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The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve in your body, stretching from your brainstem down to your abdomen. It’s like a superhighway, connecting major organs and key areas, including:

• Belly and digestive tract: Supports gut health and digestion.
• Diaphragm and lungs: Regulates breathing.
• Heart: Slows heart rate for relaxation.
• Throat, inner ear, and facial muscles: Influences speech and emotional expression.

As a core part of the parasympathetic nervous system, the vagus nerve powers your body’s rest-and-digest mode—the opposite of the fight-or-flight stress response. When activated, it helps you relax, reduce stress, and restore balance.

Somatic breathwork, like the SOMA Breath techniques we offer at Simo Breath, is a natural way to stimulate the vagus nerve. By using rhythmic breathing, breath holds, and mindful focus, breathwork:

• Slows your heart rate: Deep, slow breaths signal the vagus nerve to calm your heart, lowering stress.
• Boosts vagal tone: Regular practice strengthens the nerve’s ability to regulate emotions and reduce anxiety.
• Enhances digestion: Vagus nerve activation supports gut health, easing issues like bloating or discomfort.
• Promotes relaxation: Breathwork shifts your body into rest-and-digest mode, reducing cortisol and boosting feel-good hormones.

Research, like a 2018 study in Frontiers in Physiology, shows that slow, diaphragmatic breathing increases vagal activity, improving mood and reducing anxiety. Our SOMA Breath sessions combine rhythmic breathing with guided meditation to maximize these benefits.

Breathwork – especially techniques like those used in SIMO Breath, can help activate the vagus nerve and bring the nervous system into balance. Here’s how:

1. Slow, Rhythmic Breathing

When you breathe slowly and rhythmically (e.g., in a 2:4 or 4:4 ratio), you stimulate the vagus nerve through the diaphragm. This signals your brain that you’re safe, triggering the parasympathetic system.

2. Extended Exhales

Longer exhales (compared to inhales) increase vagal tone and calm the heart rate. This can shift you out of stress mode and into a more peaceful state.

3. Breath Retention (Kumbhaka)

SIMO Breath incorporates breath holds after inhale (Antara Kumbhaka) and exhale (Bahya Kumbhaka). This intermittent hypoxia trains the body to become more resilient and adaptable, and the temporary stress from the breath hold is followed by deep relaxation—which boosts vagal activity.

4. Humming & Chanting

Sounds like humming, chanting, or even slow rhythmic music during breathwork create vibrations that stimulate the vagus nerve through the vocal cords  and inner ear.

5. Shaking

Shaking (also known as neurogenic tremoring) is an instinctual, natural stress-release response seeing in animals and humans. After a stressful event, animals shake to reset their nervous system. Humans often suppress this response, but when intentionally reintroduced shaking can help release stored trauma. Shaking  does stimulate the vagus nerve and complements our breathwork beautifully.

In modalities like TRE® (Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises), somatic movement, and even  SIMO Breath sessions, shaking is used to discharge excess nervous energy  and activate the body’s self-regulation systems.

6. Eye movements

Subtle eye exercises engage the suboccipital muscles at the base of the skull, helping relax the neck and reduce tension around the cervical spine—areas closely connected to the vagus nerve.