02/22/2022
REMAINING CALM IN THE STORM
Part 4 of 4
Last time I posted about the FFF (fight, flight, freeze) response. Again, as I’m always looking at the body’s workings from a holistic point of view it’s important to discuss how the FFF response interacts with the limbic and autonomic nervous systems. (Which you may hear some people refer to as the vagus nerve only.) For those of you who may not be familiar with all of this yet, here’s a brief breakdown of some of the most important areas/systems to pay attention to.
THE VAGUS NERVE
The vagus nerve is part of the autonomic nervous system and more specifically the parasympathetic nervous system.
Here’s a short (under 2 min) primer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-NCs1lOU5w Understanding how the vagus nerve functions and how it’s TONE (ability to respond appropriately to the world) can have systemic effects on our parasympathetic vs sympathetic balance.
THE POLYVAGAL THEORY
Dr Porges first suggested the polyvagal theory and discusses it in this brief (under 5 min) video. https://youtu.be/ec3AUMDjtKQ My favorite somewhat short video on the polyvagal theory is this one (30 mins). It goes into more depth and I really like how he brings neuroception into the conversation. He’s fun to listen to so the video goes quickly. https://youtu.be/br8-qebjIgs When people want to learn even more I suggest that they begin searching YouTube and Google for the following. “Sympathetic Dominance”, “Polyvagal Theory '', “Vagus Nerve”, “Autonomic Nervous System”, etc. Stephen Porge’s book, The Polyvagal Theory, and Stanley Rosenberg’s book, Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve, can greatly expand one’s understanding of the vagus nerve’s role in the body as well.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
For many of us we have physical characteristics, and/or physical traumas, that are effecting the vagus nerve. It requires extra effort and sometimes resolution of the body’s structural limitations to get some relief and gain some control over the vagus nerve and ANS (autonomic nervous system). For example I am suspected to have a vagus nerve injury(ies) from multiple abdominal surgeries. As well I have deterioration of the discs in my neck that can then activate my vagus nerve. This, yes, puts me at a disadvantage but does not mean I can’t gain some control from non invasive interventions. This video talks about the cervical instability that EDSers, but many in spite of a lack of an EDS diagnosis, experience. As well as how it can contribute to vagus nerve impingement and the cascade of symptoms that can arise from that. (Video is under 5 mins) https://youtu.be/sIUBBCtl6aU
INCREASING VAGAL TONE
There are some rather simple practical things that people can do to help their vagus nerve recover/improve. Hot/cold therapy is one of my favorites. Very slowly and gently changing the temperature in the shower will start retraining the vagus nerve. Because mast cells and an excited system are sensitive to hot/cold it’s important to start with very minute changes. I was fainting after hot showers and could only take lukewarm ones. Slowly, little by little, I increased both heat and cold, off and on, throughout my showers. My vagus nerve was very thankful and started responding to the outside world better again too. Here are some other ways to increase vagal tone.
~ Socializing. This doesn’t have to be in person. Even a Skype call will do.
~ Humming, chanting or singing.
~ The breathing exercises covered in part 1.
~ Massage, craniosacral therapy and acupuncture.
~ Address demyelination if that’s an issue.
~ Address digestive health if needed. Gut-brain axis signaling goes both ways!
~ Work on sending better safety cues to your body.
~ Various ANS/vagus monitoring devices.
THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
The vagus nerve and entire autonomic nervous system sends and receives signals from the limbic system. This short video (under 2 mins) explains what comprises the limbic system. https://youtu.be/LNs9ruzoTmI It’s within this region that mast cells receive signals to degranulate. Which is why neural training, which focuses on changing the signals in this region, has been found to be so effective for mast cell issues.
NEURAL RETRAINING
EFT and Faster EFT as mentioned yesterday are two forms of neural retraining. There are quite a few other programs available now. Some of the better known ones are DNRS, The Gupta Programme, Joe Dispenza, Irene Lyons and the Christian based 21 day Detox. DNRS has quite a few success stories on YouTube. This woman had a health journey with mold exposure, lyme, MCS, MCAS and POTS. (video under 12 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLs-Km5mxKY I find that people are drawn to different programs. I recommend joining the Facebook group Neural Retraining Friends to learn more about various programs and which is right for you. Be sure and read their rules before posting as there are special requirements because people in that group are actively using neural retraining for healing.
We covered a lot in these posts. Feel free to copy & paste my posts to a note or document, or use some other method to reread and view videos on your own timeline. Just remember links toy page will not work at some point this year as I transition over to my C2P group.
What's been provided is just a sampling and starting point. There is so much to be learned! Even after nearly a decade of pretty intensive research on all of this, I still learn new things all the time. That’s in part because it’s so diverse, but also because there’s more and more attention being given to these systems and how they operate. I guarantee that even if you don’t do anything else, take no supplements or medications, but choose to put into practice some of the things discussed in this series, you will gain some ground and be more stable.
Happy healing! 💚
