Latest / Bird on a Branch / Ep. 10 | Nervous System Reset Tips
Transcript
- Carrie kirby: Hello, hello. Alright, we are going to finally teach you how to regulate your nervous system. These are mostly things you can do from your car, from your house, for sure. But I will say, cumulative practice is going to make the most progress. So What we're doing is restoring your vagal tone. Your vagus nerve is a nerve that runs all up your back, all up here, and intertwines into the gut. So it is a main nerve that has to do with stabilizing the nervous system. I'm not here to teach on science, even though it's super fascinating. but vagus nerve. Stability is going to help you regulate your nervous system and therefore regulate your emotions, and tolerance to stress, triggers, all of the day-to-day stuff. You're going to be able to handle more in a better way. for some context, I spoke on this in a previous video. Nervous system dysregulation is literally the state of everyone. It just varies from person to person, but if you have ever had a panic attack or have any form of anxiety, depression, stress, hello, your vagus nerve needs attention. So it is something that I feel is very under discussed, disgust, not disgust. Okay. And I do feel like if we had this information and they taught it in school, we would be much more balanced and less prone to be taken out by High impact stressful situations. So things like breath work, meditation, vagus nerve stimulation, and vagal tone practices will change your life. I'm telling you, it can heal you from disease. It least is not medical claim. This is just what I've seen in coaching and also all of my years of Studying the body and the nervous system and trauma and how your body responds to all of that. It is unbelievable what tending to your vagus nerve will actually do holistically, mind, body, and spirit, especially over time. But you will see and feel a difference almost immediately. So I'm gonna teach you the main practices that you can do each day. That I definitely implore you to do each day. At least three of these. Okay, I'm gonna give you three main ones and then a couple of like sidebar ones that are really interesting that you can do if you really need them. but trust me when I tell you If you are a mom, if you are a caretaker, if you are stressed in any way, not to mention if you have any history of trauma or any anything, if you are human, you need this. Okay? So Please, if you if you need to, look into the vagus nerve, look into how important it is. But I just want to get to the steps so that this is like an evergreen video that you can reference or you know, whatever, so you can come back and practice them. So, first and foremost, your breath is directly linked to your nervous system. So The first one that I do every single day. Every single day is you take five minutes. Y'all, if you don't have five minutes, you need an hour. Okay, five minutes and the breath is going to look like this. Hold. And then you're gonna exhale. like you're blowing out of a straw, so you're gonna have some resistance. The count is four to six inhale, hold for two to three seconds. Exhale as long as possible. And the resistance on the exhale, the slower you can go on the exhale, the more your nervous system is going to calm down and regulate that specific breathing. Sometimes they call it box breathing. can literally stop a panic attack. It is absolutely amazing. If you can and you are in a place where you can do this, add in this layer. You're going to inhale and then you're gonna look. Up and to the right. I know that looks weird. And that is going to activate a part of your brain. That is going to connect to the vagus nerve, and you're gonna do the same thing on the other side and keep alternating until you get a cue from your nervous system that it is regulated, which can be yawning, it can be a deep sigh, it can be even crying. It's some sort of release, it's a regulatory signal. It's actually fascinating. Now I okay, so that's that's w one step with an additional like half a step if you can include your eyes in the first step. In the first step of breath work. the next one is nasal breathing. I'm sure you've seen this before, but you're gonna Okay, that was an example. It's actually hard to explain, but you're gonna hold one nasal, one nostril, inhale through the right one, and then you're gonna exhale through the left one, inhale through the left one, exhale through the right one, and keep alternating. Nasal breathing is phenomenal. You're gonna feel a huge difference. Do it for as long as possible. I would not do that one while you're driving. Take that as warning. because you can get like a little bit lightheaded just from the amazing oxygen exchange that happens, but there's actually a ton of studies that nasal breathing is highly meditative and can really connect you to the design in a faster way. So it's very meditative and relaxing. Really, really good for you, and you are pinging the vagus nerve. All of these are are helping with vagus nerve and and nervous system reset. Okay, the third one is something that I want everyone that's watching to do once a day, preferably at night. It is amazing. Okay, so you're kind of gonna take this next third one and include a little bit of breath work. This isn't hard, you guys. It's not hard, it just takes Takes you carving out the time. Alright, you're gonna take this wall, like let's say your bed, okay, is up against a wall, you're gonna flip around and put your legs up the wall so that your head is towards the end of the bed. Your legs are straight up the wall, your head is laying like on the bed. So you're basically in an L. Stay like that. Stay like that. And put your hand on your heart and one on your belly and do the box breathing. Hold in or inhale for four, hold for two to three, exhale for as long as possible with the resistant, exhale. Like you're going through a straw. Doing that not only improves circulation and lymph movement, but It regulates your HRV, which is your heart rate variability, it literally instantly starts to put your body into a homeostasis regulated state. And if you can do the breath work with the eyes as you're laying there, you will literally almost instantly get into a regulated state, and you will yawn and you will get that like release. Those were the top three things that I love the most that I feel have like changed my life completely and my nervous system. Two other ones, no, three other ones that I want to side note that I think are fantastic. Singing slash humming. Okay? I know that sounds crazy, but it is a known vagus nerve stimulator. Singing and humming, similar to gargling, which I was gonna say gargling, so I guess you can put those all on one like side note. Singing, humming, it's why it's why people go I mean there's a reason why they say the word om, but it is why they s make that guttural sound during meditation to connect their breath and their self to God is because that pings the vagus nerve and literally you're locked in and connected. So singing, humming. Mmm, there's actually there's actually different sounds. And then additionally and lastly, sorry, I have to go. is putting your face in ice water. Putting your face in ice water not only stimulates the nervous system and the vagus nerve, but it also once I get Calm close the door please. But it also calms the nervous system and tells your body to activate the vagus nerve, which sends out a signal to your nervous system that everything's okay. It's almost like a verse to shock with the ice cold water. It's why cold plunging, you see people like go into cold plunging and that actually is another it's an a less practical way of of vagal toning, but you can do that too. Cold plunging is a full body nervous system regulation tool. It's excellent. But I was trying to give you more tangible practice to tools that you can do day to day. Of like finding a bucket to immerse your body in cold water, your face. Your face, ice water, gargling, humming, singing, singing, and music and frequencies are so healing for nervous system. But those steps are going to change your life. I'm telling you, they seem minor, but they help immensely. I have seen all my clients transform their nervous systems using these tools. I have used these tools for years and I'm telling you they will they will change your state. And get your digestion out of fight or flight, get yourself out of fight or flight, which most of us are chronically in. And I promise you, cumulatively, when practiced over time, you will notice a huge difference in your stress tolerance. And there's something you can resort to if you if you're in an argument, if you're having a panic attack, if you're having anxiety, if you're in an art if I said an argument, step away and take a moment to use these tools. I swear you will see a huge difference. And please teach your children. These are tools that will help them regulate when you're not there to regulate for them. We have to teach our kids. We have to teach our kids how to handle stress. The world of social media and everything else. I won't even get into that. But please, everything that you learn here, please teach your kids. Okay, I hope that helps.