Hey Jimi
I wanted to send you a quick test that you can do to determine if you need to support your vagus nerve.
Before I share the test with you, I want to talk a little about the autonomic nervous system.
Often when we think about the autonomic nervous system, we think about flight and fight or rest and digest.
But here's the thing, it's so much bigger than that!
According to Dr Steven Porges's work and polyvagal theory, we understand that there are 3 circuits of the autonomic nervoys system.
We have sympathetic spinal activation, which is the fight or flight. (anxious, overwhelmed, angry, panic, rage, worry, concern, frustration)
We have dorsal vagal, which is the freeze. (dissociation, numbness, depression, helplessness, shame, shutdown, trapped)
And lastly, we have ventral vagal which we are in a state of safety. This is when we are joyful and mindful. We feel connected to ourselves and the world.
None of these 3 circuits are bad.
We need to be able to flow through them quickly throughout the day.
The issue is when we get STUCK.
This is why ancient East Asian medicine is true in believing that emotions are the root cause of dis-ease.
The emotion is not the issue.
It's the stuckness that is.
Learning how to regulate your nervous system and activate the vagus nerve in particular ways is imperative to reduce health symptoms and create more emotional resiliency.
Having energy, emotional intelligence and feeling grounded allows you to increase your capacity to hold more and go for your next level success.
Ok....
So let's have you do this simple test to see if you need support.
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Testing Ventral Vagal Function
- Grab a partner (or a mirror) and a flashlight
- Have your partner look at the inside of your mouth at the back of your throat at the uvula that drops down the center.
- Now do the "ahhhhhhhhhh" sound.
- When you open your mouth, you can use your finger or a stick to press your tongue down so you can see the uvula and soft palate better.
- You are looking to see if the uvula deviates to one side.
If the uvula deviates to one side, that is indicative of ventral vagal nerve dysfunction. If it moves up symmetrically, then you are in a state of social engagement.
If you have soft palate that is moving up on one side and not the other, that indicates a dysfunction of the pharyngeal branch of the vagal nerve.
Why does this all matter????
Your nervous system controls your behavior and therefore you will continue to subconsciously sabotage yourself on your path to success.
Also, you need to be in the parasympathetic most of the time in order to fight infections, digest, have balanced hormones, lower inflammation, sleep well and so much more.
This matters a whole lot.
And we will be going much deeper into this and what you can actually do about it in ADEPT.
Adept is a 6 week program to activate your vagus nerve and unlock your next level success.
We start next week!
Click here to join!
To your health