Increase resilience, soothe anxiety & create more balance by working with your vagus nerve.

How’s your vagus nerve?

The longest & most complex of the cranial nerves, its name coming from the latin word for ‘wandering’ - and for good reason. 

Your vagus nerve forms the majority of the parasympathetic nervous system - it starts in your brain stem & runs all the way down to your abdomen, connecting with your heart, lungs, spleen & digestive system along the way.

This nerve has a profound effect on both your mental & physical health & working with it can help you feel calmer, create more balance & increase your mental & physical resilience.

Last time we explored the dorsal vagal response, today we’ll look a little more at the vagus nerve & the ventral vagal response.

The ventral vagal response is your place of balance, your sympathetic & parasympathetic systems are working in harmony & you aren’t stuck in a state of overdrive or shutdown. 

Instead you are open. You feel grounded in a sense of safety & are open to others & the world.

It’s often said you should have “high vagal tone” - but what does that even mean?!

To have high vagal tone means to have a highly active & responsive vagus nerve, this allows you to more easily return to a balanced state after going into a fight or flight response.

You get to re-activate the parasympathetic nervous system, bringing you back into balance.

High vagal tone creates resilience, both in your body & mind, allowing you to be with more of your experience without becoming overwhelmed.

This is where your ventral vagal system comes into play.

The ventral vagal system regulates the sympathetic nervous system, connecting with the heart to slow down your heart rate & keep you out of a full blown fight or flight response or help you recover faster after entering one.

So what’s the best way to increase vagal tone?

The simplest way to increase vagal tone is to focus on slow diaphragmatic breathing.

Take some time each day to slow down your breathing, try to focus on breathing slowly & softly to a count of 5 or 6 seconds.

As you do this, place one hand on your navel & feel your belly rising with each inhale & releasing with each exhale.

Try this for a few minutes at a time & repeat a few times a day.