Sarah Lord Physiotherapy and Wellbeing
Sarah Lord Physiotherapy and Wellbeing
Nervous System Repair via the Vagus Nerve
Affiliated with Jessica Maguire: Nervous System School
Click the logo to find out more about our affiliate:
The Vagus Nerve is central to the mind-body connection and plays a key role in Nervous System Regulation and Stress Resilience, which essentially means that it enables us to keep functioning in a healthy way despite challenges. Our ability to do this can be interrupted following periods of traumatic and ongoing stress.
The Vagus Nerve doesn’t just have a role in our nervous system functioning, but also has an impact on all of our bodies’ systems – the cardiovascular, digestive, musculoskeletal, immune and endocrine systems. This is why stress can manifest as a variety of symptoms such as bowel issues, racing heart, chronic pain, fatigue, headaches etc… Vagus Nerve functioning is therefore key to physical and psychological health and can have a wide reaching impact when it is not functioning well.
There is a growing body of research to show that specific and individualised tools and resources can improve Vagus Nerve function and Nervous System regulation.
Is Nervous System Repair work like a talking therapy?
No, nor is it a replacement for therapeutic or medical intervention where needed, but it may help where talking therapies are not indicated or have not been helpful in the past.
What kind of tools and resources can be used?
This will be a personalised toolkit based on the results of your individual assessment and will take into consideration the things that work best for, and are important to you. This may include:
- Tracking your own nervous system – ‘Nervous System awareness is a protective factor for psychological wellbeing’. If we are able to learn how to recognise the signs and sensations of our own stress responses we are more able to work with them.
- Working with your body e.g. movement, proprioception, posture and working with fascia (the largest sensory organ in our body) as tools to help shift you between states e.g. to energise or calm the system.
- Exercises to specifically strengthen your gut-brain and heart-brain connection, including breathwork, sensory stimulation and massage.
- Techniques to develop your ‘Social Engagement System’ – looking at how you speak, listen and connect to others.
TESTIMONIAL
"I decided to consult Sarah following a period of increased stress and anxiety. I had been experiencing a number of physical and emotional issues that had come to a head during the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and a complicated house move. I had been receiving physiotherapy and following an exercise regime through Sarah at Cockermouth Physiotherapy and was very happy with my treatment but it became clear that more than a purely physical response was required.
I was quite wary about commencing the Vagus Nerve work with Sarah as I had not heard of it before and have had counselling in the past and did not really want to embark on another such course. I need not have worried because this is not a ‘talking therapy’, although talking is obviously involved in establishing a context, and is rooted firmly in understanding how the body works and creating a ‘toolkit’ of strategies to deal with physical and emotional symptoms...
The most significant change that I have experienced is a sense of structured control when panic or anxiety occurs. This is in the form of a structure of daily practises to follow but also in a rapid response to an incident or upset that might previously have overwhelmed me and become a full-blown panic attack. The course has also allowed me to understand more about what happens to me and why it happens, which makes it easier to deal with physical symptoms.
This is a commitment to making changes in my daily life that will need to be ongoing after the course ends, but it is a commitment that is definitely worth making. I wish that I had discovered Sarah and her Vagus Nerve work sooner!"
U. M.
Need Advice?
If you would like a consultation to work out what therapy you require, please contact me. I will be happy to discuss this with you.
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