The vagus nerve is one of 12 cranial nerves that connect our brain and body. It extends from the brain stem to the gut and is a critical part of the parasympathetic nervous system.

Unlike the sympathetic nervous system, which governs the fight, flight and freeze response, the parasympathetic nervous system controls resting heart rate, respiration and digestion. It’s the key to unlocking the relaxation response. In recent years, researchers discovered that the vagus nerve also puts the brakes on inflammation, a key player in the onset of nearly all chronic diseases, including those that affect cognition.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved devices that stimulate the vagus nerve with electrical impulses for the treatment of specific conditions, including epilepsy, depression and migraine headaches. However, research also shows that vagus nerve stimulation may also help bolster brain function, even in healthy people. So how exactly can you stimulate the vagus nerve without using a device?

Three Good Ways to Stimulate the Vagus Nerve

Like our muscles, our nerves need a certain amount of activity to function optimally. Though most of us don’t pay much attention to vagal nerve stimulation in our daily lives, there are ways to do so without equipment. While such activities may not make you break a sweat, the health effects might be as dramatic as a 60-minute cardio session.

Take a breath. During times of stress, most people hold their breath and deprive the vagus nerve in the process. One way to activate the vagus nerve is through slow, deep belly breathing. Focusing on your breath shifts your focus away from stressful mind chatter and toward the rhythm of the breath.

• Do this: Breathe in through your nose for a count of seven and out through your mouth for a count of eleven. Watch your belly expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale. Just a few minutes of deep breathing can keep your vagus nerve active.

Meditate. Meditation activates the vagus nerve and calms the network of nerves that control myriad physiological processes. Meditation and mindfulness not only lower your heart rate, but they also reduce blood pressure levels,” said Gonzales

• Do this: Take breaks throughout the day to quiet your mind. You can even do a mindfulness meditation where you pause, take notice of your surroundings and breathe.

Exercise. Exercise boosts the number of blood vessels that fuel your brain, spurs the development of new thought pathways, enhances connectivity between brain cells and stimulates the vagus nerve. There’s even evidence that exercise outperforms medication for some intractable conditions, including depression, anxiety and memory loss.

• Do this: Try endurance activities such as jogging, cycling and swimming. Research suggests that endurance activities including High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) stimulate the vagus nerve and control parasympathetic activity in the brain. That may be one reason why athletes report reaching a sort of “high” during long-distance runs.

I’ve been putting something off but now is the time to take action!…That something is to write about procrastination.

Well, since there is no time like the present, writing about procrastination is something I really shouldn’t put off any longer!

There are many reasons why we put things off, but all result in a huge negative energy build-up in body and mind.

Just knowing that we have something ‘hanging over us’ is a terrible burden and one that creates a self- reinforcing cycle. The more we put off, the more guilty we feel, the less we feel like doing things so the more we put off.

There are many strategies to help you break out of this destructive behaviour. One of the most powerful is the idea of ‘worst first .’

Every day, when you make your to-do list put a big asterisk beside the thing that you have been putting off the longest. Chances are that it is your least favourite activity or something you know you ought to do but are dreading, perhaps that difficult conversation you have been putting off for the right moment to come around but rarely does. Now put this ‘worst’ item right on top of the list

Whatever else you have to do today, that ‘worst first’ item is now your number one priority. You MUST strike it off your list this morning.

You’ll get three benefits (at least):

1. You have broken the cycle. Instead of sitting and laughing at you, poisoning your subconscious, that item can now only make you feel good: you’ve beaten it!
2. The next item on your to-do list can only seem easier – your day is getting better and better.
3. When you wake up tomorrow morning, enjoy the new- found feeling that there is nothing nearly so bad on your internal dread list.

And if you really cannot bring yourself to do “worst first” then try the “I’ll give it 5 minutes” approach. If you make a start on something you are as likely as not to find that it is not as bad as you imagined it would be….. and so will keep going and complete it. But even if you do find it is as bad as you thought then you can stop after 5 minutes having at least kept your promise!

