โYour body is a site of liberationโ declares poet, activist, and theologian Tricia Hersey in her radically grounding and liberating book Rest is Resistance โ and if there is any way I can summarize vagus nerve stimulation, those seven words say it perfectly.
Your body is a site of liberation.
You are both a divine being who has a Soul, as well as a mammal who lives, breathes, and loves in a physical body.
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Your body is a path, a doorway, a portal to freedom.
So why do we often prefer to focus just on the divine part when it comes to healing, and not the mammalian part?
Emotional healing, mental healing, and spiritual healing arenโt separate from the body. And yet, in modern wellness and spiritual circles, the nervous system โ the very root of our physical existence that controls how well we function โ is often totally left out of the picture.
Although nervous system healing might not be as glittery and glamorous as a lot of healing paths and practices out there, it is crucial and the deepest form of inner bodywork out there in my opinion.
โ Note: the vagus nerve exercises I share in this article are just one part of nervous system healing, but they are an excellent first step. So please be gentle with yourself and seek out trained experts in nervous system healing if you feel the need for more in-depth guidance.
Table of contents
What is the Vagus Nerve?
It is amazing how many hints and guides and intuitions for living come to the sensitive person who has ears to hear what his body is saying.
โ Rollo May
โVagusโ means wandering in Latin, which makes sense because itโs the longest cranial nerve in the human body, wandering from the brain all the way to the stomach.
Having such a huge reach throughout our bodies, the vagus nerve is the main nerve of the parasympathetic (or rest and digest) system, which helps us to slow down, relax, digest our food, and connect with our environment and loved ones.ย
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Can you see why learning how to stimulate the vagus nerve is so important? The vagus nerve has a direct influence over our heart rate, respiratory rate, and digestion.
If you have ever struggled with stress, anxiety, chronic pain, digestive issues, or problems relating to others (e.g., relationship problems), you likely possess low vagal tone, which means that your vagus nerve is underutilized, kind of like a weak flabby body that never exercises or goes to the gym.ย
To develop a high vagal tone (which results in feelings of calmness, ease, resilience in the face of stress, better immune functioning, improved sleep, relaxed social interactions, and so on), itโs helpful to explore and experiment with a variety of vagus nerve exercises. Iโll provide some ideas below.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation and the Spiritual Journey
As psychotherapist and pioneer in somatic psychology, Pat Ogden, writes:
In our bodies, in this moment, there live the seed impulses of the change and spiritual growth we seek, and to awaken them we must bring our awareness into the body, into the here and now.ย
She also writes:
The body always leads us home . . . if we can simply learn to trust sensation and stay with it long enough for it to reveal appropriate action, movement, insight, or feeling.
To clarify, learning to work with our vagus nerve helps to bring us into our bodies and therefore into the present moment.
And being in the present moment โ being embodied, relaxed, grounded, and centered right here, right now โ is a central part of the spiritual journey. We must be in the Now to truly receive and apprehend the miracle of existence and to live our true paths.
As you may or may not know, this space, this corner of the internet, is all about learning how to walk your own path, listen to your Soul, and deeply navigate the spiritual awakening journey. Learning to work at the level of the nervous system and bringing about healing via the vagus nerve is a much-needed part of that.
In other words, itโs all interconnected โ just like the nervous system in our bodies.
7 Vagus Nerve Exercises For Nervous System Healing
The body is a multilingual being.ย It speaks through its color and its temperature, the flush of recognition, the glow of love, the ash of pain, the heat of arousal, the coldness of nonconviction. . . . It speaks through the leaping of the heart, the falling of the spirits, the pit at the center, and rising hope.
โ Clarissa Pinkola Estรฉs
The simple idea behind these vagus nerve exercises is that triggering your parasympathetic nervous system creates more calm in the body. More calm = better physical, mental, and emotional well-being.ย
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In other words, if your body is stuck in a fight or flight mode (aka., sympathetic nervous system activation) due to stored survival stress/trauma, these vagus nerve exercises can help you to calm down on many levels.
