July 8, 2024 • 29 mins
Pt. 1 of the Top 10 non-basic practices for health, healing, and your overall well-being. Listen to how stimulating your vagus nerve, venting, breathwork, massage, and more can help you on your journey of getting better.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
I'm Savannah Harding and this is Getting Better.
(00:15):
Hi!
Welcome back to Getting Better.
I'm Savannah Harding and today I'm sharing with you the 10 non-basic practices for health
and healing.
And just your overall well-being.
We will touch on some basic principles, but I really want to highlight a few that are
less trendy and might not be as widely practiced, but have truly helped me in my recovery.
(00:41):
And not just one recovery.
I'm going on my 14th eye surgery next week.
I kind of less count though after 10 to be honest.
There were procedures with syringes, stitches, and actual red laser beams being shot into
my eye.
But the point is that I've tried a lot of different methods, supplements, practices,
(01:04):
all promising to heal and strengthen me and my hair, or my gut and skin and brain, but
time and time and time again.
I have found myself using these top 10 non-basic practices.
And it's not surprising that the ones that work the best and are most sustainable are
(01:25):
the 10 that have scientific backing.
Even though I did try a whole lot of things that weren't backed, but I'm happy to share
the top 10 that have been instrumental and not just helping me get back to a place of
stability, at least a sense of it, but also feel like I'm getting more out of life and
just enjoy it on a deeper level.
So let's dive in.
(01:46):
Before we get into the non-basic practices, let's start with the basics.
These are foundational for your health, and if you don't have these under control, it's
really hard to benefit from anything else.
So we really want to focus on these five first.
The basic five are sleep, nutrition, movement, nature, and connection.
(02:10):
These five are crucial.
If you're working on your health and healing or just trying to improve your overall well-being,
make sure you're first focusing on these areas.
Most of the top 10 that I'm sharing with you today will fall under one of these big
five practices, the first of which is the Mac Daddy of your body.
(02:32):
One could claim that it covers all of the big five basics mentioned before.
That is the Vagus nerve, V-A-G-U-S.
Now the Latin nerd in me will tell you that Vagus means wandering, and the Vagus nerve
is called the Great Wandering Protector of the body because it courses this long path
(02:55):
throughout your body starting at your medulla oblongata.
Think around where your ear and jaw connect at the base of your brainstem, and then it
passes through your neck, chest, heart, your lungs, abdomen, and digestive tract.
It is the longest cranial nerve in your body.
(03:15):
So why is the Vagus nerve so important here?
Why is it number one?
If you can stimulate your Vagus nerve, you can regulate and connect to things like your
digestion, heart rate, immunity, your mood, and pain, and other kind of random things
like saliva, your urine output, speech, and taste, but we're not focusing on those today.
(03:42):
But by working on stimulating your Vagus nerve, you can help regulate things like depression
and anxiety, and help with your gut health by aiding digestion.
It has been so beneficial for me because like so many people working on health and healing,
it's often that we are in fight or flight mode, and the Vagus nerve stimulation activates
(04:04):
and is part of your rest and digest, your parasympathetic nervous system.
I discovered the Vegas nerve benefits because I was struggling with gastroparesis or gastro stasis,
which just means that my stomach wouldn't digest my food and empty it quick enough, so
I was nauseous, I couldn't eat, I wasn't getting the nutrients I needed, and in recovery
(04:27):
that was especially so frustrating because I know the importance of getting enough nutrition.
But my anxiety that I had in my body was in such a fight or flight slash self-distract
mode that it couldn't rest and digest until I found how to stimulate my Vagus nerve.
(04:48):
And it's so easy for something so beneficial, you stimulate your Vegas nerve by doing the
most chill things ever, the first of which is the number one thing that really helped
me, helping my gastroparesis and just helping my overall heart rate and mood and mindset,
that is slow, deep belly breathing.
(05:09):
As a woman especially, it can be unconscious behavior to suck in your stomach or just not
relax and release your stomach out fully.
You might not even realize you're doing it.
Society works really hard to make us think that our stomach is supposed to be concave,
but it's really just supposed to be there.
(05:30):
You don't think about your kneecaps sticking out past your legs, and that's what our stomachs
are.
They're helping our body, and they're putting in that work so you can have energy and be
healthy and live happier lives.
So this might be a little mental block as well that I think is really good to practice.
(05:51):
So belly breathing means that you're breathing into your stomach, and instead of letting
your chest rise and fall, breathing into your lungs, let your stomach go out as far as possible
by breathing into it.
They say to do six seconds in and eight seconds out, but if you can't count fully, just make
sure your exhale is longer than your inhale, because the exhale is what activates your rest
(06:16):
and digest, so spending more time in the exhale will help bring that rest and recovery to
your body.
It's helpful sometimes to have a hand on your stomach so you can feel it rise and fall,
or whenever I'm driving, I let my seatbelt be your reminder to try to push the lower
half of the seatbelt out and in by stomach breathing.
(06:36):
Plus, I think we can all use a little less anxiety in the car, so let that be a little
bit of a reminder.
Another way to stimulate your vagus nerve is by humming, and some people even say to
practice humming happy birthday two times before you eat your dinner, because that begins
to prime your stomach to already start being in that rest and digest mode.
(07:00):
And to have a little like diddy or song to hum lifts your mood anyway.
So whether you're doing that before you eat or after, you can do that anytime during the
day and that will also help activate your vagus nerve.
