#8 - Wandering around Vagus - September 2023

THE VAGAL BRAKE & YOUR HEART

Welcome to Month 8 of Wandering Around Vagus, a paid monthly subscription series exploring the Vagus Nerve + Polyvagal Theory.

I’m Tina Foster of Foster & Flourish, the creator and guide of Wandering Around Vagus.

First, a few quick notes to help you orient within our pages:

• If you’re new, or need a review, here’s the link to the START page.

• You can find last month’s post (our seventh) on tuning in to your vagus nerve here.

• Monthly & Supplementary Posts + Recordings and other topics can be accessed from the navigation bar atop the Wandering Around Vagus Homepage.

• All past posts live on the archive page.​

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What we’ll do this month

This month, we'll focus on the vagal brake, a very important part of the vagus nerve that we haven’t yet touched on. Now that we have a more solid knowledge and working experience of the vagus nerve, I’m excited to introduce the vagal brake and begin to explore its effect on the heart and breath.

The vagal brake is an anatomical part of the vagus nerve connecting the brain and the heart and is known as our heart’s “natural pacemaker” as it helps us control our heart rate and respiration rhythms.

During times of relative regulation and calm, the vagal brake keeps the heartbeat at approximately 60-80 bpm. When we need more energy, the vagal brake allows the heart rate to accelerate beyond 80 bpm. 

By the end of this 12 minute audio you’ll have a better sense of:

• what the vagal brake is and how it regulates heart and breath.

• how the vagal brake helps us move between the three experiential states.

• ways the vagal brake can operate in a more nuanced way, helping us, for example, remain calm while mobilizing into action (like when we need to maintain composure during an emergency) and/or remain very mentally alert during quiet, calm times (like when we’re concentrating during study).

• how strong (or not) our connection to our own vagal brake might be.