VAGAL INTELLIGENCE™
About Tilly Lawrence
TEDx Speaker - Life Scientist - Dancer - Futurist - Founder of Vagal Intelligence
The practitioner behind the movement.
Tilly Lawrence is the founder of Vagal Intelligence, creating a salutogenic framework for wellness that focuses on the creation of health rather than the origins and treatment of disease. With a background in neonatal and pediatric intensive care nursing, and over 20 years of clinical research, Tilly bridges science and art wellness practices into actionable pathways to advance the human state of the art. A key contributor to breakthrough clinical research on Long COVID and autonomic regulation, she uses her Sense. Sway. Sync. Framework to help humans recover their natural rhythm and capacity for connection in an increasingly automated world.
THE ORIGIN STORY
What a premature baby taught Tilly about safety.
Tilly's path into nervous system education began in the NICU. As a neonatal intensive care nurse, she worked daily with premature infants — some weighing less than a pound — in one of medicine's most high-stakes environments.
One practice changed everything she thought she knew about the body: kangaroo care. Placing a fragile premature infant skin-to-skin on a parent's chest — what seemed like a simple act of closeness — could visibly shift a baby's stress response. Heart rate stabilized. Oxygen levels improved. The infant's physiology began to synchronize with the parent's. The body, it turned out, was listening.
That experience planted a question Tilly has spent years answering: what does safety do to the nervous system — and how do we create more of it?
The answer became Vagal Intelligence™.
THE FRAMEWORK
Science meets soul. Practice meets purpose.
Science-Informed
Built on Polyvagal Theory, HeartMath research, interoception science, and somatic practice. Tilly translates complex neuroscience into language and tools anyone can use.
Human-Centered
Vagal Intelligence isn't a clinical program. It's an invitation to understand yourself — your body, your breath, your patterns — with curiosity instead of judgment.
Community-Rooted
Regulation doesn't happen in isolation. The Vagal Intelligence™ Wayfinders community is built on the principle that human connection is itself a nervous system tool.
THE PHILOSOPHY
Become a Life Scientist.
At the heart of Vagal Intelligence™ is a simple invitation: become a Life Scientist.
A Life Scientist isn't someone with a lab coat or a degree. It's someone who brings curiosity to their own lived experience — who observes their body's signals, reflects on their patterns, and uses practical tools to better understand how their nervous system works.
You are the most important experiment you'll ever run. Tilly's work gives you the framework, the language, and the community to run it well.
THE MISSION
"To empower humanity to harness and enhance their vagal intelligence, creating healthier, more resilient lives enriched with purpose and joy."
— Tilly Lawrence, Founder of Vagal Intelligence™
Ready to explore?
Book Tilly for your next event, download a free resource, or join the Wayfinders community.