The state of our nervous system is directly related to the quality of our digestion.

Simply put, when we’re relaxed, in a state of rest and digest, the process of digestion is initiated. When we’re stressed, our digestion—and all of our organs for our long-term health and healing—become compromised. Their processes shut down.

At the heart of this whole system is the vagus nerve.

This topic has been taking center stage on social media recently, so let me share a little snapshot about the vagus nerve: The vagus is our tenth cranial nerve. It begins in your brainstem and travels down deep into your gut. All along the way, it has innervations within the face, throat, heart, lungs, diaphragm, stomach, liver, and full GI tract.

(Fun fact: Vagus comes from the word vagabond, which means to wander.)

The vagus nerve is in direct communication with each organ and system, sending and receiving messages as well as directly impacting the overall state and health of these organs systems.

This is only a tiny part of the story. There’s so much more to share about the vagus nerve (which I will dive into in my upcoming online Restorative Yoga Teacher Training — there is a huge relationship between the gut, vagus nerve, and brain.

Here, I’ll focus on the vagus nerve’s relationship with digestion — and we can consider digestion as the process to break down and metabolize our food as well as anything we take in, including our experiences, emotional responses, and media.

But one of the most central things to know is that it’s the main communication switch that governs the body’s ability to shift between the stress response (fight, flight, freeze, flee) and the relaxation response (rest and digest).

The more “toned” our vagus nerve is, the greater ability we have to shift out of the threat response and into a regulated state of safety. High vagal tone is also said to lead to improvements in our emotional health as well as our physical health.

When we experience a threat and need to protect ourselves, we shift into fight or flight; the vagus nerve then communicates to our digestive organs to shut down, which helps redirect energy and resources to the functions of our body that help us respond to the immediate threat.

The stress response is a necessary function of our bodies, helping us navigate our safety when our lives are in danger.

However, our systems have been wired to tap into fight, fight, or flee when we receive email notifications, read Tweets, think about what to prepare for our family meal, or feel the creep of the Sunday Scaries. You can see how depleting our systems of basic functions from these daily experiences can impact our well-being in the long term.

This is where our practice comes in.

Research shows that meditation and yoga can help us relax the body, and then the mind, so we can deepen the breath, which plays a significant role in stimulating the vagus nerve. It’s in this process that we can activate our relaxation response.

Further research tells us that the therapeutic applications and techniques can boost our practice to more directly stimulate the vagus nerve. This further affects not only our digestion but helps us work with states like anxiety and depression, as well as to digest and heal trauma stored in the body.

In this week’s FREE Friday meditation (which I offer live on zoom with recording access), we focus on a simple technique to stimulate and tone the vagus nerve, in order to elicit the relaxation response.

We’ll begin with a three-part breath and then add the VOO Breath, a vagus stimulation technique from Dr. Peter Levine, a world-renowned trauma expert. It feels good on a vibratory level—and it works very quickly. Then we’ll finish with a gratitude practice.

In my upcoming virtual restorative yoga teacher training, which begins Wednesday, February 1, you’ll learn to create and guide a customized practice that helps you and your students release layers of tension, calm the nervous system, and feel at ease. (Scholarships and payment plans are available.)

If you’re interested, I hope you’ll dive into the training details here.