Vagus Nerve, Wellness Culture and Biohack Talk

Wellness and biohack culture is obsessed with the vagus nerve and yet often misses the point of what can be helpful about understanding the polyvagal theory and the individual dynamism of each of our vagal systems.

There isn’t a shortcut for deepening our capacity for both self and co-regulation. 

I’m guessing you are having patients coming in and referencing that they are having problems with their vagus nerve, most likely somewhat self-diagnosing based on something they read online. I actually just saw an ad on Instagram advertising a class called, “Holistic Vagus Nerve Stretching for Immediate Relief.”

This new interest in the vagus nerve is both awesome and awful. 

It’s awesome because folks are getting cued to think about their physical experience in new ways that can include their emotional/psychological experience. The benefits of which can help them work with symptoms and/or issues that are causing them difficulty. 

It’s awful because so much of the content online comes from a wellness/biohack culture that presents what is an incredibly complex system (the polyvagal system is much more than a nerve) in an often highly reductive and misleading way. In short, wellness/biohack culture is obsessed with the vagus nerve which mostly misses the point of what can be helpful about understanding the unique dynamism of each of our vagal systems. 

It’s Not the Vagus Nerve, It’s the Feels (aka the information the nerve is moving)

The vagus nerve is not the problem. Nor, is it really the treatment.

Two big things are missed when we fixate on the nerve. One, the symptoms folks are usually experiencing are related to physiological structures that the nerve is in relationship with - not the nerve itself. Second, if there are issues within the vagal system, it is likely that those issues originated with some constellation of experiences that overwhelmed that system's ability to maintain presence at that time. It is also likely that this overwhelm occurred in a relationship with another person or group of people. 

The key concept here is relationship. The vagal system is relational. It is intra-relational, keeping us connected within ourselves, both physiologically, harmonizing all of our systems functions and connecting us with the physiological experience of our ever shifting emotional states. The vagal system  is inter-relational because it shifts its tone and functionality depending upon the social contexts that we are moving through and how those contexts resonate with our lived and learned experience. 

The best and only “hack” for any vagal system issue is relational.

There are things we can do for and with ourselves to increase our own capacity for self-regulation and learning how to tolerate some of the discomfort that can arise when our vagal system becomes extra stimulated. When these tools are presented by wellness biohackers as a form of treatment for the complexity of symptom expression and causes of vagal system dysregulation a dangerous framework is created. 

If someone has a complex form of trauma within their lived experience then it is possible that their vagal system can overwhelm any of the most well intentioned self-help tools often presented by the wellness community. It is human nature to be interested in ourselves, especially when we are having strong symptoms. In our current (social) media saturated online culture, folks turn to what is easily at hand, their phone. 

Appreciating Vagal System Creativity as An Adaptation

Enter the “well-hackers.”

For folks who have had complex and/or significant trauma these tools are often not helpful and do not provide “immediate relief” or any relief and even sometimes make things worse. This emphasis on quick fixes to complex relational challenges can cause someone who does not have a background in understanding the complexities involved to think that something is really wrong with them because all this vagal nerve stuff they have been hearing about doesn’t help them. Folks who have experienced significant trauma can have a tendency to blame themselves when things don’t quite go as advertised. In this instance, this can be dangerous as someone with a dysregulated vagal system can be very vulnerable. 

One of the profound insights of the polyvagal theory is that for many individuals an aspect of whatever has overwhelmed their system has a physiological and neural component. The physiological piece is embodied and often occurs and persists outside of conscious control. The physiological expression of our emotional experience is  within our body and has attendant thought patterns or mental/emotional states. 

For some, the physiology itself is overwhelming and highly adrenalized.

When systems have a tendency in this direction it is protective and likely well learned. Other systems have adapted to this overwhelm by recruiting a “shut-down” response. These systems can present with different forms of dissociation and/or depression. Often systems adapt with an incredible creativity so that skillful adaptations can blend both mobilization and immobilization strategies and even mask that this is what is happening. I have become convinced that those of us who deal with vagal systems that have been overwhelmed and had to adapt are actually expressing a high level of systemic creativity! 

All research indicates that there are two components to helping a person integrate these complex adaptations and thus shift their physiological tendencies. 

One is building meaningful cognitive understanding about the hows and whys of this part of their system. This is where we have a role of offering understanding about what is happening in their body. This type of understanding is a stabilizing presence within what can be a surging or flooding experience. When we offer this to our people it is a form of compassion and is an opportunity to enact the second aspect of what is helpful.

The other component is meaningful relationships within which a system can have “disconfirming” experiences; experiences that do not confirm what we have learned based on past overwhelming experiences but affirm something different, a relationship based on co-regulation and attunement within the boundaries of our clinical role with our people. I strongly believe that within our clinical roles understanding the polyvagal theory and emphasizing co-regulation with our people is profound when combined with listening based touch work. It is a clinical skill rooted within our own capacity for embodiment. 

Relational embodiment in a clinical setting is not something that can be biohacked and the often toxic positivity of wellness culture leaves a physiologically challenged system out in the cold - it doesn’t connect which is what that system most needs, connection. Actual, real connection that can validate the primacy of current experience and offer tangible understanding of what is happening is supportive for a vagal system that has a tendency to become dysregulated. That support is the catalyst for change. 

I resist overusing the word or concept of healing, it generally implies something has a terminus, x experience is “healed.” But I know something within that is what we all are looking for when it comes to our own struggles. I’m not sure that is true to the complexity of human experience. What I think we are really working with is more fully and deeply integrating those aspects of ourselves which have lived in the shadows and experiencing more connection both within ourselves with ourselves and with those whom we chose to call our community. These aspects of our lives are fluid and in flux with our capacity for sustaining ourselves in the presence of challenges to our system hopefully shifting towards ways of being that support more fulfilling relationships (which are also and always in flux). 

So, when folks come into our practices referencing something about the vagal nerve they may have encountered online they are likely looking for meaningful cognitive understanding about an aspect of their experience that is troubling them and find relational connection. These two components  combined with whatever types of specific care we provide represent the surest path towards that person feeling better about themselves and their current situation. 

Working with these cases within a polyvagal context is complicated and also can provide orientation for us both in terms of what we treat and in terms of how we utilize our clinical relationship with the client/patient. If this is of interest to you let us know! Michael is working on a curriculum to offer folks support to include this type of work in their practice. 

This piece represents my own interpretation of the following sources:

Being a Brainwise Therapist, Bonnie Badenoch

Nurturing the Heart with the Brain in Mind, Online course series, Bonnie Badenoch

The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory, Stephen Porges

The Developing Mind, Dan Siegel