Vagal Toning Certification Program

Safe And Social

This introductory module will help familiarise you with the function and evolution of the vagus nerve and autonomic nervous system and introduce 10 natural vagus nerve neuromodulation techniques.

Sensing And Soothing

Learn how to gently develop your mind-body connection and sensory experience by safely increasing your interceptive and neuroceptive awareness to help cultivate a sense of calm within your nervous system.

Mindful Mobilization

Learn how to facilitate safe mobilization and safe immobilization through the lens of Polyvagal theory and mindful mobilization exercises such as pandicular movement.

Natural Vagus Nerve Stimulation

Learn how to cultivate sensory awareness and utilize the concept of Neuroplasticity to help experience and demonstrate how to stimulate the vagus nerve through acupressure points in the face and ears.

Nourish Your Nervous System

Explore how sound can work to expand the window of tolerance, and learn how to utilize sound and breathwork through the Honeybee Breath neuromodulation technique.

Conscious Breathing

Explore the underpinnings of conscious breathing as you learn the science of breathing, the purpose of vagal toning, what vagal efficiency is, and how to use Heart Rate Variability as a measure of vagal tone. Furthermore, practically engage in and learn how to demonstrate the Straw Breath and Balanced Breath breathing exercises.

Window To The Soul

Explore how the eyes can act as a window of understanding into different states of arousal and how eye movements are effective for trauma recovery. Discover two cervical spine release exercises: The Basic Exercise and The Half Salamander, to activate the vagus nerve and create a sense of calm within the body.

Resources from Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve: Self-Help Exercises for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Autism by Stanley Rosenberg, published by North Atlantic. Books, copyright © 2017 by Stanley Rosenberg. Used by permission of North Atlantic.

A Postural Reset

Explore the relationship between posture and vagal tone through topics such as embodiment, research on baroreceptors, and three posture reset practices.

Self-Applied Touch

Understand how trauma can lead to challenges with sensory integration, and learn how to integrate sensory awareness through exploring the benefits of self-applied touch to stimulate the vagus nerve.

Breath And Body Awareness

Explore the importance of exhalation breathing and bring awareness to the body with 7 techniques that draw from the teachings of Pranayama Yoga and Polyvagal theory.

Heal Your Past

Explore an example of how to Integrate the theory and exercises from previous modules into a therapeutic yoga flow and how to address feelings of overwhelm during these practices.

Brain Integration for Optimal Living

Explore the experience of brain integration and how it interacts with the vagus nerve. Learn about the science of the brain, and discover the Pranayama practice of alternate nostril breathing to support optimal vagal tone

The Power Of Play

Explore the relationship between stress, joint mobility, proprioception, and balance in this module and experience how balance-play can improve many facets of well-being.

Gratitude

Discover the links between gratitude, cognitive dissonance, and traumatic memories and how to break cycles of prediction and update expectations through practical techniques.

Connection, Co-regulation, And Compassion

Explore concepts such as co-regulation, empathy, and connection in this module and learn how to demonstrate different strategies and techniques to strengthen self-compassion.

Congruence And Coherence

Explore the importance of concepts such as congruence, coherence, and resilience for the facilitation of trauma healing by engaging in a guided therapeutic writing exercise.

Loving Kindness

Delve into the Loving-Kindness meditation and learn how to integrate and demonstrate this simple mantra to sustain feelings of love and kindness for the self, the other, and the individuals who cause us pain or difficulties.

Rest And Restore

Delve into the traditions of Yoga Nidra practices and how to utilize and demonstrate Sankalpas and body awareness to foster, grow, and tend to the garden of the mind.

Meditation

Learn about the misconceptions surrounding meditation and explore theory and practical demonstrations of trauma-informed meditation and mindfulness practices.

Resilience And Post-Traumatic Growth

This final module weaves together different components of the course. Dive into understanding resilience and post-traumatic growth. Weave a few of the exercises in this program into one final practice by reflecting on your own resilience, and creating your own vagal toning recipe to increase your success in self-care.

