Sometimes in class we hum a few rounds of the breath. Why, might you ask? Because humming calms our nervous system.
Have you ever experienced an upset gut when you are stressing about something, a job interview, a doctor’s appointment? Or something just doesn’t feel right in your gut. That’s our gut/brain connection. Messages and information travel between our brain and our gut via something called our Vagus Nerve.
The Vagus Nerve is the longest cranial nerve which extends from the brain stem down to our gut. It branches out and connects to the body’s major organs to enable that mind/body connection.
When we activate the Vagus Nerve, we flip the ‘off ‘switch of our fight/flight reflex. We tell the brain to chill, and when this occurs the brain releases stuff like oxytocin to promote a feeling of relaxation. We are engaging our Parasympathetic Nervous System, our ‘Rest & Digest’ response.
The benefits of improving our ‘Vagal Tone’ are well documented, with many agreeing that strengthening your Vagus Nerve has a positive impact on anxiety or feelings of depression.
There are lots of ways to activate your Vagus Nerve, they all involve slowing the breath, and when you hum you breathe a slow smooth breath while creating vibrations that massage the area of the Vagus Nerve near your vocal cords. Chanting OM is another way of creating a vibration in your throat that soothes the nervous system.
Humming can feel a bit ‘weird’ to begin with, but it is a very simple way of bringing us back to a place of relaxation. Once you get over feeling silly, you’ll really enjoy this soothing practice and welcome the benefits that it brings.
Humming lets you concentrate on the vibration in your body creating less opportunity for the mind to wonder. If you’ve not yet tried it then why not give it a go?
Sit in a quiet space on a chair or on a cushion on the floor. I like to place one hand on my heart centre and one on my belly, but you might like to rest one palm at the front of your throat. Take a long slow breath in, then slowly release the breath as you hum. Don’t be in a hurry to exhale, let the breath move outward at a relaxed pace. When the out breath is complete, quietly draw in another breath and relax into another slow exhalation as you hum. Do that as many times as you wish and I promise you that at the end you will feel relaxed, grounded, calm.
For me, a self-confessed ‘stress-head’, I find great value in humming! I hum in the car when my energy is a little high, I like to hum at the start of a personal meditation practice as a way of bringing my focus into the present, and I love it when we hum in a class environment as we share our collective energy.
Humming is an easy option when it comes to stimulating your Vagus Nervous. Everyone can hum, right?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……………………………………..