How VAGAL TONING Helps You Heal [Essential 8 Series]

Essential 8 Series (Part 4)

This isn't the first conversation we've had about the vagus nerve, and it won't be the last, but it's definitely worth a listen! In this episode I'll share again the basics of what the vagus nerve is, why it matters when healing anxiety & depression, and you'll get a few more sneak peak reads of my new book!

What I want you to leave this episode hearing most clearly is that you are not broken, healing is possible, and I’m honor to be here supporting you. Hit play to learn more!

CLICK HERE for the full show notes, resources, and 3 tangible takeaways!

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Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Website: https://www.regulatedliving.com/podcast

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Transcript

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Welcome to regulate and rewire and anxiety and depression podcast where we discuss the things I wish someone would have taught me earlier in my healing journey. I'm your host, Amanda Armstrong, and I'll be sharing my steps, my missteps, client experiences and tangible research based tools to help you regulate your nervous system, rewire your mind and reclaim your life. Thanks for being here. Now let's dive in.

Hey, friends, welcome back in case you are tuning in for the first time, or maybe you missed the last couple of weeks. This is part three of an eight episode series on what I call the essential eight. And this is something that all of our clients behind the scenes at races we learn about and this is a research supported lifestyle habits that contribute to our mental health, our physical health, regulating our nervous system. And today we are talking all about vagal toning. Now we have had a few previous conversations about the vagus nerve here on the podcast, we had episode 53 titled I wrote a book my book healing through the vagus nerve, it ships out and hit shelves in just one short week on May 7. And some of today's chat will come directly from its pages. 

Episode 15 was titled What is the vagus nerve? And that episode pretty comprehensively introduced the vagus nerve and answered the questions of what contributes to low vagal tone How do you know how high or low your vagal tone is? How can you improve vagal tone why it matters the role it plays in regulation or dysregulation. And I don't want to make today a complete repeat of that episode. But I will cover some of those same things and then share more. 

And one of the things that I love so much about having vagal toning as one of our essential eight habits to more regulated living is that it really encompasses and it is the thing that ties together all of the other seven. Because yes, while there are intentional and specific exercises that you can do to target your vagus nerve, the thing that ultimately improves vagal tone the most is living a more well and balanced life. So improving sleep, getting movement, engaging in optimal breathing patterns, stress management, community engagement, on and on and on. Each of these things contributes to healthy vagal tone in a measurable way. And as your vagal tone improves, you have greater capacity for all of those things. Higher vagal tone oftentimes creates better quality sleep, it's easier to find the motivation to engage in movement, our breath is optimized, it's so much easier to manage stress and reset from stress when we have high vagal tone. 

Now, what we see often in various research studies is that individuals with anxiety and depression tend to have lower vagal tone and vagal tone is the terminology that we use to reference how optimized how healthy the vagus nerve is functioning. So for example, think about muscle tone, high muscle tone, you assume that that muscle is fit, it's strong, it's able to do its job. If you have low muscle tone, that is a muscle that is weaker, that is less optimally functioning. And right now, we most often, there is no direct measure of vagal tone. So there are at least right now in research in the science world, there is no direct way to measure vagal tone. And I have a whole chapter in my book on measuring the vagal tone. And we do that indirectly. So because your vagus nerve for those of you who might be totally new to your vagus nerve, it is your 10th cranial nerve, it is your longest and most comprehensive of your cranial nerves, it exits your brainstem and then travels throughout your body. In fact, the vagus comes from the Latin word wandering, it's sometimes called the wandering nerve. Because as it travels down your body, it innervates every single one of your primary organs, so exits your brainstem and then runs through your throat, your heart, your lungs, your kidneys, all the way down to your colon. And when it comes to measuring vagal tone, the number one metric that we tend to use is heart rate variability. It is the most objective measure of vagal tone, high heart rate variability measures and correlates with high vagal tone, low heart rate variability with lower vagal tone and the cool thing is that most wearables things like an Oura ring or Woop band or even an Apple Watch, give you a heart rate variability measure. And so watching that number over time as you are taking intentional steps to regulate your nervous system. To establish some of these pillars of health step into more regulated living, that could be a pretty motivating number to to look at. 