Surrendering To Gravity

In this module learn about a grounding technique that utilizes a chair as a source of stability while tracing the vagus nerve down the body. This module brings in two more poses that can be done on a chair and it ends with a calming orientation exercise that lets the eyes scan the environment, to regain connection with it.

Vagal benefit: Experiencers will become familiar with the path of the vagus nerve through the body, creating a more immediate understanding of the nerve. The posture sequence then tones the vagus nerve through the gentle stimulation of its entire range, from the full extension of the cobra, promoting the expansion of the chest, the deep inhalation, and the opening of the throat area, to the maximum parasympathetic tone achieved in the release of the forward bend into gravity and the slow, deep breaths which the posture promotes. The vagal connection between the eyes and the brain will also be experienced.

The Half Moon

This module begins with an awareness body scan exercise to notice any places of tension in the body, as well as the natural flow of the breath. This is followed by the seated and standing half-moon pose. The sequence ends with an orientation exercise and a brief rescanning of the body to notice any changes that occurred.

Vagal benefit: This sequence promotes a disidentification with the thoughts, training the student to focus on the moment-by-moment experience of their body sensations. This focus helps to relax the muscles which surround the nerves, including the vagus, promoting a smooth flow of information from the body to the brain, and back again. The half-moon pose opens up space in the ribcage on the side being stretched, promoting a deeper inhalation than usual, and a greater focus on the flow of the breath. This opening of breath potential also results in a deeper exhale, which stimulates the ventral vagus which passes through the lungs, and triggers a relaxation reflex that is sent to the brain, which in turn sends this message of well-being to the entire body.

The Forward Bend

This module begins with tracing the vagus nerve over the face, the back of the head, lungs, heart, and solar plexus to create awareness of the vagal connections in the body and acts as a form of self-touch for comfort and relaxation. This is followed by a gentle forward bend and can be ended with laying on the floor.

Vagal benefit: As the experiencer's awareness is heightened through the focus on present-moment sensations, the autonomic nervous system becomes regulated naturally, and the dorsal branch of the vagus can execute its role of ensuring the healthy functioning of the major processes below the diaphragm, particularly digestion. When in a forward bend, the exhale is emphasized. This sends a strong message of relaxation to the brain, via the vagus. As the pose is released, air rushes in to fill the newly available space, promoting a healthy, deep inhale. This pattern of full, deep inhales and exhales promotes autonomic nervous system balance, producing the special state of feeling relaxed and energized at the same time.

Dearest Rewire Therapy Member

You’ve reached the end of your program and we honor you for the time you have taken to complete the exercises and theory modules. We at Rewire Therapy hope that the Vagal Toning Certification Program has been informative, supportive, and encouraging. Our trauma-informed principles emphasize the importance of collaboration, trust, and accountability, and we want to put those principles to practice. If you have the time and space, we would love to hear from you. Please see our short survey below if you would like to let us know about your experience with this program.

Transform Your Therapeutic Practice With The Rewire Therapy Provider Program

• Enrich your trauma healing toolkit with 60+ somatic, movement-centered, and expressive therapy exercises

• Soothe the nervous system and relieve chronic fear, worry, and anxiety with Vagal Toning Practices

• Restore sleep and inner safety with Somatic Therapy Exercises

• Safely access and reprocess subconscious trauma memory with Hypnotherapy

• Deeply validate and release feelings of fear, loss, shame, and anger with Movement and Dance Therapy

• Reclaim inner safety and self-trust in our body with Trauma-Informed Yoga

• Ground the nervous system and body into the present with Art Therapy

• Relieve and reduce the frequency and intensity of triggers with Qigong Practices

• Harness the healing powers of food with Trauma-Informed Nutrition

• Rediscover curiosity, playfulness, and creativity after trauma with Dramatherapy

We hope that this trauma-healing exercise offers you a deeper awareness of the sensations within your body and promotes feelings of groundedness, calm, and safety. To benefit the most from this exercise, we invite you to watch with headphones to get the full effect of the bilateral music.