Releasing Trauma from Your Body | Reprogramming or Resetting the Vagus Nerve

CEUs are available at AllCEUs.com/Trauma-CEU hey there everybody and welcome to  this presentation on releasing trauma  trapped in your body strengthening the  vagus nerve and the relaxation response   i'm your host dr dawn elise snipes if you missed  parts one and two how trauma gets trapped in   your body you can still see those on the  youtube channel at youtube.comdocsnipes in this video we're gonna review why vagal  tone is important in releasing trauma   and explore strategies to help you gain more  control over your autonomic nervous system well kind of let's start with some of the  concerns people may have releasing trauma   does not mean that trauma isn't part of you  it will always be a part of your narrative   what you're doing is changing how your past trauma  impacts your future releasing trauma means helping   your brain more effectively recognize contexts  when you're safe and reducing the strength of   the connection between the amygdala where they do  thought and fear processing and the default mode   network which is also kind of your autopilot you  don't want to be on fear autopilot all the time trauma experiences associate many stimuli  with threat causing people to feel constantly   unsafe and on guard and we talked about that a lot  in part two how when people either anticipate a   threat or experience a threat their sensory  awareness becomes heightened their senses   sensory sensitivity threshold gets turned  way down so they're more aware of things   and all of the stuff that they notice during that  experience gets encoded as associated with threat   when they encounter it in the future even if it's  not associated with threat it may still trigger   that same schema that same um mental expectation  which triggers the autonomic nervous system to   kick off the threat response system so what we're  doing by trying to release trauma is helping the   person unpair or uncouple stimuli from a  stress response where they can be exposed   to a stimulus and not have that stress reaction  the goal of many of these exercises is to help   you learn to tell your body hey you know guess  what you're safe you're experiencing something   and i've shared with you in a couple other videos  that when i was a child i was a crime victim   and when we went through the pandemic masks would  trigger my memories would trigger flashbacks   to that incident and it would trigger my stress  response and i had to learn when i would see masks   to manually override to intentionally override  that stress response and remind myself i was safe   i did it through focused breathing and distress  tolerance skills but we're going to talk about   a lot of other things here too another goal of  these exercises is to trigger the relaxation   response in order to help decouple that  trigger stress response interestingly   yawning is associated with the relaxation response  it's also associated with getting you more oxygen   but when children start to get over tired over  stimulated stressed out especially infants   they may start to yawn more and that can be an  indication that they are getting stressed out   when you yawn it's your body's way of saying  okay we need to we need to try to relax   them which i thought was kind of interesting  we also want to increase the frequency of the   relaxation response and paired stimuli so not only  do we want to decouple stress with benign stimuli   like masks for example but we also want to  increase the association between feeling relaxed   and being in different environments  and being exposed to different stimuli   imagine if you could go into your boss's office  or a job interview or the doctor's office and   you would completely decouple that and your stress  response didn't kick off how awesome would that be strategies i suggest now vagus nerve activities  are not going to be the magic solution for   everything it is but a tool in your toolbox and  some people may not find that it's very helpful   at all if they've got certain neurological issues  going on they may and it's important to really   talk with your neurologist about that but for a  lot of us we tend to have a hyperactive stress   response system let's just face it we are a  stressed out society so strengthening vagal   tone can be very helpful to reducing the frequency  that that hpa axis gets tripped so what can you do pick one or two activities that you can start  doing when you awaken in the morning what can you   do to set that vagus nerve response interestingly  when you awaken in the morning your cortisol   is theoretically the highest it's supposed to be  throughout the day and it's supposed to gradually   decline as you get closer to bedtime now a lot of  us recognize that that's probably far from what   actually happens but when you awaken especially  if you wake awake and stressed out doing one or   two of these activities either before you get  get out of bed or for me i do it while i drink   my coffee in the morning decaf of course in order  to start the day out with a relaxation response   also doing this before bed can be very very  helpful for a lot