Vagus Nerve Exercises To Rewire Your Brain From Anxiety

Summary

In this video, Sukie Baxter from Whole Body Revolution introduces three exercises to rewire the brain from anxiety using the vagus nerve, a key component of our autonomic nervous system. She explains that anxiety is a natural response but can persist due to various triggers, and traditional thought-based therapies may not address the deeper biological aspects. Baxter's exercises aim to send signals of safety to the brain, promoting relaxation and reducing anxiety symptoms, offering a practical approach to manage and reprogram the body's stress response.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Anxiety is a state of the nervous system meant to protect us, but it can become chronic even in safe environments.
• 🔄 The brain can be reprogrammed to reduce anxiety through the concept of neuroplasticity.
• 👩‍🏫 Sukie Baxter introduces three vagus nerve exercises to help rewire the brain from anxiety.
• 👂 Emotions, including anxiety, are interpretations of sensory data from the body, not direct results of thoughts.
• 💡 Thoughts influence the body's internal state, which then affects emotions, but ancient biological parts may not respond to thought-based therapies.
• 🤔 Chronic anxiety often lacks a clear cause and doesn't require pinpointing to address it.
• 💪 Physical symptoms of anxiety include chest tightness, racing heart, and muscle tension, which can become habitual and unnoticed.
• 🧘‍♀️ The exercises provided aim to help the autonomic nervous system regulate better by sending signals of safety to the brain.
• 📚 The exercises are inspired by Stanley Rosenberg's book on the healing power of the vagus nerve and polyvagal theory.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Observing one's posture and muscle tension can provide insights into emotional states, including anxiety.
• 🔄 The exercises are designed to break habitual tension patterns and promote a calmer, more present state of mind.

Q & A

What is anxiety and why is it important?

Anxiety is a nervous system state that is essential for protection and survival under normal circumstances. It's a response to potential threats, ensuring safety.

Why does the body sometimes remain in a state of anxiety even when it's safe?

The brain can mistakenly believe there's danger when there isn't, causing the body to remain in a state of anxiety. This can result from various factors such as accidents, injuries, surgeries, physical pain, chronic stress, emotional shock, unmet needs, or trauma.

What is neuroplasticity and how can it help reduce anxiety?

Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. It allows the brain to be reprogrammed to reduce anxiety through exercises and practices that promote a sense of safety and relaxation.

What are vagus nerve exercises and how do they relate to anxiety?

Vagus nerve exercises are body-based practices that stimulate the vagus nerve, which plays a key role in the body's rest-and-digest response. These exercises can help regulate the autonomic nervous system and reduce anxiety symptoms.

How do emotions differ from thoughts, as explained in the script?

Emotions are not thoughts; they are subjective interpretations of sensory data sent to the brain from inside the body. Thoughts can influence emotions by causing shifts in the body's internal state, which then change the sensory data sent to the brain.

What is interoception and how does it relate to anxiety?

Interoception is the process by which the brain receives sensory data from inside the body, informing it about one's internal state, such as safety or danger. It plays a crucial role in anxiety as it influences the brain's interpretation of the body's signals.

What physical symptoms are commonly associated with anxiety?

Physical symptoms of anxiety can include tightness in the chest, a racing heart, inability to take a deep breath, sweating, shaking, trembling, tension in the feet or lower legs, tight hips, clenched jaw, and a forward head posture with rigid neck muscles.

Why is it important to recognize and address muscle tension in relation to anxiety?

Muscle tension is often a habitual response to anxiety and can become the body's default posture. Recognizing and addressing this tension can help break the cycle of chronic anxiety by allowing the body to relax and signal safety to the brain.

What is the concept of titration as it applies to the exercises in the script?

Titration, borrowed from chemistry, refers to the practice of making small, incremental changes to achieve a desired outcome. In the context of the exercises, it suggests that smaller, more frequent movements can lead to more significant and lasting changes in the body's response to anxiety.

How can the exercises described in the script help with migraines or tension headaches?

The exercises can help reset the sternocleidomastoid muscle, which is often tense in people with migraines or tension headaches. By releasing tension in this muscle, the exercises can provide relief from headache symptoms.

What advice does the script give for practicing the exercises effectively?

