Gut Feelings and the Second Brain: What Hypnotherapists Should Know

Emma Charlton
May 15
4 min read

Have you ever had a client say, “I just have a gut feeling something isn’t right”? Or perhaps during a session, your own intuition pointed you in a direction that turned out to be exactly what your client needed. These moments may seem mysterious, even magical—but neuroscience tells us there’s more going on than meets the eye.

As hypnotherapists and therapists, we work in the space between conscious awareness and unconscious wisdom. Now, emerging research on the enteric nervous system (ENS)—the so-called “second brain” in the gut—offers a compelling biological explanation for what we call gut feeling. It also helps us better understand enteroception, intuition, and the mind–body connection we so often address in our sessions.

The Science Behind Gut Feeling

The enteric nervous system is a vast network of about 500 million neurons lining the gastrointestinal tract—more than in the spinal cord. This system doesn’t just manage digestion. It produces neurotransmitters like serotonin (around 90% of the body's supply is made in the gut) and communicates directly with the brain via the Vagus nerve, forming what scientists call the gut–brain axis.

These neural pathways allow the gut to send real-time updates to the brain about our internal state—like tension, calm, nausea, or hunger. This feedback loop contributes to our interoceptive awareness: our ability to sense the internal state of our body. For clients who describe “tightness in the stomach” or “heaviness in the chest” when facing a difficult decision or memory, these gut–brain signals are not metaphor—they're neurobiology in action.

Gut Instincts in Decision-Making

Scientific research supports the idea that bodily sensations—our gut feelings—can guide decisions, especially under pressure or uncertainty. For example:

In *Iowa Gambling Task studies, participants' bodies registered subtle arousal signals before they consciously knew which choices were risky.
Professional *financial traders who were better at sensing their own heartbeats outperformed others in volatile markets. Their “gut feeling” wasn't luck—it was embodied intelligence.

In therapeutic terms, this tells us that the body often “knows” things before the mind can articulate them. When clients feel stuck between logic and emotion, tuning into bodily cues can be a powerful route to clarity and congruence.

Hypnotherapy, Enteroception, and the Gut–Brain Link

As hypnotherapists, we are already working in the terrain of the unconscious, where visceral awareness often takes precedence over rational thought.

Can hypnotic states naturally enhance enteroception—through progressive relaxation, metaphor, or internal visualisation? This could align beautifully with how the gut–brain axis functions: as a channel through which the body sends emotional information to the mind.

In hypnosis, we guide clients to “notice where they feel that” or “tune into the sensation in their core,” are we helping them to build a bridge between body and brain. Could this be profoundly useful for? :

Emotional processing (e.g., anxiety, grief, trauma)
Psychosomatic symptoms (e.g., IBS, headaches, chronic tension)
Decision-making and intuition (e.g., identifying values, resolving ambivalence)
Confidence and self-trust (learning to trust what their body tells them)

Clinical Wisdom: When the Gut Speaks, Listen

Even in conventional medicine, gut feelings are starting to be taken seriously. General practitioners often report an intuitive sense that something’s wrong with a patient, even before obvious symptoms emerge. In therapy, we can cultivate this same sensitivity—both in ourselves and in our clients.

Encouraging clients to listen to their gut doesn’t mean dismissing reason. Rather, it invites a whole-body intelligence—a conversation between logic, emotion, and physical sensation. Hypnosis provides the ideal context for this deeper listening.

Therapeutic Applications

Here are some ways you might apply this knowledge in your hypnotherapy practice:

Use gut-focused imagery: Invite clients to imagine warmth or light spreading through the abdomen, or to give their gut a “voice” during sessions.
Anchor positive gut sensations: After a breakthrough, help clients encode safety, clarity, or relief as a felt sense in their core.
Address gut-based symptoms: For clients with IBS, nausea, or tension, use gut-calming scripts and suggestions that activate the parasympathetic nervous system (via the Vagus nerve).
Cultivate embodied decision-making: Use hypnosis to help clients “try on” different choices and notice how each one feels in the body.

Conclusion: The Gut as a Guide

The more we learn about the ENS and the gut–brain axis, the more it validates what many therapists have long intuited: the body is wise, and its messages are worth heeding. Gut feelings are not just fleeting impressions—they are rooted in complex neural and biochemical systems that evolved to keep us safe, regulated, and connected to our environment.

In hypnotherapy, we help clients reconnect with this inner compass. By understanding the science behind gut feeling, we can speak with even greater confidence to the deep intelligence within the body—and guide our clients toward healing that resonates from the inside out. We also have a responsibility as therapists to remind clients that Encouraging clients to listen to their gut doesn’t mean dismissing reason. Rather, it invites a whole-body intelligence—a conversation between logic, emotion, and physical sensation.

Hypnosis provides an ideal context for this deeper listening.

Below is an AI generated article/research which delves more deeply into the subject.