The Vagus Nerve - Cranial nerve #10 - Feb 07, 2017
Learning how to reduce inflammation can lower anxiety and other health issues by addressing restrictions in the vagus nerve
I cannot say, strongly enough, the impact on health, of a restricted or impaired Vagus Nerve. It takes just 0.3 ml of pressure to impact the function of the vagus nerve. (note a nickel weighs 5 mgm)
The chart shows the organs of the body that are impacted by the vagus nerve...
My work, Advanced CranioSacral Therapy, supports the resolution of restrictions of the vagus nerve. People with neck and head injuries are particularly affected by restrictions of the vagus nerve that can result in symptoms like high blood pressure, ringing in the ear, poor digestion, and much more.
The following article written by Dr Shauna Darou ND offers methods to reduce inflamation in the body, as related to the Vagus Nerve.
"We teach what we need to know ourselves" Understanding and healing an endless barrage of trauma in my body and mind-emotions have been my relentless passion for most of my life. Of course, I never stop wanting to share my discoveries with others, always in the hope of diminishing their suffering and pain.
Dr Bessel Van der Kolk's book "The Body Keeps the Score" is simply awesome. So much so, that I wrote and thanked him. Finally, in one book, a compilation of the latest research findings towards healing trauma. And, it's written in a relatively simple, and highly-understandable way.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00G3L1C2K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Current research shows that trauma is held in the body, and that specific body work like my CranioSacral therapy helps to traumatized people gently heal from their past. I know this from personal experience - hence my desire to share my work.
Attached is
an important documentary that I found extremely helpful in understanding and accepting me and my lifetime struggles. As I am learning in ACIM, it is only through forgiveness and compassion that
we can truly heal our past. Contact me for an appointment for a "taste" of my work (complimentary)..
This baby red-tailed hawk is being held by Mike W. - such a level of trust, and caring. Mike, my client, sent me an email this week, that blew me away.
I must share it, because it is such a gift and clear evidence that my journey into Biodynamic CST is congruent with other important aspects of my life, even though it is a real challenge in so many ways.
Clearly my life is "the road less travelled" - note: Mike and I both attend A Course in Miracles group, weekly, hence his comments below: I've titled his email for my records:
BCST/ACIM Congruency - On Compassion sent to me by email from Mike W. July 10/15
I was thinking about the topic of the Thursday morning reading group last night which was "True Empathy" (the A Course in Miracles Version, not our ego version) and re-reading it because it was hard to understand.
D. (group leader) went on to share how she uses ACIM empathy in counselling sessions. The term she used was "holding the space when the person is upset" and seeing the right mind in the person instead of using ego empathy which would be to jump into the story and feel the bad feelings the person is going through. She explained how it is better to look at the Christ-mind in the person who is suffering, and not the pain.
I’m sitting here yesterday, and I think to myself,......I’ve heard that term? "Holding the space and seeing what’s healthy in the person"...Whamo,.....That’s what Marian is using in her new style of treatment.
It was the exact same thing as you explained to me.
Then the topic got onto Nurses and how they spend their lives giving ego empathy trying to help people and how it sucks them dry, which is why the burnout is high.
How weird is that? Had to share that little tidbit with you as it just popped into my head after the fact, and I did a “holy shit, I have already experienced this information! (with/through you).
Marinated in anxiety,
Knowing mind’s-rioting.
Tightrope of terror;
Bound-thought’s dark horrors.
Is there a respite-
A joy-filled sublime?
Only small moments –
Peace-filled gaps in long time.
Kindness, compassion,
forgiveness, and calm.
Only solution –
Soul’s softest, sweet balm.
Do nothing and wait.
Deep presence - a gate.
Peace enters; pausing -
Inner Voice’s soft longing:
“Be still my child;
Soul’s safety beguiled”.
I wrote this poem this morning as a means of finding my own sweet stillness from mind-insanity. Then I read the Becker transcript “Using Stillness”, and realized that stillness is the state of Oneness, and All-knowing that I become part of in deep meditation, or times when words like the above poem come forth.
Imagine my “ah-hah” and “of course”, and the soothing balm that reading the transcript was for me.
Best of all, I am realizing, I am being guided safely as I pursue this BI journey, and that my choices are being validated, regardless of how little logic they may really make. Clearly my heart is guiding me, and the state of stillness is my Heart’s Voice source.
My pursuit of stillness has been all but obsessive, as I long ago equated stillness achieved through my practice of meditation, connection with my writing, Nature, yoga, and other centering tools, as my method of healing to soften the harsh noise of my beliefs, and egoist machinations.
Now, to learn that the concept of stillness is at the core of BI work, is so gratifying and validating. Knowing, recognizing, and supporting stillness in me, and in my clients, so that stillness can actually inform injured, dis-eased, and walled-off injuries and traumas to remember and return to health, makes such sense!
At the very core of my 12 year-long recovery from cancer, PTSD, surgeries, and other traumas, I gravitated to authors and teachers like Julia Cameron “the Artist’s Way”; Eckhart Tolle “The Power of Now”; Dr Vimala Rodgers “Change Your Handwriting”, and countless others, to learn ways to stop my spiritual, mental and emotional turmoil.
