The vagus nerve, relaxation and riding

The vagus nerve is a key player in helping your body rest, digest, and recover. It’s the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the part of your autonomic nervous system responsible for calming things down after stress.

We get “stuck” in the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) — the part responsible for the “fight, flight, or freeze” response — due to chronic stress, trauma, or lack of proper regulation and recovery mechanisms.

The sympathetic nervous system is designed to help us survive immediate threats. But if your brain perceives ongoing danger, it keeps the system activated.

Over time, the nervous system loses flexibility — its ability to shift easily between sympathetic (aroused) and parasympathetic (calm) states. This rigidity can make small stressors feel overwhelming, keeping you stuck in survival physiology.

The vagus nerve is closely connected to the vocal cords, throat, and diaphragm. Making low-frequency, vibratory sounds can stimulate it. In our Rest and Digest sessions we use humming, chanting and breathing exercises to stimulate our vagus nerve. It’s essential for riders to be able to bring ourselves back to a state of calmness, these exercises give you the tools to do that.

As strange as it is, if you’re not used to this stuff, try it and see how you feel.