The script advises to practice the exercises without straining, making movements smaller if needed, and to take breaks if necessary. It emphasizes that less is more, and it's better to make small, incremental changes rather than pushing too hard.

Outlines

00:00

🧠 Rewiring the Brain from Anxiety

This paragraph introduces the concept of anxiety as a natural nervous system state meant for protection but can become a persistent issue due to various triggers. It explains that while identifying the exact cause of chronic anxiety is not necessary, the brain can be reprogrammed to reduce anxiety through neuroplasticity. The speaker, Sukie Baxter, introduces herself and her mission to help individuals achieve greater health, happiness, and success. She outlines the purpose of the video, which is to demonstrate three vagus nerve exercises to rewire the brain from anxiety and emphasizes the importance of understanding the nature of anxiety and its physical manifestations.

05:00

🌱 Exploring Vagus Nerve Exercises for Anxiety Relief

The second paragraph delves into the role of the vagus nerve in managing anxiety and the importance of body-based practices for stress relief. It introduces the exercises inspired by Stanley Rosenberg's book, which are aimed at signaling safety to the brain through the proprioceptive system. The exercises described involve neck and rib cage movements to break habitual tension patterns and promote a calmer state. The speaker emphasizes the concept of titration, suggesting that smaller, incremental exercises can lead to more significant and lasting changes over time, rather than large, overwhelming doses.

10:01

💪 Applying Body Movements to Reduce Anxiety

The final paragraph provides detailed instructions for the third exercise, which involves lying face down and using neck muscles to lift the head while looking over each shoulder. This exercise is intended to reset the sternocleidomastoid muscle, which can be beneficial for those experiencing migraines or tension headaches. The speaker encourages viewers to listen to their bodies, take breaks if needed, and not to push beyond their comfort levels. The paragraph concludes with a reminder of the video's purpose and an invitation for viewers to engage with the content by liking, commenting, and subscribing for more.

Keywords

💡Anxiety

Anxiety is a nervous system state characterized by feelings of worry, unease, or panic. In the video, it is described as essential for survival but potentially problematic when the body remains in this state even when safe. The script discusses how anxiety can be caused by various factors and how it can be reprogrammed through exercises that affect the brain.

💡Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt as a result of experience. The video emphasizes the power of neuroplasticity in reprogramming the brain to reduce anxiety, suggesting that even without knowing the exact cause of one's anxiety, the brain can be trained to respond differently.

💡Vagus Nerve

The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve that plays a key role in the body's rest-and-digest system. The script introduces exercises to stimulate the vagus nerve as a method for reducing anxiety, indicating that these exercises can help the body shift from a state of stress to a state of calm.

💡Interoception

Interoception is the process by which the brain senses the internal state of the body. The video explains that emotions, including anxiety, are subjective interpretations of sensory data sent from within the body to the brain, emphasizing that thoughts do not directly cause emotions but influence the body's internal state.

💡Autonomic Nervous System

The autonomic nervous system is responsible for the body's involuntary functions, including the fight-or-flight response and rest-and-digest functions. The script discusses how anxiety can be managed by helping this system regulate better, suggesting exercises that send signals of safety to the brain.

💡Exercises

The term 'exercises' in the script refers to specific physical movements designed to reduce anxiety. These include neck and rib cage movements, which are meant to break habitual patterns of tension and activate the vagus nerve, thereby rewiring the brain from anxiety.

💡Stress Response

The stress response is the body's reaction to a threat or challenge, typically involving a release of stress hormones. The video acknowledges that anxiety is a normal part of this response, signaling when one is safe or in danger, but the goal is to avoid getting stuck in a state of anxiety.

💡Emotions

Emotions are complex feelings that result from a combination of physiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses to a stimulus. The script clarifies that emotions are not thoughts but interpretations of sensory data, and they manifest physically, as in the case of anxiety, through symptoms like a racing heart or tightness in the chest.

💡Titrations

Titrations, borrowed from chemistry, refer to the process of gradually adding one substance to another to achieve a reaction. In the context of the video, the concept is used to illustrate the idea of making small, incremental changes through the exercises to achieve a more significant, cumulative effect on reducing anxiety.