Other practices for activating your vagus nerve are different types of breath work,
not just the belly breathing, mindfulness, meditation, tai chi, and yoga.
(07:25):
All of those will help activate all of these otherwise involuntary processes, like we mentioned
before, the digestion, heart rate, immunity, mood, and your pain.
And it's so free to do.
It really doesn't take a lot of time, and the effort is super low.
So give it a go today.
(07:46):
Try breathing on your way home from work or humming as you're making dinner or just right
before you sit to eat.
Like I said, it's the Mac Daddy and it's number one for a reason.
It really does affect a lot of your body and can help bring healing so easily.
I'm going to nerd out for just a second about the vagus nerve.
(08:08):
So feel free to skip if you want, but I just find this so fascinating.
So you can get a surgical procedure done to implant a device that will stimulate the vagus
nerve for you so you don't have to be doing this humming or singing or breath work.
And this procedure, the studies are showing that the benefits are so promising that it
(08:32):
is showing to be a better alternative for electroconvulsive therapy, ECT.
Now ECT is basically psychiatrist using electricity to shock your brain and give you a minor seizure.
You are under anesthesia for this, so you won't feel a thing.
(08:52):
And it kind of miraculously cures depression and catatonia and other very stubborn and
deep psychiatric issues.
But with ECT, I say it's miraculous because we don't know the exact science for why it
works so well.
Now, the setback to ECT is that you have to go through three drug trials of depression
(09:14):
prescriptions before you can even be considered a candidate for the procedure.
So that's already taking a lot of time and money and just energy.
And then if you're a candidate, usually insurance won't even cover the whole procedure and
sometimes you have to get it done multiple times.
Now, why do I know so much about ECT?
(09:36):
I kind of grew up with it.
My dad administers it as a psychiatrist.
But I say this because ECT works well and it works so wonderfully for a lot of patients
with little to no side effects.
And this vagus nerve stimulation is showing us that you can get all of these benefits
by like these humming and breathing and movement works.
(10:01):
And it's almost the same thing, if not better than literally shocking your brain into a
better mental state.
Oh, get that humming and get that breathing and just feel the vibration in your body and
know that you're working towards healthier and happier states of mind and body.
Okay, the nerd session is over.
(10:22):
If you skipped that, we were just saying that vagus nerve stimulation has almost a better
effect than actually shocking your brain with electroconvulsive therapy to help get you
to a better less depressed state of mind.
Maybe I could have just said that, but I find it so fascinating.
On we go to number two.
The second thing that has been really beneficial for my health is getting off of my phone in
(10:47):
the morning.
It's also helpful to do this at night, but I'm going to tell you why getting on your
phone right when you wake up is a little detrimental to your health.
And so this number two practice of getting off of your phone falls under the big five
of sleep.
And people say you should really just stay off of your phone an hour before and an hour
(11:09):
after sleeping.
But if you can just start with 10 or 20 minutes and build up from there, I think you'll find
that the habit is easier to make than just going cold turkey.
Now I've tried the trick of charging my phone in the other room, but with all the alarms
I have and you know, I want to be reached by people who need me.
(11:30):
So just having my phone in the room really seems to be better for my habits.
But let me tell you why it is so important to not get on your phone immediately after
waking up.
When you wake up from your sleep, your brain is in alpha wavelengths.
People call alpha waves the gateway to the subconscious mind because it's in the theta
(11:53):
waves, which are like your dreamy states, not your deep sleep.
Not delta, delta for deep sleep, but alpha waves are between your day dream state, the
theta and your beta waves, which is the most conscious waking and alert state.
Your alpha waves is when you're awake, but you're relaxed and you're not processing a
(12:14):
lot of information because you're not distracted by a lot and you're still kind of getting
out of that, that theta state like where you're sleeping.
So if we wake up and we're in that alpha state, it's good to remind yourself that you are
safe and you're live and you're healthy and this is really where you can kind of program
your brain as it's not overwhelmed by other things.
(12:37):
So if you get on your phone right after waking up, you skip those alpha waves completely and
go straight into beta waves and you're starting at these high frequency, low amplitude waves
and you're priming your brain for distraction.
Not to mention if you see something negative in the morning, it can trigger a stress response
and put you on edge for the rest of the day.
(12:59):
Also if you have unread emails that you're looking at right when you wake up, when you're
in bed, it gives you a sense that your problems are endless, that you have to always be looking
to fix these problems and they seem never ending because you can't wait a minimum of
10 minutes to get to them because more often than not they can wait those extra 10 minutes.
(13:20):
One thought that really helped me kind of solidify this habit is why are you allowing
literally thousands and millions of other people's thoughts, behaviors, opinions and
energy, enter your brain and affect your day before you even make the first thought of
your own day.
(13:41):
So I really encourage you to not get on that phone right after you wake up.
Maybe set a parental lock on that app to only open after 11am so that way you have the whole
morning not getting on social media or block your email for 30 minutes, whatever it is
to really push you into making that better habit.
(14:03):
Now my super trick for this, I kind of stumbled into accidentally when I for some reason had
a bunch of bandage on my hands.
I don't remember what happened but I do know that because my pointer fingers and thumbs
had bandage on them, I could not touch my touch screen on the phone and even though it's not
(14:25):
foolproof you can just remove those bandage by putting just one small obstacle in between
you and your phone.
