27/02/2026
‼️You still have a Vagus nerve and what it sense and experience and control will still have an effect on your health - physically and/or mentally!
Let’s have a close look at the facts as they’ve always been (Polyvagal or not), and maybe more from a hands-on and manual therapy point of view:
✅The vagus nerve is the primary parasympathetic pathway regulating heart, lungs, gut and immune responses.
✅Vagal tone (often indexed via HRV) reflects how well your autonomic system is able to cope with what’s thrown at it.
✅The majority (up to 80%) of vagal fibres are afferent — body to brain signalling matters. It’s what the brain’s responses are based on. We experience these as after-effects - physical and mentally.
✅The Brainstem nuclei integrate trigeminal, vagal, and visceral input within shared networks. (As I’ve always said - what happens in trigeminal happens in vagus happens in the autonomic nervous system)
✅Reducing nociceptive input (receptors detecting actual or potential tissue damage) can shift autonomic balance toward parasympathetic expression.
This is where the correct type of hands-on bodywork shines. ❤️Safe, predictable touch can reduce sympathetic arousal and support regulation
✅Slow breathing reliably enhances vagal modulation.
✅Cervical, suboccipital, and thoracic regions influence autonomic state (the vagus) indirectly via sensory pathways. Basically the neck, diaphragm, and ribcage
✅Autonomic state influences pain perception, digestion, inflammation, and sleep.
✅The big one - You cannot directly “manually stimulate” the vagus nerve, but you can affect systems and structures that will have an effect on it.
