The Vagus Nerve (VN) is one of twelve cranial nerves involved in the special functions of sight, smell, breathing, facial movement, digestion, heartbeat and more. The VN is the longest of them – Latin name Vagus – for “wandering.” This nerve wanders from the brainstem past the heart and diaphragm and down to the large intestines, innervating muscles of the face (the tongue, ears and eyes), as well as the lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, spleen and digestive organs. 

As such, the VN carves a direct pathway linking the body’s three brains: the cranial brain, the heart brain and the belly brain. The different branches of the VN – dorsal and ventral – signal distinct physiological, as well as behavioral responses. For example in a state of ventral vagal activation the nerve signals the brain and body to move into “fight, flight or fawn.” In contrast, or dorsal vagal states signal underactivation, withdrawal, shutdown or freeze. Where this spectrum from hyper to hypo activation corresponds to a response to lived states. 

Modern life causes constant stimulation of the nerves, caused by chronic low grade stress. Inability to manage chronic stress leads to inflammation resulting in disease processes. Whereas chronic shut-down leaves one without motivation, drive, creativity or desire to engage. The coping strategies we developed as children may mean an individual has a propensity to lean towards one or the other of these spectral states reflexively – over activation or hyper activation and under activation or hypo activation, ventral vagal dominant or dorsal vagal dominant. 

Regulation of the nerves is thus a vital skill. Regulation is about bringing the system back into balance. So irrespective of the tendencies towards shut down or over stimulation, the key is to develop fluency between states. We need both. Without nervous system regulation and the toning affects of regulating, we can expect to suffer ill-effects of stress and the degradation of physical and mental health. 

The human apparatus is a system of collaborating systems. We are composed of – and nested in – webs of connected systems that depend on and influence one another. For example, internally, the three brains are all nested in our larger physical body, they are connected by the vagus nerve (among myriad other tissues) and together form a central command center for our consciousness and the integration of experience itself. Take the gut-brain: home to trillions of microbes that produce neurochemicals like serotonin and others and in constant contact with the immune system – 80% of which is located at or in the gut. Next the heart-brain:  The electromagnetic field of the heart extends three feet in all directions and pulsates hormonal and electrical rhythms influencing inner states and projecting outer states. The cranial brain receives 40-50 bits of conscious information per second that gets acted upon. 

Each of these three brains is powerful, extending and receiving information beyond biological boundaries. Our capacity to extend our brains beyond the barriers of our physical body has been proven scientifically – yet remains contentious to those who assume the mind and the brain are only material.  If accept the assumption that the external environment is part of our giving and receiving network, as we move out of the layers of the physical human body, we can begin to fathom that we are linked to the environment through a complex signaling of hormones, electrical impulses, biophysically through bacteria and viruses, and energetically. We exchange gasses with each other and the environment, we exchange physiologically through food, sunlight and sex, through the interdependent relationships of child-rearing, family structures, work and culture writ-large. 

This may be obvious, but what may not be, is the tangible interdependence of these linkages. The nexus between the inner-ceptions (proprio-, intero-, per-, and extero-) and the external milieu, happens through the vagus nerve. 

When one is regulated: by feeling and thus creating a sense of safety, one concomitantly experiences a desire to connect and can exude prosocial behavior. The felt sense of safety is critical. Safety keeps the nerves functioning in a way that allows one to manage stress and fear. However this can be a U-shaped phenomenon. Too much safety and we stop challenging ourselves, growing our will and being creative. Again, regulation is not rest. Regulation is fluency between the systems – dorsal and vagal activation. To achieve regulation is to become intimate with how your body deals with over-stimulation. 

In conclusion, there is biochemical evidence to support that the more regulated we are, the more we will gravitate towards pro social behavior: smiling, harmony, collaboration and care. This forms a biological basis for how inner work and world work are inextricably linked. Inner work generates both internal well-being; releasing one into a state of peace, contentment, harmony and compassion, as well as external well-being; generating humans who are emissaries for a safer world. A world where compassion and care are natural. Let’s press pause here. The more we do our inner work – regulation of our nervous system, fluency – the more we are created prosocial behavior with network effects. Co regulation

How we are internally is how we are externally through the vagus nerve – who we are as a culture, a species even, is who we are on the inside via the vagus nerve – inner work is world work.