Studies surrounding the vagus nerve are still in their infancy, but research has already shown that vagus nerve stimulation helps to reduce inflammation in the body (1), provide depression relief (2), alleviate anxiety (3), soothe IBS (4), and many other applications (5).ย
โ Important note: below Iโve selected a wide variety of vagus nerve exercises to help support nervous system healing. While I canโt assure you that each is scientifically verified or validated, I do trust in your ability to experiment and proceed with mindfulness self-awareness where necessary. If at any time you feel uncomfortable doing any of these exercises, please stop immediately and take a break. I also recommend going slowly and not overdoing this work โ five to ten minutes per day is enough, so please donโt put any strain on yourself (which is the opposite of what weโre going for here!).
1. How to Build Somatic and Nervous System Capacity (a valuable pre-cursor video)
This is a valuable pre-cursor video that can give you context and authoritative guidance for nervous system healing from a somatic healing professional.
2. Vagus Nerve Activation | 10 Minute Daily Routines
A simple routine that involves tapping the belly, twisting, and pressing against the belly button โ it’s quite fun!
3. Five Easy Ways to Stimulate the Vagus Nerve
- 2:30 โ Cold
- 3:35 โ Massage
- 5:00 โ Sing, hum, gargle, etc.
- 5:55 โ Probiotics
- 6:50 โ Sleeping on right side, not on back
- 7:37 โ Gammacore, etc.
4. Turn off Anxiety in Your Nervous System (4 Ways to Turn on the Parasympathetic Response)
Provides a series of vagus nerve exercises, backed by a helpful explanation:
- 4:36 โ Deepening breath
- 7:30 โ Softening the eyes and peripheral vision
- 10:30 โ Valsalva maneuver
- 12:05 โ The yawn
5. Vagus Nerve Exercises To Rewire Your Brain From Anxiety
Provides an explanation of anxiety in relation to the nervous system, plus the following vagus nerve exercises:
- 5:29 โ Gentle head roll/stretch
- 8:06 โ Ribcage/neck bend
- 11:47 โ Looking over the shoulder
6. Seven Ways to Stimulate the Power of the Vagus Nerve
- 8:01 – Breathwork
- 10:12 – Cold Water
- 11:35 – Tactile Sensitivityย
- 14:12 – Singing
- 15:47 – Laugh
- 16:41 – Movement
- 17:45 – Natureย
7. Vagus Nerve Massage
Offers a gentle vagus nerve massage (the actual massage part starts at 6:42).ย Simple and easy. :)
Further Reading
If youโd like to go deeper into the world of the vagus nerve and nervous system healing in general, I recommend looking into one or two of the following books:
Final Words
To close, Iโll leave you with a quote by Goethe:
Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded.ย ย
By taking care of our bodies and our nervous systems, we take care of our Souls. We think more clearly, feel more emotionally balanced, stay grounded, and have energy and vitality again.
Tell me, which of these vagus nerve exercises are your favorites? Do you have any others to recommend? Iโd love to hear in the comments. :)ย
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Thanks for this article, I did video 4 and 5 before. This really works wonders ๏ปฟ๐๏ปฟ. The one I use a lot before sleeping is: close your eyes and keep your head still and move your eyes to the right without moving your head and then to the left. After about 10 seconds you will start to yawn. So relaxing.
Thank you for putting this together Aletheia – very helpful โค๏ธ
Thanks Ray <3
Thank god their are people like you
All you need is a bio feedback session. One 1st things done is
vagus , parasympathetic and para sympathetic. Does the 3. Generally in acute cases. Vagus needs to be treated twice one after another for good result
Hay i had a lot of help with the Tapping way its a based on the Chinees ancient acupunture points with finger technics tapping you van become more calm and even leave stress situations . it works and I have a sort PTSD …… it so easy to da any time ….and free .
I’ve heard of tapping before (EFT) and think it’s a great suggestion and recommendation. Thanks Rene!
Thank you from the bottom of my heat, Aletheiaโค๏ธ
Thank you Marinela โค๏ธ
Hi Aletheia and Mateo-thank you for the great work you do. Your website was where I looked for answers when I began my journey and I still love it so much. I am so happy that the two of you have each other to love, thrive, and share your divine gifts to earth. With gratitude always!