💡Physical Symptoms

Physical symptoms are bodily manifestations of an underlying condition or emotional state. The script describes various physical symptoms associated with anxiety, such as chest tightness, racing heart, and muscle tension, which are used to illustrate the interconnectedness of body and mind in experiencing anxiety.

💡Sternocleidomastoid

The sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle is a large muscle in the neck that can become tense in times of stress or anxiety. The video script mentions an exercise to reset this muscle as part of the process to alleviate anxiety, indicating its role in physical manifestations of emotional states.

Highlights

Anxiety is a natural nervous system state designed to protect us, but it can become persistent even in safe environments.

Many factors like accidents, injuries, surgeries, and emotional shock can cause chronic anxiety.

Neuroplasticity allows us to reprogram the brain to reduce anxiety without identifying the exact cause.

Three vagus nerve exercises are introduced to help rewire the brain from anxiety.

Anxiety is an emotion, not a thought, and is influenced by sensory data from the body.

Thoughts indirectly cause emotions by altering the body's internal state.

Anxiety symptoms include not only mental but also physical manifestations like muscle tension and changes in posture.

The body's default posture and muscle tension can be indicators of chronic anxiety.

Anxiety can be managed by helping the autonomic nervous system regulate better through body-based practices.

Exercises that send signals of safety to the brain can help reduce anxiety symptoms.

The first exercise involves side bending the head and shifting the gaze to stimulate the vagus nerve.

The second exercise is a deeper version of the first, targeting the rib cage to release tension.

The third exercise involves lying face down and lifting the head to look over the shoulder to reset neck muscles.

The concept of titration is applied in these exercises, emphasizing the importance of small, incremental changes.

These exercises can help with conditions like migraines and tension headaches by releasing muscle tension.

The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to engage with the content and subscribe for more.

Transcripts

- Whether you have a diagnosis

of generalized anxiety disorder,

or you're just feeling stressed and overwhelmed,

here's what you need to know about how to rewire your brain

from anxiety.

Anxiety is really just a nervous system state.

Under normal circumstances,

anxiety is essential to protect you, to keep you safe,

and ensure your survival.

But unfortunately, your body can become frozen

in a state of anxiety, even when you're totally safe.

In these instances, your brain believes you're in danger

when you're not.

And lots of things can cause this to happen.

It can result from accidents and injuries, surgeries,

physical pain, chronic stress, emotional shock,

not having your needs met or even trauma.

The thing is most of us can't pinpoint the exact cause

of our chronic anxiety.

And we actually don't need to,

because we can reprogram your brain

to reduce anxiety through the magic of neuroplasticity.

In this video,

I'm going to show you three vagus nerve exercises

that you can use any time

to rewire your brain from anxiety.

(energizing music)

♪ Aha ♪

- Hey, beautiful humans, I'm Sukie Baxter,

founder of Whole Body Revolution,

where I help you to rewire yourself

for greater health, happiness, and success.

If you're new here,

make sure you click that subscribe button

and hit the bell to get notified

every time I release a new video,

and anything that I mention in this video,

you can find linked in the description box below.

Let's get into it.

Okay, so I'm going to give you a few exercises

that you can use to reprogram your brain and reduce anxiety.

But before we get into that,

I want to take a quick second to talk about

what anxiety actually is and what causes anxiety.

Most people that I talk to believe their anxiety is coming

from their thoughts,

and most therapies geared toward anxiety relief

focus on changing your thoughts to reduce anxiety symptoms.

Here's the thing. Anxiety is an emotion.

And emotions are not thoughts.

Even though most of us have been taught that this is true.

Emotions are actually the subjective interpretations

of sensory data sent to the brain from inside your body.

And this is called interoception.

Interoception tells your brain when you're safe

and when you're not.

And here's a key point.

Thoughts do not directly cause emotions.

They cause shifts in the internal state of your body

that then change the sensory data sent to your brain,

which in turn shifts your emotional state.

However, there are parts of your biology

that are so ancient,

they predate human language,

and they don't respond to thought-based therapies.

This is where anxiety often persists

even when you've tried mindfulness training, affirmations,

or other brain-based self-help practices.

It's not that these therapies don't work at all,

it's that they can only affect so much of your biology.