It makes you have to think one more time is this what I'm intentionally doing or you
can just say okay I'm going to go to the bathroom to take off these bandage and by the time
you're up you're already started with your day and the chances are lowered if you actually
(14:48):
returning to bed and getting on your phone.
The only thing with the bandage is it can feel a little wasteful and oh you know what
I just thought of.
You can use medical tape.
Medical tape is a lot cheaper, feel like it's a little less wasteful, I use it for mouth
breathing so I already have it, wow brain blast.
(15:09):
So you can use the bandage or you can use the medical tape.
It's pretty easy and spending less time on your phone will help with your anxiety and
it will give you better thoughts in the morning.
Priming your day for better habits and better attitudes.
Try it for just three days and see how you feel.
Then try it for a week and hopefully it can help relax your brain and just make you a
(15:33):
little bit more present and less stressed in your life.
So that was number two, getting off your phone especially in the mornings.
Number three of the non-basic health and healing habits is venting and this falls under the
big five category of connection but it's truly connection to yourself and your mind-body
(15:55):
connection.
So the first part of this which you won't be surprised to hear if you listened to the
first episode is crying and crying has so many health benefits but here I'm really emphasizing
that you should just feel your emotions.
Emotions are energy in motion.
Whether you have grief, fear, or anger that energy has to go somewhere and I truly believe
(16:21):
that if you don't process and express your emotions they'll fester in your body leading
to more health issues or they'll find a more inconvenient and not always healthy way to
escape.
So as uncomfortable as it is to sit in the big heavy overwhelming emotions let yourself
(16:42):
feel whatever is coming up, affirm your feelings, accept that this is your reality just for this
moment and find a way to process those emotions.
By processing and feeling your emotions, letting them through and out, you give yourself the
clarity and space and comfort to then make better decisions for yourself.
(17:05):
These big feelings sometimes make us feel like we're out of control but trust me when
I say that it is better to feel them when they arise in a safe space instead of letting
them transform or change under pressure if left on the inside.
How best to do this in my opinion is to find a mental health professional because your
(17:27):
friends will listen for free but they're not usually qualified to give you the best mental
health advice.
Therapists, psychiatrists, licensed mental health counselors are trained to listen and
help guide you in what's best considering your mental state and unique personal circumstance.
Now I know finding a mental health professional isn't always affordable or accessible so another
(17:53):
tip for a vent team that is usually free of charge is to journal.
Vent your feelings on pen and paper or your notes app on your phone or even record audio
or video and you can delete it after if you like.
I found that doing this right before bed really helped with my anxiety nightmares slash night
terrors that I've struggled with my whole life but writing down your stressors helps
(18:18):
you process them as you put words and understanding to thoughts that may otherwise be abstract,
vague and overwhelming.
More often than not when I do this I find that my problems don't seem so impossible
to solve or that they were way bigger in my head compared to the reality I described them
(18:39):
to be.
My pro tip is to follow up your journal venting session with a gratitude or two or ten.
Go to sleep having expressed your feelings and then fill up that space with the gift
of gratitude.
Like I said if you listen to episode one you're not going to be surprised that crying and
venting made it into literally the top three of these health and healing practices but
(19:02):
truly it helps your body get out of that fight or flight mode of being so overwhelmed and
stressed and overthinking so that way your body can start recovering and relaxing and
just getting the rest that it needs.
Don't knock it till you try it.
On to number four.
Number four is breath work and meditation.
(19:25):
I'm counting them as one, okay?
Just like I mentioned you can see a theme with the first four non-basic practices.
We are prioritizing getting in touch with our body by intentionally slowing down and
sitting in our emotions, breathing deeper and priming our brain when we can to be in
(19:48):
a less stressed more capable state.
Breath work and meditation have made the biggest impact on my anxiety, stress and pain levels
and you don't have to go to a meditation retreat or sit for an hour a day to get these
benefits.
Just gifting yourself five minutes a day can help reduce your stress, decrease your heart
(20:10):
rate, improve your sleep, bolster your immunity, enhance your creativity and even reduce anxiety
and depression.
Crazy.
I like using a guided meditation otherwise I find myself more easily distracted and you
can find free guided meditation online using YouTube.
You can find meditation apps, podcasts, there's a lot of free resources online for this.
(20:36):
No one can make you start this practice.
It has to come from a intrinsic commitment to yourself and that's one of the gifts I've
received from this practice.
I have this growing sense of compassion to myself.
There's a discipline that feels more like a reconnection to who I truly am and want
to be.
(20:56):
The other gifts from these meditation and breathing practices that are so crazy helpful
is that I have better control over my mental and physical state when I'm in pain or experiencing
a trauma trigger.
Like in surgery when the doctor operating on my eye asks me, does this hurt?
The answer more often than not is a yes.
(21:19):
But the question they're really asking is how much does this hurt?
Do you need more drugs?
That answer is always yes by the way.
But instead of letting my heart rate skyrocket or my muscles tense and blood pressure rise
out of the pain and fear that comes with that when you're awake during surgery on your
(21:39):
face that you can see.
But I've been able to come back to my breathing and focus away from the pain back to the breathing
that calms my body and my mind.
According to this is the practice I've learned through breath work and meditation which I'm
going to call descriptions.
(22:01):
The mindset behind this is you use descriptions to get out of feeling the pain or the overstimulation.
