Origin story.
SocialBiome began with my own awakening.
In 2025, I encountered Polyvagal Theory for the first time, and one idea changed the way I understood nearly everything I had witnessed throughout my career.
Long before we think, decide, collaborate, or create, our nervous systems are continuously asking one essential question: Am I safe here?
That realization illuminated years of observation.
The exhaustion.
The conflict.
The disengagement.
The burnout.
The loneliness so many people carry—even while surrounded by colleagues, friends, and family.
What I had often understood as communication problems, leadership problems, or culture problems suddenly revealed themselves as something deeper. Human beings are biologically wired to detect threat before possibility. When our nervous systems remain in protection, trust becomes difficult, creativity narrows, relationships strain, and our capacity to contribute begins to diminish.
I immersed myself in the study of Polyvagal Theory through the Polyvagal Institute, integrating nervous system practices into my own life while guiding professionals through somatic approaches to stress, resilience, and human connection.
Yet something continued to tug at me.
Much of this remarkable work was being applied within trauma therapy and clinical healing. So I found myself wondering: What if we designed everyday life with the nervous system in mind?
What if workplaces, communities, friendships, families, and even our own homes intentionally cultivated the conditions where people could feel safe enough to think clearly, connect deeply, and flourish together?
That question became the beginning of SocialBiome.
Today, I see the nervous system as only one part of a much larger ecology. Relationships, agreements, environments, meaning, and community all shape the conditions in which we live and work. SocialBiome grew from the belief that when we begin designing for the whole human ecosystem, we don't simply reduce stress—we create the conditions for people and communities to truly thrive.
Designing for the human ecosystem.
SocialBiome is a framework and learning community for cultivating healthier human ecosystems.
Drawing from neuroscience, ecology, psychology, and lived experience, it helps individuals, leaders, and organizations understand the invisible conditions that shape trust, belonging, communication, collaboration, wellbeing, and sustainable success.
Whether you're navigating your own work life, leading a team, building a business, or seeking healthier relationships at home and in your community, SocialBiome offers practical tools, courses, live conversations, and shared practices for creating environments where people—and the systems they inhabit—can truly flourish. Join us!
My work and passions are rooted in decades guiding humans through transition, loss, identity rupture, and emergence. I bring a poetic depth and practical sensibility that orients to the body’s intelligence, a respect for inner rhythm, and a commitment to compassionate and courageous expression.
Lori Wallace
