Trauma has been described as an overwhelming demand placed upon a physiological human system. Whether it’s an isolated incident or recurring events, chronic stress and anxiety interfere with the balance of your nervous system.
When you imagine your instinctive survival response, it’s helpful if you think of the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) as your ON switch, and the parasympathetic (rest and digest) as your OFF switch.
If your nervous system is in a continual state of being activated or ON, the result is felt in physical symptoms, illness, distressed relationships, and an impaired cognitive ability. Stress is physiological, it changes your biology and this is the reason why you cannot just think your way out of trauma.
More than just talking therapy is required to regulate a distressed nervous system. In fact talking about what’s happened when your nervous system is dysregulated can re-traumatise you and increase symptoms, leading to more distress.
Specific neuro-scientific practices that work directly with your vagus nerve, the main part of your rest and digest nervous system or OFF switch, helps you to restore calm and balance.
What is the vagus nerve?
The parasympathetic nervous system begins in cranial nerves that come directly from the brain. We have 12 pairs of cranial nerves and the vagus nerve – the longest of the cranial nerves – is the main part of the rest and digest nervous system.
The word Vagus comes from the Latin word vagary meaning “wanderer”. This is because the vagus nerve is not a single nerve, it is a bundle of nerve fibres travelling throughout the body like a network of cables.
It travels down from the brain stem connecting most of the major organs between the brain and colon such as the respiratory, digestive and nervous systems.
It also travels upward to the face through its connection with other cranial nerves. The vagus nerve is a major part of the brain-body connection. This intricate and finely tuned two-way communication system plays a key role in your physical and emotional wellbeing.
The vagus is in charge of switching OFF your fight or flight reflex. It is connected to your moods, immune response, digestion, heart rate, breathing rate, cardiovascular functioning, and reflexes such as coughing, sneezing, swallowing and vomiting.
A healthy vagal tone is in a state of homeostasis (balance) and so the digestive system works well and the body can focus on repair, including the reduction of inflammation, tissue repair, and hormone production.
Strengthening and toning your vagus nerve can put you back in control of your body and mind. When your rest and digest system is more functional, you have a buffer for stress that can help you to stay calm and present in challenging situations.
Feel it to heal it
The vagus nerve runs from the brainstem all the way down to the colon and is equal in size to the spinal cord. The most important function of the vagus nerve is afferent, it brings information from the body and inner organs (such as gut, liver, heart, and lungs) to the brain.
So 80% of the fibres are afferent, which means that they run from the body UP to the brain (Bottom Up Processing) and only 20% of the fibres are efferent, which means that they run from the brain DOWN into the body (Top Down Processing).
Afferent information is how your nervous system identifies feelings of threat or danger. You feel physical symptoms and sensations such as a racing heart, a tight knot in your stomach, tension in the chest, a shallow breathe, etc.
This is why trauma healing requires feeling it somatically. Stress gets stored in our muscles, tissues, organs, postures and movements. Body-centred psychotherapy supports you to experience healing your trauma through bodily sensations and sensory information. We need to work with the 80% (Bottom Up) first.
We live in a world that over-stimulates and over-activates our nervous system; therefore we need tools to help us to engage the vagus nerve on a daily basis.
If left untreated, chronic stress, anxiety and unresolved trauma can disrupt your physical, mental, and emotional health. An unhealthy vagal tone will compromise the nervous system leading to inflammation, lack of equilibrium, brain fog, and an increase in stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
Polyvagal therapy is a mind-body connection. It teaches you how to tone your vagus nerve to make it functional, healthy and optimal. You learn exactly HOW to regulate your own nervous system.
This may include sound, specific body movements to calm or uplift, grounding practices, eye movements, acupressure points, the vocal cords, myofascial release, breathwork, postures, and more.
By toning your vagus nerve every day, you send regular cues of safety to your body and brain that relax and de-stress your nervous system despite the challenges you are facing. A healthy, functional, toned vagus nerve leads to long-term improvements in your mood, wellbeing and resilience.
If you are looking for some more individualised guidance or someone who really understands the mind-body connection, I would be delighted to provide confidential 1:1 sessions to help you to tone your vagus nerve and overcome your trauma symptoms.
Visit www.caroline-king.co.uk