New Zealand

Vic Vega

Brooklyn, NY, USA

Catherine 

Sarasota, FL

Caroline

England, UK

Emilia Robinson

Chacala, Mexico

Pat Powell

Salt Lake City, UT, USA

Holly

Aguascalientes, Mexico

Becka Gagne

Maine, United States

Gina Anderson

Theresa

Olympia, WA, USA

Castlegar

Heidi

Wellington,New Zealand

Claire

Northern Ireland, UK

Vanessa

Perth Australia

Terri

Massachusetts, USA

Kalidou Diouf

Heidelberg, Germany

Vanessa Floyd

Minnesota, USA

Barbara Faison

Georgia, United States

Sarah, Long Haul Yogi

South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Practice the Voo sound to regulate your nervous system, lower stress, and cultivate a sense of inner safety.

Science

Neuroscience

Health & Happiness

Grounded

Mindfulness

English

One of the keys to overcoming stress, anxiety and trauma is regulating the nervous system. This guided meditation does that by tapping into the vagus nerve, which directly impacts how our bodies respond to stress. Through the Voo breathing method, the vibrating sound on the outbreath settles this bundle of nerves—from brain to gut—optimizing your vitality, boosting your immune system and lowering stress. Enjoy!

Regulating The Nervous System With The Voo Breathing Method

 Today, I'm going to introduce you to one of the most important things you can do to optimize your health to reduce inflammation lower stress Regulate heart rate and blood pressure Support your digestion and allow more room in your life to feel safe calm spacious Creative and connected There is one daily practice I can teach you to do all of this begin by finding a comfortable place to be seated upright a Place where you have support behind you and beneath you close your eyes and As I walk you through the explanation of this practice Bring your awareness to the places in your body that I'm referring to So inside the body our nervous systems are guiding us every moment to stay safe Just as it did millions of years ago It continues to first notice the potential for threat It's its way of keeping us safe but often It has difficulty the nervous system Distinguishing between the saber-toothed tiger it recalls from our primitive world and A stressful conversation with our boss partner friend or child in the modern world We need to teach it how to do that to distinguish between real and perceived threats So that the body and mind can feel spacious open Creative and connected when we're not in threat when we're safe The vagus nerve is the answer Vegas is the Latin word for wandering You'll understand why as we begin to visualize it Now follow me as we bring our awareness to the body the vagus nerve Begins its journey at the brainstem and it wanders its way to the throat to the voice where it assists in vocalization and Wanders its way then to the windpipe and down into the lungs Where it helps us regulate our breathing and then to the heart Where it regulates heart rate and then connects to the spleen Liver Stomach Pancreas Kidney and Our digestive system the large and small Intestine where it supports digestion So knowing that that critical bundle of nerves is there to protect us It's also there to help us relax So when we're relaxed this bundle of nerves Supports our health by regulating these very critical organs in the body When we're under stress This nerve will constrict these organs in an effort to conserve our energy for a survival response Fight flight or freeze That's important if we're under a real physical threat But most of the time the nervous system and this vagus nerve is misfiring We don't need it to go into a survival response When we're in conflict with our boss or partner When we're in a traffic jam when we're preparing to present in front of a group What we need is to be open and spacious and access to our higher-order thinking So to regulate the vagus nerve Here's the one simple practice you can do Developed by dr. Peter Levine the founder of the somatic experiencing model I'm going to teach you his breathing method Which vibrates the vagus nerve and over time? Will help you regulate your nervous system So close your eyes Place one hand on your heart space just to the right of your heart right in the center of your chest Place the other hand on your belly Feel the support behind you and beneath you and begin by breathing in through your nose nice long in breath through the nose and Out through your mouth Again long deep in breath through the nose and long out breath through the mouth at your own pace Continue to breathe and As you keep breathing Put some space between the top and bottom teeth Relax the jaw Check to ensure that the tongue is resting in your lower palate Continue to breathe long in breath through the nose and Long out breath through the mouth And we're going to introduce the vibrational sound that helps to vibrate the vagus nerve now That sound we spell it V as in Victor. Oh Voo V. Oh And we make that sound on the out breath So that it vibrates the entire vagus nerve from the brain stem to the vocal cords and throat and the windpipe down into the heart and lungs and All the critical organs all the way down to your digestive tract. And so if you'll join me we'll be doing the voo on the out breath and We'll do that five times together and in between The voo out breath. We're gonna do two gentle breaths Before we do the next foo So you can listen to me on the first practice round and then we'll do five together So with hand on heart space hand on belly I'm bringing my attention inside my body and Breathing in through my nose And on the out breath, I'll be making that voo sound and bringing my attention to the vibration under my hands Now two gentle breaths I'm going to take a moment and just notice if I feel anything different and we'll do this together in the practice in the next five rounds Breathing in join me on the voo breath now Two gentle breaths repeat that four times together breathing in Two gentle breaths and again voo breath breathing in Two gentle breaths the next voo breath breathing in Two gentle breaths and last round And now your two gentle breaths We just completed the portion of this practice that allows the nervous system to meet communicate and reassure The primitive part of our brain the amygdala that we're safe Now to reinforce safety Let's have our higher order part of the brain our executive brain called the prefrontal cortex Communicate the same back to our nervous system using language So on the next out breath, we're going to repeat the words out loud I am safe I am safe Cascading those reassuring words all the way down into our bellies Let's try that now breathing in Out I am safe. I am safe. I am safe. I am safe I am safe. I am safe. I am safe And notice what feels different in the body notice if you feel an opening there in your chest more spaciousness more calm a Feeling of safety in the body Notice if you feel more energized from the practice or notice if you feel more relaxed with the practice If you feel more energized Or you feel Very little or nothing. No sensation Try doing this practice first in the morning If you feel more relaxed Try this practice at bedtime Some people find that this practice Energizes them so it's good to do it in the morning To start your day off with more energy But if it's more relaxing for you, it'll help you sleep at night. So try the practice at bedtime. I Hope this practice is supportive of your overall well-being And I wish you well many blessings