I had a call today from someone who watched the recording of Derren Brown’s brilliant Showman set on Channel 4 last night. He is indeed superb at what he does and this triggered someone to call me to ask if I could do what he does!  The answer is yes and no! Yes, I can hypnotise people rapidly and it is a wonderfully powerful altered state….and no, I am not an entertainer or illusionist – I am a hypnotherapist!

As I explained to this enquirer, Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic technique used by trained hypnotherapists like me to help individuals overcome various mental and physical health issues such as anxiety, depression, addiction, phobias and chronic pain. The goal of hypnotherapy is to help individuals access the subconscious mind and use it to achieve positive change in their lives.

On the other hand, stage hypnosis is a form of entertainment where a hypnotist (and Derren Brown is a master hypnotist) performs on stage to entertain an audience. Stage hypnosis is not a therapeutic intervention, as the focus is on entertainment rather than therapeutic outcomes. The hypnotist’s goal is to get volunteers from the audience to perform amazing comical or bizarre acts under hypnosis.

The main difference between hypnotherapy and stage hypnosis is the purpose and intention behind each practice. Hypnotherapy is a serious therapeutic treatment that requires extensive training and experience, while stage hypnosis is primarily for entertainment purposes only… although it does of course also demonstrate the power of hypnosis.

1. Hypnosis is mind control: This is one of the biggest myths about hypnosis. Hypnosis does not give the hypnotist any power over the person being hypnotized. In fact, the person being hypnotised is in complete control and can choose to come out of hypnosis at any time.

2. Hypnosis is magical or supernatural: Contrary to popular belief, hypnosis is not some kind of magical or mystical power. It is a natural state that we all experience in our daily lives, such as when we daydream, get lost in thought, or lose track of time while watching a movie.

3. Only weak-minded people can be hypnotized: This is simply not true. Anyone can be hypnotised, regardless of their intelligence, personality, or mental strength. In fact, studies have shown that intelligent and analytical people often make the best hypnotic subjects.

4. Hypnosis is dangerous: Hypnosis is a safe and natural state that poses no danger to the person being hypnotized. It is important to note, however, that hypnosis should only be practised by trained and qualified professionals like me who follow ethical guidelines and safety protocols.

5. You can be forced to do things against your will: This is another common myth about hypnosis. In reality, a person in hypnosis cannot be forced to do anything that goes against their moral code or personal values. They are always in control and can choose to reject any suggestion that they consider inappropriate for whatever reason.

One of my favourite reads is the daily blog from the Daily Stoic which contains more timeless, practical wisdom than anything else I have come across on the internet. I also like to include suggestions drawn from Stoicism  s appropriate when helping people in hypnosis to make useful changes in their thinking, beliefs and lifestyle habits.

So is a recent Daily Stoic blog which I thought I should share as a useful “thought for the day”…..

It might seem like the Stoics didn’t have fun, didn’t experience pleasure. They did write, after all, quite a bit about the emptiness of chasing sex or money or fine wines. But just because they scorned excess luxury and comfort doesn’t mean their lives were empty and joyless.

Quite the contrary.

In his book The Expanding Circle, the philosopher Peter Singer explains that what they were actually doing was trying to avoid the paradox of hedonism. It’s interesting, he writes, that “those who seek their own pleasure do not find it, and those who do not seek it find it anyway. The pleasures of a self-centred life eventually pall and the drive for still higher levels of luxury and delight brings not lasting satisfaction. Real fulfilment is more likely to be found in working for some other end. Hence, these philosophers claim, if we want to lead a happy life, we should not seek happiness directly, but should find a larger purpose in life, outside ourselves.”

Perfectly said.

It’s not that the Stoics didn’t experience pleasure, it’s that they found pleasure by seeking purpose. Most of the Stoics had huge fortunes or came from powerful political dynasties. They could have coasted, soaked up all that was given to them. But instead of being lazy or entitled playboys, they were of service to others. They worked on their art. They made scientific breakthroughs. They dedicated themselves to their children. They did their duty.

And from all this hard work came pleasure and pride and satisfaction. Was it the same pleasure that would have come from Rome’s famous bacchanals? No…it was better. Because they earned it. Because it was sustainable. Because it wasn’t something that slipped from their grasp or disappeared every time they got close to it. Because they weren’t pursuing the pleasure, they were pleasantly surprised when it ensued.

