Vulcan neuro-pressure

File:TPol and Trip neuropressure.jpg

T'Pol and Tucker during a neuropressure session

Vulcan neuropressure was a mental and physical technique for relaxing the mind and muscles. It involved stimulating neural nodes in a Vulcan or Human body. Neuropressure was extremely difficult and took years to master. Also being very personal, it required a great deal of physical contact. An application of neuropressure for combat was the so-called Vulcan nerve pinch. Neuropressure could result in paralysis, but the risk of that (at least when neuropressure was done by a skilled practitioner) was minimal. (ENT: "The Xindi", "Anomaly", "Extinction", "E²")

T'Pol was skilled in neuropressure and began administering it to Commander Tucker after his sister died, as he was having trouble sleeping. (ENT: "The Xindi") As far as T'Pol was aware, Vulcan neuropressure was never tried on a Human prior to her sessions with Tucker. (ENT: "Extinction") Those sessions typically took an hour or thereabouts. (ENT: "Anomaly") Following his first neuropressure session with her, Tucker slept very well. (ENT: "Extinction")

In a conversation in Enterprise NX-01's mess hall after Tucker had his first neuropressure session, he notified Lieutenant Malcolm Reed that T'Pol had been showing him "how to stimulate [his] neural nodes" in an attempt to help him sleep, though Tucker also warned that the neuropressure wasn't what Reed was thinking it was. In reply, Reed stated, "I wasn't thinking anything." T'Pol likewise informed Dr. Phlox that the first neuropressure treatment she administered to Tucker had gone well. Upon discovering Tucker had only had an hour's sleep during the previous night, Phlox was surprised the neuropressure apparently wasn't working and began to suspect it was because Tucker felt uncomfortable with the degree of intimacy it required. However, Tucker dismissed that notion, saying he was too busy to participate in a neuropressure session with T'Pol once a night. Since the only alternative treatment for his insomnia was Aldebaran mud leeches, he immediately rethought his decision by indeed agreeing to have one of T'Pol's neuropressure sessions nightly. (ENT: "Anomaly")

After canceling two sessions with her due to being extremely busy, Tucker soon returned to T'Pol's quarters for another neuropressure session late one night, additionally bringing her some Georgia peaches as a gift. At T'Pol's insistence, her next neuropressure session with him was planned to include stimulation of the neural nodes on his feet, as there were many neural nodes in the soles of the feet (at least in a Human body). Though he was initially shocked by the suggestion due to being ticklish, he eventually agreed to the plan. T'Pol began the session by stimulating the neural nodes on Tucker's back. He at first felt her touch was too cold but then began to enjoy the session, which was thereafter abruptly ended when T'Pol was called to the command center by Captain Archer. (ENT: "Extinction")

Tucker soon became quite skilled in neuropressure, mastering techniques such as the surah'tahn and the Khavorta posture (which was difficult because of the necessity for a certain breathing method and a relaxed jaw). (ENT: "Rajiin")

When, in December of 2153, Tucker revealed to T'Pol that he had begun thinking she had been avoiding him, she replied, "Three neuropressure sessions a week is hardly avoiding you." (ENT: "Proving Ground")

In ultimately omitted dialogue from the final draft script of "Proving Ground", Tucker continued the discussion by remarking that he had actually been hoping to increase the regularity of the sessions to four per week. The reason he cited for wanting to increase the sessions was that he suspected he may have "pulled something" while working in engineering during the previous day. T'Pol agreed to up the sessions "if there's time."

As scripted for "The Xindi", the displays of Vulcan neuropressure performed in that episode would have been done while the participants were kneeling on the floor rather than, as they are in the episode, sitting on a bed.

In the original script for ENT: "Twilight", Archer suggested to T'Pol that neuropressure might be helpful for his pet beagle Porthos, as the dog had been experiencing stress over being in the Delphic Expanse, and because Archer had heard neuropressure had been helpful for Tucker. ("Twilight" audio commentary, ENT Season 3 Blu-ray special features) However, this conversation was written out of the episode by the time the final draft of the script was issued.

Manny Coto struggled with the writing of a neuropressure scene in ENT: "Similitude". "I was a little bit concerned about having to write one of these massage scenes," he explained. "They had been going on throughout the [third] season [...] They were supposed to be sensual and they were tough to write because, I think, before this episode, they had done four or five, and it was tough to come with a new idea [...] It was a little bit of a challenge coming up with a new position, so to speak." Despite this difficulty, Coto managed to conceive of a foot-related massage technique being incorporated into the Vulcan neuropressure. ("Similitude" audio commentary, ENT Season 3 DVD)