Day 23 | Sensory Snack

Nourish your nervous system with Sensory Snacks which are simple exercises combined with presence pauses.

The Vagus nerve, often poetically referred to as the "Tree of Life," serves as the master controller of our immune cells, organs, and stem cells along with your mood, digestion, memory, cognitive function, blood pressure, and many other aspects of your health.  

It also connects with a range of other nerves that are involved in speech, eye contact, facial expressions and even your ability to tune in to other people’s voices. 

Presence Pause:

Combine the innate intelligence of your Breath with a simple sensory snack to nourish your mind and body.

Breathing deeply immediately relaxes the body because it stimulates the vagus nerve, which runs from the neck to the abdomen and is in charge of turning off the ‘fight or flight’ reflex. Stimulating the vagus nerve, activates your relaxation response, reducing your heart rate and blood pressure. 

Action: 

Gently find both of the right angles of your jaw line with your index fingers.  Feel your way up your cheek to where the jaw hinges and gently move your index fingers in circles massaging the "dip" of your cheeks on both sides of that hinge. Take 3 Deep inhalations and exhalations. Feel any tension fade away. Slide your index fingers toward your ears and find the spot behind your earlobes, on your neck just above that right angle of your jaw and start to massage downward from that spot. Move your fingertips gently down form that spot several times until you feel a sense of lightness, perhaps even a decompression of pressure in your head and neck. Continue to follow your breath, be present with each one.

Experiment with this gently reboot using your favorite essential oils or creams to rest and reboot your mind, body and spirit.