Meditation & Vagal Massage For Nervous System Dysregulation

If you're experiencing Nervous System Dysregulation, anxiety, chronic stress or feeling disconnected and disassociated, this is a calm and soothing guided meditation and vagus nerve massage to reconnect to your body and the present moment. Designed to create a moment of nervous system safety, connection and belonging.

Photo by Nhi Pham
Original music by Tyrell Mara and The Wellness Den

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation for nervous system restoration.

My name is Tyrell and I'll be your guide today.

Before we begin,

I just want you to take a moment and make sure you're in a space,

An environment where you feel safe,

Connected,

And comfortable.

This is one of the most important first steps to ensuring our nervous system has the ingredients required to begin to soften,

Open up,

And move towards safety,

Connection,

And belonging.

This meditation is gonna be done seated.

So if you need to grab a block or a bolster,

A pillow,

Just to raise your hips up slightly so that you're not feeling too uncomfortable.

Take a moment just to get situated.

And we're gonna start by bringing cues of safety to the body through just spending a moment connecting with our head,

Our face,

And actually bringing some touch,

Some physical massage,

Starting maybe up at the forehead.

So taking your fingers and just placing them in the middle of your forehead and rubbing them out towards the outsides like you're giving a soft,

Slow massage out down towards your temples.

Just going back and forth a few times.

And even as you do this,

Just gently massaging your forehead,

Moving down towards your eyebrows,

You may begin to feel a couple of longer and slower breaths that just naturally begin to emerge.

And so I'll invite you,

Whenever you find yourself needing to take a moment to pause and breathe and let your body land,

I'd invite you to do that.

As you're bringing that nice soothing massage now down to your eyebrows,

Up towards your temples,

You can begin to work down the outsides of your eyes.

So working out towards your ears and the top of your jaw,

Just applying fairly light pressure.

We're not looking for a muscle releasing massage,

But just bringing some nice pressure down your jaws.

Now working both the front and the backs around the ears.

So bringing your fingers up around the back of the ear and massaging downwards,

Maybe even working into the base of your skull a little bit.

And this is the point where as you continue to breathe,

You find those moments where you need to take a nice inhale and an exhale where you just pause.

Your body will actually begin to guide you on what's the next place to bring some touch,

To bring some massage and to bring some breaths.

So you may want to move downwards along your jawline.

You may feel called to bring some really light massage and touch around your mouth,

Even around your eyes.

So our nervous system has all of these nerves,

All of these little touch points all throughout our face.

And just by bringing soft,

Comforting,

Slow touch,

Combining it with the breath and then beginning to just listen to the body,

Pay attention to what does our body want?

What feels safe?

What feels grounding and anchoring?

All of these ingredients start to land us in our bodies in the present moment.

And our nervous system,

Our brainstem,

Perceives every one of these little pieces as cues of safety cues that for just a moment,

We can stand down our defense.

We can maybe let everything just melt away for a moment,

Continuing to come back to those nice long,

Deep inhales down into the belly,

Maybe out through the mouth with a long sigh.

Let's take a few more of those breaths.

And as you're exhaling,

Feel free to just move your body a little bit.

We're getting a little bit of that stored up energy out from your body.

And if you haven't already,

Feel free to start making your way down below your jaw,

Starting to work that nice massage,

Long and slow movement of your fingers down your neck.

You can be really gentle across the front of your neck and then applying a little bit more pressure down the sides,

Maybe down the back of your neck.

As you slowly provide that soft massage downwards,

You may continue to feel these breaths that are drawing you deeper into the earth.

So as you breathe in,

You're breathing in this poised control inhale.

As you breathe out,

You're really letting your body begin to anchor through your bones,

Through your body.

And then continue to bring that massage down to your collarbones and the soft tissue right above your collarbones.

So all the way up and down your neck,

The front of your chest.

And you can continue to work with that light massage.

You may also be compelled to just bring some light tapping to the bottom of your neck and then right below your collarbones,

Out towards your shoulders,

In towards your sternum.

And just find a light rhythm and pace.

And as you continue this light rhythmic tapping,

Continue to find those inhales where you're drawing in and you're letting go of some of that energy and allowing your core to begin anchoring you down to the ground.

