Building Resilience to Stress Can be Achieved Through Yoga in so far as Yoga Practices Pacify our Nervous System: Regulation and coRegulation
The Vagus Nerve
The vagus nerve is 10th in the longest of the 12 cranial nerves originating from the head. It is made out of thousands of fibers and is organised into 2 bundles that run from the brainstem down each side of the face, neck and into the chest, heart, lungs and diaphragm to finally reach our abdomen including our internal organs stomach, spleen, intestines, colon, liver, and kidneys.
According to an article from the NY Times, you may Imagine a tree which branches interacting with all the systems in the body running through the chest and into the abdomen (hence the name Vagus from the latin for ‘wanderer’’) The Vagus nerve picks up information about how the organs are functioning and also sends information from the brain stems back to the body to control digestion, heart rate, voice, mood and the immune system
For those reasons, the vagus nerve is referred to as an ‘information superhighway’ with 80% of its messages being transmitted by the organs back to the brain and 20% of its messages traveling the other way.
Neuroception is a concept coined by Stephen Porges earlier on (1994) to represent the 6th sense feeling of anticipation we sometimes call gut feeling when stepping into a room or outdoors and experiencing unease and discomfort, this is the work of our detection system in action prior to conscious awareness.
The vagus is the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system. Unlike the sympathetic nervous system which is associated with fight or flight, the parasympathetic branch helps us rest, digest and calm down. Both branches are part of the Autonomic nervous system.
The Polyvegal Theory
In addition, Doctor Stephen Porges developed The Polyvagal Theory: Porges identified 2 pathways of the Vagus nerve: the Dorsal pathway, a pre-mammalian pathway and oldest part of the vagal complex. When the Dorsal vagal response is hyper-dominant, we may go into freeze, collapse, or shut down at the extreme or simply experience low mood, low energy, disengagement as a result of an upset. Based on the nature of the upset, it is possible to bounce back quickly to safety.
The second pathway is the Ventral pathway, which is referred to as our safe and social pathway. This is a social engagement system that emerged during our evolution into mammals to help mammals coexist in groups to connect and cooperate. When in ventral, our state is focused and we are able to engage with the world and others around us.
Both pathways are part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which together with the sympathetic nervous system form our autonomic nervous system. Yogis are usually well-aware of the ‘Relaxation response’, activated when the parasympathetic nervous system switches on.
In terms of evolution, the sympathetic branch of the nervous system formed between the development of the dorsal vagal path and ventral vagal path to allow for mobilization in times of stress. This is most often referred to as the fight-or-flight reaction. The work of Deb Dana is useful to understand better how heightened stress affects these systems.
In a world when Children are constantly immersed in complex anxiety-charged environments, heightened anxiety will manifest in changed behaviours which might be difficult to disentangle.
Since children are often unable to express how they feel and what they need, it becomes useful to be able to identify the different states of their nervous systems (fight or flight; freeze and collapse) or identify their emotions. We may need to observe the nervous systems of those around, and use co-regulation effectively to return together to the positive state of ventral safety. Or we may help them label their emotional response to develop awareness (Name it to Tame it!).
In any case, teaching children how to get back to their ventral state is highly beneficial, as this is when they feel safe and are able to respond, interact, process and learn. We can induce the relaxation response with simple movement and breath exercises, which can either manually or spontaneously stimulate the vagus nerve in times of stress. An easy way to come back to ventral and safety is through breathing by lengthening the exhalations in comparison to the inhalation. Other techniques includes relaxation techniques, massaging, tapping, Yoga and meditation,
According to an article by Suzanne Krowiac and Jill Miller, ‘The power of the vagus nerve lies in its ability to impact physical and emotional conditions that have proven to be difficult to treat with traditional drug and medical intervention’, in particular chronic diseases, inflammatory based conditions and auto immune conditions.
Jill Miller -an expert in movement therapy and soft tissue -has been working for years with massaging tools and breath specifically designed to soothe the nervous system. She has been inspired by the work of Stephen Porges early on with his Polyvegal theory to target the vagus nerve.