Breaking news! Your head is attached to your body!

Breaking news! Your head is attached to your body!

It might sound trite, but we often treat mental and physical health as two very separate entities. In reality, the head and the body are indeed connected! When dealing with issues such as anxiety, we can't focus solely on what’s happening in the brain. In fact, the latest research suggests that a whopping 80% of the body’s signals are sent to the brain from the body, with only 20% traveling the other way around.

Here comes the science: A crucial player in this communication is the vagus nerve—the largest nerve we have—which runs from our gut (often called the “gut brain”) through our heart and lungs, all the way up to our face and ear canal into our brain. This nerve is even thicker than the spinal cord, yet most of us have never heard of it. Anytime you feel sensations or emotions in your body, chances are it's the vagus nerve at work. These feelings originate from signals sent by the vagus nerve to the brain.

This is why our workshops emphasize the body's role in mental health. By teaching the body how to feel safe, calm, and not under threat, we can influence the messages sent to the brain. The body gathers information from both internal and external environments, and understanding both is crucial. When the body gets the right messages, the head can follow suit.

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