And know that if that either isn't moving for you, or you don't easily have access to a wearable device that gives you that information, we also often look at symptom clusters. So if you have ever felt like your symptoms are just this game of Whack a Mole, it's like I've got IBS issues, I'm getting headaches, I have a lot of chronic pain, I've got anxiety or depression, and I sometimes feel like there's a heart palpitation or it's hard to take a full deep breath. The vagus nerve has a role to play in all of those things. And so as we improve our vagal tone, what you might see is just that these clusters of symptoms, decrease in intensity or completely go away all the time, things like food sensitivities, we have clients who were gluten intolerant or dairy intolerant. And as they got further along in their healing journey, those things didn't aggravate their system, because there wasn't as high of a stress load on their system. There are a number of chronic pain symptoms that our clients have seen disappear almost completely for them. And the vagus nerve has a big role to play in all of that. 

And one of my favorite things that comes with improved vagal tone is that it gives us greater resiliency towards stress, meaning two things number one that you're not stressed out as easily. And when you inevitably are because life happens when your buttons are pushed. If you're feeling triggered, you're activated in this sympathetic stress response even into kind of that dorsal vagal shutdown response. When there is higher vagal tone. It supports our system in resetting from stressful events more quickly. And this is in part because 80% of vagus nerve fibers are parasympathetic, meaning that is our rest and digest state or social engagement state. So higher vagal tone gives you greater access to that green zone that parasympathetic regulated state. 

Now let's rewind and even maybe repeat a little bit just reiterating the answer to the question of what is vagal toning. When it comes to the mind body connection and nervous system regulation. The vagus nerve is key, it is the superhighway that supports mind body communication, and it oversees many of our important bodily functions. So the vagus nerve plays a role in stress, mood, immune response, digestion, heart rate, several other autonomic functions, and when the vagus nerve is optimal and functioning, just reiterating here, it has high vagal tone. And when it is not optimal, we say it has low vagal tone. And just like the way that you build muscle is by number one minimizing injury because when you are injured, you're not building muscle. And the second part of building muscle is by accumulating reps over time, we build vagal tone the same way, by avoiding the things that contribute to low vagal tone, ie sedentary living, high inflammatory nutrition, chronic stress, lack of sleep, so we minimize those where possible. And by accumulating reps of activation over time. And there are specific exercises that activate and improve the tone of your vagus nerve, what I often call regulation reps. And these are particular exercises that you can build into your life on a consistent basis. We'll talk about some of those here. There's an entire chapter in my book, and I have a video demo for every single one of these exercises in the course that goes along with my book, and building some of these reps with frequency into your daily life. It's like doing, you know, one bicep curl after another after another after another. Now, you may not notice a difference, after a few days, a few weeks, even a few months. But over time, as you step in and embed these vagal toning practices into your life, they are going to make a difference. 

I also always put a plug in that because when you activate your vagus nerve, you're also activating your parasympathetic nervous system. Having the context for and experimenting with and figuring out the vagal toning exercises that your system responds best to, is really great to have in your reactive toolkit, especially if you're somebody who struggles with anxiety, because that yellow zone of activation is that sympathetic nervous system state. And so in moments where you're feeling quite dysregulated, if you can have a few go to exercises that activate your vagus nerve, it can oftentimes take the edge off that intensity to help you step into what you need next, more intentionally. Now what I'm about to read to you isn't specifically about the vagus nerve, but it'll give you a snapshot of the journey that you can expect from my new book titled healing through the vagus nerve. So I want to take the next few minutes and just give you a sneak peek of what this book holds and read to you the introduction from my book. 

