After my accident I found the chaos of everyday life stressful. I had to find ways to create calming moments to find inner balance and harmony from within.
The “OHM” chanting or “Toning” NeuroMindSHIFT™ Helped Decrease the Chaos
“OHM” chanting or “Toning” Works by stimulating the vagus nerve which helps lessen anxiety and depression, improves your immune system, reduces pain, helps you improve sleep, and more.
The vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve – the word vagus in Latin is for “wandering” because this nerve meanders from the brainstem, wraps around the heart, spreads to the lungs, stomach, intestines and glands that produce anti-stress enzymes and hormones and influences the relaxation response.
The vagus nerve connects the mind and body and is where intuition and compassion link your heart’s emotions and gut instincts.
The key to managing your state of mind and your anxiety levels lies in being able to activate the calming nervous pathways of your parasympathetic system.
The autonomic nervous system has two components that balance each other—the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is for protection and initiates the “fight or flight” response in times of stress and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) for “rest and digest”, that helps to decrease the stress response to relax and calm you.
The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together to make you aware of danger and helps your body return to a state of relaxation after stressful events
If you are constantly in stress mode, where your anxieties and worries never allow you to relax, you may experience negative effects such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and difficulty thinking and maintaining attention because of overstimulation of the SNS and an imbalance in cortisol that is secreted at times of stress.
Back to the Ohm –
To initiate the parasympathetic nervous system to relax and create a calm state within, hold the “O” part of the Ohm for at least four seconds then proceed to the “M” for eight seconds.
Making sounds with elongated vowels like OHM or sounds like Amen(Aaaaaaaaaameeeeen) helps you to become more centered, enhance your ability to relax, decrease feelings of anxiety, and other emotions.
Toning also balances brain waves, deepens the breath, reduces the heart rate, and imparts a general sense of wellbeing.
Singing can also initiate the PNS relaxation response but you don’t want to hear me do that!
Until next time keep your dreams alive, your hopes high, and your outlooks positive!
All the B.E.S.T. and many blessings,
Sharon
