Embracing a Slow Calm Life: Why Your Vagus Nerve Craves Simplicity

Your vagus nerve is quietly begging you to slow down, and science proves it's one of the smartest moves you can make for your physical and mental wellbeing. This episode reveals why choosing simplicity isn't laziness—it's a biologically sound approach that your entire nervous system craves.

Chapters

• 0:16 Introduction to Slow Living
• 1:45 The SLOW Framework Explained
• 5:41 Real-Life Application of SLOW
• 10:04 Embracing Slow Living Challenges
• 11:05 Episode Closing and Thanks

Transcript

Emily Feist: 0:00

Here's something that you might not know your vagus nerve loves a slow life, and if you've been craving that simpler life that doesn't run on calendar alerts, this episode is for you. Today, we'll explore why a slow and simple life works and how to start shifting into it, even when the world or our mind feels like it's running 100 miles an hour.

Emily Feist: 0:24

Welcome to 'It Starts at Vagus', where holistic health meets modern day living through the eyes of a massage therapist and that's me. I'm Emily, and I am a neuromuscular massage therapist that helps people every day relax their mind and their muscles, and we're going to be going through the philosophy of the Vegas nerve. It's the body's ultimate key to calm, connection and overall well-being.

Emily Feist: 0:49

So if you have stress, anxiety or that burnout, feeling that you're just stuck, you're in the right place. Take a deep breath in, settle down and let's explore how we can use our nervous system to support our bodies. Let's dive in.

Emily Feist: 1:04

Here's the truth. Slowing down isn't a weakness and simplifying your life isn't laziness. It's actually one of the smartest, most biologically sound things you can do for your body, your brain and your long-term wellbeing. Let's jump right in by talking about how using a slow framework for your life. That's S-L-O-W. It's a gentle reminder of how to give your body what it's really craving. S is for signaling safety, l is for lowering your stress hormones, o is to optimize your vagus nerve function and W is to wake up to what matters.

Emily Feist: 1:46

Let's start with S, the signal safety. When your life is packed with noise, choices, multitasking and constant output, your nervous system doesn't feel safe. It's always scanning for danger. And let's be real, in a modern day world, that danger is often the never, never ending mental to do list. But when you intentionally start to slow things down, when you start saying no, when you remove a few commitments that aren't necessarily important to your everyday life, your everyday life, when you leave space to breathe, your vagus nerve picks up on all of that as a safety signal. And safety is the foundation of healing, not just emotionally but physiologically

Emily Feist: 2:36

also

Emily Feist: 2:37

.

Emily Feist: 2:37

Now on to L lower stress hormones. When we're always on our cortisol and adrenaline don't really get the memo to turn off, which leads to exhaustion and inflammation and you guessed it anxiety. Slowing down disrupts that hormone loop. It tells your body you don't have to fight anymore, you can calm down and settle down, and science backs this up can calm down and settle down, and science backs this up. People who prioritize rest and include intentional living and simplify their life have lower baseline of cortisol, they have better sleep and are less reactive to future stress. So it helps right now and in the future, which is a win-win. And the result you're not snappity as much, you're not getting drained at two o'clock and you actually have room to feel again, to feel your emotions, to feel your body, to be present with yourself.

Emily Feist: 3:36

Now onto O optimize vagus nerve function. Your vagus nerve loves rhythm and routine. It thrives on slowness, breath, on gentle movement and pauses. But when your life is too fast, it never gets a chance to do its job, which is calming your heart rate down, improving your digestion and regulating your emotions. It doesn't have the time to catch up on that because it's focusing on survival instead of enjoying the moment. But when you choose simplicity, when you say no to that fifth obligation this week and yes to slow mornings and evenings, you're actually optimizing your vagus nerve nerve function. And this isn't just a wellness trend. It's linked to better immune function, better moods, even better gut health. So it is the real deal.