I'm gonna tell you what to do about that in just a second.

But first let's talk about what does anxiety feel like.

Most of the time when doctors describe symptoms of anxiety,

they focus on what's going on in your mind.

They talk about anxiety symptoms such as hypervigilance,

an inability to concentrate, maybe racing thoughts,

or a sense of impending doom.

However, anxiety produces physical symptoms as well.

In fact, all emotions do.

This is how you know what emotion you're feeling,

by how your body feels.

Typically, the feeling of anxiety in your body consists

of tightness in your chest, a racing heart,

inability to take a deep breath, maybe sweating, shaking,

trembling, tension in your feet or lower legs, tight hips,

or maybe a clenched jaw.

And the posture of anxiety can vary.

But I've observed in my clients that often

they have a tendency to lean their weight back

to their heels,

as though they were pulling away from something.

Many people lift their toes off the ground

and clench the muscles of their lower legs

as though they were stopping themselves from running away

from a real or perceived threat.

It's very common to see anxious people express tightness

around their eyes and a forward head posture

with rigid neck muscles.

Clenched fists are another frequent symptom.

If these symptoms are chronic and habitual,

we tend to not notice them.

They just become our default posture, how we are,

and how we move through the world.

We don't know we're tight until we try to move in a way

that our bodies don't allow.

And even then we don't typically relate muscle tension

and poor mobility

to chronic and habituated emotional states like anxiety.

We stretch more. We get massages.

And when our muscles don't let go,

after much physical practice,

we give up and we just assume we're getting old, not true.

Muscle tension is dictated by your nervous system,

by your brain.

If we've put you under anesthesia, you'd be so limber

that we could tuck your feet behind your head easily.

Doctors would have to be super careful when moving you

so as not to dislocate a joint.

But when you wake up again,

that tension returns just as it was before.

So if you're wondering, "What do I do when I feel anxiety?"

I'm going to explain that now.

Plus walk you through three exercises

to reduce anxiety symptoms.

Life is full of challenges, threats, and dangers.

To expect that we'll never have to rise up

to meet these demands is just unrealistic.

And anxiety is a normal part of your stress response.

It tells you when you're safe and when you're not

so that you can mobilize to protect yourself.

But we don't want to get stuck there.

And the way to not get stuck in anxiety is

by helping your autonomic nervous system

to become better at regulating.

One of the ways that we can do this is

through body-based practices

that discharge stress from your nervous system

by sending signals of safety to your brain

through the proprioceptive system.

So that's what we're gonna do right now.

Click like if you're ready to try some vagus nerve exercises

for anxiety relief.

Inspiration for these exercises comes from the book

"Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve"

by Stanley Rosenberg, which is a great book

if you want to learn more about polyvagal theory

and anxiety.

So let's get started.

For this first exercise,

you can sit in a comfortable position,

either on the floor or in a chair, if that's better for you.

And all you're going to do is simply bring your right hand

to the top of your head,

and tip your right ear towards your right shoulder.

So you're going to be side bent to the right.

And then what you're gonna do is just shift your eyes only.

So your head's gonna stay in this position,

and your eyes only are going to go up and towards the left.

So they're going to move towards the left side

of your vision.

And we're just gonna hold this for 30 seconds.

And just keep your head in that same position.

There's no need to strain.

You may notice a sigh or a swallow or a breath

that's a little bit deeper than your other ones.

And go ahead and release that.

And now we're just gonna do exactly the same thing

on the other side.

So take a quick break if you need to.

And then when you're ready,

you're gonna bring your left hand to the top of your head,

bring your left ear towards your left shoulder.

Get a little side bend in there,

and then move your eyes upward and towards the right.

And we're just gonna hold this again for 30 seconds.

And this is helping us to break up

these habitual patterns of tension

and to shift out of an activated state

when we're a little bit more calm,

a little bit more present.

And then go ahead and release that.

Now if you don't notice a sigh or a swallow,

you can certainly hold that for longer.

30 seconds is the minimum,

but you can definitely do a minute or even longer than that.

For the next exercise,

we're gonna do a very similar movement,

but we're gonna take it a little bit deeper.

So that was really focused on breaking up any tension

in your neck and relaxing all the neck muscles.

