Tips to Take the Edge Off in These Challenging Times
Down Regulating Your Nervous System
What better time to have stress management tools at your fingertips then right now! With the end of the year just around the corner, the holidays plus a host of other intense energies brewing on the planet, we could all use some deep self care, relaxation and effective ways to get and stay chill.
In this newsletter I am offering a simple and powerful Vagus Nerve techniques to down regulate your nervous system.
A bit about the powerful Vagus Nerve also known as the "soul nerve".
The vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve, extends from the brain to the large intestine, reaching various body parts, including the throat, lungs, heart, stomach, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, and gut.
This nerve plays a crucial role in the communication between the gut and the brain, using neurotransmitters and hormones that impact sleep, mood, pain, stress, and hunger.
As the largest organ in the autonomic nervous system, the vagus nerve regulates essential bodily functions like breathing, heartbeat, and eye dilation, unifying the entire nervous system.
One of its primary functions is receiving messages related to fight, flee, or freeze responses from the brainstem and signaling safety to restore regular bodily functions, promoting relaxation.
Practicing conscious control of the vagus nerve can help settle the nervous system and prevent unnecessary fight, flee, or freeze responses.
Here's a simple daily exercise to activate the vagus nerve:
Lie on your back, interweave your fingers behind your head, and look to the right without turning your head. After 30–60 seconds, swallow, sigh, or yawn. Then, look straight ahead and repeat the process by looking to the left. Take a few deep breaths to continue to settle in and integrate the exercise.
