Tutorial: Abdominal massage, belly breathing, and the vagus nerve

My new book is out! It's called Massage Is Weird: massagesloth.com/book/
This tutorial includes abdominal massage techniques from a myofascial perspective, along with info about using ab massage to affect the vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system as a whole. If you've got clients with stress/anxiety, this can be a great addition to your routine.

0:00 Introduction
0:50 How to activate the parasympathetic nervous system with massage
1:55 A refresher on the autonomic nervous system
3:30 All about the vagus nerve
4:59 Using abdominal massage as a parasympathetic signal
5:40 Abdominal breathing and relaxation
6:50 Demo: Teaching a client an easy breathing exercise
10:55 Chest draping
13:55 Working with clients with more body fat
14:30 Demo: How to start a myofascial abdominal massage
17:00 Myofascial compression toward the midline
18:00 Lateral spreading
18:48 Gliding techniques: Sun and moon
21:20 Static contact
21:55 Dragging from posterior to anterior
23:09 Variations and experimentation

Abdominal massage is uniquely suited to increasing parasympathetic nervous system activity (the "rest and digest" branch of your autonomic nervous system) due to the rich innervation by the vagus nerve. Anything that can send the visceral nervous system the idea that you're in a safe place can trigger the relaxation response. This includes belly breathing exercises, which I discuss in the video. If you choose to introduce these to your clients, make sure that they're not using exaggerated breathing techniques, and emphasize that this is just an exercise, not a new way for them to breathe all the time. If they start to feel lightheaded, have them use a more subtle technique, or ask them to resume breathing as normal.

When I do abdominal massage, I like to use an approach inspired by myofascial release. While this is technically deep tissue massage, this isn't about compression of the viscera or targeted work on the abs. This is about gently, slowly grabbing the core fascia, putting it in a state of traction, and waiting. There will be some deformation of the abdominal cavity; as long as this is moderate and comfortable, this should send further signals of safety and comfort to the brain.

When massaging the abdomen, move slowly, and consider the 3-dimensional nature of the body. The obliques and lumbar region are all part of the core, and contacting them in the context of an abdominal massage can help make the client feel connected.

Let me know what you think, and what you'd like to see next!

Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/MassageSloth
My Facebook blog: facebook.com/massagesloth
More stuff: massagesloth.com