As well, through the support of my mentor, Dr. Ron Bonham, who has helped me learn to express myself poetically, as above, my deepest heart connection has unfolded. Because of my writing, and Ron’s help, I am becoming more aware and connected with my own center of stillness, and delightfully, Ron notes that “my Being is coming closer to my Doing”. I laughingly say “my inner Humpty Dumpty is putting her pieces together again”.
Clearly, enrolling in BI was a heart/soul-guided desire…not logic at all, and I really, really did not have any idea that the work would just be an extension, and deeper level of my own personal journey of finding daily stillness in my quest to “feel good”.
Obviously, I am an experiential learner. Now that I know that my route to well-being is by ensuring my own state of stillness, it makes clear and critical sense for me to continue with BI work that supports others into their own states of stillness and subsequent well-being.
What an honor it is for me to be able to experience, witness, share and encourage stillness for my clients, so that they too can find their own state of well-being, and empowerment. I believe it is the greatest service to which I can aspire.
This post is important, because It's very clear to me that a common underlying cause of pain and body restrictions can be anxiety. Check out the following (with some great tips), and imagine just how experiencing anxiety symptoms frequently over time would have to cause bodies to break down. CranioSacral Therapy soothes the nervous system, and normalizes body functions like digestion, energy, and sleep. Likewise, for the emotional aspects that could be the source of anxiety.
Most of all, I have such compassion for those suffering from anxiety......just know you are not alone!
I have attached the link to the 11min YouTube of the graphic of the incredibly awe-inspiring inner rhythm (called the mid-tide) I have the honor of connecting with, to support the release of restrictions held in the bodies of each of my clients.
I cannot express, well enough, the wisdom and beauty of bodies to heal themselves, with the right support.
Did you know that "Emotions have to be in motion to be healthy. If they get stashed in the cell tissue...they morph into emotional pus balls." Ana T. Forrest (Fierce Medicine)
"Of course", I thought, as I read Ana's quote. My Advanced CranioSacral ( A-CST) work has a modality called SomatoEmotional Release (SER). The gift of SER is that the inner wisdom of the body guides me, with the client's permission and support - ie. the client is always free to explore or not, the emotional "energy cysts" that are blocking health and well-being.
The critical element of SER is that the body acts as a truth meter, so that I am able to absolutely know the client and I are working with a significant incident for the client.
How? Well, my hands are on the body, where a restriction is held in an energy cyst during the session. I feel the Cranio-Sacral Rhythm (CSR), ie the movement of the cerebral spinal fluid in the semi-closed hydraulic system (10-12 cycles per minute) of the nervous system - from cranium to tail bone, inside the spinal column- and note that the CSR stops moving completely. The CS Rhythm stays stopped in a Still Point, until release of the energy locked in the energy cyst where the pain, and or physical problem has existed. This release is felt in the form of a Therapeutic Pulse ie there is a definite pulsing despite no blood vessels in the region to cause the pulsing.
What's so wonderful about SER work, is how quickly the key cause of present issues for the client can be unearthed, with clear awarenesses of beliefs, and unhealthy patterns that have been developed to wall off the energy cyst, and create pain and physical, emotional and/or mental problems.
The significance detector of the Still Point is the critical difference between A-CST and psychological modalities where the therapist and the client chat back and forth working to unearth the core issue.
SER has multi-faceted, and immediate results, and is clearly cost and time effective.
Who's read "The Untethered Soul" by Michael Singer? I listen to the audiobook version, and have re-listened to this book at least 6 times, now.
Why? because Singer describes perfectly, what I know about trauma in the body....it's stored....like a movie, and keeps us trapped in loops to wall off old pain. Problem is, if we keep it walled off, we end up with chronic physical, and emotional pain, that hinders our full aliveness..... this is called aging and chronic disease.
With CranioSacral therapy for stored physical trauma , and/or Somato Emotional Release for stored emotional trauma, the issues around traumas can be resolved. What's really cool is that CST and SER actually reverse aging, in the healing of traumas....
Look what Cliff Branton found when researching CranioSacral Therapy and Babies. The Abstract is as follows:
In this open, controlled, prospective study, 28 infants with colic were randomized to either cranial osteopathic manipulation or no treatment; all were seen once weekly for 4 weeks.
Treatment was according to individual findings, and administered by the same practitioner. Parents recorded time spent crying, sleeping and being held/rocked on a 24-hour diary. A progressive, highly significant reduction between weeks 1 and 4 in crying (hours/24h) was detected (P<0.001) in treated infants; similarly, there was a significant improvement in time spent sleeping (P<0.002).
By contrast, no significant differences were detected in these variables for the control group. Overall decline in crying was 63% and 23%, respectively, for treated and controls; improvement in sleeping was 11% and 2%. Treated infants also required less parental attention than the untreated group.
In conclusion, this preliminary study suggests that cranial osteopathic treatment can benefit infants with colic; a larger, double-blind study is warranted.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16648084
A preliminary assessment of the impact of cranial osteopathy for th... - PubMed - NCBI
Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2006 May;12(2):83-90. Epub 2006 Feb 8. Randomized Controlled Trial