If stress lives in your shoulders, your jaw, or your stomach, this one nerve explains a lot. Here’s how nervous-system regulation actually works, and three vagus nerve exercises you can do today.
What the vagus nerve does
The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in your body. It runs from your brainstem down through your throat, heart, lungs, and digestive system, and it carries the “you’re safe, you can settle” signal. When it’s active, your heart rate slows, your breath deepens, and your body shifts out of fight-or-flight and into rest-and-repair.
After years of stress, or after a season of real crisis, that signal can get quiet. Your body stays braced: tight neck, shallow breath, poor sleep, low energy. The good news is that vagal tone is trainable, the same way a muscle is.
Three vagus nerve exercises to try today
1. The long exhale
Breathe in through your nose for a count of four, then out through your mouth for a count of eight. The exhale is where the vagus nerve does its work. Six slow rounds is enough to feel your shoulders drop.
2. Humming
The vagus nerve passes right through your vocal cords. Humming a low, steady note for a minute, in the car, in the shower, gently vibrates and stimulates it. Yes, it feels a little silly. It works anyway.
3. Hand on heart, hand on belly
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly, and breathe so the bottom hand moves more than the top one. This trains diaphragmatic breathing, which is the foundation of every calming practice I teach.
When breathing exercises aren’t enough
These practices help in the moment. Lasting change comes from pairing nervous-system work with movement, posture, and daily habits, which is exactly what we do together in my coaching and in RECLAIM, my 12-week program. If your body has been stuck in stress mode for a long time, you don’t have to figure it out alone.