You have to think about, okay, what does this pain feel like?
Is it throbbing?
Is it sharp?
Does it sting?
Is it constant?
If you were to describe it as a piece of clothing on your body, how would you describe that
(22:26):
to me?
If you were to give it a color, what color would you give it?
You're stepping out of the pain that you're feeling in your body and into this mental
state of describing the pain.
It almost takes you out of feeling it entirely sometimes.
And though that doesn't last the whole day and it doesn't fix the pain, it gives you
(22:47):
just a moment of relief and even that can be enough to kind of reset and reposition
you for that day.
I found this to really work and be put to the test when I was on an airplane and there
was a screaming baby next to me and moms and dads, parents, babies just cry.
(23:07):
And I know people make you feel so bad about it and it's normal that we have empathy for
a crying baby and their parent, but you know, that's one of the most like sharp and grinding
shrieking sounds that there is, especially when you're on a plane, a small space.
And the same describing practice you can also do towards things that are overstimulating
(23:29):
you.
So for me, that's sound more often than not.
I truly think that with my eyesight being so poor, my hearing has really stepped up
to the plate.
My sister calls me, you know, bat.
She also calls me giraffe because my neck is pretty long.
You know, she humbles me, but she's also my biggest supporter.
(23:50):
So shout out to my sis.
But when I'm hearing that screaming baby or if you're just overwhelmed by all these
noises, pick it out and start describing it to yourself.
Is it high pitch, low pitch?
What is the pattern of the sound like?
If you were to give it a color, what would you give it?
You know, is it at all soothing or overwhelming?
(24:13):
Really kind of dig into that descriptor and it takes you from being overwhelmed, like feeling
a victim of the noise, feeling a little out of control, to then taking a step of observing
and describing rather than feeling.
Those are things that I've learned from meditation and breathwork that have truly helped me go
(24:34):
throughout my life feeling less stressed or aggravated or out of control and be at a more
calmer, peaceful, relaxed state of mind.
With the remaining practices, I'm not going as deep into the science, so it's going to
go a little faster.
Starting with number five in the movement category, we have massage.
(24:58):
Now I truly didn't realize how many different types of massage I have implemented in my
life, but there was a time where I could barely move my neck and head as I carried so much
stress and trauma in my neck and shoulders.
One neurologist after looking at the CT said that the back of my neck looked like the juiciest
(25:19):
pork chops he's ever seen.
So that kind of gives you a great visual.
Well, the only thing that would give me relief was massage.
And the benefits of massage are improved circulation, reduced muscle stiffness and joint inflammation.
You have better sleep, quicker recovery, it enhances your immune response, and reduces
(25:42):
your stress.
We're keeping on theme here.
So massage therapists are a great way to really get technical if you're dealing with specific
aches and pains.
And there is neuromuscular therapy as well that really targets sensitive areas and reduces
your pain.
And I'm going to give you some affordable options as well.
Starting with a cheap $40 Shiatsu back massager.
(26:05):
I got on Amazon.
Shout out to Catherine for this wreck because it truly was a lifesaver when I could barely
function and wasn't so much pain.
I'll link it in the description here and on the website at gettingbetterpod.com.
But I bought three of these to have one at my house, my now fiancé's house, and my parents'
(26:27):
house because it was such a necessity for me.
And still is.
I use it every night and I freaking run that thing.
But it's got stamina, I tell ya.
It's about the size of a bulky cross body backpack, but it also has nice heating capabilities.
It's one of my all time favorite robots.
Don't tell the microwave.
(26:48):
The second shout out goes to dry brushing.
Dry brushing is pretty straightforward.
You use a dry bristle brush and you work around your body in circular and long motions to help
drain your lymph and speed up lymphatic flow, which helps move waste and impurities out
(27:08):
of the body, contributing to a stronger immune system.
Dry brushing can also eliminate toxins, reduce water retention and puffiness.
It increases your blood flow, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your skin, which gives you
that kind of warm glow.
It also helps remove dry skin cells and unclog your pores.
(27:29):
And that exfoliation can help improve your skin texture and cellular turnover.
And it's truly invigorating and makes you feel fresh, especially once you shower after
because you do kind of feel dry and scratchy with all the exfoliation.
Other massage techniques you can implement that I also add to my health regime is using
a massage gun to massage your body.
(27:51):
And to get your back just use this Shiatsu back massager.
You can invest $15 in a foam roller and roll out your lymph while stretching.
And you can buy a Gua Sha tool for facial massage, but I found that using my hands allows me
to get a little deeper where I hold tension in my jaw.
I'd recommend just looking up a free Gua Sha tutorial online and finding the best facial
(28:13):
oil for your skin.
Again, I will have all of these linked online at GettingBetterPod.com.
And keep in mind, you don't have to spend a lot of money on massage therapists or any
of these massage tools.
Really working on movement and jumping and stretching and just getting in that exercise
will help you move your lymph and your body and bring that good blood flow that we're
(28:37):
talking about.
But this is truly something that has helped me in my health and healing journey.
And when sometimes you can't be bothered to massage out your own legs, it really helps
to invest in having someone or something do it for you.
So we are halfway done with the top 10 non-basic practices for health and healing.
(28:59):
I am splitting this episode into two parts.
So go on over to part two to listen to the rest of six through 10 non-basic practices
for health and healing.
And in the meantime, check out GettingBetterPod on Instagram and GettingBetterPod.com.
