Mind Full: Body Connection
By Kayleigh Roberts and Christine Harris
The Vagus Nerve is a pair of nerves running from your brain to your colon with branches connecting important organs along the way. You can tone the Vagus Nerve in different ways such as conscious breathing, exercising, voice exercises, drumming in sync, playing music and participating in synchronized rhythms to enable your body to function better.
How the Polyvagal Theory works is your brain constantly checks in with your body to gather information about potential threats as well as signs of safety in your environment, as your breath, heart rate, and body automatically respond to stimuli. Your brain then takes in that information and reallocates resources where they are needed. If your breath is short and choppy, your brain may interpret that as a danger or threat in your environment and trigger a fight, flight, or freeze reaction. Fight, flight, and freeze reactions bypass your normal, logical thought process. If there is an emergency your brain doesn’t have time to hold a meeting and reach a logical consensus on how to react. You just react by running away from the threat, fighting to take out the potential danger, or shutting down to conserve energy. Oftentimes, information is misinterpreted as threatening, and our body bypasses our brain in non-threatening situations. This causes problems, because if nothing is wrong and our body shuts down, disengages, and dissociates from reality, it upsets our health and distances us from what’s going on around us. If your brain and body are confused, they will continue to misdirect and pump out resources like adrenaline and stress hormones where they are not needed or shut down parts of your physiology that need to be operating smoothly. Luckily, we can change these processes in order to regain control of our brain, body, emotions, and reactions.
This system is useful to keep you safe when it is functioning in a healthy way, however, when your fear and panic response are overactive, problems arise. Triggers are events or stimuli that “trigger” panic reactions. Glimmers are stimuli that let you know you it is safe to relax. Everyone experiences trauma differently. One person’s glimmer may be getting their hair cut and the calming experience of being pampered, having their head massaged, and the hairdresser’s gentle voice; the situation may subconsciously remind them of their mother brushing their hair as a child. This same experience may be a trigger for someone else; they may subconsciously feel trapped in the salon chair, anxious about making conversation, or overwhelmed by the physical intimacy. Both of these responses are normal. If you explore your responses with curiosity, understanding, and compassion, you are able to learn about yourself and change dynamics that are no longer helpful.
Automatic Does Not Mean Static. Our subconscious and automatic processes are behind so many of our reactions, emotions, and thoughts. We can own these processes by toning our Vagus nerve, shaping how we engage, and accepting the lessons we learn about ourselves.
Seek Glimmers. We can choose to seek out glimmers, self-care, and healthy connections to shift our stories into a positive direction.
Accept Triggers. We can accept and have compassion for ourselves when triggers arise. After we accept our triggers they lose some of the power they had over us such as shame, fear, guilt, and embarrassment, and so easing the pressures they once held. President Franklin Roosevelt stated “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." When we come from a place of courage despite fear, we find our power and push through challenges.
Practice is Perfect. There are many practices that can strengthen your Vagus nerve: music, hum, sing, playing an instrument, dance, play, meditate, breathing practice, yoga, martial arts, stretch, massage, art, tossing a ball back and forth, and countless more discovered and undiscovered practices. Some of these will resonate with you, and others may work for someone else. It’s normal to feel discouraged when you begin a practice, and convince yourself you are not meditating well enough; letting go of judgement is paramount to any practice. If we try, seek, and explore methods to tone our Vagus nerve, we are succeeding. Practice starts with setting aside time, an intention, and starting the practice.
Regardless of what is coming up for you, know you are like this for a reason and you can change.
Build Your Strength
Lie down on your back with your legs shoulder distance apart and arms extended by your legs. Rotate your hands upward, facing the sky. (If this is uncomfortable for you, find a comfortable position.)
Take deep slow breaths and slow full exhales. Fill your stomach and chest with oxygen, expanding and breathing in as much as you can. Slowly release. Exhale pushing out the last wisps of carbon dioxide. Keep breathing deeply throughout this exercise.
What is coming up for you? What are you feeling? Where does that sensation originate? Can you locate it on your body?
Breath deeply into that area, bringing it into awareness, filling it with rich, nourishing oxygen.
Imagine your in-breath as your favorite soothing colour, and envision it filling your lungs and radiating through your veins, connecting to all parts of your body. Picture your out-breath as a colour of which you are less fond. Envision this colour exiting your body as you exhale. Imagine letting go of whatever is not serving you in your life, and watching it leave to be recycled into the atmosphere where it is needed elsewhere. Breath in the invigorating, rich colour, and allow it to fill and comfort you.
When you are ready, wiggle your fingers and toes, stretch everywhere that feels good to you, and open your eyes. What is coming up for you now? Can you locate the previous sensation in your body? Has the intensity or sharpness changed? Do you feel more relaxed?
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