You can continue that light tapping or light massage all the way down your chest,

Even making it all the way to the top of your ribcage,

Towards the sides of your ribs.

And as you continue to breathe,

There'll be a point where you start to feel some stillness.

And as you feel this stillness,

Almost as if some of that intensity,

Some of the emotion,

Some of that stored up energy has been freed.

It's been freed up through movement,

Through breath,

Through you anchoring down through your bones,

Through your core,

Into the earth.

And I'll invite you to just bring some rocking movement from your upper body.

So with your hips and your sit bones anchored on the ground in that seated position,

What does it feel like to begin rocking forwards and backwards?

So pendulating your upper body or torso out forwards over your hips and then back.

Feeling the edges of that pendulation.

As you rock forward,

You may feel your body just starting to arc a little bit to keep yourself on balance.

And as you rock backwards,

You may feel a little impulse to curl inwards.

Again,

Your body and your core keeping you balanced,

Keeping you all together.

It's good to feel these edges.

Sometimes we spend a lot of our life out on the edge of extending and yearning,

Striving,

Almost like we're out over our feet a little bit.

And other times we spend moments of our life back feet,

Curling inwards.

Sometimes out of fear,

Sometimes out of protection or exhaustion.

As you're just pendulating gently back and forth,

Notice what emotions,

What feelings and sensations and any tensions that start to bubble up.

And then with your next nice inhale,

Deep down into your core,

And an exhale where you're really landing and opening up that core,

That psoas and those hips.

I want you to notice if you can just invite your body to slowly begin to soften that pendulating.

Not giving any thought or any attention,

But just letting your body slow down that rocking.

And eventually you may notice that your body just becomes completely still.

And it's right at this point that you can invite in another inhale.

Drawing upwards and then exhale.

Letting your whole upper body land right into your pelvis.

This is your center.

This is where your body knows what it looks like,

What it feels like to come back to center.

So just stay right here in this stillness,

Continuing to bring the breath in and out,

But maybe even slowing down and deepening that breath even further.

Slowing down those inhales,

Letting the belly relax and open,

The ribcage expand,

The heart be nourished.

Let that breath come all the way up into your throat,

Maybe opening your mouth and your throat on the exhale,

Making an H-A.

We're gonna take a couple more of those breaths.

Whatever's coming up for you in this space,

It's important to know that this is your body letting you know what's important,

Letting you know what it needs to heal,

To restore,

To feel safe and connected,

To anchor more deeply into your whole self in this present moment.

You have an invitation to meet your body exactly where it is right now,

With compassion,

With gratitude,

With love,

And with an acceptance that whatever expressions are starting to bubble up or have moved within you,

That those expressions are welcomed,

They're your body feeling safe enough to let you know what it needs.

And so in these last few moments,

Feel free to do whatever feels good in that spirit of honoring your body's expression,

Allowing those expressions to move,

Whether it's a big breath in and a sigh,

Maybe a laugh,

Maybe a cry,

Maybe even a yell,

Your expression is welcomed.

In order for you to come back to center,

To heal,

To grow,

To restore,

To not only have a nervous system that's anchored and safe,

But a heart,

A core,

A psoas,

A brain that's all connected and coherent,

That expression is necessary.

Continuing to let that expression move,

And then coming back to the breath,

Coming back to that stillness,

To that breath of gratitude and appreciation for what your body showed you,

For the courage to simply show up,

For the sensation of even feeling one or five or 10% more calm,

More connected,

More stable.

All of that matters.

So just take one last breath,

Appreciating your journey,

What you're able to take from this exploration.

And then with the next three or four breaths,

I'll invite you to bring a little bit of movement back to your hands,

Your feet,

Your ankles,

Maybe bringing that energy back into a rocking motion,

Thinking about whether it feels good to give yourself a hug,

Place your hands on your heart,

Or maybe take a big stretch with a nice inhale overhead,

Slowly opening your eyes,

Coming back to the room.

If you can,

Grab a journal or notebook and just spend two or three minutes reflecting on what came up for you.

This is the last step in you honoring your body's expression and completing this experience.

Thank you so much.

Have a great day.