And you're going to hear this music again, but we're going to cue it anyway.
(29:20):
Here's to Getting Better.
I'm Savannah Harding and this is Getting Better.
(00:15):
Hi!
Welcome back to Getting Better.
I'm Savannah Harding and today I'm sharing with you the 10 non-basic practices for health
and healing.
And just your overall well-being.
We will touch on some basic principles, but I really want to highlight a few that are
less trendy and might not be as widely practiced, but have truly helped me in my recovery.
(00:41):
And not just one recovery.
I'm going on my 14th eye surgery next week.
I kind of less count though after 10 to be honest.
There were procedures with syringes, stitches, and actual red laser beams being shot into
my eye.
But the point is that I've tried a lot of different methods, supplements, practices,
(01:04):
all promising to heal and strengthen me and my hair, or my gut and skin and brain, but
time and time and time again.
I have found myself using these top 10 non-basic practices.
And it's not surprising that the ones that work the best and are most sustainable are
(01:25):
the 10 that have scientific backing.
Even though I did try a whole lot of things that weren't backed, but I'm happy to share
the top 10 that have been instrumental and not just helping me get back to a place of
stability, at least a sense of it, but also feel like I'm getting more out of life and
just enjoy it on a deeper level.
So let's dive in.
(01:46):
Before we get into the non-basic practices, let's start with the basics.
These are foundational for your health, and if you don't have these under control, it's
really hard to benefit from anything else.
So we really want to focus on these five first.
The basic five are sleep, nutrition, movement, nature, and connection.
(02:10):
These five are crucial.
If you're working on your health and healing or just trying to improve your overall well-being,
make sure you're first focusing on these areas.
Most of the top 10 that I'm sharing with you today will fall under one of these big
five practices, the first of which is the Mac Daddy of your body.
(02:32):
One could claim that it covers all of the big five basics mentioned before.
That is the Vagus nerve, V-A-G-U-S.
Now the Latin nerd in me will tell you that Vagus means wandering, and the Vagus nerve
is called the Great Wandering Protector of the body because it courses this long path
(02:55):
throughout your body starting at your medulla oblongata.
Think around where your ear and jaw connect at the base of your brainstem, and then it
passes through your neck, chest, heart, your lungs, abdomen, and digestive tract.
It is the longest cranial nerve in your body.
(03:15):
So why is the Vagus nerve so important here?
Why is it number one?
If you can stimulate your Vagus nerve, you can regulate and connect to things like your
digestion, heart rate, immunity, your mood, and pain, and other kind of random things
like saliva, your urine output, speech, and taste, but we're not focusing on those today.
(03:42):
But by working on stimulating your Vagus nerve, you can help regulate things like depression
and anxiety, and help with your gut health by aiding digestion.
It has been so beneficial for me because like so many people working on health and healing,
it's often that we are in fight or flight mode, and the Vagus nerve stimulation activates
(04:04):
and is part of your rest and digest, your parasympathetic nervous system.
I discovered the Vegas nerve benefits because I was struggling with gastroparesis or gastro stasis,
which just means that my stomach wouldn't digest my food and empty it quick enough, so
I was nauseous, I couldn't eat, I wasn't getting the nutrients I needed, and in recovery
(04:27):
that was especially so frustrating because I know the importance of getting enough nutrition.
But my anxiety that I had in my body was in such a fight or flight slash self-distract
mode that it couldn't rest and digest until I found how to stimulate my Vagus nerve.
(04:48):
And it's so easy for something so beneficial, you stimulate your Vegas nerve by doing the
most chill things ever, the first of which is the number one thing that really helped
me, helping my gastroparesis and just helping my overall heart rate and mood and mindset,
that is slow, deep belly breathing.
(05:09):
As a woman especially, it can be unconscious behavior to suck in your stomach or just not
relax and release your stomach out fully.
You might not even realize you're doing it.
Society works really hard to make us think that our stomach is supposed to be concave,
but it's really just supposed to be there.
(05:30):
You don't think about your kneecaps sticking out past your legs, and that's what our stomachs
are.
They're helping our body, and they're putting in that work so you can have energy and be
healthy and live happier lives.
So this might be a little mental block as well that I think is really good to practice.
(05:51):
So belly breathing means that you're breathing into your stomach, and instead of letting
your chest rise and fall, breathing into your lungs, let your stomach go out as far as possible
by breathing into it.
They say to do six seconds in and eight seconds out, but if you can't count fully, just make
sure your exhale is longer than your inhale, because the exhale is what activates your rest
(06:16):
and digest, so spending more time in the exhale will help bring that rest and recovery to
your body.
It's helpful sometimes to have a hand on your stomach so you can feel it rise and fall,
or whenever I'm driving, I let my seatbelt be your reminder to try to push the lower
half of the seatbelt out and in by stomach breathing.
(06:36):
Plus, I think we can all use a little less anxiety in the car, so let that be a little
bit of a reminder.
Another way to stimulate your vagus nerve is by humming, and some people even say to
practice humming happy birthday two times before you eat your dinner, because that begins
to prime your stomach to already start being in that rest and digest mode.
(07:00):
And to have a little like diddy or song to hum lifts your mood anyway.
So whether you're doing that before you eat or after, you can do that anytime during the
day and that will also help activate your vagus nerve.
Other practices for activating your vagus nerve are different types of breath work,
not just the belly breathing, mindfulness, meditation, tai chi, and yoga.
