15.I feel emotionally flat, distant from my own experience, or as if life has less colour or vitality than it used to.

Not at allConstantly

16.I have done significant psychological work but notice something physical that has not shifted with it.

Not at allVery much

17.There was a period in my life even years before my symptoms began of sustained stress, loss, threat, or overwhelm.

Not at allSignificantly

18.Briefly describe what was happening in your life in the 1-3 years before your current pattern began. (Optional)

19.Where in your body do you most often notice tension or restriction beyond the main site of pain? (Optional)

Level 4 - foundational substrate

Lifestyle and biological environment

These questions assess the foundational biological context within which all other interventions operate. Rate from 0 to 4.

20.My sleep is consistently poor - fewer than 7 hours, frequently disrupted, or rarely restorative.

Not at allSeverely

21.My diet regularly includes processed food, refined sugar, alcohol, or foods I suspect do not agree with me.

Not at allRegularly

22.My daily environment involves ongoing stress, conflict, or a chronic sense of not feeling safe or settled.

Not at allConstantly

23.I have limited access to genuine connection or relationships in which I feel truly seen and safe.

Not at allSignificantly

24.I have a limited sense of meaning, purpose, or direction in my life currently.

Not at allSignificantly

25.Anything else about your situation that feels relevant but has not been captured above? (Optional)

Section 1 of 4

Your VAEI assessment

This is a clinical reasoning tool, not a diagnosis. Results map your responses onto the four VAEI levels and show exactly what you can do now at each tier.

Loop activation by level

Clinical summary

What you can do now

Ready to work on what your body has been holding?

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This assessment is an educational and clinical reasoning tool based on the VAEI framework developed by Matthew Sorensen, CHEK Faculty and Advanced Barral Institute Practitioner. It is not a medical diagnosis. healhub.net

VAEI™ Body Map

Where emotional history lives in the body — and why it stays. Tap any organ to explore the pattern recognition correlation.

About this map: This body map is a clinical pattern recognition tool drawing on published research in autonomic neuroscience and interoception. Organ-emotion correlations reflect clinical observation and theoretical framework — not validated diagnostic criteria. For educational purposes only.

Tap any organ to explore the pattern

Endocrine

Thyroid

Chronic suppression, unexpressed truth, difficulty speaking what is true. The thyroid reflects the long-held gap between what is felt and what is said.

Refers to: anterior neck, jaw, cognitive fog, fatigue, hair and nail changes

Innervation: superior cervical ganglia, vagus · HPA-HPT axis suppressed by cortisol

Adrenal glands

Sustained chronic stress, burnout, the body running on adrenaline long after the threat has passed. The adrenals are the body's emergency system — when chronically activated they maintain the entire loop.

Refers to: mid-back T10–L1 fatigue, bilateral systemic fatigue, energy crashes

Innervation: splanchnic nerves T8–L1 (direct sympathetic — unique among organs) · Shares Gerota's fascia with kidneys

Cardiovascular / Respiratory

Heart

Acute overwhelming events — shock, sudden loss, acute terror. The heart carries the imprint of experiences that came without warning and exceeded the nervous system's capacity to integrate.

Refers to: left arm, anterior chest, jaw, lower cervical spine, palpitations at rest

Innervation: cardiac plexus T1–T5, vagus · RMSSD often below 15ms in chronic presentations

Lungs

Unexpressed grief, suppressed voice, held breath. The lungs hold what was never given air — what was breathed in but never breathed out.

Refers to: mid-thoracic T4–T6, shoulder girdle, neck tension, immune vulnerability

Innervation: phrenic C3–C5, vagus, T2–T6 · BALT (bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue) — respiratory immune organ

Diaphragm

Suppressed breath — chronic vigilance, unexpressed emotion, the holding pattern of someone who never fully exhales. The diaphragm is the autonomic gate: its restriction impairs every other body system simultaneously.

Refers to: mid-back T6–T10, bilateral shoulder girdle, neck, breathing asymmetry

Innervation: phrenic C3–C5, intercostal T7–T12 · Primary baroreceptor modulator · Primary lymphatic pump (thoracic duct)

Hepatic / Digestive

Liver and gallbladder

Grief, anger, sustained toxic emotional exposure, prolonged resentment. The liver holds long-duration emotional states — what was carried for years, not just days. Also responds to chemical and dietary inflammatory load.

Refers to: right shoulder (classic — via phrenic C3–C5), right thoracic T6–T10, right ribcage

Innervation: hepatic plexus T7–T9, vagus · Right arm BP often higher than left when liver restriction is primary

Stomach and spleen

Anxiety, worry, chronic anticipatory stress, rumination. What cannot be metabolised — emotionally or physically. The stomach is the body's processing organ in both literal and figurative terms.

Refers to: left ribcage T6–T8, left shoulder, epigastric pain, bloating, reflux

Innervation: coeliac plexus T6–T9, anterior vagal trunk · Vagal tone reduction measurable as HRV drop

Small intestine

Early life stress, prolonged emotional threat, chronic insecurity. The most densely autonomically innervated abdominal organ — with its own nervous system of 100 million neurons. The gut has memory.

Refers to: central thoracic T8–T10, periumbilical region, L3–L4, IBS patterns

Innervation: superior mesenteric plexus T9–T11, ENS · Most consistent RMSSD suppression of any single organ

Large intestine

Difficulty letting go, holding patterns, control as a coping strategy. The large intestine is where what has been processed is finally released — or held.

Refers to: lower abdomen, sigmoid referral, sacrum, pelvic floor

Innervation: inferior mesenteric, pelvic plexus S2–S4 · Colonic tone correlates with anxiety measures

Renal / Pelvic

Kidneys

Fear, chronic threat, survival-level stress, fundamental unsafety. The kidneys sit adjacent to the psoas — when the body braces for threat, the kidneys brace with it. Renal venous congestion is the clinical observation behind persistent lower back pain.

Refers to: lower back L1–L3, hip flexors, psoas, pelvic floor, ipsilateral leg heaviness

Innervation: renal plexus T10–L1 · Bilateral BP asymmetry — L kidney raises L arm BP · Shares Gerota's fascia with adrenals

Bladder

Urgency, boundary stress, territorial threat. The bladder holds what the body is not yet ready to release — or cannot stop releasing.

Refers to: lower abdomen, sacrum, inner thigh, pelvic floor hypertonicity

Innervation: pelvic plexus T11–L2, S2–S4 · Hypertonicity correlates with sympathetic dominance

Reproductive organs

Identity threat, relational stress, creative suppression, unexpressed sexuality. The HPG axis is directly suppressed by chronic cortisol — the reproductive system is the first non-essential system to go offline under prolonged stress.

Refers to: lower abdomen, pelvic floor, lumbar, inner thigh, hormonal irregularity

Innervation: pelvic plexus T10–L2, S2–S4 · HPG axis suppressed by cortisol — progesterone receptor competition

Based on the VAEI™ framework — Sorensen Method™
Clinical pattern recognition drawing on published research in autonomic neuroscience and interoception.
Not a validated diagnostic instrument. healhub.net