Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism

Keyed up for no reason, or shut down when you should feel something. The vagus nerve is part of why.

Most advice for anxiety and overwhelm works on your thoughts. But a lot of what you feel starts lower down, in the nervous system that decides, before you've thought anything, whether you're safe.

Stanley Rosenberg, a body therapist with decades of clinical practice, takes polyvagal theory out of the research world and into something you can do on your own. The heart of the book is a set of short, simple exercises meant to help shift the nervous system out of fight-or-flight or shutdown and back toward a calmer, more social state.

What's inside

• Polyvagal theory explained in plain language: the three states your nervous system moves between, and why it matters which one you're in
• Neuroception, and what happens when your body's sense of danger is "faulty" and fires when you're actually safe
• The Basic Exercise: a short self-help practice that takes a couple of minutes
• The Salamander Exercises and other gentle movements you can do at home, without equipment
• A simple way to check how your nervous system is doing before and after

Who it's for

Readers who know their reactions come from the body, not just the mind, and want something practical to try. If you liked Anchored, this is the hands-on companion.

With forewords by Stephen W. Porges, PhD, who developed polyvagal theory, and Benjamin Shield, PhD.

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Digital PDF, available for immediate download after purchase. Author: Stanley Rosenberg. This book is a self-help resource and is not a substitute for professional care.