(07:25):
All of those will help activate all of these otherwise involuntary processes, like we mentioned
before, the digestion, heart rate, immunity, mood, and your pain.
And it's so free to do.
It really doesn't take a lot of time, and the effort is super low.
So give it a go today.
(07:46):
Try breathing on your way home from work or humming as you're making dinner or just right
before you sit to eat.
Like I said, it's the Mac Daddy and it's number one for a reason.
It really does affect a lot of your body and can help bring healing so easily.
I'm going to nerd out for just a second about the vagus nerve.
(08:08):
So feel free to skip if you want, but I just find this so fascinating.
So you can get a surgical procedure done to implant a device that will stimulate the vagus
nerve for you so you don't have to be doing this humming or singing or breath work.
And this procedure, the studies are showing that the benefits are so promising that it
(08:32):
is showing to be a better alternative for electroconvulsive therapy, ECT.
Now ECT is basically psychiatrist using electricity to shock your brain and give you a minor seizure.
You are under anesthesia for this, so you won't feel a thing.
(08:52):
And it kind of miraculously cures depression and catatonia and other very stubborn and
deep psychiatric issues.
But with ECT, I say it's miraculous because we don't know the exact science for why it
works so well.
Now, the setback to ECT is that you have to go through three drug trials of depression
(09:14):
prescriptions before you can even be considered a candidate for the procedure.
So that's already taking a lot of time and money and just energy.
And then if you're a candidate, usually insurance won't even cover the whole procedure and
sometimes you have to get it done multiple times.
Now, why do I know so much about ECT?
(09:36):
I kind of grew up with it.
My dad administers it as a psychiatrist.
But I say this because ECT works well and it works so wonderfully for a lot of patients
with little to no side effects.
And this vagus nerve stimulation is showing us that you can get all of these benefits
by like these humming and breathing and movement works.
(10:01):
And it's almost the same thing, if not better than literally shocking your brain into a
better mental state.
Oh, get that humming and get that breathing and just feel the vibration in your body and
know that you're working towards healthier and happier states of mind and body.
Okay, the nerd session is over.
(10:22):
If you skipped that, we were just saying that vagus nerve stimulation has almost a better
effect than actually shocking your brain with electroconvulsive therapy to help get you
to a better less depressed state of mind.
Maybe I could have just said that, but I find it so fascinating.
On we go to number two.
The second thing that has been really beneficial for my health is getting off of my phone in
(10:47):
the morning.
It's also helpful to do this at night, but I'm going to tell you why getting on your
phone right when you wake up is a little detrimental to your health.
And so this number two practice of getting off of your phone falls under the big five
of sleep.
And people say you should really just stay off of your phone an hour before and an hour
(11:09):
after sleeping.
But if you can just start with 10 or 20 minutes and build up from there, I think you'll find
that the habit is easier to make than just going cold turkey.
Now I've tried the trick of charging my phone in the other room, but with all the alarms
I have and you know, I want to be reached by people who need me.
(11:30):
So just having my phone in the room really seems to be better for my habits.
But let me tell you why it is so important to not get on your phone immediately after
waking up.
When you wake up from your sleep, your brain is in alpha wavelengths.
People call alpha waves the gateway to the subconscious mind because it's in the theta
(11:53):
waves, which are like your dreamy states, not your deep sleep.
Not delta, delta for deep sleep, but alpha waves are between your day dream state, the
theta and your beta waves, which is the most conscious waking and alert state.
Your alpha waves is when you're awake, but you're relaxed and you're not processing a
(12:14):
lot of information because you're not distracted by a lot and you're still kind of getting
out of that, that theta state like where you're sleeping.
So if we wake up and we're in that alpha state, it's good to remind yourself that you are
safe and you're live and you're healthy and this is really where you can kind of program
your brain as it's not overwhelmed by other things.
(12:37):
So if you get on your phone right after waking up, you skip those alpha waves completely and
go straight into beta waves and you're starting at these high frequency, low amplitude waves
and you're priming your brain for distraction.
Not to mention if you see something negative in the morning, it can trigger a stress response
and put you on edge for the rest of the day.
(12:59):
Also if you have unread emails that you're looking at right when you wake up, when you're
in bed, it gives you a sense that your problems are endless, that you have to always be looking
to fix these problems and they seem never ending because you can't wait a minimum of
10 minutes to get to them because more often than not they can wait those extra 10 minutes.
(13:20):
One thought that really helped me kind of solidify this habit is why are you allowing
literally thousands and millions of other people's thoughts, behaviors, opinions and
energy, enter your brain and affect your day before you even make the first thought of
your own day.
(13:41):
So I really encourage you to not get on that phone right after you wake up.
Maybe set a parental lock on that app to only open after 11am so that way you have the whole
morning not getting on social media or block your email for 30 minutes, whatever it is
to really push you into making that better habit.
(14:03):
Now my super trick for this, I kind of stumbled into accidentally when I for some reason had
a bunch of bandage on my hands.
I don't remember what happened but I do know that because my pointer fingers and thumbs
had bandage on them, I could not touch my touch screen on the phone and even though it's not
(14:25):
foolproof you can just remove those bandage by putting just one small obstacle in between
you and your phone.
