Online Yoga Class

The most extensive nerve in the body, the vagus  is a multi-function nerve distributing positive emotional states to all your organs, from your heart and lungs to your digestive tube to regulate and reset their activities

Rest And Digest

The vagus is active when you feel safe, helping your body to replenish its resources and gather its strength, ready for the next emergency

The vagus mediates parasympathetic activity to slow breathing and heart and bring down blood pressure while increasing food absorption, transit and evacuation in your gut

Down with Inflammation

The vagus is strongly involved in down-regulating inflammation – a defensive mechanism – and up-regulating immune function to help reduce tissue damage, moderate pain and keep you healthy

Emotional Regulation

The vagus lets your organs talk to your brain, relaying hunger, satiety and all those gut feelings that let you feel and regulate emotion

Caring And Sharing

The vagus is also a factor in social engagement. Safety provides that warm sense of connectedness that lets you socialize, share a meal, listen to stories and build friendships

When you feel safe the vagus nerves shares the good news with your body

By helping you to occupy your body, both inside (interoception) and out (proprioception), yoga anchors you to the here and now and helps you shift from fearing threat to enjoying safety

Activities that help activate safety include

• Breath regulation
• Listening to inner body signals (interoception), such as your heart beat, breathing and gut feelings
• Sensing your body in space in relation to gravity (exteroception / proprioception) through postures and movement
• Practicing active relaxation
• Creative visualization and meditation

Check with Manuel that it is safe for you practice yoga before joining a class

The vagus is a paired cranial nerve exiting the brainstem withing the cranium just above the neck

Anatomically the vagus is closely related to the

• head-neck junction at the back of the neck
• muscles of facial expression, eye movement and head turning
• muscles of speech, chewing and swallowing

In addition to the aforementioned, yoga pays close attention to these areas to relax chronic tension and open your sensory windows to let in the beauty and wonder of the world