Energy Practices For Stress And Anxiety To Soothe The Vagus Nerve

This mindful practice includes Energy Medicine techniques from Donna Eden to help break habitual patterns of stress that keep us in energetic loops of tension. It also educates us about how important the Vagus nerve is to a healthy nervous system. These are some of the most helpful tools that I use when working with people with anxiety, trauma and PTS. It gives us a supportive mind/body connection, encourages deep diaphragmatic breathing and brings us back to ourselves in a caring supportive way.

Transcript

Let's begin seated in an open receptive posture,

Arms and legs uncrossed,

Feet firmly against the earth.

Adjust yourself until you feel comfortable.

Close your eyes and become aware of how you're doing below the surface of your being.

Focus physical sensations,

Emotional state,

Mental state.

Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10,

With 10 being blissful and 1 super stressed out.

5 is simply okay.

Start to breathe deeply.

And on your next exhalation,

Squeeze the stale air out of your lungs,

Taking a full deep breath in through the nose,

And exhale slowly through a slightly open mouth.

Continue to breathe in this manner,

Filling up the belly and the low ribs on the inhale,

And exhaling with a sense of slowly releasing and letting go,

Like you're letting off steam.

Become aware of any unnecessary tension in the face.

Jaw,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Chest,

And belly.

Keep breathing deeply,

And take a moment to reassure your nervous system that you are safe and you can release now.

Mentally tell yourself it's okay to let go.

Now we will add an energy medicine practice from Donna Eden to soothe the vagus nerve and bring us into the relaxation response.

Listen carefully.

Take your two-piece fingers,

Your index and middle finger,

On both hands and make a V with these fingers.

Place the index finger behind your ear and the other fingers rest in front of the ear on the face.

Push up gently with the fingers until some of the fingers reach the temples.

Relax the elbows.

By simply resting our hands here,

We presence our hands against our skin,

Soothing the vagus nerve.

Keep breathing in through your nose and out slowly through the slightly opened mouth.

It's helpful to know that the vagus nerve is the tenth cranial nerve that can alert the nervous system into the fight or flight response.

The vagus nerve runs like a fiber optic cable from your brain into your face where you sense your hands.

It goes down your neck where you sense your thumbs,

Moves on to the shoulders,

Into the chest,

Abdomen and belly.

Now feeling the warmth of the hands soothing your nervous system,

Gently,

Lightly and lovingly,

Pull your hands downward,

Stroking your face.

You may notice your jaw relax.

Bring the fingers to the soft spot behind the ear where the earlobe attaches to the jaw.

And gently circle behind the ear.

It may be tender,

So be very gentle.

And now rest the fingers here as you allow the bottom jaw to open and move slightly side to side.

And then as you're ready,

The bottom jaw moves forward and back.

The vagus nerve can create tension in the jaw and we're gently releasing this tension.

Notice if you wish to swallow or yawn,

That tells us we're moving toward relaxation.

Breathe and now gently move the hands down your neck.

Allow them to rest here so you feel the fingers warm against your neck.

And again,

In that very stroking manner,

Let your hands move along the neck and down to the shoulders.

Let the hands grasp hold of each shoulder.

Allow the elbows to relax.

Breathe as you may begin to notice stress releasing.

Now pull down on the shoulder muscles with your hands and bring the hands one on top of the other at the base of the neck.

Not on the neck,

But just at that little V at the base of the neck.

Now let your head hang forward.

Relax and surrender here as you breathe deeply in through your nose and out super slowly through that slightly opened mouth.

By surrendering the head forward,

We release the reptilian brain where the vagus nerve is very much engorged.

This brain stem at the base of the skull often creates cycles of energetic stress that run around our head and it keeps us in anxiety.

Keep breathing deeply as you surrender into this pose,

Noting that the reptilian brain is surrendering to the frontal brain,

Our thinking brain,

So we can be more clear.

Relax and breathe.

We usually take about five breaths here.

One more full deep breath.

And on that exhale,

Just feel release.

Yeah,

Let your shoulders go.

Now lift your head and gently move your hands to your heart space in the center of the chest and rest them there.

Begin to breathe as if you were breathing directly into the back of your hands,

Putting all of your attention into your heart.

The heart can become tight and constricted with stress and anxiety.

We're inviting the heart to gently open in a wonderful caring manner.

You can even circle the hands around gently here,

Encouraging this release.

Breathing deeply.

Let the tension go.

A sense of release and again surrender.

Heart open,

Energy flowing.

One more full deep breath here.

On the exhale,

Encouraging that release.

Now move both hands to the center of the abdomen at the low ribs.

We're just sensing the breath here.

As you breathe deeply,

Feel the ribs expand.

And as you exhale,

That sense of release and letting go.

The vagus nerve often restricts us from breathing deeply and this creates anxiety.