It makes you have to think one more time is this what I'm intentionally doing or you
can just say okay I'm going to go to the bathroom to take off these bandage and by the time
you're up you're already started with your day and the chances are lowered if you actually
(14:48):
returning to bed and getting on your phone.
The only thing with the bandage is it can feel a little wasteful and oh you know what
I just thought of.
You can use medical tape.
Medical tape is a lot cheaper, feel like it's a little less wasteful, I use it for mouth
breathing so I already have it, wow brain blast.
(15:09):
So you can use the bandage or you can use the medical tape.
It's pretty easy and spending less time on your phone will help with your anxiety and
it will give you better thoughts in the morning.
Priming your day for better habits and better attitudes.
Try it for just three days and see how you feel.
Then try it for a week and hopefully it can help relax your brain and just make you a
(15:33):
little bit more present and less stressed in your life.
So that was number two, getting off your phone especially in the mornings.
Number three of the non-basic health and healing habits is venting and this falls under the
big five category of connection but it's truly connection to yourself and your mind-body
(15:55):
connection.
So the first part of this which you won't be surprised to hear if you listened to the
first episode is crying and crying has so many health benefits but here I'm really emphasizing
that you should just feel your emotions.
Emotions are energy in motion.
Whether you have grief, fear, or anger that energy has to go somewhere and I truly believe
(16:21):
that if you don't process and express your emotions they'll fester in your body leading
to more health issues or they'll find a more inconvenient and not always healthy way to
escape.
So as uncomfortable as it is to sit in the big heavy overwhelming emotions let yourself
(16:42):
feel whatever is coming up, affirm your feelings, accept that this is your reality just for this
moment and find a way to process those emotions.
By processing and feeling your emotions, letting them through and out, you give yourself the
clarity and space and comfort to then make better decisions for yourself.
(17:05):
These big feelings sometimes make us feel like we're out of control but trust me when
I say that it is better to feel them when they arise in a safe space instead of letting
them transform or change under pressure if left on the inside.
How best to do this in my opinion is to find a mental health professional because your
(17:27):
friends will listen for free but they're not usually qualified to give you the best mental
health advice.
Therapists, psychiatrists, licensed mental health counselors are trained to listen and
help guide you in what's best considering your mental state and unique personal circumstance.
Now I know finding a mental health professional isn't always affordable or accessible so another
(17:53):
tip for a vent team that is usually free of charge is to journal.
Vent your feelings on pen and paper or your notes app on your phone or even record audio
or video and you can delete it after if you like.
I found that doing this right before bed really helped with my anxiety nightmares slash night
terrors that I've struggled with my whole life but writing down your stressors helps
(18:18):
you process them as you put words and understanding to thoughts that may otherwise be abstract,
vague and overwhelming.
More often than not when I do this I find that my problems don't seem so impossible
to solve or that they were way bigger in my head compared to the reality I described them
(18:39):
to be.
My pro tip is to follow up your journal venting session with a gratitude or two or ten.
Go to sleep having expressed your feelings and then fill up that space with the gift
of gratitude.
Like I said if you listen to episode one you're not going to be surprised that crying and
venting made it into literally the top three of these health and healing practices but
(19:02):
truly it helps your body get out of that fight or flight mode of being so overwhelmed and
stressed and overthinking so that way your body can start recovering and relaxing and
just getting the rest that it needs.
Don't knock it till you try it.
On to number four.
Number four is breath work and meditation.
(19:25):
I'm counting them as one, okay?
Just like I mentioned you can see a theme with the first four non-basic practices.
We are prioritizing getting in touch with our body by intentionally slowing down and
sitting in our emotions, breathing deeper and priming our brain when we can to be in
(19:48):
a less stressed more capable state.
Breath work and meditation have made the biggest impact on my anxiety, stress and pain levels
and you don't have to go to a meditation retreat or sit for an hour a day to get these
benefits.
Just gifting yourself five minutes a day can help reduce your stress, decrease your heart
(20:10):
rate, improve your sleep, bolster your immunity, enhance your creativity and even reduce anxiety
and depression.
Crazy.
I like using a guided meditation otherwise I find myself more easily distracted and you
can find free guided meditation online using YouTube.
You can find meditation apps, podcasts, there's a lot of free resources online for this.
(20:36):
No one can make you start this practice.
It has to come from a intrinsic commitment to yourself and that's one of the gifts I've
received from this practice.
I have this growing sense of compassion to myself.
There's a discipline that feels more like a reconnection to who I truly am and want
to be.
(20:56):
The other gifts from these meditation and breathing practices that are so crazy helpful
is that I have better control over my mental and physical state when I'm in pain or experiencing
a trauma trigger.
Like in surgery when the doctor operating on my eye asks me, does this hurt?
The answer more often than not is a yes.
(21:19):
But the question they're really asking is how much does this hurt?
Do you need more drugs?
That answer is always yes by the way.
But instead of letting my heart rate skyrocket or my muscles tense and blood pressure rise
out of the pain and fear that comes with that when you're awake during surgery on your
(21:39):
face that you can see.
But I've been able to come back to my breathing and focus away from the pain back to the breathing
that calms my body and my mind.
According to this is the practice I've learned through breath work and meditation which I'm
going to call descriptions.
(22:01):
The mindset behind this is you use descriptions to get out of feeling the pain or the overstimulation.
You have to think about, okay, what does this pain feel like?
Is it throbbing?
Is it sharp?
Does it sting?
Is it constant?