​As we talked about recently, the best things in life are byproducts of doing the right things. So it goes for pleasure and happiness and joy. You don’t get them by seeking things for yourself, but by the very opposite, by searching for purpose outside yourself.

I believe the answer lies in that they are “forcing” themselves to do it, whatever it is or was, and this “forced” energy is what people often call willpower. And studies show that willpower alone will only work in the short term – which is EXACTLY why resolutions only last a few weeks for most people.

And so the solution lies in making the desired change to be an involuntary, instinctive way of being,  just something that happens naturally without the inner battle and thus quickly becomes an engrained, automatic habit. And hypnosis is of course a very effective and quick way of changing habits for good.

So well done if you made a New Year’s Resolution and are still sticking to it… but if you have given up, yet still would like to make that goal a reality, maybe its time to make a resolution to see a hypnotherapist instead.

It is rare for me to share a post on my website but this one I think should be read by interested in discovering their highest self.  I also have a selfish interste in sharing it of course since hypnosis is a very rapid and powerful way to remove what this article describes as the “reducing valve” – the limiting beliefs and conditioned responses that stop people from discovering greater joy and fulfilment.

60 Seconds to Higher Consciousness

By Deepak Chopra, MD

No matter what spiritual path you choose, it seems to be an axiom that higher consciousness takes dedicated practice over a long time, perhaps a lifetime. There is also the lingering belief that only the select few, the spiritual elite, are going to succeed. Higher consciousness can’t escape seeming exceptional in its demand for intense inner work.

The overall effect of these beliefs is to discourage the average person from even considering that higher consciousness is within reach. For all practical purposes, society sets those apart who have become enlightened, saintly, or spiritually advanced, choose whatever term you want. In an age of faith such figures were revered; today they are more likely to be viewed as beyond normal life, to be admired, shrugged off, or forgotten.

Much of this is a holdover from the merger of religion, spirituality, and consciousness. For centuries there was no separating the three. Most traditional societies developed a priestly class to guard the sanctity—and privileged status—of reaching near to God. But these trappings are now outdated and even work against the truth, which is that higher consciousness is as natural and effortless as consciousness itself. If you are aware, you can become more aware. There is nothing more to higher consciousness than this logical conclusion.

No matter who you are or what level of consciousness you think you are in, two things always apply. The first is that you use your awareness every day in all kinds of ways. You think, feel, wish, perceive, etc. The second thing is that you have constricted your awareness, through a process that the English writer Aldous Huxley called the reducing valve. Instead of finding yourself in a state of expanded awareness, you edit, censor, ignore, and deny many aspects of reality. The reducing valve squeezes “whole mind,” another term favored by Huxley, to a small flow of permissible thoughts, perceptions, and feelings.

The reducing valve takes years to form, and much of what happens consists of social conditioning, which shapes us almost unconsciously. There is the huge influence of negative experiences that give rise to fear, the memory of pain, and the desire to be less open and more closed off for the sake of defending yourself. But positive experiences also can constrict your awareness, because likes and dislikes operate together. “Yes to this” and “No to that” is like a pendulum whose swing we ride for a lifetime. So powerful are our reasons for reducing reality that we grow to fear, dislike, and deny the possibility of whole mind.

Yet by definition whole mind cannot be destroyed, only distorted. A simple example is contained in the word “Hello.” Whenever someone says hello, they open a channel of experience that has little to do with the dictionary definition of the word.

If you aren’t using the reducing valve, this is what “hello” can communicate:

• Tone of voice
• Mood
• State of two people’s relationship
• Memories of past encounters
• Foretelling of what might happen next
• Signals of acceptance or rejection
• Alerts to possible threat or, on the other hand, possible welcome.

Can so much be contained in a single word? Absolutely. The study of linguistics packs all these layered experiences inside everyday language. The next time someone says hello, open yourself to the wider experience you are having. Is the other person feeling friendly or indifferent? Are you reminded of old thoughts of this person? Does your mood suddenly change? What’s the vibe being created between you?

