01/08/2026
✨📚Gregg Johnson’s Book Recommendation 📚✨
Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve by Stanley Rosenberg (2017)
Physical therapists know the nervous system is central to movement, recovery, and overall health. Rosenberg’s book offers a deep look at one of the body’s most influential pathways: the vagus nerve.
🧠 Key Takeaways for Clinicians:
• Breaks down Polyvagal Theory into practical concepts showing how the autonomic nervous system shapes safety, stress responses, and movement
• Introduces research-informed manual techniques and self-regulation exercises to calm the nervous system, improve vagal tone, and support healing
• Highlights connections between vagal function and anxiety, depression, trauma, and developmental challenges
• Techniques like the Basic Exercise, gentle cranial work, and facial/neck interventions help restore balance in patients with pain, autonomic dysfunction, and stress-related movement patterns
💡 Why this matters for PTs:
Using vagus nerve supportive strategies can reduce sympathetic overactivation, improve motor learning, enhance outcomes in chronic pain and postural dysfunction, and support holistic, patient-centered care.
📚 IPA uses this book as a key reference in The Vagus Nerve (OD-VVN), Balancing the Autonomic System, which you can register for on our website to explore these techniques in depth.
💬 Have you used vagal-based strategies in your practice? Share your experience below! 👇