of reasons not only does it help   trigger the relaxation response but it can also  help reduce some muscle tension and pain that may   make it harder for you to sleep throughout the  day i want you again pick one or two activities   that you not only might do when you awaken  and before bed but periodically throughout   the day for me i hum i sing that it's just  what i do and sometimes i get the same   stupid song stuck in my head but i'm still singing  and we'll talk in a moment how that can be helpful   and then also have activities these maybe the  same one or two activities that you can use   in response to stress or anticipated stress maybe  you've got to go into a meeting with your boss or   a job interview or something else that is  you're anticipating being stressful in some way   which of these activities can you use in order  to trigger that relaxation response so you can   get more grounded and feel safer before you  walk in we've talked before about how people   with anxiety disorders and ptsd tend to have a  stronger response to stressors than people who   don't have those pre-existing issues we've also  talked about how one of the reasons for that   is because people with anxiety and ptsd  are already primed they're already kind   of a little bit stressed out so they're ready to  leap they're ready to launch they don't feel safe   by doing these exercises prior to going into  a stressful situation you're actually reducing   that priming if you will which may make it  easier to regulate your emotional response in the   situation do remember the importance of breathing  and mindfulness if you remember no other activity   breathing slow breathing breathe in for four  hold for four exhale for four hold for four   do it a couple of times it doesn't  have to be you know super dramatic but   by slowing your breathing like that it  actually does trigger that relaxation response   and that can be very helpful you've got breathing  anywhere you can sometimes it's not you know the   best to be sitting there giving yourself a facial  massage or something when you're in a when you're   in a meeting but you can practice that foursquare  breathing and mindfulness can also be helpful   being aware of your situation to remind  yourself in this context at this time   i am safe pair that with slow breathing  it can help tamp down that stress response   for the stretching or movement activities that  we're going to talk about start out by doing   them for 30 seconds to a minute or until you have  a good yawn until you have that reset response   some people and i know 30 seconds doesn't sound  like very long but 30 seconds feels like an   eternity when you're first starting to do some  of these things for people so be kind to yourself   don't increase your stress by pushing your  limits so let's talk about some of these things   vagal tone improvement mind mindfulness and  grounding the more frequently you check in with   yourself and become non-judgmentally aware of the  moment the more frequently you will be using your   executive control network which is the deactivates  your default mode network and the more frequently   you are sort of reprogramming those schema so if  you're mindful in a situation and you're like okay   this this is fine i've been in this situation  before it wasn't so good but right now   i'm good right now i'm safe so you are cognitively  reprogramming those schema or those expectations   that could trigger the stress response now  remember going back to those other videos   our vagus nerve takes in information from  the outside and communicates it to the brain   the brain consults our schema or our expectations  based on that those sensory readings and then   tells the body what to do that's why  the vagus nerve is important we need to   get the message to the vagus nerve that um that  it's okay we need to get the message to the brain   that this situation's okay now so when the vagus  nerve takes in those stimuli maybe it's a smell   maybe it's a site sends it up to the brain and  says hey boss what do i do the brain says oh   no problem nothing to get upset  about that's what we're working on   but sometimes we have to overrule it so  mindfulness and grounding can increase those   times when we're just generally relaxed  which makes us more aware of stimuli   are in our environment and encodes those  stimuli with what relaxation sensations   slow breathing i've already talked about and if  you're an adult or a kid uh you know you can do   the square breathing that i talked about you can  blow bubbles that's another way that people can   relax now if you are an adult and you don't  feel like blowing you know blowing bubbles is   something that you can do you can chew gum and  blow a bubble what happens when you try to blow   a great big bubble you know you have to breathe  in take a big breath and then you exhale slowly   if you exhale too quickly the gum bursts so  bubble gum actually can be useful loving-kindness   meditation is another activity that can be useful  for vagal tone improvement because you are sending   thoughts of peace safety health and happiness to  yourself as well as to others and you're