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A review by lory_enterenchanted
Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism by Stanley Rosenberg
informative
reflective
3.0
Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle
This book is desperately in need of a good editor. That would make it a lot shorter, because it's full of repetition, but also more concise and useful.
The basic premise, which the author keeps repeating, is that our autonomic nervous system, that is responsible for all the unconscious processes that keep us alive as well as for our response to threat and stress, has been wrongly understood up until recently. Rather than two states of stress and relaxation, it can be active in three states: stress, shutdown, and social engagement. This new picture is related to a new understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the vagus nerve, an extremely important nerve that goes through the whole body. Contrary to longtime belief, it actually has two distinct pathways, dorsal (related to the shutdown state) and ventral (social engagement). When a person gets stuck in either the stress or shutdown state, stimulating the ventral vagus can help.
This bears exciting potential to help people who are suffering from all kinds of chronic conditions that may be actually rooted in dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, that can very easily happen in our stressful and toxic world. Rosenberg claims to be able to improve the function of the ventral vagus nerve, and thus of the ANS, with simple exercises that anyone can do at home. His claims seem incredible, but I'm going to try them myself to see if they help prevent migraines. If that works, this is definitely something worth exploring!
This book is desperately in need of a good editor. That would make it a lot shorter, because it's full of repetition, but also more concise and useful.
The basic premise, which the author keeps repeating, is that our autonomic nervous system, that is responsible for all the unconscious processes that keep us alive as well as for our response to threat and stress, has been wrongly understood up until recently. Rather than two states of stress and relaxation, it can be active in three states: stress, shutdown, and social engagement. This new picture is related to a new understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the vagus nerve, an extremely important nerve that goes through the whole body. Contrary to longtime belief, it actually has two distinct pathways, dorsal (related to the shutdown state) and ventral (social engagement). When a person gets stuck in either the stress or shutdown state, stimulating the ventral vagus can help.
This bears exciting potential to help people who are suffering from all kinds of chronic conditions that may be actually rooted in dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, that can very easily happen in our stressful and toxic world. Rosenberg claims to be able to improve the function of the ventral vagus nerve, and thus of the ANS, with simple exercises that anyone can do at home. His claims seem incredible, but I'm going to try them myself to see if they help prevent migraines. If that works, this is definitely something worth exploring!