So it begins, I'll never forget that feeling I had the first time one of my clients said, Oh my gosh, I'm not broken. This all makes perfect sense. I have since seen this aha moment hit for hundreds of clients and it never gets old. I find it fascinating that most often it comes not from years of therapy or big life changes, but from simply beginning to understand how their nervous system works. Once the nervous system comes into focus, they realize their anxiety, their depression, and their symptoms are a natural result of their past lived experiences and current life stressors. This realization brings compassion and curiosity and paves the way for some of their deepest healing. I believe that nervous system regulation is the foundation to all other healing, not just because I witnessed it everyday with my clients, but because of my own personal healing journey as well. There were many years I felt at war with my mind and body, and I didn't see a way out. When I finally got the courage to go to the doctor and ask for help. I wanted to better understand why I was struggling. Instead, like many of you have likely experienced, I left just a few minutes later with a prescription. When I made my way to a therapist, it felt helpful to talk through things. However, I often left thinking well, now what it felt frustrating to spend so much time talking about my struggles without having tangible tools to start feeling better. And I'm not bashing medication or therapy when I say that there's a time and a place for most interventions. Different people need different things at different times. And I'm grateful for everything that supported me and my healing journey medication and therapy both for a short time. But my reality was that those two mainstream options left gaping holes when it came to the support and healing that I wanted and needed. I remember the feeling of not knowing where else to turn. Eventually, through countless hours of research, I found what I was missing the connection between the mind and body. In the last decade of neuroscience and psychological research, we've learned that so much stress, trauma, anxiety and depression actually lives in the body rather than in the brain. When it comes to the mind, body connection and nervous system regulation, the vagus nerve is key. It is the superhighway that supports mind body communication and 80% of those signals and information originate in the body. When the vagus nerve is optimal and functioning, overall mental and physical health improves in tangible and measurable ways. That means the nervous system, mainly the vagus nerve is at the center of it all. As you begin to learn how the system functions, you can start working with it in powerful and tangible ways. 

The first part of this book focuses on building this understanding.

Then it moves into a section header that says training the nervous system. 

And I'll continue. "Imagine you're just arriving at the gym, you walk in and you see a 300 pound weight on the floor. Should you walk up to it without training and expect yourself to deadlift the 300 pound weight? Of course not. Most people wouldn't even try and if you did, it makes sense that you might hurt yourself in that attempt. Yet so many people are doing the equivalent of trying to lift a 300 pound life of struggles and emotional distress with little to no training. No one taught you how to carry this load. So of course you're struggling. It feels hard, and it's not your fault. Just as you would train in the gym. There are powerful ways to train and leverage your physiology, your body and your nervous system to influence and heal your psychology and your mind. There are ways to push back against your body's stress response in real time and increase your capacity to carry a heavier load. There are certain habits that hurt and others that heal. Knowing how your mind body system works is the most powerful step in learning to work with it and eventually train with it instead of fighting against it. This is a big part of the active work in this book, specifically the exercises in chapter six. I am confident that the education and tools I share on those pages will help you take steps to improve your mental and physical health through this sort of nervous system training. Not just because they've worked for me, but because I've seen and continue to see them work for hundreds of clients in their journey to reclaim their lives from anxiety and depression. When it comes to personalizing a plan to regulate your nervous system training is all well and good. But again, just like at the gym Everyone starts at a different place, and needs to keep their own limits and unique needs in mind when training. My goal for this book is not simply to share a list of vagus nerve hacks, but to help you understand and build a relationship with your entire nervous system. Your vagus nerve plays a vital role in that system, but there is no hacking your way to healing. Instead, I'll lay a foundation of education that will empower you to personalize the tools and practices taught in this book. Mental Health looks different for everyone. And so will the solution. As I share what's worked for me and so many of my clients, I'll invite you to experiment and personalize it in a way that works for you." 