trying   to feel those sensations when you feel those  sensations it triggers the relaxation response   it tells the vagus nerve hey we've got  all these positive you know sensations   coming on send it to the brain and check  it out but i think we're probably good   now i talked earlier about how our vagus nerve  is largely involved with our autonomic nervous   system now the autonomic nervous system is  what some people call the automatic nervous   system and these are things that happen without  our intention we don't have to think breathe   remember to breathe or remember to blink your  eyes these are things that happen automatically   when people get stressed they their heart rate  goes up now if they are continually stressed   then instead of going from a heart rate of  we'll say 60 to 100 and then back down to 60   they may go from a quote resting heart rate of  85 up to 100 and then back to 85. so there's   less what they call heart rate variability  what we want people to do is to be able to   return their heart rate to actual baseline and  that shows that the body's no longer under stress   so you want greater heart rate variability when  i quit working out you know at the end of my   workout i watch to see how long it takes  my heart rate to go from where i was to a relative baseline response now after a hard  workout it's not going to go all the way back down   right away there's going  to be a deceleration period   but there are certain parameters  that cardiologists look at to see   you know how quickly do you does your  heart rate recover to identify the effectiveness of your heart to identify whether  you're under stress so one of the things or you   can do is exercise i'm going to do this  backwards from what i have listed on here   yoga i've talked about yoga in other videos  i've talked about yoga in video number two   but when you do yoga you are not just it's not  meditation it's not sleeping you are engaging   your body in poses and as you hold those poses  which get progressively more difficult you are   mindfully and intentionally returning  your breathing and heart rate to baseline   you are mindfully and intentionally  activating that vagus nerve and saying hey   we need to trigger that relaxation response  so yoga can be very helpful and it's a great   gentle introduction to gaining more  control over your heart rate variability   other articles that i read and i can attest to the  fact that it it is true interval training whether   it's high intensity or medium intensity interval  training also helps improve heart rate variability   and vagal tone medium intensity training  would be going from a very light activity to   increasing the intensity so maybe strolling  to power walking back to strolling again   and having the heart rate training the  heart rate to more rapidly recover from that   so instead of going you know up like this and  then down at a 45 degree angle we want it to go   up and down at approximately the same  inclines it takes time as your heart becomes   uh gains better control then you'll see more  heart rate variability high intensity interval   training really need to check that out with your  doctor before you do it because it's intense   but it is another tool in your toolbox  weights are another example you're   resting and then you start lifting weights  and your heart rate is going to go way up   and then you rest until it comes back down to  baseline before you do your next set that's   training with heart rate variability those  are things that you can do just in general   to improve your vagal tone not in response to  any specific stressor or any particular issue   probiotics have been found to be very  helpful and i forgot to put the link in there   with vagal tone they did one uh study many  many years ago actually now that they took   rats poor rats and they severed the vagus nerve  connection between the gut and the brain and   what they found was rats that had that intact that  were treated with lactobacillus rhamnosus and bifu   bacterium i can never say that longum uh  showed a decreased anxiety response and   fewer stress behaviors than the rats that were fed  the same probiotics that had the vagus nerve cut   so clearly alterations in the gut microbiome as  communicated through the vagus nerve contribute to   the stress response and contribute to inability of  the vagus nerve to trigger the relaxation response   so cool stuff omega-3s have also been shown to  be helpful at improving neural communication in   general as well as reducing inflammation  and we know that systemic inflammation   contributes to a whole host of other issues  such as pain depression and anxiety so omega-3s   are are a very benign intervention that may be  helpful before changing your diet or engaging in   any exercise program always check it out with  your doctor have to say that cold showers and   you know i heard that and i was like oh uh-uh not  doing it but they have found that cold showers or   even splashing water on your face or plunging  your forearms into cool or even ice water   actually does trigger the uh vagal vagus  nerve response some people love it helps   them feel energized some