Social Vagus
This morning we had a meeting with our Pathways Connect group to discuss articles from the Pathways to Family Wellness magazine. Our chat today seemed to centre on The Social Vagus and creating community.
A summary of the article:
A summary of the article:
In this article author and chiropractor Dr. John Edward talks about a turning point in his life.
Throughout his career as a chiropractor he had always taught about the two nerve systems,
sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic, which is responsible for balancing everything
that enters and leaves the body. While he stands by his long-standing belief that we cannot
have health if we live in the sympathetic (stress response) he learned of a surprising study
suggesting that spending all our time in the parasympathetic system would wear down one’s
health as well. We then learn about the social nerve system, the third branch of the autonomic
nerve system. Dr. Edward expresses his personal accounts at the time, going through an
emotionally overwhelming experience, and how learning about the social nerve system saved
him.
All three systems, social, sympathetic and parasympathetic are a way of coping with stress. This social nerve system works in harmony with the mind and body and relies on the community to help promote a sense of well-being, even improving immune function in the process! This system innately desires connections with others and is the preferred response to stress in a human body. If inhibited, as is the case in a “cry it out” mode of parenting, the body learns to use older, less adapted forms of stress response—the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve systems.
Dr. Edwards suggest that while meditation and yoga may help keep the body out of a fight or flight stress response, these activities in a group setting can activate the social nerve system ensuring more positive gains from these experiences. (summary provided by Pathways Connect Central).
We discussed how meeting in community is one way to create well being and make more connections. Many of us find that life is getting so busy that we isolate ourselves, which affects how we cope with stress. We want to set the example for our babies and kids to use all three systems and to rely on our social nerve system to relieve on stress.
We chatted about further ways to reach out to our community~through preschools and schools, our community newsletter, accessing our Parenting Groups (we will be! We will be joining with Family Wellness night in November, partly through the Families Matter group). We like to view the Pathways magazine as a way to reach out to our community and keep them available for pick up in the office. We meet at the Bowness Library the second Thursday of the month at 10 am (in Bowness park in the warmer months). We also invite our neighbours to our office events-such as our bimonthly women's circles and educational nights.
How have you created community or what do you want to do to create community?
All three systems, social, sympathetic and parasympathetic are a way of coping with stress. This social nerve system works in harmony with the mind and body and relies on the community to help promote a sense of well-being, even improving immune function in the process! This system innately desires connections with others and is the preferred response to stress in a human body. If inhibited, as is the case in a “cry it out” mode of parenting, the body learns to use older, less adapted forms of stress response—the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve systems.
Dr. Edwards suggest that while meditation and yoga may help keep the body out of a fight or flight stress response, these activities in a group setting can activate the social nerve system ensuring more positive gains from these experiences. (summary provided by Pathways Connect Central).
We discussed how meeting in community is one way to create well being and make more connections. Many of us find that life is getting so busy that we isolate ourselves, which affects how we cope with stress. We want to set the example for our babies and kids to use all three systems and to rely on our social nerve system to relieve on stress.
We chatted about further ways to reach out to our community~through preschools and schools, our community newsletter, accessing our Parenting Groups (we will be! We will be joining with Family Wellness night in November, partly through the Families Matter group). We like to view the Pathways magazine as a way to reach out to our community and keep them available for pick up in the office. We meet at the Bowness Library the second Thursday of the month at 10 am (in Bowness park in the warmer months). We also invite our neighbours to our office events-such as our bimonthly women's circles and educational nights.
How have you created community or what do you want to do to create community?
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