In this workshop we will experience various different kinds of slow and deep breathing exercises (part breath, alternate nostril breath, breath retention) to soothe and restore an overactive nervous system. Yogic pranayama helps to soothe the parasympathetic, which controls our rest state, and deactivates the sympathetic nervous system which regulates our fight-or-flight response. We will practice a kundalini kriya to stimulate the vagus nerve, which helps release traumatic stress, promotes connection and balances our fight and flight responses; also working on controlling mood, immune response, digestion, and heart rate.

One way that mind-body therapies work is by stimulating the vagus nerve. Knowledge about how this nerve works provides a fundamental understanding of traumatic stress and facilitates our ability to heal. As a result, the vagus nerve has taken central stage in trauma treatment.

Chronic stress, anxiety, and panic can keep the body’s sympathetic nervous system in a near-constant and over-active state. If our nervous system is constantly in an overactive state it can become quite normal to live inside our heads, disassociate, or feel extremely uncomfortable in the body.

Deep breathing and relaxation activate the other part of your nervous system, the parasympathetic nervous system, which sends a signal to your brain to tell the anxious part that you're safe and don't need to use the fight, flight, or freeze response.