people hate it it's not  my favorite thing but research shows that it does   interact with the vagus nerve and may improve  vagal tone so if you need a tool in your toolbox   that's right there for you you got it now i  can see when you're upset for example splashing   cold water on your face can sort of jolt you  and i can see how that could be helpful but   cold showers just not my thing so let's  talk about some exercises let's talk about   some things that we can do the first one is  really interesting and i encourage you as i do   talk about these things to do them put your um  i'm going to take my glasses off try to read   put your hands right here on your temple  and kind of resting on your cheekbone   very lightly and then when you look to the  left you will feel muscles and innervation and then when you look to the  right you will feel the same thing   this is one of those things that you would  do you would look to the to the right   for 30 seconds to a minute and then you would  look to the left for 30 seconds to a minute   and that would be one way of stimulating the  trigeminal nerve that is connected to the   vagus nerve if you will and help  trigger that relaxation response   now a lot of us have been around animals have been  around babies and we know that rubbing their nose   up the bridge of their nose and right to what  they call the third eye can be very relaxing   that is also stimulating the vagus nerve through  the trigeminal nerves and over top of the eyebrows   just gentle you don't need to press you know as  a matter of fact don't press just very gentle   stimulation over there can help stimulate that  relaxation response now you may not get the yawn   response it may only be just a feeling of  relaxation and some people have it if they   stroke their cheekbones up their cheekbones  like you would if you were putting on blush   um i personally don't sense too much from that but  i do now i grind my teeth like nobody's business   i wear a splint at night so they do grind  their teeth and they do feel a sensation   in the trigeminal nerve that comes down to  the jaw so for some people going from the chin   all the way up to the jaw um jaw joint if  you will can also help them or even higher up   through i don't know if you can see over the  cheekbone and right to the temples and then gently   massaging the temples can also feel good promote  relaxation stimulate that relaxation response   tempo massage i kind of jumped ahead you can  see a lot of those nerves come right back to   right at the temple right above the the cheekbone  and so a gentle temple massage there you also   find and not i wouldn't do this a lot but if you  have your hands resting on your temples and you   grit your teeth clench your teeth really  tight you will feel those muscles tense   tense muscles communicate stress we don't  want stress we want all of that area to relax   when those muscles are tense it  sends the message through the   trigeminal nerve to the vagus nerve  that hey there's stress out here   now your tragus and your concha these are  areas on your ear a lot of the research has   been done on the tragus which is the little  flap thing in the front of your ear and   you can either just massage that gently and the  vagus nerve also has innervation that goes right   behind the ear so i find it's most helpful  to put your middle finger on your tragus   and your index finger behind your ear and  just gently massage coming down and back up   you're just pressing hard enough to move  the skin you don't want to be pressing   down on your tragus so you're blocking your ear  canals just just hard enough to move the skin   stimulates a positive sensation and  some people it act actually can trigger   asmr by rubbing right here because  you're hearing that um rubbing sensation   so it could be a double bonus for those of you  who are able to experience asmr now tens units   are available now and that's transcutaneous  electronic nerve stimulation there are a lot of   videos on youtube about how to use the tens unit  for tvns transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation   basically you have a tens unit and you get  a special clip that you clip right onto   your tragus and then you put the other lead wire  generally right on the upper part of your scapula   on your back you know right back here and then  you turn on the tens unit and there are certain   um wavelengths that have been found to be  more helpful for vagus nerve stimulation but   there are instructions for how to do that in those  videos if you're interested in doing that because   it is you know using a tens unit i would always  encourage you to check with your doctor first   but it's non-invasive never never never never  put electrodes for a tens unit on your neck   never do it it is bad if you have a pacemaker  or have heart problems also definitely check   with your cardiologist prior to using a tens unit  if you don't have those conditions then you know   you can make your decisions they are sold over  the counter another activity that stimulates the vagus nerve as well as the muscles  of the face is the half smile   when people smile for real um