As you relax and breathe,

Begin to notice how this energy medicine practice unites our mind and our body.

Allowing us to breathe deeply and diaphragmatically in a slow,

Easy manner.

Energy flowing.

Breathing easily.

One more full deep breath here.

Allow the hands to drop down 2 to 3 inches below the navel or 5 to 8 centimeters.

Keep your hands one on top of the other,

Breathing deeply.

Your hands are helping to release an energy loop at your belly that interferes with digestion and can leave our bodies feeling gripped.

Blocking energy flow.

This can leave us feeling very ungrounded and disconnected.

Like we're living in our heads all the time.

Now focusing on inhaling fully.

Let your exhalation become longer than your inhale.

Even doubling the exhalation.

Finding a nice rhythm with your breath.

And on that exhale,

Just directing your attention all the way down to your feet.

Staying aware in your body.

And just relax into this practice.

Breathing deeply,

Feeling the low ribs widen.

And on that long,

Slow,

Deep exhale,

Just gently direct your attention down your legs and to your feet.

Now release your hands as you let go of the breath.

And notice your body.

Bring attention to how anchored you may feel in your body.

Body in the chair.

Feet on the earth.

Perhaps feeling more relaxed,

More connected with yourself.

Your mind may feel calmer and clearer.

Feeling that sense of ease in the body-mind.

And notice the vibrance of this whole body as a field of sensation.

Now bring in a sense of love and gratitude to your body for all that it does for you.

A simple I love you,

Thank you.

Now rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10.

It is my sincere hope that you feel good in your body and have moved up on this scale.

Wishing you deep peace and love my friends.

Namaste.

Reviews

This was so helpful. I have had pressure build up in my neck and especially around my ears where my glasses go. I had never associated it with my vagus nerve. Thank you for this awareness. Letting go seems to be my life lesson! Your calm, soothing voice and clear explanation made this a session I will repeat. Thank so much ✨🙏

Become aware of every unnecessary tension in the face

I feel so much calmer, I need to do this at 3am when my anxious thoughts wake me up

This was amazing! I felt so much calmer after this series of practices. 🫶

An interesting concept to help the vagus nerve and it worked well for me as I produced a lot of yawns.,
Thankyou very much . 🌿🌺🌿

Such a powerful and strong meditation/ exercise! It fits perfectly to my situation with an dysregulated nervous system. Thank you 🐆

Very physically and emotionally and mentally calming. Easy to continue with deep restful meditation. Thank you.

Thank you, I really enjoyed this meditation. I love the practical tips to calm the vagus nerve and your knowledge. I have Long Covid and ME/CFS and really appreciate these tools xx

So simple but so soothing. Really helps to calm and release tension. Thank you!

Wonderful Christie, thank you very much! For pointing me to this meditation and your quick response to my earlier review and answering my question as well. It's amazing how quickly this works. I feel as relaxed as if I had a long massage. For many many years I'm dealing with chronic stress which led me to daily mindfulness and meditation amongst others. But this quick and profound relaxation response is new to me and very valuable. How wonderful to be able to influence the nervous system this easily. Thanks again! 🙏💚

Wonderful! This is so grounding! I’m an air sign and grounding is something I regularly need to do. Living in my head seems to my default state of being. Thanks so much 🙏🏻 Namaste my friend 🪷🕉️🧘‍♀️💜🎶🫶🏻

Beautiful!

You have a gift and thankyou for sharing it with me🩵

💜💜💜. So much calm to be had. I welcome the calm energy flowing through me!💙💙💙. Thank you

Thank you for suggesting this breathing exercise. I feel more grounded in myself and noticed increased saliva in my mouth and several deep breaths while letting go of the tension in my neck and upper body which I didn’t notice until actively releasing these. Thank you for your calming guidance

I am surprised at how much I was able to land in my body afterwards . I am experiencing a very difficult drug withdrawal from a psychiatric medication that is no longer serving me . I thought the biochemical reality of this fact would supersede any body, breathwork, or energy practices, but this was very helpful . Thank you

I went from feeling heavy and stuck to grounded and energized. Thank you for another wonderful vagus nerve practice that I will come back to often!

I woke up super anxious, after this meditation I definitely feel less stressed and anxious. This is an excellent meditation practice to start the day if you’re feeling anxious and worked up. Thank you!

This was incredibly soothing and I loved the calm, even quality of the instructors voice.

Wow, deeply unwinding of stress I didn't even know I had. This is one to share. Very loving. Thank you.

A wonderful practice! Christie, at the point where you bring the hands down the neck and rest one hand over the other at the base, are the hands at the front of the neck or at the back between your shoulders? Thank you!

This is so lovely 😊- quieted a headache
Thanks so much
Namaste 🙏🏻