Hey everyone,
Welcome to this Vegas nerve practice.
Now the Vegas nerve is the longest nerve in your body and the word Vegas actually means wanderer in Latin.
So you can imagine that this nerve connects your brain to many important organs throughout the whole of your body including your gut,
Your heart and your lungs.
And this nerve is a really key part of the parasympathetic or the rest and digest nervous system.
And because of that the way it functions can influence your breathing,
Your digestive function and your heart rate.
All of which have a huge impact of course on your health and your state of mind and body.
And you'll hear many people talking about vagal tone.
Now all that means is that when we're looking to tone the Vegas nerve what we're really looking to do is increase the ability for your body to relax and more ease more easily or more quickly after a period of stress.
So in this practice we're going to be flowing through a few different exercises in a guided practice that can help you to increase that tone of your Vegas nerve and hopefully come to a place of relaxation with a little more ease.
So I'm going to encourage you to do this practice lying down.
So just take a moment to get yourself nice and comfortable.
Adding in any props that will support you over the next 10-15 minutes or so whether that's cushions or blankets.
So find somewhere that you feel safe and then to start with just allowing yourself a moment to settle in to the space that you're in.
Just keeping your eyes open for a moment,
Just letting them wander around your surroundings and we're just observing what you can see in the environment you're in from this comfortable reclined position.
Just letting your nervous system know that your surroundings in this moment are safe.
Letting it complete that kind of scanning process of your environment.
Maybe even letting your gaze settle on certain things that feel good when you see them.
Maybe colors,
Maybe plants,
Anything that helps you feel more settled in your body and more familiar with the space you're in.
Just orienting really to your space.
Now I'm just going to encourage you to take both your hands behind your head,
Sort of linking them together,
Just placing them sort of the top of your neck and towards the bottom of your head.
Just as if you were kind of you know just kicking back after a long day,
Just maybe come home and allowing your elbows to just fall to one side and just have that sense of opening there with your hands supporting the back of your head there as you lie.
And then I'm gonna get you to do is keeping your head nice and straight.
I'm not moving the head but just let your eyes look as far left as possible.
Just seeing if you keep your head straight and keep your eyes looking as far left as possible.
I'm relaxing your jaw as you do this,
Maybe allowing a little opening in the mouth.
I'm just gonna stay here for 30 seconds or so,
Looking all the way left.
Mouth relaxed and open and if a yawn comes at any time it's very normal.
And bringing your gaze back to the center,
Just taking a breath here.
And then to the other side,
So head straight,
Be eyes looking as far right as possible.
And again staying there for 30 seconds or so.
Again just observing how you feel in your body if any yawns come,
Remembering to relax your jaw.
And then coming back to the center,
Taking a breath.
Well now I'm gonna encourage you to take three breaths as we transition to closing the eyes.
I want you to breathe in deeply through your nose and I want you to breathe out through your mouth.
I really want you to let everything go.
So I want you to make a noise on the exhale.
So breathing in,
Letting it go.
Make as much noise as you need to.
Breathing in,
Letting go.
And again,
Breathing in,
Letting it all go.
Allowing your eyes to close down and using your voice in that way and making sound on an exhale really activates the vagus nerve connected with those vocal cords.
So we'll build on that for a moment and do three humming breaths.
So this time breathing in through your nose and on the exhale just humming.
If you sort of feeling that vibration,
You're humming to yourself internally.
Breathing in through the nose and repeating that twice more in your own time.
Slow,
Long humming exhale and even adding in a couple of extra ones if it feels good,
If you're enjoying it.
You'll be feeling that vibration in your body.
Checking in with yourself,
Noticing any shifts,
Any changes,
Any signs of a shift into relaxation in your body.
Now we're going to move into somatic and a self-soothing hug.
So placing one hand under your right hand under your left armpit and your left hand across your other shoulder or a variation of that that gives you the feeling of giving yourself a hug.
And then just be with yourself in this moment.
Noticing how it feels to be able to give yourself this supportive,
This human touch.
Allowing your breath to be long and slow and relaxed as you comfort yourself in this way.
As humans we're wired for connection,
For physical touch.
We can give elements of that to ourselves.
So as you hold yourself in this way and breathe just feel yourself soaking up self-compassion.
Noticing how your nervous system is responding to giving yourself this time and this care.
Appreciating yourself and everything you do,
Appreciating your body.
Breathing into the lovely feelings you're creating.
Letting go with a sigh if it feels good.
Releasing your hands if you'd like to down by your side.
Just bathe in whatever feeling is there for you.
And of course you can stay where you are as long as you'd like to if you're enjoying this feeling.
We also welcome to slowly start to bring yourself back to the room that you're in if you'd like to.
As you bring this practice to a close.
And so I hope this has supported you in shifting into a greater sense of relaxation and activating your vagus nerve.
And all the things we've done today are of course things that you can safely take into your day-to-day life and practice.
And so we covered a number of things.
Of course the breath as we often do.
Particularly using that sound on the exhale whether it's sighing or humming.
Using your voice.
We used a little bit of orienting to your environment.
Scanning and finding safety around you.
We use particular eye movements as well of course.
And that self-soothing hug and that can translate to any sort of physical touch or self massage that feels good.
Of course has always been led by your own body and what you enjoy.
So thank you for being here as ever and really hope you enjoy it and looking forward to interacting with you soon and creating some more practices for you.
All right everyone take care and speak to you soon.
