There’s a lot of talk about the vagus nerve, but what is the vagus nerve exactly? How do you influence it to help your vagus nerve work better? 

What is the vagus nerve? 

The word vagus means vagabond —travels all around. 

The vagus nerve is the primary nerve of your parasympathetic nervous system, the part of your nervous system responsible for relaxation. It originates in the center of your brain and travels to every organ in your body sending information back and forth between your brain and organs.  

When you are stressed and anxious, your organs are affected. But the vagus nerve cannot take action to calm your system, it can only transmit information between your organs and your brain and back to your organs. 

This is where you as a yoga practitioner comes in! Because it is what you do, or do not do that activates the vagus nerve and calms your entire system. 

You know that you can be quite stressed and practice yoga and teach yoga, and feel your entire system shift. Breathing and moving are two of the things that activate the vagus nerve. 

Things that activate the vagus nerve: 

• Deep breathing 
• Stretching combined with breathing 
• Singing 

All things you do in your own yoga practice! Yoga is already helping your vagus nerve! 

In my Vagus Nerve Embodiment workshop, you will get a picture of the vagus nerve and learn three simple embodiment exercises to activate it. You’ll leave the workshop empowered with a clearer understanding of what the vagus nerve is, how it works, how to feel and identify the effects of your vagus nerve, how to activate your vagus nerve, as well as a relaxed and happy feeling. 

Would you like to start your vagus nerve experience early? Your vagus nerve connects to your stomach. One of my favorite practices that calms my stomach and activates a sense of calm and fulfillment while eating is breathing while eating! I take a bite of food and consciously breathe while chewing the food. I recently started practicing with drinking—I hold the liquid in my mouth and breathe before swallowing. 

Breathing while eating and drinking calms my stomach so I feel the food when it arrives to my stomach instead of later when I often feel a bit too full. As a result, I have lost weight without trying! The hardest part of breathing while eating is remembering! 

I look forward to exploring and experiencing the vagus nerve with you on December 13.