Our minds are so powerful and complex. As I mentioned in my previous post on the vagus nerve and the mind body connection, we can heal ourselves if we believe we are being healed and the key to healing the body is to heal the mind. Please read this post first if you haven’t already. There is so much more to the mind body connection, but in this discussion I want to focus on ways to reset your nervous system to restore balance and homeostasis.
Most of us are in a chronic sympathetic, “fight or flight” state. We are overwhelmed, overworked and anxious and this stress is caused by our thoughts. In order to heal we want to be in a parasympathetic, “rest and digest,” state and restore peace and calm into our lives.
In this post I am going to tell you some things about our amazing brains and ways we can stop all this chronic stress by changing our thoughts. I will also share with you 10 simple ways to increase your vagal tone, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
NEUROPLASTICITY
Did you know our brains have a remarkable ability to reorganize themselves by forming new neural connections? There are an estimated 86 billion neurons in the brain and each one is connected to another 1000 neurons. Think about how complex that is!
Chronic negative thinking and emotions and habitual dysfunctional reactions and behaviors create neural connections that become solidified into our brains and keep us stuck. Over long periods of time, this can lead to physical illnesses, including cancer. This is because our thoughts and beliefs influence our gene expression, cell function and our physical and mental well-being.
The good news is that by changing our thoughts, beliefs, feelings and emotions, we can literally reshape our brains and create new neural pathways at any stage in life! Each time we do things differently, new neural pathways are formed. This is what is called neuroplasticity. We can undo the faulty wiring of our brain and rewire it. Of course, this is easier said than done and we can’t do this when we are stressed. We have to be in a parasympathetic state.
As we all know, change can be hard. Our brains are built to stick with what is familiar and avoid anything unfamiliar, even if it is bad for us. In order to overcome this inherent resistance to change, we have to start with small things and be consistent over time and new neural pathways will form.
Think of it like learning to drive. At first it was overwhelming, there were so many things to remember and think about all at once. Our brains weren’t wired for it and we had to practice and practice. Over a period of time of habitually going through the motions of driving, it became hardwired. Now we don’t even have to think about it anymore. Have you ever driven somewhere and don’t remember how you got there? That’s because your brain and body knew what to do even when your mind was somewhere else.
So how do we go about rewiring our brain, changing our negative thoughts and beliefs and automatic reactions to stressful triggers? Here are 5 steps.
BELIEF
You are already cured of cancer and your body is completely healed.
Read that again and let it sink in. How did it make you feel? What if it were true? How would your life change? Isn’t it exhilarating to even think that?! Well why not believe it? What is holding you back?
Staying on the healing journey is being in a state of faith. Believing that it is possible to change and get better is necessary. So first we need to get it in our heads that we can heal and be cured of cancer or even better that we already are! Remember what Jesus said in the Bible, It only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains. Matthew 17:20-21
BECOMING AWARE OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS
What are you focusing on during the day? Do you ever catch yourself when you are deep in thought? Most of us don’t even realize we are mindlessly ruminating on the same negative things day in and day out. Here are some common forms of negative thinking.
- All or nothing thinking – either I am 100% perfect or I am a failure
- Catastrophic thinking – if I get on an airplane, it will crash or, nothing goes right for me
- Shoulds and musts – these create unrealistic expectations that we can never meet. Try removing these words from your vocabulary.
- Emotional reasoning – confusing thoughts with facts. i.e. I feel like a bad person, so I must be a bad person
In order to heal our minds we have to begin to recognize these negative thought patterns before spiraling into a negative feedback loop and break the cycle. When a stressful trigger occurs, can you feel yourself tense up and your heart rate increase? Try to catch yourself right then and objectively observe your mind and what it starts thinking about without judgement. Remember, it’s not the trigger or event that caused the stress, it’s your thoughts and reactions to it.
Another way to become more aware of your thoughts is to ask yourself throughout the day, “what is bothering me the most?” Most of us aren’t even aware of all the negative thoughts in our minds because it has become so automatic. The good news is that if you do this enough, before long, you won’t have to consciously think about it. Like learning to drive a car, it will become automatic.
Another simple technique is to place a rubber band on your wrist. Every time you start to think negatively, either snap the rubber band or move it to the other wrist. This forces you to become aware of your negative thoughts and quickly stop. Another way to do this is by tapping. This is sometimes called the emotional freedom technique (eft). I won’t go into details on that here, but simply tapping around your eyes when you start to have a negative thought can bring it into awareness and help you switch focus.
Changing our thoughts changes the biochemistry of our minds and bodies. The more we do this, the faster our brains rewire.
REPLACING “CRAP” WITH OTHER THOUGHTS
Once we recognize the negative thoughts and emotions, we need to replace them with positive empowering thoughts right away. It sounds so simple and is such a cliche, stop thinking negatively and start thinking positively. I don’t know about you, but when I hear that phrase I instantly get irritated, probably because I’m often a negative Nelly, but I’m working on it! LOL. The problem is, we cannot just use willpower to stop these intrusive negative thoughts and emotions. Remember, our brains have become hard wired with these pathways now. We have to gently persuade our minds to think of other things.
A great exercise to do this is with journaling in a specific way, called a brain dump. Get some paper or a journal and a pen or pencil. Take a few deep breaths. Start to write down everything that is stuck in your head. Here is what I mean by crap.
C conflicts
R resistances
A anxieties
P problems
Write these down.
The idea is not to criticize yourself during this exercise, simply write down all your thoughts and ideas as they pop into your head. It doesn’t have to be perfect and no one is going to read it, except you. Lists, scribbles, misspellings, it’s all ok. Don’t worry about all that, just dump! Doing this exercise literally gets the crap, those overwhelming feelings and emotions, out of your head and onto paper. It can help you gain perspective and calm down. I do this exercise and the relief I feel afterwards is amazing.