Emily Feist: 4:33

Last but not least, the W Wake up to what matters. Here's where we can get tender for a moment. Living simply gives you clarity. It peels back that noise and sometimes can be scary because you're not used to it yet. You're not used to being able to slow down and feel what's going on around you, or to be able to pay attention to the thoughts that are going in your mind, to determine whether those are accurate or just ones that pop up. It can be scary just to sit with yourself and your feelings and see how everything goes around you. You have to notice what you've been avoiding, and that is scary. But it's also beautiful because it helps you remember what really matters. It's not the hustle, the constant proving yourself, but the peace, the connection, the real joy that lives in that space between doing. It's a great time to reflect on who you are and who you want to become. So what does this look like in real life? Let's look at I'll give mine as an example S the signal safety. I love to end my day by slowing down and signaling safety to my body by rocking in my rocking chair on my porch. I love listening to the nature that's around me, clearing my mind by looking out without having to focus on something that doesn't need my attention, just being on my porch. That's my safe space. It's automatically giving me a peace just being there. So step one for you could be to find a space in or near your home that you can go to often and easily. Now for L, the lowering my stress hormones.

Emily Feist: 6:29

Living intentionally really helps me prioritize how my day goes. It starts by planning the day and making a list of what I need that needs to get done that day or prioritizing it for another day, and if I get that second thing done, that's like a bonus and a win-win. But I don't push myself to the things that aren't necessarily needed to get done today. So if I've run out of time I don't feel like I wasn't productive. I feel very productive because I got the things that were necessary done and really this should just be two, maybe three things. You don't want to prioritize everything because then you're going to feel overwhelmed. You really need to look at what needs to get done and what can be pushed off for another day. We're not procrastinating, we're telling it where it needs to get done without adding more stress to ourselves.

Emily Feist: 7:28

Making routines does two things it relieves the pressure of getting all the tasks done all in one day and two. Well, that brings us to the next one, which is O optimize your vagus nerve function. Our vagus nerve loves predictability. This is why routines work for so many people. Our nervous system and our brain can anticipate what's going to happen next. Instead of worrying about what's going to happen next, to make a routine, just write down everything that needs to be done at that time frame. What are the absolute non-negotiables? And if you want an example, go ahead and listen to episode seven, which is called Evening Routines for Tomorrow's Calm.

Emily Feist: 8:17

Now on to W wake up to what matters. This was one of the hardest things for me. At the beginning, I chose to challenge myself to not look at my phone. I chose not to look at my phone right away in the morning, I chose not to look at those messages, and then I started pushing myself to see how much time I could last between waking up and checking my phone. And so now it starts getting into this

Emily Feist: 8:44

routine of the first starts five minutes and then 10 minutes, and then we can do 20 minutes and, before you know it, you can start just looking at your phone before you leave or right when you get to work, wherever you need to start your work day, but allowing my brain to wake up and be able to go

Emily Feist: 9:02

through its listening to 'It Starts being Vagus' by social media or the news or to-do lists, it has me set up for a relaxing day when I don't even pick up the phone, I don't feel

Emily Feist: 9:15

rushed, I don't feel impacted by news. It's just an easier, calmer introduction'It of my day Vagus' and I have learned to love it. I want to challenge you to not pick up your phone. If you typically pick it up right away in the morning, start with the five minutes. Or if you're like I can go five minutes but I don't know about if Vagus can

Emily Feist: 9:34

do 20. You just start pushing yourself a little bit more. Or maybe you can start at the end of the day, say I'm going to turn off my phone, you know, an hour before bed, just something to start allowing your brain to either turn on or shut down, because it has a rhythm and it needs that slowness to get in the right setting, the right state of mind, whether we're getting up and ready for the day or getting ready to go to bed.

Emily Feist: 10:04

Living a slow life at the beginning can be very challenging, especially when you have kids, a career or multiple schedules that you have to keep track of. That's my life too, but making a goal of slow living has been so rewarding and it's been some of my favorite self-care routines. Is it always possible? No, Life happens, but I guard it. So I keep my busy days few and far between and my slow days are on autopilot. So if your body has been whispering or even screaming for you to slow down, this is your sign, because you are biologically designed for rhythm, rest and presence, and the more you choose a simple life, the more your body, brain and your heart will thank you. So remember to soothe your nervous system and reclaim who you are.

Emily Feist: 11:03

Thanks for listening to it Starts at Vegas. New episodes are released every Tuesday. If you like this episode, go ahead and subscribe so that you get notifications and don't miss out on what's coming next. I also want to thank you for sharing episodes with your friends. Currently, it Starts at Vegas has now been listened to in 345 cities all around the world. Thank you so much for helping me help people find ways to calm their nervous system and their anxiety and stress. That is the entire purpose of this podcast. Until next time, remember, wellness starts at Vegas.