Our Nerve System
Our central nervous system is formed by our brain and spinal cord.
The skull and spine are the protective layer.
Remarkable is that the brain cells require approximately 25% energy and 20% oxygen.
The peripheral nervous system consists of the following parts:
1. Autonomic nervous system
a. Sympathetic – Activation – Fight & Flight
b. Parasympathetic – Rest & Digest
2. Voluntary nervous system
– You have direct influence on this
3. Brain/Cranial nerves
In this blog we focus on the Parasympathetic part of our Autonomic nervous system.
The Parasympathetic nervous system does have another nervous system, called the Vagus Nerve (Brain nerves)
- Dorsale vagus = internally located at the back of your body
- Ventrale vagus = internally located at the front of your body
Dorsal vagus = freeze state, in an extreme situation you are immobilized. At worst, you dissociate from yourself.
Ventral vagus = peace, growth, wellbeing and resilience. Let us be open to connection and bonding. It pays very close attention to non-verbal communication.
Below a nice colored picture how this ‘ladder’ of our Parasympathetic and Sympathetic nervous system works:
Basically there are two possible states of the Vagus nerve:
1. Immobilization with fear = we are afraid and give up. Shutdown
2. Immobilization without fear = we are in safety (feeling & being) and relatively immobile to be close to someone.
It is continuously processing with a feedback loop
Is it safe? Is it threatening? Is it life-threatening?
Since the above picture shows a ladder in which state of the nervous system you can be, it’s good to know that the following breathing exercise can help you to climb the ladder towards the Ventral Vagal section.
The Immobilization without fear.
Breathing exercise – 4-7-8:
- Breathe IN 4 sec through the nose
- HOLD 7 sec (full lungs)
- Breathe OUT 8 sec through the mouth (make an ocean sound)
Instruction video: by Dr. Andrew Weil
Source : Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory.
Thank you for sharing!