What Is The Vagus Nerve?

The vagus nerve (meaning wandering nerve in latin) is a cranial nerve extending from the brainstem (most lower part of the human brain) towards the ears, down the front of the neck, and all the way into the gut and intestines. The vagus nerve is one of the main pathways of communication between the brain and other organs in the body. In particular it directly affects the parasympathetic nervous system responses involved in regulating digestion, breathing, heart rate and reflexes such as vomiting.

Why Is Regulating The Vagus Nerve Important In Therapy?

When the vagus nerve is functioning adaptively, our body is calm, operating in a state of “rest and digest” – also known as parasympathetic activation. As a result of feeling at ease within our body and mind, we can access higher cognition, complex problem solving, deep creativity and feel safely connected to other humans.

In contrast, when the vagus nerve is “over-worked” or “misfires” due to chronic stress or trauma, our body gets stuck in a sympathetic nervous system response, cycling between fight, flight, and freeze. As a result of poor vagal tone (dysfunctional activity of the vagus nerve), we become susceptible to experience one or more of the following symptoms:

  • Digestive issues such as bloating, constipation or diarrhea

  • Nausea, vomiting or heartburn

  • Dizziness, fainting, or ringing in ear

  • Anxiety and depression

  • Medical disorders such as hypertension and chronic inflammation

How Can Somatic Therapy Help?

Since the vagus nerve operates involuntarily and unconsciously, we simply can’t rationalize our way out of a poor functioning vagal tone! So pretty much, anything that we learn in talk-only therapy or Cognitive Therapy is likely ineffective in reaching this subconscious information processing part of the nervous system!

For this reason, psychotherapy methods that use the body as the primary route for exploration and self-regulation are highly critical in repairing and resetting vagal tone. Somatic psychotherapies (known as Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Somatic Experiencing, Deep Brain Reorienting Therapy and Polyvagal-Informed Therapy) use specific techniques to settle the autonomic nervous system – including restoring the functioning of the vagus nerve – and access unconscious information held nonverbally within the mind.

Here are four key steps to the roadmap of Somatic Therapy.

Step 1 – Your somatic therapist provides you with knowledge and physiology of adaptive nervous system functioning. This is followed by supporting you to expand your awareness of micro experiences within your autonomic nervous system through specific experiential exercises in the session.

Step 2 – Once you build the ability to notice and track your nervous system, your somatic therapist will guide you to find the right combination of practices that calm down your body, improve vagal tone and allow safe connection with others. These somatic techniques help with:

  • physiological disruptions of stress (e.g., IBS, pain and dizziness)

  • psychological implications of stress (e.g., anxiety, depression, loss of control, social withdrawal, PTSD)

Step 3 – With the help of your somatic therapist, you will set goals to practice these tools daily and fine tune these body-oriented techniques to help you build resilience against stress. This is what we call “expanding your window of tolerance”!

Step 4 – Research shows that our “body keeps the score” of trauma and stress, even when our mind forgets or denies our history! Your somatic therapist, can additionally help you process and release negative past experiences that continue to “fester” in your nervous system. By helping our body digest our past, we are purging and letting go of our history, while creating space for new experiences and possibilities.

Curious and have more questions? Reach out to us to see how Somatic therapy can help you in the next chapter of your healing journey!