Would You Like to Learn a Simple Breath Practice to Soothe Your Vagus Nerve?

A quick and so so easy way to get back into Purr! (Ventral Vagal) and out of Hiss! (Sympathetic Survival) and even Freeze! (Dorsal Vagal)?

Photo credit: Eve Menezes Cunningham 2025

Welcome to this video originally recorded for Sole to Soul Circle members on a special breathing technique designed by Dr Peter Levine who wrote Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice (which is where this comes from), to help soothe the vagus.

If you've been watching any of my videos over the last, I don't know, 15 years or so, you know I'm a big fan of that deeper breath, that slightly longer exhalation, helping to calm the nervous system, humming, singing, anything like that.

Peter Levine talks about Voo breathing which helps to support vagal tone and it helps you to come out of the dorsal vagal (Freeze!) response, that collapse, that fawn, that overwhelm, that numbing, that dissociating.

It's a really simple thing that you can do if you're able. It also helps us to come out of the sympathetic survival response (Hiss!) and so fight, flight, tend, befriend, as mentioned in this week's podcast episode.

Watch here or listen wherever you get your podcasts

And it helps to move us into ventral vagal, that Purr! in terms of Purr! Hiss! Freeze!

Here’s a reminder from Episode 48

So, I want you to sit comfortably or lie down comfortably or stand up comfortably, whatever feels good for you. This is so simple, you can do it anytime, anywhere.