We're gonna bring it down into your rib cage.

So your vagus nerve actually goes, it's a cranial nerve,

and it goes down your neck and into your torso

and comes all the way down into your viscera.

So we're gonna do a little bit of movement in your rib cage

to help break up the tension there.

So you're going to do a similar thing with your hands.

So right hand to the top of your head,

but then you're gonna take your left hand

and reach around to put it on your side

on your rib cage here.

And then what you're gonna do is

as you bring your head down,

so your right ear goes towards your right shoulder.

You're gonna make that bend a little bit deeper.

So you're gonna bend through your rib cage.

You're using your left hand to pull your ribs away.

So you should feel them closing underneath your hand

and your whole spine will bend into a C shape.

And then we're just gonna do the same thing with our eyes.

You're gonna bring them up into the left.

And again, we'll hold this for 30 seconds.

Again, don't strain.

There's no reason to be an overachiever.

So if this is uncomfortable for you,

make the movement smaller.

And then go ahead and release that.

And you may notice your breathing is a little bit easier.

You might feel a little more calm.

If you have some emotions come up, sometimes that'll happen.

If you need to take a break, go ahead and do that.

With these exercises, less is actually more.

I really base a lot of my work

on a concept called titration,

which is a word that comes from chemistry.

It's something that chemists will use to mix two substances

that when you pour them together in large quantities,

you have maybe half a cup of this one

and half a cup of that one,

and you just pour them together, they don't mix.

But if you do it drop by drop by drop,

then they'll start to blend and mix together.

So the same is true for these exercises.

Large doses can be hard for your system to integrate.

Whereas little drops can help make cumulative changes

that over time are much more impactful.

So if you need to take a break, take a break.

If that was enough for you, that's totally fine.

If you're ready to continue, we're gonna do the other side.

So you're gonna bring your left hand

up to the top of your head.

Side bend your left ear to your left shoulder.

Your right hand goes onto the left side of your rib cage.

And you're going to create that nice C shape

through your ribs.

And then your vision is going to go up and to the right.

Your eyes are going to go up to the right.

Remembering that it's okay to make this a small movement.

Particularly if you have had any injuries to your ribs.

If you've had surgeries,

heart surgeries where ribs have been cracked,

abdominal surgeries, any kind of trauma,

physical trauma to your torso.

And of course any emotional trauma.

If this needs to be a smaller movement, that's totally fine.

Go ahead and release that.

And really, when I'm doing exercises for myself,

I don't count repetitions, and I don't count time.

I wait until I feel a shift in my body,

but it's great when you're starting out

to have a set amount of time so that you kind of know

when you're starting and when you're gonna end.

That can make it feel a bit safer,

especially if it's unfamiliar.

But if you want to just hang out there

until you feel like your body has a shift, that's also fine.

For this next exercise, you're going to want to find a place

where you can lie face down comfortably.

So a yoga mat is a great thing to use,

or if you have a carpet that's comfortable,

you can lie on that.

So on your stomach, what you're gonna do

is you're going to bring your elbows under your shoulders,

hands flat on the floor.

And your shoulders should be supported by your elbows.

And what you're going to do is turn

and look over your shoulder, and you're lifting your head

using the muscles along the side of your neck here.

And we're just gonna hold this one again for 30 seconds.

And this will really help to reset your SCM muscle,

or your sternocleidomastoid,

which is that thick muscle along the side of your neck.

That can get really tight.

A lot of people who have migraines

have a lot of tension in this muscle,

so it can be helpful for migraines or tension headaches.

And then go ahead and release that.

And then we're just gonna do the same thing

to the other side.

So go ahead and come up with your

elbows under your shoulders.

You're gonna turn your head to the right.

You're gonna lift your head

and look over your right shoulder.

And we're gonna hold it for 30 seconds.

And go ahead and release.

Thanks for watching this video

on how to reprogram your brain from anxiety.

If you found these exercises helpful,

please click the like button

and let me know in the comments below.

Remember to subscribe and hit the bell to get notified

so you never miss a video,

and I will see you in the next one.

(energizing music) ♪ Aha aha ♪

♪ Aha aha ♪

♪ Ahh ♪