Dr. Tabatha Barber shares three ways to activate your vagus nerve: worship or prayer, tilting your head back until you yawn, or massaging your ear edges. She says these trigger calm and help you handle tough conversations better.
The easiest way is worship and prayer. That is what activates the vagal nerve. There is a reason you're told to pray before you eat. It makes your stomach acid and your digestive enzymes. God is so good. But okay, if you're in a meeting and you just do not like this conversation, you can tilt your head to the side and kind of just look up and act like you're thinking. And do that until you yawn or swallow. And you're stimulating that vagus nerve, and it will help you respond better to that crazy person in front of you. You can also massage your ears for a couple minutes on the outer edges. That will stimulate it. There's all kinds of things you can do.
