Vagus Nerve Exercise

Stanley Rosenberg’s Basic Exercise

To practice Stanley Rosenberg’s Basic Exercise, which repositions the atlas and the axis, which is
where your brainstem and your spine connect to increase blood flow and restore a sense of safety and
connection.
The first few times you do the exercise, you should lie on your back. After you are familiar with the
exercise, you can do it sitting on a chair, standing, or lying on your back.
1. Lying comfortably on your back, weave the fingers of one hand together with the fingers of the
other hand.
2. Put your hands behind the back of your head, with the weight of your head resting comfortably
on your interwoven fingers; you should feel the bones of your fingers on the back of your head.
*If you have a stiff shoulder and cannot bring both of your hands up behind the back of your
head, it is sufficient to use one hand, with the fingers and palm contacting both sides of your
head.
3. Keeping your head in place, look to the right, moving only your eyes, as far as you comfortably
can. Do not turn your head; just move your eyes. Keep looking to the right.
4. After a short period of time — 30–60 seconds — you will swallow, sigh, or yawn. This is a sign
of relaxation in your autonomic nervous system. (A normal in breath is followed by an out
breath, but a sigh is different; after you breathe in, a second in breath follows on top of the first
in breath, before the out breath).
5. Bring your eyes back to looking straight ahead.
6. Leave your hands in place, and keep your head still. This time, move your eyes to the left.
7. Hold your eyes there until you notice a sigh, a yawn, or a swallow.
8. Now that you have completed the basic exercise, take your hands away, and sit up or stand up.

Taken from DailyOm

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