Hey,
This is Hannah.
And this is a simple soothing practice to support your nervous system and bring you back into a sense of calm.
Gentle humming stimulates the vagus nerve,
That is the connection between your body and the nervous system of your body and your brain.
Your brain is a part which is where all the conscious thinking is happening.
But the nervous system of the body is where a lot of reactions and survival patterns are happening.
Which is why the vagus nerve is playing such a vital role in regulating stress and the heart rate,
Digestion and emotional safety.
So when you hum,
You create a vibration that signals to your body that you are safe.
It kind of activates the vagus nerve through the vibration in your throat.
And through that activation,
You're signaling in both directions,
Safety and signals of safety.
So this practice can help you with reducing anxiety and overwhelm.
It can help you with reconnecting to your body.
It can support emotional regulation and it can also help you to shift out of fight or flight or freeze.
Those are obviously just supporting practices.
If you are in a very extreme state,
Where you feel completely overwhelmed,
This can support you in getting you out.
But you might need a little bit of a stronger impulse.
Something like cold water,
Or also a person where you feel safe.
That can just help you in that very intense moment.
And then the humming can be a supportive practice.
You don't need to force anything,
You just follow your breath and your hum as gently or as loud as you like.
Sometimes,
The louder it gets,
Making a little bit sound a little bit ridiculous can be a great way for your brain to jump out of that way out of that mode of survival and just feel a little bit more at ease about things.
But you do you,
You go as you want to.
So please find a comfortable seat or just lie down and place your hand over your heart.
Now you take a slow breath in through your nose.
And then when you breathe out,
You gently hum your exhale out through your mouth.
Just,
Just like a soft vibration.
And just feel the vibration in your chest,
Your throat,
Or your face.
Maybe you can even feel it in the abdomen.
And then just notice where you can feel the physical sensation of humming.
Just repeat this for a few breaths just as long as it feels good.
And you can either stop here.
Or you can just pause this record and just continue to hum as long as you need.
When you're done,
Just notice how you feel now.
Even just a few breaths can begin to shift your internal state.
It can signal to your body that it is more safe now.
Sometimes it doesn't directly feel like that consciously.
So just try and focus on the sensations in your body.
And you can come back to this humming practice anytime.
It's great to incorporate that just before you go to sleep or after a stressful moment.
Or just simply to reconnect with yourself.
You can always come back to that.
And I'm here for you.
And I'm very proud that you've been here for yourself too today.
Your nervous system actually does know how to come back to balance.
It's literally being designed like this.
And it's how it works and what it does.
Just in this really fast paced crazy world that we live in,
It sometimes needs some gentle reminders of how to regulate back.
