My New Favorite Vagus Nerve Exercise for Anxiety or Trauma Recovery - The Voo Breath or Foghorn
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Published 2024-04-03
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I’d like to share with you my new favorite vagus nerve exercise for turning on the parasympathetic response.
This is an exercise Peter Levine teaches to help people who are struggling with Chronic Overwhelm, burnout, or high levels of stress. He tells the story of helping a nurse who was working in the trenches at the beginning of the pandemic, she was interacting with the very ill, their families during a time of great fear. After using this technique, the nurse came back and said “I’m teaching this to all the other nurses, our work is still hard, but it’s not so heavy anymore”
Let’s talk about the science before I teach you the exercise.
People have been using humming, chanting or singing for thousands of years to work through emotions and soothe themselves. Science now confirms that when we hum, the vibrations of our vocal cords stimulate the vagus nerve, which can help to regulate the heart rate, reduce stress, and promote relaxation. The vagus nerve is connected to many different organs in the body, including the heart, lungs, and digestive system. When it is stimulated by humming, it can help to slow down the heart rate and promote relaxation throughout the body. Studies have shown that humming can increase the production of nitric oxide in the body, which can improve blood flow and reduce inflammation.
So let’s try out the “Voo breath” or the foghorn breath.
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In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.
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All Comments (21)
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Great for when you're alone, but not workable in the moment. As a therapist, I am helping someone who has panic attacks. A double breath works really well, and it can be done immediately and in front of a room full of people, without them knowing what you're doing, giving the opportunity to calm down enough to leave a room and go to the bathroom where you can get yourself together. You take a big breath in, hold for a second, and squeeze another bit more breath in, then let it out. Through the vegal nerve system, the heart registers that the lungs have slowed down and messages that to the brain, which automatically signals everything else to slow down, by kicking in the parasympathetic system.
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I can remember 2 times that I was experiencing unbearable pain; 11yrs old with appendicitis, and 18yrs old having child labor pains for 11.5 hours with no meds. Both of those times, I started making a similar humming sound and for some reason, it comforted me and brought my pain level down. When I was 11 with appendicitis, it was the middle of the night and my mom told me to stop moaning because she couldn't sleep... I stopped but the pain got worse. So I started up again. It was the only thing that helped my pain and discomfort. I also noticed that one of my kids, as a baby, she would hum a lot when she was falling asleep, and sometimes in her sleep. I always knew when she was ready for a nap bc she would hum. Probably some sort of self-soothing that comes naturally to us, but we lose it as we age.
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I did this exercise along with the video. After 4 months of unbearable anxiety, I figured anything is worth trying. When I sat for a few minutes afterwards I felt my shoulders relax. I didn’t even know I was tensing my muscles. Thank you for the new tool.
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I just wanna hop on here and say thank you. I suffer from severe health anxiety, agoraphobia, and panic attacks. I have watched your videos so many times, and tonight, i was particularly stressed about a new job. Guess where i came? Thank you so much! 😊
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It works and reminds me of the ancient OM sound, or OMN sound that is chanted in the exact same way over and over again.
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This is amazing. Unfortunately my dog thinks I’m in distress and starts jumping all over me😂😂😂😂
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Sounds like how cats purring can be healing and relaxing
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I often sing and chant to regulate. I also do body shanking and dance. Music in general is a great tool for regulation. Music and the forest is what saved my life 🎶🧡💃🧡🎶
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Thank you so much. I have had it with my health, just been diagnosed with Addisons disease on top of autoimmune heart failure. I am doing this exercise right now and will continue! I am 56 and ready to fight. 😊
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This actually made my head feel lighter, like it was floating and I felt relaxed almost to the point of a slump. I've been dealing with overwhelming anxious thoughts for about a month and a half and have been trying to figure out what to do about it. This definitely helped.
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This is called bhramari breath, bee breath in yoga. Yogis have done it forever. We recommend that you close your mouth on the exhale so you increase the vibrations in the nasal pharyngeal cavity which increases the production of nitric oxide. Do it three times a day, morning, afternoon and evening for 1-2 minutes.
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You're the best provider of mental health / anxiety tips and knowledge I know. Thanks so much for your hard work
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My therapist taught us Voo Breath years ago & it Is AMAZING!! Our son taught it to his gr. 2 class 😊 I still use it. The only downside is I can't really start doing it in the middle of a Stressful meeting😂 I am so happy you are sharing it.Emma. Thank you for all your amazing videos !
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My kids and I hold hands in a circle every night before bed and do om chanting a couple minutes. We all sleep much better after doing that and it's a cute little family moment.
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Thx a lot.. i am struggling so much to relax in this moment, feeling hypersensitive, was dead tired yesterday, had insomnia.. i am a 3am again with insomnia the next "day".. feeling very grateful for finding this at this moment 🙏🙏
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This is interesting about humming! I have done that automatically when in particularly uncomfortable job stress situations where the actual work I was doing was mindless—hence, the humming of a good worship song while I worked! I never knew that it was working on my Vagus nerve to keep me emotionally regulated! Love how God made our bodies to work together for our greater good!
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I've been doing this exercise for a couple of years now, I started following an injury and it helps very much with physical pain as well as anxiety. I'm so glad you are sharing this with everyone. I think your content is amazing, thank you for everything ❤.
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There are singing/chanting traditions that cover this. In the East, the Tibetan Buddhism (om prayer sound from Himalayas or South Asia). In the West, the Ison (drone) of Byzantine chants (e.g. Greek Orthodox).
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This so cool.... can i say MOOOOO and picture a cow in a field of green grass 😂 .... i kid i kid .... thank you Emma - i have learned so much from you... I'm grateful of your work
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It does work, I love it and been doing the Voo since I heard it from Peter Levine.
