I don’t know about you but I consider it a life essential.
Did you know that we’re each making our own right now?
We’ve got the heart on rhythm, the lungs trumpeting the breath, the diaphragm digging deep for the “big” notes and the entirety of the digestive tract in jazz mode sounding off variable noises all over the place. But there’s one master conductor in this self-contained band—a virtuoso named vagus.
The long and winding road of the vagus nerve begins in the brainstem and travels down through your neck and chest before it makes its final descent into your abdomen. It is the longest cranial nerve in the body and its branches innervate all of our major organs—the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, spleen, pancreas, intestines and kidneys, The vagus also extends into so many other organs on its wayward journey—including the ears, esophagus, larynx and pharynx. It is instrumental in regulating all of our essential physiological functions like breathing, heart rate and digestion. As the crucial connector between body and mind, it constantly communicates information about physiological happenings in the body to the brain. Think of it as the underlying drum beat in your favorite song—it might not always be detectable, but it’s always there guiding the rhythm and melody.
When the vagus is playing on the “upbeat”, you will physically feel calm, relaxed and focused as all of your internal functions will be humming along nicely. This is because the vagus nerve is the primary component in the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, relax, recover). When the vagus hits a “downbeat” it's usually because it has sensed something—internally or externally—that has created disharmony in its chord progression. In music, this is known as syncopation—a disturbance or interruption in the regular flow of rhythm. When the vagus experiences syncopation from physical, mental or emotional stressors, it can over-or-under react, manifesting an entire orchestra of symptoms—including (but definitely not limited to) a quickening heartbeat, a rise or drop in blood pressure, upset digestion, an inability to think or speak clearly to tension and pain felt in the body. If the vagus hits a bad note and holds it for too long, chronic inflammation can reverberate throughout your body resulting in a crescendo of longer-term symptoms in both the body and mind.
So how do we keep a never-ending bridge of untuned violin from setting into our otherwise enjoyable composition? The same way a band syncs together to create a uniform sound that is harmony—by listening and knowing when it's the best time to contribute. We can bring the same awareness to our vagus nerve to help it stay on pitch and navigate the diverse musical genres of everyday life in our bodies. One of the ways we can do this is, ironically, through music. Listening to music has a way of moving us beyond just an emotional response—it can alter our physiology. Every part of our body and mind are intertwined to be tuned together. Listening therapies (like Safe and Sound Protocol or Rest and Relax Protocol) offer the opportunity to do just that by providing a non-invasive, relaxing way to retune our vagus nerve through acoustic stimulation of the middle ear muscles and auricular (ear) branch of the vagus nerve. The specially filtered music in both protocols can be immensely helpful in balancing and improving the functioning of our vagus nerve, which in turn, benefits all of the other systems in our bodies that serve to sustain us. I discovered both of these therapies in my own pursuit to strengthen my vagus nerve functioning after a traumatic surgery and difficult recovery. Both protocols substantially enhanced my health and life so much I wanted to share them. I consider both protocols a “soundtrack” for life now. You can read more in-depth details on differences and benefits of each here.
Modern day living can feel like elevator music much of the time—it’s always on and we can’t seem to get a reprieve from it. We can become so preoccupied with what we need to accomplish or where we need to get to next that we’re not tuning in to the sounds inside us—they become like background singers in our busy existence. Much like a grand piano or bass guitar, our vagus is primed and capable of producing daily symphonic masterpieces that manifest as good overall physical and mental health when it's properly tuned and thoughtfully played.
