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Long abstract:

Microbial Medi(t)ation is simultaneously a practice, fieldwork, and subsequently the name of the paper. It aligns with the ways companion microbes are made known within the vagus nerve science. Recent scientific research has shown that neurochemical communication of the microbes via the vagus nerve affects brain chemistry and mood. Lay practices and therapeutic exercises suggest that the so-called vagus nerve activation provides overall well-being to immunity and mood by restoring ‘rest and digest mode’ of the nervous system. Microbial Medi(t)ation audio exercise situates in the gap between facts and claims on the vagus nerve and their embodiment. This immersive artistic practice has served as a platform for speculative thinking-feeling. It encourages the participants of the study to create knowledge along with their companion microbes in an embodied way, moving on yoga mats and breathing deeply. Participants are interviewed about their vagal and microbial experiences after doing the softening exercise with speculative invitations to imagine what it is to be a holobiont, human-microbial consortium.

Technoscience shapes how we conceptualize and materialize human-microbial relations. I explore via embodied and sensory doings how we know about and ‘know with’ microbes that signal to our brain via the gut-brain axis. I ask what possibilities open up for our sensory landscape and governing our well-being when we employ a more sensuous understanding of the microbial agency within the gut-brain axis. To address this, I combine STS and art-based research employing Microbial Medi(t)ation to think and feel with microbial companions.