Do this journaling exercise often, even daily if you can.
Once you have done a brain dump on paper, then start to reframe those negative thoughts with positive ones. I often write the opposites down. For instance, if I write I can’t do this, I will write next to it, I can do this. It forces my brain to change direction to a more positive and hopeful mindset. Remember, practice is key. The more you do this, the faster your brain rewires and the easier it becomes.
CHANGE YOUR DAILY ROUTINES
Here is another technique to rewire the brain. To build new neural pathways, we must first stop doing the things that keep us stuck in toxic repetitive, addictive cycles. Did you know negative emotions can be addictive? It’s true. All of us get into ruts. We do the same things every day, day in and day out. How can anything get better or change when every day our routines, thoughts and habits are the same? Again, awareness is the key here. Even changing small daily routines can slowly lead to life-altering transformation.
Do you drive the same way to work every day? Take a different route. Do you wake up and drink coffee? Start some days with tea instead. Brush your teeth with the opposite hand. Sleep on the other side of the bed. It sounds so silly, but this does work! Our brains start to wake up and we are forming new connections by changing our habits. The brain needs constant stimulation to help reinforce and strengthen these new neurological connections.
Along these same lines, it’s time to practice daily positive affirmations. Memorize some of your favorite affirmations and start saying them in your head (or out loud) from the moment you wake up instead of the usual “crap” thoughts that fill your mind.
You can’t be thinking and saying positive affirmations and having negative thoughts at the same time. It’s a way to forcefully push out the negativity. This can have a profound impact on your brain and your mental health! You could even use the phrase I wrote earlier as a positive affirmation. “I am already cured of cancer and my body is completely healed”! Think of what saying this over and over could do!
CREATE A SAFE PLACE
One last step is this. If you are in a toxic environment, you have to get out of it somehow and find a safe space. In a toxic environment, you are going to remain in a hyper-vigilant, sympathetic state, which is what you don’t want. It can keep you stuck in your patterns of reacting that may not be healthy. Our environment and relationships can have a huge impact on our mental and physical health. So whatever you can do to remove yourself from toxic people, places and situations is a good idea.
PRACTICE AND BE CONSISTENT
The brain prioritizes neuroplasticity based on how consistently a function is used. The more we practice a specific activity, the less chance the brain has of slipping back into its earlier patterns of thinking, feeling and responding. Creating new habits (i.e. journaling, positive affirmations, changing our thoughts) each day is a better and simpler way to approach healing than setting impossible goals. Start with one small change or technique and continue to use it until it becomes easier.
10 VAGAL NERVE HACKS TO STIMULATE YOUR PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
Now I want to give you some simple tools to help you get into a parasympathetic state by stimulating the vagus nerve. The higher the vagal nerve tone, the more the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, allowing our bodies and minds to relax and heal. These methods work and they don’t require any special equipment.
- Breathing exercises – the key here is to take slow, deep breaths fully expanding your abdomen on the inhale with prolonged exhalation. See if you can slow down your breathing to 5-6 breaths per minute. Really focus on the long exhale as that increases vagal tone.
- Press on your eyelids gently for a few seconds and release. Move your eyes to the side. Hold that position for 5 seconds, then repeat to the other side.
- Place an ice pack on the side of your neck. This is where your carotid artery and vagus nerve run. Do this on one side for 5 minutes, then on the other side for 5 minutes.
- Gently massage the carotid artery area on the side of your neck, it slows down the heart rate.
- Humming or singing out loud is a very effective way to get into a parasympathetic state.
- Laughing is a great stress reliever and stimulates the vagus nerve. Watch comedies or other funny things and really laugh out loud, it is very healing.
- Gargling, believe it or not, helps increase vagal tone. You have to really gargle hard with loud sounds to be most effective.
- Grounding exercises activate the vagus nerve and increase vagal tone. Some simple ideas are: Tense different muscles in your body starting from your feet up, hold and then release. List 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell and 1 you can taste in your surroundings. Walk barefoot outside in the grass. Hold an object in your hand and focus on the weight, texture and appearance. I have a “worry stone” I carry around with me at all times.
- Massage and acupuncture are very effective at increasing vagal tone and helping you relax. Acupuncture can help balance the nervous system and restore the body to homeostasis.
- Taking a cold shower. Cold exposure stimulates the vagus nerve. If you can’t handle a cold shower, try splashing cold water on your face a few times each day or anytime you feel stressed out. Whenever I take a shower, I end it with cold water for about 30-60 seconds. It’s very invigorating!
You do not have to do all of these techniques every day. Pick the ones you think you can do and try to incorporate them into your day, especially when you feel stressed. I often use the slow deep breaths as my go to when I’m upset. It instantly calms me down and helps me think better.
I encourage you to try these different techniques or come up with your own. The goals are to be in a peaceful, parasympathetic state as much as possible each day and change negative thinking to positive. This will help you sleep better, improve your immune system and digestion and help heal your body.
TODAY’S RECOMMENDATION FOR YOUR HEALING JOURNEY
Today I want to tell you about a great book called The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of the Consciousness, Matter & Miracles, by Bruce Lipton, PhD. I love this book. Dr. Lipton is a cell biologist and he learned about the power of the mind body connection in his years of work.
The premise of the book is that the thoughts racing through our minds on a moment-to-moment basis have the power to build up or tear down our physical and mental health. All the cells in our bodies are affected by our thoughts and he explains this in a fascinating, eye-opening way.
I highly recommend you get this book and read it for a deep dive into the power of the mind body connection.
Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them guide me. ~Psalm 43:3