Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism

by Stanley D. Rosenberg

When we do the Basic Exercise, we lie with the weight of our head on our fingers. This pressure is enough to stimulate the occipital nerve, causing these muscles to relax and to come into balance with each other. When we do the Basic Exercise, the first two cervical vertebrae move into a better position relative to each other. When C1 and C2 come back into place, it relieves tension on the ver-tebral arteries, providing better blood flow to the brain and brainstem, and allows us to return to social engagement. Adequate blood supply to the cranial nerves, brainstem, and brain is necessary for proper function of the social nervous system as well as other bodily functions. Concurrently, therefore, with realignment of C1 and C2, there is relief of many of the symptoms that we earlier described as the “Heads of the Hydra.”