Now, there is a little bit more to my introduction, but I will end there. And then what follows is just that chapter one starts with an overview of your whole nervous system, chapter two zooms in and takes you on a journey of the path that your vagus nerve, it travels through your body, not because I want you to leave being able to pass some anatomy exam or to become a neuroscientist. But because I think understanding the role that your vagus nerve plays in your different bodily functions, it can oftentimes help you piece together some of what might feel like random symptoms, as well as to understand why certain exercises that I give you in chapter six work things like humming or massaging your ear or your neck, you might think Amanda, these are too simple, these are too simple to be helpful. They're really silly. But when you understand that the vagus nerve innervates really close to the skin down your neck and into your throat, okay, well, that's a place that I can manually activate my vagus nerve does that and experiment, I want to invite you to experiment. And what the course that goes along with this book does really well is provide some encouragement and invitation and even strategy to the personal application of what's in the pages. In chapter three, I help you to really do this kind of audit and assessment of your nervous system, looking at your baseline nervous system state helping you to map your nervous system. And then chapter four is all about taking a personal inventory of your symptoms and measuring your vagal tone. So for example, there is a chart on page 71, that talks about how you might experience things like heart rate variability, emotional regulation, cognitive function, energy levels, inflammation, respiratory functions, digestive functions differently if you have high or low vagal tone. 

And I know for me, when I was struggling, I checked a lot of these boxes for low vagal tone. Even though I appeared to be a really, really healthy person, I was very, very fit. But I was also very, very, chronically stressed very chronically sleep deprived. I was diagnosed with ADHD at this time. And there's a whole section in the book where my professional experiences with anxiety and depression, but I have personal experience with ADHD. And so there's a section in the book that explores the role of nervous system dysregulation, chronic stress, trauma, the vagus nerve, and ADHD symptoms. And what ultimately led me to seek out support was actually because I couldn't stay awake in class anymore. And I just assumed it was attention and attention issue. And this is where it's kind of maybe a yes, and maybe it was an attention issue. And I had extreme highs and extreme lows, there was fatigue, and tiredness and then kind of like manic bursts of energy. And the vagus nerve is what I believe was at the heart of a lot of these kind of seemingly unrelated symptoms, but really came down to this common thread. 

And my guess is that if you have found your way to a podcast about anxiety and depression, either number one, you're a practitioner, you're a helper, or you're somebody who knows somebody who's struggling with anxiety and depression. Amazing. I applaud you for being here. And I hope that what you learn here really supports you supporting them, or you're somebody who's struggling. And a lot of those things listed under low vagal tone sounded familiar, just like I shared, they did for me for so long. And that's okay. What I need you to know is that vagal tone, just like muscle tone, it is not a fixed trait. And I expand on this a lot more in chapter five, or there's a section on strategic healing when it comes to nervous system regulation and improving vagal tone. There are components of both proactive and reactive regulation tools that we engage in the proactive tools are these things that we're talking about in this essential eight series. And the goal is not to do them all perfectly, but rather to be strategic about what matters most, what matters for this season of your life. And on page 90 is the section about strategic healing and I want to read it for you. To give you the context of how different This healing journey regulating your nervous system can look and should look and needs to look for each and every person. And I talk a little bit about that in the section so it reads. 

"Before establishing my full time mental health coaching practice, I spent almost a decade as a personal trainer and wellness specialist. Hence all the strength training analogies I use, I consistently and strategically created specific workout programs based on my client's goals, their current fitness level and lifestyle. I took into consideration any limitations they had and the resources that were available to them. These plans were strategic, but also flexible, then things would be adapted and changed based on what we observed was working or not working for one reason or another as the client progressed. I apply the same process now to the anxiety and depression coaching that I do. Although there are many universals in how to improve both physical fitness and mental health, there is always a need for personalization and adaptation. I believe in strategic healing, and in creating an intentional plan of action to achieve your goals. I'm also a healing minimalist, my goal for clients, both when I was with them in the gym, and now in my current mental health practice has always been for them to get away with doing as little as possible to accomplish what they want. I support clients and finding the tools and practices that are the most effective for them and want to help you do the same. To do this, you will need to use the research supported practices that universally support nervous system regulation, and intimately observe how each of these practices uniquely impacts you. The same way a comprehensive fitness program includes various categories of training such as strength, cardio, core flexibility, and stability. A strategic and comprehensive Nervous System Program also consists of various categories of training. To start, I've simplified this into two primary categories, proactive and reactive." 