Thank you for this lovely comment Winnie, I appreciate it โก
This week, I’ve been reminded of the importance of the vagus nerve; thanks. I’ve been practicing cold water and stillness, but will start the neck message technique recommended. I think it help some of the stress I still have.
Thank you again
Yes, I’m really liking the neck massage technique as well (it was the first practice I gravitated toward)! Thanks for sharing Pierre :)
The information given on the Vagus Nerve system reminds me of the early work done on Rebirthing, to bring the person suffering from early trauma into a state of perception/consciousness of past events where they could feel the past trauma in their system and with professional guidance and management release the trauma. This seemed to only work on those with the connections and the means to pay for this treatment. Which in some cases worked and in other cases more harm emerged due to fast delivery and hurried feelings and emotions emerging too quickly. I suppose not every one was compliant enough nor completely susceptible to emerge from this type of clearance in a positive way.
These Vagus Nerve clips are fascinating and need in my view need to become part of the stable library on the initial steps into Spirituality.
To clear things from our limited perception of who we are in the 3D world from the angle of healing the body temple and its trapped emotions, blocks and unhappy experiences. In my current perception we are not just human beings, but hybrid networks of multi dimensional capacities just waiting to re-find our authentic and true system.
They remind me of using the deep relaxation techniques found in hypnotherapy trance states and psychological therapy. Also from the East using Qi Gong movement and breathing exercises to clear certain energy zones in the body which like the Vagus Nerve study does the ground work or making the building blocks to clean heal and clear out toxins and unwanted debris from the system. Thus opening up greater capacity for healing and open-ness in the inner work of Spirituality.
So thank you both with much loving kindness for revealing these messages as they give hope help and happiness to us folks with problem areas that need working upon. Namaste.
Thank you for sharing these reflections and the previous experience you’ve had with these somatic-centered modalities, John. I believe that the mental health, and soon the spirituality field, is in the midst of a revolution where we have for so long focused on a “top-down” (as in cerebral) approach, but now we’re seeing the value of a “bottom-up” approach (working with the body first and letting those changes transfer to the mind). Much love โก
Thank you so much for this powerful message and valuable article โฅ๏ธ Highly recommend Call of the wild by Kimberley Ann Johnson for women. Itโs based on a foundation of nervous system healing x
Ooh, love the name of that book! Thanks for the recommendation Tish โก
I always look forward to reading the articles from LonerWolf. This whole site is truly a great wealth of information. I am so thankful for this incredible information you both provide to help people from all over the world.
When I first started reading about the vagus nerve, it was so confusing on where to start. Then I saw a video stating to start out by following your natural bodily impulses. Drink, eat, breathe, move, rest, play, use the bathroom ect. When you feel the urge. That can be the start of feeling what it’s like to be in your body if you’re not used to it. And secondly is, if it ever feels like too much, do something that helps you feel better. For me that is listening to music and making art.
Again thank you so much, I have this article saved to try out all the wonderful recommendations listed.
I love how you mention โfollowing impulseโ as a form of soothing the vagus nerve, this is something Iโve learned through the teachings of Irene Lyon. Thanks for being here, Tia :)
Very informational. Love the article.
Comparing a weak vagus to a flabby weak body that never exercises is an extremely ableist, fatphobic metaphor. Some people canโt exercise even if they wanted to. Suggesting a more inclusive way of describing that if you want to reach more people with kindness. You could just say โa muscle that weakens from lack of useโ or just a weak muscle would suffice.
Thanks for your observation, this has been forwarded to me as part of the editorial. While I understand that some people may have self-judgment around the word โflabbyโ, in this use and case, itโs analogously pointing out the factual byproduct of having under-developed muscles โ thereโs no judgment associated with it other than what each reader interprets. I understand that some people for many reasons may be limited in mobility and this results in flab, but thereโs nothing wrong with physical flab in our view if the person is happy with and accepts it.