As a teacher (not to mention human being), I am always looking for ways (hacks, if you will) to optimize my emotional and energetic state.
For years, one of the more demonstrative ways I have done this is to chant Om (I actually chant it the old school way as AUM because I enjoy making all the vowel sounds).
Warning: a bit of woo follows.
Chanting OM is said to stimulate the third-eye and bestow spiritual insight on the chanter.
I cannot unequivocally vouch for the insight part (understatement.)
What is immediately measurable, however, is the outright obvious effect it has on me.
Within moments of the AUM, my eyes start to water and I begin yawning. This continues for a while and when it stops, it’s usually time for me to stop chanting.
Here’s the payoff: afterwards, I feel clearer, calmer, and more peaceful, sometimes for hours following.
What does this have to do with the vagus (Latin for wandering) nerve? In fact, what is the vagus nerve?
It’s the longest nerve in your body, starting at cranial nerve ten and wrapping its way down to deep in your bowels. It is a major player in both the parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) nervous system (vs. our all too prevalent “fight-or-flight” sympathetic one) AND brain-gut connection.
Turns out that by OMing, I was toning mine and unleashing a whole lotta loving onto my nervous system, including:
- Reduced risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease,
- Improved digestion
- Improved mood with less anxiety and more resilience to stress (my favorite)
- Positive feedback loop with your gut micro biome.
Net/Net: Oming, because it’s toning, is bomb.
If Oming is not your game, here is the amazing site Selfhacked.com that shows 32 Ways to stimulate your vagus nerve.
Here is link to a great article on other ways to tone it (apologies for the ads).
Here’s an ad-free article about ongoing studies into the vagus nerve.
Experiment with the different ways of toning your vagus nerve and notice after effects. Then put it in your self-care/hack/optimization toolbox and use when you need/want to. The results might surprise you.
P.S. Did you have a similar effect when OMing as I do? Email me at marie@marieyoungcoaching.com with your comments (better still, video).
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