Experience your vagus nerve through movement, touch, and imagery!
If you've attended a yoga class or read anything about wellness over the past several years, you've probably heard of the vagus nerve. But what exactly is it, and what's all the hype?
The vagus nerve is actually a collection of the vagal or “wandering” nerves of the parasympathetic nervous system, which controls involuntary bodily functions such as digestion, heart rate, and immunity. These longest cranial nerves run from the brain through the neck before winding their way through the chest, heart, lungs, and abdomen. They are involved in the regulation of everything from the stress response to blood pressure and mood and may be implicated in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and headaches.
In this workshop, you’ll explore your vagus nerve through movement, touch, and imagery. You’ll develop an understanding of its role in your overall health and learn how to consciously activate it, as well as recognize what you already do that influences it. There will be breakout rooms for short practice teaching sessions, and you’ll leave the workshop with a copy of Christa’s keynote presentation and videos of three vagus nerve embodiments.
A picture is worth a thousand words, and after this workshop, that’s what you’ll have: a picture of your vagus nerve.
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A recording will be made available to all registrants for two weeks following the workshop.
Recommended props:
Yoga bolster; Mini Balls (you can order them here); and yoga blanket
Christa Rypins is a certified 500-hour Kripalu yoga instructor, Level 4 Franklin Method Educator, and Certified Pilates Instructor. She has had two drives in her life—figure skating and how to make sense of life. She discovered yoga 33 years ago. While on tour with the Ice Capades, she heard about a place where they practiced “meditation in motion.” She didn’t know what that was, but knew she wanted to try it.
When her tour was done she went to Massachusetts to check it out, and soon after changed her life and went to live in the ashram. A couple years later she became a yoga teacher.
Yoga opened the door to as many questions as it answered and she became a student of the body. In addition to athletics and yoga, Christa has studied, practiced, and taught somatics, Pilates, and The Franklin Method of Imagery.
The Franklin Method, a system of anatomical embodiment using movement, touch, and imagery, is the transformational tool that underlies all of Christa’s work.
She uses embodiment to help athletes feel more connected to their bodies so they can achieve their goals, and the rest of us to feel more connected to our bodies so we can heal pain and enjoy our lives
In addition to yoga and meditation, embodiment has had the most profound effect on Christa’s health and well-being.