Eye & Face Reset For Vagus Nerve Activation

This practice is focused on accessing the ‘rest and digest’ parasympathetic nervous system state via vagal nerve activation, with a focus around the eyes, face and scalp, utilising the link between relaxing the ocular muscles and the move out of ‘Fight/flight’ sympathetic activation, which is accompanied by a reduction in heart rate along with other physiological changes. Enjoy and I'd love to hear your feedback as this one has been popular in client sessions. Namaste.

Transcript

Hello,

This is Dr.

Jo Ablett from Flow Clinical Psychology and this is just a short practice.

It should be relaxing and soothing,

Helping you to access the vagus nerve and that state of rest and digest.

So just getting yourself comfortable,

You can do this seated or lying down,

Whatever works for you right at this moment.

And just taking your attention to your breath,

Gently closing your eyes,

Just noticing the rate and rhythm of your breathing,

Just to start to settle down into the practice.

And then I invite you to just take your attention to your eyes,

Take your attention to your right eye,

The eyeball behind the eyelid,

The back of the eye,

Noticing the area behind the back of your right eye,

Being aware of these ocular muscles,

Releasing any tension that they've been holding and feeling those falling away towards the back of the head.

And then take your attention to your left eye,

The eyeball behind the eyelid,

Noticing the back of the left eye,

Just allowing your attention to rest on the back of your left eye,

Noticing those muscles releasing again on this side,

Relaxing back into the skull,

Gently noticing that release of tension,

Just by bringing your attention to these areas.

Now notice both eyes together,

The area at the back of both eyes.

Bring your attention to the area at the back of your skull,

Just resting your attention there.

Then up from the base of your neck and shoulders,

Up the back of the neck,

Into the back of the head,

The scalp,

The crown of the head,

And into the forehead.

Just bring your attention to those places,

Right eyebrow,

The left eyebrow,

The area between the eyebrows,

This third eye area,

Just resting your attention there.

And coming to the right temple,

The left temple,

The right cheekbone,

The left cheekbone,

The right side of the jaw,

The left side of the jaw,

The nose,

The mouth,

Releasing any tension in the tongue inside the mouth,

Allowing the jaw to rest.

And bringing your attention to the area just below and behind the right earlobe,

Just resting your attention there,

And around the back of that right ear,

Over the top of it,

And the whole right ear.

And bringing your attention to the area below and behind the left earlobe,

Just resting the attention there,

Bringing it up the back of the ear,

Over the top of the ear,

And the whole of the left ear.

And returning to where we started,

At the back of the eyes,

Just bringing your attention back to the back of the right and the left eye,

That area behind,

And then to the area behind the back of the head.

And just bringing your attention back to your breath,

Take some deeper breaths to start to bring yourself back into the present,

Just feeling the points of contact with whatever you're sitting or lying on,

And just opening your eyes gently when you're ready,

Perhaps just placing your hands over them first to allow the light in gently and slowly.

Namaste.

Reviews

Very sooothing and calming. This is a moment I want to offer myself over and over again 🙏🏼

Short, sweet and effective- thank you for this. There was quite a bit of hissing on the recording so some very low ambient sounds might work well to avoid focusing on that. This worked well. Thanks again.

Lovely practice. I had a headache which I hoped it might ease but sadly that wasn’t to be. Very restful nonetheless. Thank you

Really different...reminded me of when i practice reiki on myself. Found it really powerful and calming. Thank you!!

That was exactly what I needed today! I have high eye pressure and was at the optician today getting the pressures checked. I’ve read that stress can affect eye pressure and I have had a very difficult and stressful year. Think I will play this meditation on repeat! Many thanks 🙏 😊

Beautiful and comfy :) and no bell at the end which is great for those that like body scans before falling asleep. Thank you!

Thank you, I felt very calm and relaxed at the end of this meditation, and my whole system felt as if it had dramatically slowed down. Namaste 🙏

Brief but incredibly helpful and soothing. Great for a quick reset or before sleep to release into ease. Thank you!

That was really lovely. I enjoyed the Bates eye exercise at end. 😊

This was a very nice and relaxing meditation. I’m interested in understanding how the vagus nerve relaxes just by us merely focusing on these areas, especially that they’re internal and we haven’t actually seen what they look like inside of us, so we’re just imagining. Would you be able to explain how this relaxation process works, in light of that, please?
Thank you 🙏🏼

This was a lovely practice. Many thanks! I'm always looking for new ways to get out of 'fight or flight.'

Hello beautiful 🌺🌼🌺🌼🌺Thank you so much for the wonderful meditation practice 🌈I feel wonderfully relaxed 🗺️have a blessed day 🙏Namaste

This is marvelous! Thank you so much!🙏🌻

I’m just beginning to learn about the vagus nerve. Thank you for this short but useful meditation.

This is such a beautiful focussing practice many thanks for sharing:)

Thank you for offering this calming meditation. I appreciated the thoroughness of focus on my head.