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

by Stanley D. Rosenberg

Neuro-Fascial Release Technique instructions

If you are used to doing massage, you will need to use your hands in a new way in order to have success with this technique. Practice this technique on yourself and learn how to achieve a release before you try it on some-one else. To bring about social engagement with this technique, you need to stimulate reflexes in the nerves in the loose connective tissue just under the skin over the base of the skull. This balances the levels of tension in the small muscles between the base of the skull and the vertebrae of the neck. It will be easier to learn this technique if the person is lying on his stomach, so that you can easily see your fingers. Start with one side of the back of his head. Push gently at the base of the skull on one side, and feel the hardness of the occipital bone. Test the “slide-ability” of the skin on one side of the occiput. Gently slide the skin over the bone to the right. Then let it come back to neutral. Then slide the skin to the left, and let it come back to neutral. In which direction was there more resistance? Slide the skin in the direction of greater resistance. Go very slowly, and be ready to stop at the very first sign of resistance. It may only have moved an eighth of an inch or less. Stop there, and hold that position. Continue to feel the slight resistance. In the pause when you are doing nothing, the person will sigh or swallow, and the resistance in the skin will melt away as it releases. When you test again, the skin should slide easily i...

Two-handed Neuro-Fascial Release Technique instructions

This hands-on technique stretches the loose connective tissue just under the skin. (To get an appreciation of how fine and delicate this tissue is, go to YouTube and search “Strolling under the Skin.”) This connective tissue is rich in proprioceptive nerve endings.

The Salamander Exercises

Eighty percent of the fibers of the vagus nerve are afferent (sensory) fibers, which means that they bring information back from the body to the brain, while only 20 percent are efferent (motor) fibers that carry instructions from the brain to the body. Some of the afferent fibers from parts of CN IX and CN X monitor the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. By improving our pattern of breathing with these exercises, we tell the brain (via the afferent nerves) that we are safe and that our visceral organs are functioning properly. This in turn facilitates ventral vagal activity.

Level 1: the Half-Salamander Exercise To do the first part of the Salamander Exercise to the right, sit or stand in a comfortable position. Without turning your head, let your eyes look to the right. Continuing to face straight forward, tilt your head to the right so that your right ear moves closer to your right shoulder, without lifting the shoulder to meet it (Figure 10). Figure 10. Half-Salamander with eyes to the right Hold your head in this position for thirty to sixty seconds. Then let your head come back up to neutral, and shift your eyes to look forward again. Now do the same on the other side: let your eyes look to the left, and then side-bend your head to the left. After thirty to sixty seconds, return your head to an upright position, and your eyes to a forward direction.

The Half-Salamander—a variation In this variation on the Half-Salamander Exercise, follow the same instructions above, but let your eyes look to the right while tipping your head to the left (Figure 11). This movement of your eyes in the opposite direction before you move your head increases your range of motion; you should be able to side-bend your head even further to the left. Hold this for thirty to sixty seconds, and then reverse to do the same thing on the other side.

Level 2: the Full Salamander Exercise The Full Salamander Exercise involves side-bending the entire spine rather than just the neck. Also, we use a different body position. Get down on all fours, supporting your weight on your knees and the palms of your hands. You can rest your hands on the floor, but it is better if you place the palms of your hands on a desktop, a table, the seat of a chair, or the pillows of a sofa. Your head should be on the same plane as your spine (Figure 12).

In this exercise, your ears should be neither lifted above nor dropped below the level of your spine. In order to find the right head position, lift your head slightly above what you think is right. You should be able to sense that your head is slightly raised. Then lower your head slightly below what you think is right. You should be able to sense that your head is lower than it should be. Go back and forth between the two positions. Take your head up a little and then take it down a little. Try to find a position in the middle where your head does not feel too far up or down. Although you may never find this position exactly, you can begin to zero in on it. Once you have found a good position for your head relative to your spine, look to the right with your eyes, hold them in that position, and side-bend your head to the right by moving your right ear toward your right shoulder. Complete the movement by letting the bend in your side continue beyond your neck, all the way down to the base of your spine. Hold this position for thirty to sixty seconds. Bring your spine and head back to center.

Twist and Turn Exercise for the Trapezius

A Four-Minute Natural Facelift, Part 1

How and why to do the technique

I felt more calm after trying this

Roger W. Sperry, “Roger Sperry’s Brain Research,” Bulletin of The Theosophy Science Study Group 26, no. 3–4 (1988): 27–28. Also see Sperry’s review of The Formation of Nerve Connections by R. M. Gaze in Quarterly Review of Biology 46 (Jun 1971): 198.