Hello and welcome,
I'm Rozanne and I'm your host and guide.
Today we're focusing on the vagus nerve.
Now this is one of the largest and most significant nerves in our bodies.
It runs from your brain all the way down into your gut.
Its function is to regulate your internal organ functions such as digestion and heart rate and breathing.
It also helps us to do various seemingly involuntary bodily functions like sneezing,
Coughing,
Swallowing,
Vomiting and so on.
So why does the meditation and yoga community want you to stimulate this vagus nerve?
Well because it is also the nerve that will send the signal to the body that it can rest into relaxation and let go of being stressed.
It is the nerve that takes you from being in the sympathetic nervous system where in the so called fight or flight mode and into the parasympathetic nervous system where we can rest and digest.
This is the state that we want to be in for the majority of the time but life can have other ideas and many of us spend way too much time in the stress zone rather than the relaxed one.
We want to improve our vagal tone so that we can more easily and swiftly move back into our parasympathetic nervous system and we are more able to regulate our nervous system and adapt to challenges less reactively.
Often when we are in a stressed state or feeling anxious with a busy brain it's hard to switch off and this is when consciously stimulating the vagus nerve is really helpful.
Now one of the most basic things that we can do to stimulate the vagus nerve and bring ourselves back into rest and digest is to breathe.
So let us begin there.
I'm hoping that you are comfortably settled and that you allow yourself to close your eyes and take a moment to notice the sensations of the body.
If you're currently feeling stressed as you sit for this meditation whereabouts in your body do you feel this stress?
And if you're not feeling stressed just ask your body to remind you where you frequently do actually feel your stress.
Simply take a moment to notice what the sensation of your stress feels like and whereabouts in your body it occurs.
So as you gently settle let's breathe.
Take a long slow steady inhalation and a long slow steady exhalation.
Find a soft rhythm that works for you that's comfortable,
Sustainable.
Continue with this and as you do I want you to understand that the vagus nerve travels through the same space in your diaphragm your esophagus does and in deepening your breath the diaphragm is massaging the vagus nerve signaling that all is well.
Your breath is giving the message that deep relaxed breathing is available and therefore all is safe.
And when your breath rate slows your heart rate will slow and your blood pressure will fall.
So now we're going to take even more control.
I want you to count through your inhalation and count through your exhalation.
So let's aim for a count of four as you inhale and then maybe you're at a four as you exhale maybe a five.
So inhaling to the count of four and exhale to the count of five.
And on your next round of breath see if you can extend your exhale to the count of six.
Once you're there and comfortable extend your out-breath to a count of seven.
So inhaling for four,
Exhale for seven.
Stay focused on your breath and now see if you can move towards an out-breath count of eight.
Maintain this pace breathing in for four and out for eight.
Now this is a wonderful way to help yourself to fall asleep as well but that's not the aim today.
Notice how you feel having taken control of your breath this way.
Allow your breath to come back to a pace that feels more natural and less controlled and scan through your body to notice the softness,
The release.
Now if you are sitting up you may want to clasp your hands behind your head as we do this next technique for improving our vagal tone.
With your eyes still closed turn your gaze all the way to the right.
Feel the muscles of the eyes gently strain as you look deep into the corner of your eyes.
Stay for a moment.
You're waiting for a signal from your body and that signal is a deeper breath or even a yawn.
This may take a moment or two so be patient.
But you have received this deeper breath turn the gaze of your eyes forward and then all the way to the left.
Look as far to the left as you can.
Again feel the muscles of the eyes working hard to maintain this gaze and again wait for the signal from your body in the form of a deeper breath.
Good.
Once you have experienced that deeper breath bring yourself and your eyes back to feeling soft and relaxed looking forward.
So now to our final practice to stimulate the vagus nerve and improve our vagal tone through humming.
Now the vibrations,
The resonance created when we hum are both soothing and stimulating for the vagus nerve.
Humming also stimulates the auditory nerves and the neurons in the brainstem that process the information gathered by the vagus nerve.
So finding a tone that works for you let's start together in a few beautiful humming breaths.
Now once you find your rhythm and your tone this is a gorgeously easy way to sit and meditate.
You can feel a resonance in your skull,
In your throat,
In your chest,
Even in your belly and by altering the tone you find where the resonance occurs that feels just right for you.
So bring yourself back into silence and notice how you feel.
Become aware of your breath soft and even.
Notice how quiet your body feels.
So now I want you to feel into the sensations of your soothed and calmed nervous system.
Notice the sensations and sit with this for a moment more.
Know that you have the tools to shift yourself into your parasympathetic nervous system state.
That you can affect the way you feel from moment to moment through your thoughts,
Your breath,
By using your body.
When you feel ready you can find a little bit of movement in your fingers and gently bring yourself back into your space.
Om Shanti.