And if you've been on the podcast with me for a while, you've heard me talk about proactive and reactive tools, you improve vagal tone, anytime the vagus nerve is activated, or you move towards a more parasympathetic nervous system state or when you intentionally train stress resiliency, which we'll talk more about next week in our stress management episode. Improving vagal tone is a gradual process. Strategic healing is a major component to that, that comes from understanding how the vagus nerve operates and how to work with your physiology, to build capacity to regulate and move towards healing. 

And the start of the last chapter in chapter seven of this book reads, "Improved vagal tone happens when you build these tools into your daily life. After everything we've talked about. So far, it's natural to have questions like, Where do I start? Or how do I even begin to put it all together? And I've got you covered. That's exactly the work I support my clients in every day. And what I'm going to walk you through in this chapter, the short answer to those questions is that you're going to start where you are, with the current capacity you have, start small, install one tiny habit at a time, and then optimize it little by little, it will eventually come together adapting to various seasons of your life. One thing I commonly hear at this point is, I logically know the things I should be doing, but I can't seem to get myself to actually do them. This often happens when you try to shoot for an ideal routine, when your capacity doesn't match that behavior change. Installing new habits takes time and intention. But it is absolutely possible. It can also be incredibly helpful to seek out support on this journey to creating healthier habits." 

And my guess is that that's what many many of you are here doing, you're turning to this podcast for support and your healing journey. And my hope is that with each and every one of these episodes, you find that and then that you take that and apply it through a personalized lens to you to your life to your healing journey. And I am honored every single time one of you podcast listeners invites me and my team into that healing journey, whether that's through restore or one on one coaching program, or when I see your names pop up in my membership. And I always send a personal welcome message to anyone who joins the membership. And just hey, what brought you here and so many of you found this podcast. And we're in this place where you started to logically understand what it was you should be doing, but needed support and stepping into that action. Whether the support comes from me and my practice or elsewhere. Please, as you come to know better and use struggle to actually engage in doing better. You are not meant to figure this out alone, you are not meant to take action alone. seek out help or ever it is available and accessible to you. And if you're not sure what or where that looks like, reach out, send me an email send me a DM. And my promise is that we can always have that conversation in a totally pressure free way. 

Now I want to wrap up this conversation on vagal toning. And just point out that this is really the last big place that I will talk about my book before it's pub date before it publishes before it ships to your home and gets in your hands. And I read you the intro to start. And now I want to share with you the final page of my book which is titled Final thoughts. And it reads. "From the beginning of this book, I've shared with you that my goal was to provide with you much more than a scientific understanding of your vagus nerve or a list of quote, vagus nerve hacks I wanted to help you build an understanding of and relationship with your entire nervous system in a way that feels tangible and applicable to your healing journey. There is no one size fits all blueprint to improving vagal tone or healing things like anxiety, depression or chronic illness. But there are powerful research supported practices that can help you work with your physiology, to shift and heal your psychology in measurable and tangible ways. I've shared many of those with you here. It is now your job to put those pieces together in a way that creates your unique path to healing. I truly believe in your capacity to heal. I don't believe you or anyone is born broken. I think throughout our lives, we and our nervous systems have had to come up with countless creative ways to get our needs met, find belonging and survive. I think we all have endured some terribly hard things that no one prepared us for. Many of us had loving and supportive parents, but just as many of us did not. And we are all here as adults, learning how to self regulate and heal to break out of these unhelpful patterns and create the beautiful lives we want. You are doing the best you can based on your lived experiences, your current life circumstances and the tools you have right now. I am so proud of you for picking up a book like this. Or sidenote, listening to podcasts like this. And seeking out healing. You have everything you need to heal already inside of you. And it's okay that healing doesn't happen on your own. It's not meant to. Just like an athlete already has everything inside themselves to accomplish amazing things. They still need a coach to provide experience strategy, training and encouragement to help them get there. Please don't shy away from seeking out support on your healing journey."