If a traffic cop stops you and walks up to your car, his hello and yours in reply have the same dictionary definition as when someone you are deeply infatuated with says hello. But the two encounters carry vastly different meanings, which our antennae always pick up. They pick up everything unless we use the reducing valve. But 99% of the time we do use it. We don’t want the traffic cop to see that we are angry, scared, annoyed, or guilty. We don’t want the loved one we are infatuated with to see anything but what we think will seem desirable.

In a word, we feel safer and more in control by editing reality, and yet even if such feelings are attained, we pay a high cost. The reducing valve makes every situation a reflection or repetition of an older experience. It enforces routine. It puts other people, and ourselves, into a box. Very little of our everyday experience is appreciated as new and fresh, even though as viewed by whole mind, every moment is unique and unpredictable, open to infinite possibilities. Great painters have looked at the same trees, grass, clouds, and flowers that you pass by without notice and turned them into beautiful visions. Nothing is so mundane that is cannot be a source of wonder, creativity, love, and the deep satisfaction of being alive, here and now.

That last sentence is the key—it opens the door to higher consciousness not just in a minute but instantly. You are naturally nothing less than whole mind; the reducing valve minimizes your potential by an unmeasurable extent. How do you measure the next opportunity to feel wonder after the opportunity has vanished? What value is lost when “hello” is a ritualized word with hardly any meaning once all the possible meanings have been squeezed out of it?

It is in those questions that the motivation lies for expanding your awareness. You can do it here and now, without effort. Just realize, once and for all, that higher consciousness is the most natural, effortless, and fulfilling way to live. From there, infinity follows.

Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation

The Importance Of Quality Sleep

Quality sleep is one of the most important ways to improve your brain function, longevity, and overall performance. If you can sleep better, you’ll see huge gains in almost every area of your life.

Poor sleep, on the other hand, is one of the fastest ways to sabotage your biology. One night of low-quality sleep impairs your brain function as if you had a few drinks –– and if you go a full night without sleep, your mental performance drops as if you had a blood alcohol content which is well over the legal limit for driving. Poor sleep comes with major costs.

Stress is one of the most common causes of low-quality sleep. It can create a frustrating feedback loop where the more stressed you are, the worse you sleep –– which then adds to your stress, continuing the cycle.

How Stress Affects Your Sleep

When you’re sleeping, you enter a deep recovery state. Your brain and body largely shut off so that they can repair and replenish themselves for the coming day.

Sleep is also when you’re least aware of your environment and most vulnerable to threats. In order to relax into deep sleep, your sympathetic nervous system – the “fight or flight” part of your brain that influences cortisol – has to turn off.

The problem is that when you’re chronically stressed, your sympathetic nervous system goes into overdrive. It’s on almost all the time, pumping out cortisol to keep you alert and ready to deal with potential threats.

Not surprisingly, chronic stress is one of the best predictors of insomnia and other sleep issues, as well as overall poor sleep quality.

The good news is that you can break that cycle, get rid of stress, and improve your sleep with hypnotherapy.

I came across this in a post recently and it made me usefully pause for thought and want me to share it with you too….

Many of the ancient wisdom schools hold the same beliefs and principles for living  at their core.

Whether we’re talking about Ayurvedic Medicine, Amazonian Shamanism, or the powerful healing arts of Ancient China, you will find they’re rooted in the same profound observations.

Many of these understandings about the human spirit and the mysterious patterns of nature have been forgotten in our modern age. It’s time to remember.

The passage below, from the Tao Te Ching, is a powerful universal law that transcends culture, space and time. I hope you enjoy this ancient wisdom as much as I do!

Tao Te Ching – Lao Tzu – Verse 8

The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It flows to the low places loathed by all men.
Therefore, it is like the Tao.
Live in accordance with the nature of things.
In dwelling, be close to the land.
In meditation, go deep in the heart.
In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.
In speech, be true.
In ruling be just.
In action, watch the timing.
No fight: No blame.
One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things.
They move in harmony with the present moment,
always knowing the truth of just what to do.