Vagus Nerve Meditation for Stress Relief

Optimizing Your Health and Equilibrium

The following meditation will help you lower stress, reduce inflammation, regulate your heart rate and blood pressure, support digestion, and release tension in your body. It’s also going to cultivate feelings of calm, safety, connection and a relaxed focus. This is one of the most important things that you can do to optimize your health and bring your body into equilibrium.

Vagus Nerve Meditation for Stress Relief

Preparing for Relaxation

We can begin by finding a comfortable position and, if possible, having our backs supported. Most people feel more relaxed with their eyes closed, but feel free to open them if that feels more relaxing to you. For some of us, particularly those who have had difficulty in our lives, the nervous system can often get triggered when we close our eyes. So feel free to crack open the eyes slightly to let some light in if thoughts or emotions become too uncomfortable. If we are keeping our eyes open, just making sure we have a soft gaze, with a soft focus on the floor in front of us.

Let’s not give ourselves a hard time today. Sometimes the body needs a rest, and sleep is often just as good as meditation.

Understanding the Vagus Nerve

During this meditation, we’re going to explore the parasympathetic branch of our nervous system, also known as the rest-and-digest branch. And the part of the parasympathetic nervous system that’s responsible for making us feel relaxed and at ease is the vagus nerve.

The vagus nerve begins in the brainstem and travels to the throat, where it helps with our voice, speech, and communication. It then wanders to the windpipe and down into the lungs, where it helps regulate our breathing. It then connects to the heart, where it regulates heart rate, and to the spleen, liver, kidneys, stomach, pancreas, and the rest of the digestive system. The vagus nerve is also known as the body's main nerve that helps it relax. When we relax the body, we often find that the mind relaxes very soon afterwards.

Breathing to Trigger the Relaxation Response

I now invite you to bring awareness to the breath, noticing your inhale and noticing your exhale. Now, without trying to change the breath, we’re simply seeing how the body naturally breathes. We’re not so much watching the breath, we’re experiencing the breath, we’re feeling the breath.

And now for the next minute or so, I invite you to lengthen your exhalation and make sure it is longer than your inhalation. Increasing the length of the exhale stimulates the vagus nerve, triggering the relaxation response. Now, a good way to do this is to take a quick count and make sure our exhale is twice as long as our inhale.

So, for instance, if I were to do it, I would be breathing in two, three, breathing out two, three, four, five, six. You can breathe in for two and out for four, for instance, and there's no need to be precise. We’re just making sure that the out breath is about twice as long as the in breath. Sometimes, when we take deep breaths, we can increase tension and stress in the body, especially when we inhale. So if we find tension in the body on the in breath, then perhaps not breathing so deeply, maybe pulling back the breath by 10 or 20 per cent.

Handling Distractions

If we notice the mind is elsewhere, perhaps we’re thinking about the past or the future, worrying, planning, fixing, or going over to-do lists. If we find ourselves distracted, that’s perfectly normal. It’s what the mind is designed to do. But as soon as we realise that we’re caught up in thought, caught up in distraction, without giving ourselves a hard time, without beating ourselves up, we gently, patiently, and kindly bring our awareness back, back to the breath, back to the body.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

We will now shift to a second way of relaxing: progressive relaxation of specific body parts. I invite you to follow my instructions now. Let’s begin by relaxing the left foot. Relax the right foot, the left lower leg, the right lower leg, the left knee, the right knee, and the right upper leg; then relax the left upper leg, the left hip, and the right hip.

We’re keeping the breathing relaxed as we go through this relaxation exercise, holding the breath softly and relaxing the lower back, middle back, upper back, shoulder blades, and the entire back. And perhaps we’re noticing feelings of relaxation spreading through the body, maybe feelings of warmth or vibrations or tingles.

Moving our awareness now to the front of the body, to the stomach, and relaxing it. Relax the chest, ribcage, maybe even the organs inside the chest, the heart, and release any tension or tightness in the chest. Relaxing the left shoulder, the right shoulder, the left arm, the upper arm, the elbow, the forearm, the right arm, the left hand, the right hand.

Relaxing the neck and the throat, relaxing the back of the head, relaxing the face, the jaw, the lips, the cheeks, the eyes, the temples, the forehead, almost as if we can feel the face from the inside out. Relaxing the top of the head.

Expanding Awareness

And now I invite you to expand your awareness, to include the whole body, from the top of the head to the tips of the fingers and the tips of the toes, noticing all those feelings of relaxation that have spread across the body, the tingles, the warmth, the pulses, the vibrations. The stiller we become, the more we can feel this alive body. As we rest, letting go and allowing our bodies to find equilibrium, we remain alert, awake, and present as our bodies and minds become increasingly relaxed and peaceful.

The Mountain: A Poem for Difficult Days

Before we finish, let’s take a moment to reflect on a poem. If you’re having a tough day, this is especially for you. It’s called The Mountain by Laura Ding Edwards.

If the mountain seems too big today, then climb a hill instead. If the morning brings you sadness, it's okay to stay in bed. If the day ahead weighs heavily and your plans feel like a curse, there's no shame in rearranging; don't make yourself feel worse. If a shower stings like needles and a bath feels like you'll drown, if you haven't washed your hair for days, don't throw away your crown. A day is not a lifetime, a rest is not defeat, don't think of it as failure, just a quiet, kind retreat. It's okay to take a moment from an anxious, fractured mind. The world will not stop turning while you get realigned. The mountain will still be there when you want to try again. You climb it in your own time, love yourself till then.

Returning to the Present

With our eyes closed, I invite you to notice what feels different in the body and mind. Perhaps we’re feeling more relaxed, perhaps we can feel an opening or lightness in the chest, maybe more spaciousness in the mind, and possibly a feeling of safety in the body.

And remember, we can always come back to this place of rest. The breath is always there for us. Whenever we notice tension rising, we can take a few moments to slow down and exhale to stimulate the vagus nerve. Congratulate yourself on taking time to look after your body and nervous system. To learn more about holistic health practices, explore the Ambrosia Diary.