I’m glad you’re here.

In part one of this two-part series, Dr. Dani Schaer walked us through an introduction to the nervous system. If you need a refresher, her post, An Introduction to the Nervous System, is a great place to start. Once you’re finished, come on back. In part two, we’re diving a little deeper into the vagus nerve and moving into some supportive exercises to increase our vagal tone. More on this, soon :)

I’m hoping you can leave this space with a few practices that work for you and fit into your life, whenever you have the space for them. Let’s dive in.

The Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve comes to us from Polyvagal Theory. As you might remember, our autonomic nervous system (ANS) is our body’s unconscious, mission control center. It is constantly scanning the environment, picking up on subtle cues, and helping us react accordingly. As you might remember, the autonomic nervous system has two branches: The sympathetic branch (fight-or-flight) and the parasympathetic branch (rest-and-digest/freeze).

Today, we’re focusing just on the parasympathetic branch, specifically the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is the major nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system. It’s the longest cranial nerve, starting in the brain and going all the way to our gut. It passes through so many important systems on its journey, which makes it very impactful.

We’re going to get a little more granular before moving into a few restful, supportive exercises. The vagus nerve has two separate categories: the ventral vagus and the dorsal vagus. Both slow our nervous system but with two very different goals:

Ventral Vagal

Our social engagement system —> This is the type of relaxation we feel when laughing with friends at dinner, sharing an intimate moment with a partner, or sharing experiences with a loved one.

The goal of a ventral vagal is connection

Dorsal Vagal

Our “freeze” or immobilization response. Quite the opposite of the ventral vagus, when this pathway is activated, we shut down completely. This was our body’s very first survival response. Be quiet. Be still. Don’t move. This is an extremely common response to trauma. For more information on trauma, check out this post.
The goal of a dorsal vagal state is protection by way of disconnection.

So what is vagal tone?

Put simply, vagal tone is a biological snapshot of the activity of your vagus nerve. Increasing vagal tone activates the parasympathetic nervous system which means that your body can relax faster after stress. With all the stress that we face day-to-day, a high vagal tone sounds pretty good.

If you’re thinking, “Well, that’s just not me” we have some good news for you: Our nervous system is flexible. Our baseline vagal tone might be a little lower than we’d like it to be, by our nervous system is adaptable. As we practice regulation techniques, and spend time getting to know our bodies, we will move towards healing. This takes time, but we all have the capacity to be more regulated, more of the time.

Vagal Toning Exercises

Here’s a collection of accessible practices to increase vagal tone, soothe the nervous system, and provide a softer landing pad as we navigate challenging emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and bodily responses.

Cold Exposure

Research has found that acute cold exposure activates the vagus nerve. Repeated and regular exposure to the cold can lower your sympathetic fight-or-flight response and increase parasympathetic activity (i.e. your body’s metaphorical Sunday morning). This can look like jumping in the shower as the water is warming up or working your way up to a polar plunge or an ice bath. Remember to ease into this! It should be uncomfortable, not painful.

Humming, Chanting, or Singing

This one might seem a little perplexing at first, but our Vagus nerve is actually connected to our vocal chords. Because of this, stimulating our vocal cords has a calming effect on our Vagus nerve and as a byproduct, our parasympathetic nervous system. This study found that chanting “om” stimulates deactivates the limbic system and stimulates the Vagus nerve. So the next time you’re at a yoga class and you’re feeling a little weird about it, go for it! You’re toning your Vagus nerve :)

Deep and Slow Breathing

Deep, slow breathing communicates to your body that you are SAFE. Working with our breath is a great way to negotiate with our nervous system. If we practice slow, deep breathing, we are not only stimulating our vagus nerve but calming the fight-or-flight response. You can start small here - every little bit helps! On days or seasons of life that feel especially helpful, I like to set an alarm that goes off every hour or two that reminds me to stop what I’m doing and take two, slow deep breaths. In fact, I’ll pause to do it now.

Finding a state of awe

Being in a state of awe is good for our nervous system. It’s also good for our soul. It’s just good all around. Essentially, anything that brings forth positive emotions increases vagal tone. This study found that being exposed to beauty, which is different for everything but might be spending time in nature, watching the sunrise, appreciating art, or bonding with animals, contributes to good physical health. Results from this study suggest that over time, as moments of positive emotions and social connections in increase, vagal tone also increases, which builds a biological resource that has been linked to numerous health benefits.

If you feel pulled toward this topic and want to explore vagal toning techniques with one of our clinicians, reach out for a free 15-minute consultation. If you’re interested in therapy but a little unsure, this is a good way to dip your toe in the pool.

References:

Dana, D., & Porges, S. W. (2018). The polyvagal theory in therapy: Engaging the rhythm of regulation. W.W. Norton & Company.

Kalyani, B. G., Venkatasubramanian, G., Arasappa, R., Rao, N. P., Kalmady, S. V., Behere, R. V., Rao, H., Vasudev, M. K., & Gangadhar, B. N. (2011). Neurohemodynamic correlates of 'OM' chanting: A pilot functional magnetic resonance imaging study. International journal of yoga, 4(1),

Migala , J. (2021, June 22). Vagus nerve stimulation how-to (and 8 exercises to try). Parsley Health. https://www.parsleyhealth.com/blog/how-to-stimulate-vagus-nerve-exercises/