Merry Xmas!
Dec 20, 2015
Last week Sarah Young wrote about the vagus nerve and how it is the nerve of compassion. The higher your vagal tone, the more compassion you are likely to have. The vagus nerve in the Xth (10th) cranial nerve. It is basically your "rest and digest" nerve or your relaXation nerve. It controls your ability to rest - to be at peace - by lowering your heart rate, optimizing your digestion, calming your adrenals, as well as other needed restful functions. The higher your vagal tone, the more peace you can have, the more compassion you can eXude.
Conversely, the lower your vagal tone, the more stressed your body is. Poor vagal tone yields the fight or flight response: high heart rate, rapid breathing, high adrenaline, poor digestion, uncontrolled emotions, lack of sleep, lack of empathy. You catch that? How easy is it to have empathy for another, to be compassionate, when you are stressed out? When you are in flight, can you stop to help someone? When you are in fight, do you really want to love someone? When you are stressed out, can you even have compassion towards yourself?
I find it interesting that Xmas is the season of compassion. You know this is true too. For all the "junk" that is in the world, there is more love, compassion and peace expressed in this time of year than any other. People get giddy over giving, they get mushy over songs, they smile more, and they just seem to care more during this "season". I also find it interesting that the Xth nerve is the nerve that regulates Peace in our bodies and the ability to have compassion in our emotions.
Let's be very honest. Regardless of your beliefs there is only one reason for the Xmas season: The Christ child (The X). As the story goes, when He was born, the Angels declared "Peace on earth and goodwill towards men." This probably would have been spoken in Hebrew. The Hebrew word for peace is "Shalom". Shalom means nothing missing and nothing broken. It means wholeness, completeness, health, peace and welfare.
The X-child was said to be the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Shalom. Isn't it "neat" how the X cranial nerve is kind of the "Nerve of Peace"? One could say it is only a coincidence, but then there would still be a great deal of other coincidences involving the X and the human body. For example, the body is an X, it is made of a series of X's, the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, it even takes both hemispheres of the brain to see or interpret the X symbol, and the X is always used to get our attention in advertising. Xtreme, eXtra, X-rated, XXX - this symbol attracts our attention - X marks the spot. We are drawn to the X.
Sorry, big tangent. Anyway, for the body to truly be healthy, it needs to have a high vagal tone. Without good vagal tone, we can not rest and digest, we cannot have peace. If we cannot have peace, we cannot have compassion. It appears a sign, or a symptom of good health is compassion. December could be the healthiest month of the year for most people. It's funny, because it could also be the most stressful time of the year due to shopping, relatives, parties, loneliness and elves on shelves. But even amidst those stressors, compassion still wins out. I wonder if it has anything to do with being drawn to the X?
Anyway again, the Original Strength Resets, the movement patterns you were designed to carry out, strengthen your X and your Xth cranial nerve, your nerve of peace. The resets are like "vitamins" that promote high vagal tone. Moving the way you were designed promotes peace in your body, a whole kind of peace: emotions, thoughts, digestion, heart rate, respiration rate, relaxation, calmness. Moving the way you were designed promotes compassion. Therefore, moving the way you were designed makes the world a better place. It may be a stretch of thought, but you can get there.
You were made to have shalom, to be whole and complete. May your X be strong and resilient, may your Xth cranial nerve be healthy, and may you be filled with peace - with nothing missing and nothing broken.
Have a very merry Xmas!
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