If you were to describe it as a piece of clothing on your body, how would you describe that
(22:26):
to me?
If you were to give it a color, what color would you give it?
You're stepping out of the pain that you're feeling in your body and into this mental
state of describing the pain.
It almost takes you out of feeling it entirely sometimes.
And though that doesn't last the whole day and it doesn't fix the pain, it gives you
(22:47):
just a moment of relief and even that can be enough to kind of reset and reposition
you for that day.
I found this to really work and be put to the test when I was on an airplane and there
was a screaming baby next to me and moms and dads, parents, babies just cry.
(23:07):
And I know people make you feel so bad about it and it's normal that we have empathy for
a crying baby and their parent, but you know, that's one of the most like sharp and grinding
shrieking sounds that there is, especially when you're on a plane, a small space.
And the same describing practice you can also do towards things that are overstimulating
(23:29):
you.
So for me, that's sound more often than not.
I truly think that with my eyesight being so poor, my hearing has really stepped up
to the plate.
My sister calls me, you know, bat.
She also calls me giraffe because my neck is pretty long.
You know, she humbles me, but she's also my biggest supporter.
(23:50):
So shout out to my sis.
But when I'm hearing that screaming baby or if you're just overwhelmed by all these
noises, pick it out and start describing it to yourself.
Is it high pitch, low pitch?
What is the pattern of the sound like?
If you were to give it a color, what would you give it?
You know, is it at all soothing or overwhelming?
(24:13):
Really kind of dig into that descriptor and it takes you from being overwhelmed, like feeling
a victim of the noise, feeling a little out of control, to then taking a step of observing
and describing rather than feeling.
Those are things that I've learned from meditation and breathwork that have truly helped me go
(24:34):
throughout my life feeling less stressed or aggravated or out of control and be at a more
calmer, peaceful, relaxed state of mind.
With the remaining practices, I'm not going as deep into the science, so it's going to
go a little faster.
Starting with number five in the movement category, we have massage.
(24:58):
Now I truly didn't realize how many different types of massage I have implemented in my
life, but there was a time where I could barely move my neck and head as I carried so much
stress and trauma in my neck and shoulders.
One neurologist after looking at the CT said that the back of my neck looked like the juiciest
(25:19):
pork chops he's ever seen.
So that kind of gives you a great visual.
Well, the only thing that would give me relief was massage.
And the benefits of massage are improved circulation, reduced muscle stiffness and joint inflammation.
You have better sleep, quicker recovery, it enhances your immune response, and reduces
(25:42):
your stress.
We're keeping on theme here.
So massage therapists are a great way to really get technical if you're dealing with specific
aches and pains.
And there is neuromuscular therapy as well that really targets sensitive areas and reduces
your pain.
And I'm going to give you some affordable options as well.
Starting with a cheap $40 Shiatsu back massager.
(26:05):
I got on Amazon.
Shout out to Catherine for this wreck because it truly was a lifesaver when I could barely
function and wasn't so much pain.
I'll link it in the description here and on the website at gettingbetterpod.com.
But I bought three of these to have one at my house, my now fiancé's house, and my parents'
(26:27):
house because it was such a necessity for me.
And still is.
I use it every night and I freaking run that thing.
But it's got stamina, I tell ya.
It's about the size of a bulky cross body backpack, but it also has nice heating capabilities.
It's one of my all time favorite robots.
Don't tell the microwave.
(26:48):
The second shout out goes to dry brushing.
Dry brushing is pretty straightforward.
You use a dry bristle brush and you work around your body in circular and long motions to help
drain your lymph and speed up lymphatic flow, which helps move waste and impurities out
(27:08):
of the body, contributing to a stronger immune system.
Dry brushing can also eliminate toxins, reduce water retention and puffiness.
It increases your blood flow, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your skin, which gives you
that kind of warm glow.
It also helps remove dry skin cells and unclog your pores.
(27:29):
And that exfoliation can help improve your skin texture and cellular turnover.
And it's truly invigorating and makes you feel fresh, especially once you shower after
because you do kind of feel dry and scratchy with all the exfoliation.
Other massage techniques you can implement that I also add to my health regime is using
a massage gun to massage your body.
(27:51):
And to get your back just use this Shiatsu back massager.
You can invest $15 in a foam roller and roll out your lymph while stretching.
And you can buy a Gua Sha tool for facial massage, but I found that using my hands allows me
to get a little deeper where I hold tension in my jaw.
I'd recommend just looking up a free Gua Sha tutorial online and finding the best facial
(28:13):
oil for your skin.
Again, I will have all of these linked online at GettingBetterPod.com.
And keep in mind, you don't have to spend a lot of money on massage therapists or any
of these massage tools.
Really working on movement and jumping and stretching and just getting in that exercise
will help you move your lymph and your body and bring that good blood flow that we're
(28:37):
talking about.
But this is truly something that has helped me in my health and healing journey.
And when sometimes you can't be bothered to massage out your own legs, it really helps
to invest in having someone or something do it for you.
So we are halfway done with the top 10 non-basic practices for health and healing.
(28:59):
I am splitting this episode into two parts.
So go on over to part two to listen to the rest of six through 10 non-basic practices
for health and healing.
And in the meantime, check out GettingBetterPod on Instagram and GettingBetterPod.com.
And you're going to hear this music again, but we're going to cue it anyway.
(29:20):
Here's to Getting Better.
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