Cultivating Awareness of the Inner Witness

In this brief practice we start off by settling the nervous system and then practice a meditation that helps us remember our inner witness— the one who is always inside of us that is able to lovingly and non-judgmentally observe what is arising and falling away.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation ~ Face Massage

Hi all! Here’s a video that shows the what and the why of the face massage to stimulate the vagus nerve. In it I share 4 important steps:

  1. Orient- Make sure you feel comfortable where you’re sitting, scan around the room, especially looking behind you to tell your nervous system you’re in a place of relative safety.

  2. Check in with how you’re feeling- We go beneath the words and story into sensory awareness (this is called interoception). Often we have a judgement if we’re feeling some sort of way that we don’t like. Focusing on the sensations can be helpful way to be present with what is arising with curiosity and also give us the opportunity to notice if the sensations shift. Using the spectrum that both yogis and nervous system scholars have come up with can be helpful to identify nervous systems states. Where are you on the spectrum (these are fluid and always changing. No state is wrong or bad, we just don’t want to get stuck in any of them)?:

    • Rajasic/ Sympathetic Nervous System State = activated, fast thoughts, strong judgments toward self and/or others, anxious, fidgety, contracted eyes, fast heart rate, tension in body, excited, mobilized nervous, inspired, motivated

    • Tamasic / Dorsal Vagal Nervous System State = heavy, dull, lethargic, numb, fatigued, shut down, collapsed, hopeless, helpless

    • Sattvic/ Ventral Vagal Nervous System Stat = felt sense of safety, spacious, sparkle in the eye, feeling calm and connected, natural smile, in harmony, open to connection, feeling “in the flow”, able to be with what is unfolding internally and externally with resilience, feeling joy, clarity, balance, understanding

  3. Face massage- Yay! I could just leave it at that, but the illustrious vagus nerve both sends messages from the brain to the body and the body to the brain. Massaging the face and stimulating the vagus nerve can send messages back up to the brain that it’s safe to be as we are, where we are. Many of our nervous systems have been conditioned to not feel safe, even when the conditions around us are. So we can retrain our nervous systems to feel safe and relaxed when it is appropriate by doing a variety of different exercizes. This is one. Yoga is one too!

  4. Check in with how you’re feeling- Tune in again to see how you’re feeling. Has anything shifted? Could this be helpful to do in moments when you’re feeling under-resourced or dysregulated. If so, do as much as you’d like! If not, no worries, there are plenty of tools in the tool box (or toys in the toy box) so you can explore what works for you.