and i don't know if  i can if i can actually fake it you get a little   crinkle up here when you do a fake smile a lot of  times the muscles that are activated are a little   bit different so it's important to have if you're  going to do a full smile to have a good smile   because that does trigger the relaxation  response but a half smile can do almost as well   and linehan suggests open hands and half smile  but i have a lot of people who will just put   their hands on the side of their face or rest  their hands on their belly because they're also   making sure they're breathing  deep and just a half smile you know that smile that says i i got this  it's okay we can get through this it's not   a smile that says woohoo but it is a smile  nonetheless and when that happens and again i   encourage you to think back to babies when babies  smile they're happy they don't smile to fake it   so our body automatically associates  activation of smile muscles   with safety and relaxation unless it's  been counter-conditioned humming is another   excellent one when you hum it causes vibrations  throughout your head and neck and all that stuff   and i hypothesized that similar to a tens unit  which stimulates the nerve endings humming   the vibration from the humming also stimulates  those nerve endings and may promote the release   of endorphins as well as activate the  relaxation response via the vagus nerve laughing i have down here because everything  we covered on the last slide is sort of   face up and the neck area also you  can see the yellow lines on that   drawing are your is your vagus nerve and  associated nerves on your neck so you can imagine   what kind of information it's getting if you're  carrying all your stress up here in your neck   so laughing can be very helpful because when you  laugh not only are you usually breathing deeply   but you are also causing vibrations in your  larynx singing has been associated you know i   said humming earlier humming tends to be more  of a face oriented thing singing is going to   cause vibrations in your larynx when we sing  we typically breathe more slowly and deeply   and we typically are focusing on whatever  we're singing and the mood associated with   that so if you're singing you are triggering  that relaxation response in multiple ways   i encourage you to experiment you  know try seeing how you feel after you   clean the house or whatever whatever you want  to do where you can either sing or hum versus   doing the same thing when you're not singing  or humming you may find that it improves your   response now the head tilt and the head turn  are two activities that have been noted in   several other books i figured i'd include them  here why do they work well in part because they   encourage stretching and relaxation of all these  muscles here so the head tilt and it's important   to start out and you're going to lay down put  your hands behind your head just relax your   relax your head in your interlaced  fingers and then you're going to   looking at the ceiling you're  going to turn your head to the side you're going to hold that for 30 to 45 seconds  sometimes 60 seconds or when you yawn and then   you're going to do it to the other side  you always want to do it to both sides   if you yawn on one side you may not yawn on the  other that's okay yawning is not required but   that helps loosen some of these muscles in here  head um i'm sorry i did head turn first head   tilt is when you put your ear to your shoulder  so you can put your ear to your shoulder and   again you can do this either when you're sitting  up or laying down ear to your shoulder hold it   for 30 seconds to a minute and then do the other  side so your strength you're stretching these   muscles here your trapezius and your other muscles  all of those muscles that might be you know tense   around the vagus nerve these are all things that  can be very helpful if you work on a computer   i encourage you to do this do those two activities  at least once or twice a day while you're working   in order to keep all of that sort of  loose and flowing now you can combine   the head tilt or the head turn with the eye  movements as well so you can tilt your head   and also look all the way down to that side  and hold that for the same amount of time   and then of course obviously always  do that on the other side as well when you improve vagal tone you're attempting  to gain more control over the autonomic or   automatic nervous system so you can reprogram  your associations you may have an initial stress   response but then you override it and  say nope this isn't a stressor anymore   and you're retraining your brain and your nervous  system how to respond to that stimuli in the   present while the vagus nerve wanders throughout  the body is most easily accessible in the neck   and head region the neck jaw and face tension may  tell the vagus nerve that it's not safe to relax   so releasing that tension may help to alter  that message and promote the relaxation response

Channel: Doc Snipes

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Id: EkbgW83t2OQ

Length: 32min 52sec (1972 seconds)

Published: Fri May 13 2022