What Is The Vagus Nerve And Why It Matters

Welcome to this introduction to the Vagus Nerve.

The vagus nerve is known as that highway of your parasympathetic nervous system,

The rest and digest mode.

It travels from the base of your brainstem and kind of branches out into the rest of your body like branches of a tree.

Connecting your gut with your brain that are constantly in communication with one another.

And also regulating things like breathing,

Your heart rate,

And digestion.

Now when our nervous systems have been living under stress for a long time,

We may begin to experience things like anxiety,

Overwhelm,

Fatigue,

And even digestive issues.

But through supportive vagal toning practices that help to stimulate the vagus nerve.

We can start to switch the body out of that survival mode and into a more regulated state.

Now it's important to remember that nervous system regulation is going to look different for everyone.

What works for one person might not work for another.

And especially if we've been living in that kind of high energy state where we're constantly trying to get things done.

It can feel strange for the nervous system and the body to kind of come into stillness and maybe trying some of these more soothing and calming practices.

So it's important to just approach it with a lot of compassion for yourself and some curiosity as we explore this work.

And really going slow.

More is not necessarily better here.

Just choosing a few exercises that work well for you.

And sticking to them.

And just practicing them for a few minutes a day really can start to have a cumulative effect on the nervous system.

So start where you're at and take what resonates,

Leave what doesn't.

I hope that this video has begun to give you an idea of what vagal toning entails and how the vagus nerve works and the incredible impact that it can have on our lives.

Thank you for being here.