"Why I've offered you this book and what I offer my clients daily are the education tools, strategy and support I wish I had earlier in my healing journey. But what I want you to get most out of this book is a sense of hope, hope and healing, hope and a way forward that puts you back in the driver's seat of your mind, body and life. You can improve vagal tone and regulate your nervous system. And with that your entire life can change. nervous system regulation is the foundation of all other healing. There is no right or wrong way to go about this work. There is no rush or timeline to follow. It looks the way it will look and takes as long as it takes. Healing is going to have highs and lows. It will never be linear. But it is always in some way moving you forward. different seasons of life will call for different approaches, different capacities lend themselves to different actions. Take your time, make space for your humaneness, find support, follow the guidelines given in this book. And in time, you'll be able to look back and wonder at how far you've come."

 And it ends there, sweet, sweet friend, who is still listening. I have chills. And I'm getting emotional. Because I hope you felt those words. I want so desperately for each and every one of you to believe in your capacity to heal, to have a life that feels rich, and good and whole and safe. And if anything that I read to you today about vagal toning from my book resonated with you in any way I want to encourage you to to order it to put this book on your shelf to open its pages and I know and I promise there is so much hope and so much healing in those pages. Now if you're finding this episode before May 7, make sure make sure make sure when you to preorder you also go to my website and there'll be a form to fill out. As a thank you gift for anybody who pre orders my book, I am going to give you the book course, absolutely free, as well as a code to join me in my next release class. This is my monthly nervous system regulation and trauma release class that I host. And I'm gonna give you a code to join that class or get the replay if you can't make it live absolutely free. Because what those two things do the course that invites you into personal exploration personal application, and then that release class gets you into experiencing, experiencing what vagal toning looks like in action, having some guided experience with these exercises in the book so that you can feel more comfortable trying them on your own. 

All right, let's bring it all together like we always do with three takeaways from today. Number one, understanding vagal tone plays an integral role in regulating your nervous system and healing anxiety and depression. High vagal tone is the key ingredient to stress management, decreased reactivity, and just overall mental and physical health in so many different ways. 

Number two, there is no one size fits all blueprint to improving vagal tone or healing things like anxiety, depression, chronic illness. But there are a number of research supported practices that heal. There are powerful ways to work with your physiology to shift and heal your psychology. Each of these essential eight habits supports more regulated living, and improved vagal tone. 

And TAKEAWAY NUMBER THREE is just a final invitation to preorder my book or order my book if you're finding this after May 7. 

And as always, thank you for your support. Thank you for being here. Thank you for stepping into your healing because it matters. It matters for your life. It matters for your children, it matters for your neighbors, for your co workers, it matters for the world, the steps that you are taking and I see you in them. There are many, many days that feel hard. Two steps forward, one step back, five steps forward 50 steps back. Continue to engage in stepping towards and leaning in to your healing. And please, please please again, whether it's from within our our practice at Rise As We are anywhere else do not shy away from seeking support. All right, friends, exciting week for me. My book is is on trucks, it's on trucks, it's in planes. It's sitting in the backroom in local bookstores. I cannot wait for you to get Healing Through The Vagus Nerve in your hands in your homes. And until next time, friends sending you so much hope and healing

Thanks for listening to another episode of The regulate and rewire podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please subscribe and leave a five star review to help us get these powerful tools out to even more people who need them. And if you yourself are looking for more personalized support and applying what you've learned today, consider joining me inside Rhys, my monthly mental health membership and nervous system healing space or apply for our one on one anxiety and depression coaching program restore. I've shared a link for more information to both in the show notes. Again, thanks so much for being here. And I'll see you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai