Breathing life - Stimulating the vagus nerve for full-being health!

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In this episode, I discuss:

• 00:38 - Grounding and Check-In
• 01:27 - Intro to and Significance of Your Vagus Nerve
• 04:28 - Benefits of Improving Vagal Tone
• 05:46 - Methods for Improving Vagal Tone
• 08:21 - Intro to Breath Practices for the Vagus Nerve
• 09:48 - Humming and Victorious Breath Practice

Episode transcript:

"...I invite you to start by taking a moment to feel your body, to soften your shoulders, to soften your brow, to soften your jaw. Maybe do a little neck roll, a little shake to the arms, point and flex to the ankles. And take a nice big breath in through the nose. And an easy full exhale through the nose or the mouth.

Today, I want to muse a little about the relationship between breath and vagal tone. What the heck is vagal tone?

So, last week, I talked a little bit more in depth about the autonomic nervous system and the relationship between heart rate variability and the balance of the relationship between those two components of the autonomic nervous system, our sympathetic and parasympathetic responses.

And one of the ways that our body regulates heart rate variability is through the vagus nerve.

So, when we have higher vagal tone that is typically associated with greater heart rate variability, indicating that healthy balance between rest and digest and fight or flight.

And many practices that improve heart rate variability, such as deep breathing, will also stimulate the vagus nerve and help promote vagal tone and a healthier autonomic balance.

So, your vagus nerve or sometimes called vagal nerves are cranial nerve 10, and they are the primary nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system.

So, that is those involuntary bodily functions like heart rate and immune function and digestion.

And if we take all the branches of cranial nerve 10, the vagal nerve, that is actually 75% of your parasympathetic nervous system nerve fibers, 75%.

And because of the way that that cranial nerve 10 leaves your spinal cord and wanders throughout the body, vagus actually translates as the wandering nerve, it is interrelated to so many different bodily functions.

So, I mentioned digestion, heart rate, and immune system, but as that nerve leaves the head, it's also closely related to the ears, to the mouth, to the neck, and the throat, including reflexive actions like coughing, sneezing, swallowing, and then heart rate and respiration rate, of course, and then it goes all down through the abdomen as related to our digestive processes, and urination.

So vagal tone is something we hear thrown around a lot in media and social media right now, how to improve your vagal tone.

So what exactly would be the benefits of trying to improve that vagal tone?

So similar to looking at heart rate variability, it's sort of a glimpse into the overall health resilience balance of our nervous system.

So when we have a higher vagal tone, again, we tend to have that better movement or relationship between parasympathetic and sympathetic, and we tend to see improved ability to rest, to relax, to digest, and also for the body's recovery and healing processes.

When we improve our vagal tone, we also tend to improve the regulation of our heart rate.

So we tend to have a lower resting heart rate, and then again, that greater variability, heart rate variability, as we move between those two components of the autonomic nervous system.

I mentioned earlier, overall improvement of our body's ability to respond to and recover from stress.

Higher vagal tone is also correlated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and then it also tends to be correlated with overall better mental health.

So really a lot of wonderful reasons to look into how we might improve our vagal tone.

And so what do you think?

So as I mentioned earlier, anything that is a good practice for improving heart rate variability is probably also going to be great for vagal tone.

So you can go back to last week's episode to dive into a few of those things.

For today, what I would like to do is another breath practice with you specific to stimulating the vagus nerve around the head and neck.

So we will come back to that in just a moment, but I want to mention a few other things that you can do to stimulate the vagus nerve and improve your vagal tone.

Physical activity exercise is a great way to improve vagal tone.

And then on top of that, exercise that falls under that mind-body approach where you're bringing in breath practices, you're bringing in mindfulness, think Tai Chi yoga can have an added boost for your vagus nerve.

Getting good adequate sleep is great for your vagal tone.

Massage and bodywork, particularly around the areas where the vagus nerve is closer to the surface, so something like massage or even acupuncture around ears, head, neck.

And then potentially abdominal massage as well.

There's some evidence that cold exposure, so short cold shower or splashing cold water on your face first thing in the morning can activate your vagus nerve.

And what I want to really get into today is the things that we can do to stimulate the vagus nerve from sort of inside the head and neck.

So if we think about things like laughter or gargling or chanting or humming, any of these things that engage and stimulate the muscles around the back of the throat are great at stimulating the vagus nerve.

And so we can take an intentional deep breathing practice and then we can add in some of those components for a little more vagal tone building.

So I want to present two things today, and this is going to be a little bit of an experiment.

So if you're listening to this right now, it means that the experiment went fairly well because I'm not exactly sure how my microphone is going to pick up me.

Humming is one that I want to do with you.

And then also a yoga breath called Ujjayi or warrior or victorious breath, where we do this constriction to the back of the throat and we almost create a sound like we're sort of breathing on sunglasses to fog them up before wiping them off, but we do that with the lips closed.

So again, if you're listening to this now, it means that the sound is reasonable.

And I'm hoping so.

So we're going to start with this practice similar to the way that we always do.

So we will kind of settle in to the body, settle in to the moment, check in with where we are.

And then we'll start with just a breathing practice, and then I will move toward the humming and then the ujjayi breath.

If you remember from last week, the coherent or resonant breathing, that is about the rate that we're going to be looking for today.

So if it's comfortable for you and where you're at with your breathing rate, somewhere in that six breaths per minute range.

So I'm going to invite you to go ahead and start to find yourself into whatever shape or seat or movement you would like to do today.

If you're choosing seated or lying down, support yourself as needed to get super comfy.

If you're moving around, make sure it's a familiar area with nice supportive footwear.

And as you start to find your way toward whichever position you're choosing for today, take that moment to notice the connection of your body to the earth.

Notice your feet in your shoes.

Notice parts of the legs, hips, glutes, or back body.

Perhaps if you are seated or lying down, you can allow the eyes to float closed.

And check in with yourself here.

How are you feeling in this moment?

What does your body have to tell you?

What does your breath have to tell you?

Mental, emotional self, where are you at in this moment?

And your nervous system.

Thank you for watching.

And then bring that awareness back to your breath.

Thaties breath.

And then begin to lengthen, deepen, expand your inhales.

Slow your exhales, maybe elongating the breath until you're around that six breaths per minute mark, maybe with the exhale longer than the inhale.

Allowing that exhale to invite the parasympathetic nervous system response.

Allowing that exhale to support your heart rate variability, allowing that exhale to support your vagal tone, allowing that long, slow, complete exhale to support your overall health and well-being.

Take a few more full breaths here.

And moving toward a hum, so a nice deep breath in through the nose, and then still breathing out through the nose with the lips gently together.

Great.

Sounds.

So a deep in through the nose.

And humming out.

Continue to breathe in this manner, expansive in, slow out with a hum.

Take a few more breaths here.

Notice how that humming sensation feels in your head, in your ears, in your mouth, your throat, your neck, in through the nose, humming out.

Same sound with the lips gently together.

Nice, full, inhale through the nose.

Out, little constriction to the back of the throat.

And continue noticing how this breath feels in your head, ears, mouth, throat, neck.

Let go of the ujjayi breath.

Return to a few full breaths.

Release control of the breath, settle back to your natural breathing rhythm.

And take a moment to notice how you feel.

If you closed the eyes, slowly reopen and orient yourself to your space.

If you were seated or lying down, bring some movement back into the body.

And then as always, if you like, maybe take a moment to reflect how this practice felt for you, what worked, what didn't, anything you might like to set the intention to practice more regularly..."