Description
“Thoroughly researched, clearly explained, and beautifully illustrated…[this book] provides powerful insights and actionable steps for regulating the nervous system.”
—Alex Korb, Ph.D., Neuroscientist, Personal Development Coach, and Author of The Upward Spiral
A somatic approach to treating trauma, anxiety, and depression has never been more popular. Perhaps that’s because recent studies show that 80% of mind-body communication originates in the body —the vagus nerve is the superhighway that facilitates this communication.
Healing Through the Vagus Nerve walks you through how the nervous system and the vagus nerve function, with approachable, non-academic language and helpful illustrations. Amanda Armstrong (founder of Rise as We) teaches all about vagal tone and the impact it has on your mental health and everyday life. Then, a variety of exercises and practices provide an adaptable approach to improving nervous system function:
- Breathing techniques including diaphragmatic breathing, physiological sigh, voo breath, and the Valsalva technique
- Massage techniques for the ear, neck, and abdomen
- Visual techniques including lateral eye stretches, eye pushups, orienting, eye cupping, and gaze opening
- Physical techniques including cold exposure, yoga, and more
Featuring relatable client stories, key details of the author’s own journey healing her nervous system, and a selection of entry points to help engage with the process, Healing Through the Vagus Nerve is a complete guide to improving your stress response through optimizing your vagus nerve and nervous system.
Learn how to work with your nervous system instead of against it.
Melissa Muncy (verified owner) –
Amanda’s book does an incredible job encouraging the modern day human to prioritize their mental health through empathetic and thoughtful visuals in tandem with digestible and actionable words. I’m honored to know her personally and through this book!
Customer (verified owner) –
Thank you! This book is a must read if you’re on a healing journey (or really it’s a must read for everyone IMO). There are so many tangible tools I can’t wait to try with my anxiety, and Amanda has an incredible way of taking complicated topics and writing about them in a way that just make sense. The second I got this book, I couldn’t put it down, and lost count of how many “ah-ha” moments it gave me. I’ve been on a healing journey for a long time, therapy for years, meds, and was starting to lose hope. This book has brought so much of that back for me.
Irene (verified owner) –
Healing Through the Vagus Nerve by Amanda Armstrong. An excellent educational guide that is user-friendly, with clear instructions and helpful visuals. Recommended for individuals with anxiety and stress, offering helpful exercises that stimulate the vagus nerve, including laughing, gargling, and cold conditions. The blueprint portion is a really useful place to start. I plan on purchasing the hardcover copy for future reference once it is published.
Thank you to the author, Fair Winds Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.
Alsandaira (verified owner) –
The gentle somatic and vagal toning exercises, along with all of the wisdom Amanda shares in this book, has been so helpful in my healing journey. The nervous system mapping practice is super helpful! I’ve even learned how to be aware and understand my nervous systems state and its capacity thanks to this tool. I just know this book is going to help so many others!
Kristen Genest (verified owner) –
I found Amanda on Instagram and resonated with her teachings regarding anxiety and depression. I was so excited to read her book that I finished it cover to cover in one day…it’s so good! She writes in a way that’s easily understood by the average person and she gives tangible steps and exercises to help regulate your nervous system that are simple and helpful to implement into your daily life. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn simple ways to manage stress, anxiety, and depression!
Michele F (verified owner) –
Amanda does an excellent job explaining the vagus nerve and ways to balance the nervous system. She provides easy to understand information as well as tangible steps to work on healing your nervous system. I discovered Amanda on Instagram then connected to her podcasts. She is a breath of fresh air! I highly recommend her book!
Wendy Wabshinak (verified owner) –
Amanda did such an amazing job with this book! Such a great read , really clarified a lot of things for me in my journey to heal and help others do the same!
Cee Z (verified owner) –
Thinking “Of course, this makes sense instead” of “what’s wrong with me?” is revolutionary! Understanding and changing your perspective makes all the difference. I found this book exceedingly helpful. While I can’t say I enjoyed the information on the sympathetic and parasympathetic it definitely was important to have this background. The exercises for vagus nerve stimulation are amazing. They range from things like gargling to legs up the wall to cold exposure to laughter! I did find the blueprint section was a great starting point and very helpful. A very useful, comforting and helpful book. I totally recommend adding this to your library.
Christine (verified owner) –
“Healing Through the Vagus Nerve” is a beautiful book. Not only is it visually attractive in its presentation and illustrations, but it provides a map of easily applied action steps which can yield an improved quality of life, which is a beautiful thing.
Holly (verified owner) –
Helps you learn on regulating stress and is perfect for teens to read who are stressing.
Heather Lopez (verified owner) –
This book is amazingly informative! It is well written and much needed as someone that suffers from anxiety.
Danny Fletcher (verified owner) –
Amandas sheer joy and passion for her work comes through in every page of this book. Her approach to healing feels like it was built for the modern world and the cycles of stress most of us live in.
It’s accessible yet meticulous in its research and science, powerful but beautiful in its simplicity, it gently holds you accountable but also holds your hand through it all.
Buy this book, listen to the podcast, follow her on socials and join her membership!
ellen (verified owner) –
This is so much more than a book, it’s a vital manual for those struggling with anxiety and depression. What sets this book apart is its practical approach, combining scientific understanding with actionable exercises that make the healing process accessible and engaging.
Amanda masterfully explains complex concepts of the nervous system in a clear, concise manner. Each chapter is meticulously crafted, with exercises that empower you to work through your anxieties and depressive states in real-time. The use of imagery throughout is so well done.
Whether you’re new to concepts like nervous system regulation or seeking to deepen your existing practice, this book offers a treasure trove of insights.
Olivia (verified owner) –
I cannot wait to dive more into this book! Having followed Amanda on Instagram for a few months, her knowledge, gentle and clear approach, and practical skills are just what’s needed. I’m looking forward to having the information and tools at my fingertips to refer back to again and again, and as a leactitioner, I’m looking forward to seeing how I can better equip my clients! Bonus is it is so aesthetically beautiful and easy to look at and navigate!
true mountain (verified owner) –
This is an amazing book with a clear description of how the nervous system works for us and how to support yourself and honor your body and mind. As a health educator working in the community, I love how practical and accessible all the information and tools are. This will top on my list as a recommendation.
J L in GA (verified owner) –
I like the content of this book, and it is well-organized. I liked the pictures and the easy of navigating through all the lessons and techniques. I didn’t like the small font because it made it a little difficult to read, but I did appreciate the background pages that were white. All in all, helpful and informative.
Laurie (verified owner) –
I had never even heard of the vagus nerve before picking up this book, much less how it impacts physical and mental health. Turns out that there is an emerging and growing body of research linking the vagus nerve to a variety of symptoms, conditions, and treatments. This practical guide to improving your body’s response through nervous system regulation is written in a conversational manner, explains the science in layman’s terms, and provides practical suggestions and exercises. Far from “woo-woo,” the tools and techniques listed here are grounded in science. I plan to spend more quality time with this book and incorporate many of its suggestions into my daily routine.
MomTo2Boys (verified owner) –
Being unfamiliar with Amanda Armstrong I am glad I found this book. This book has a lot of information placed into a format that I could wrap my head around as I learned about the vagus nerve and regulating my nervous system. however, that same head was not happy with all those words being in little font print. If you are looking to learn more about how your body and your nervous system work together in hopes of a more harmonious connection between the two, then I would suggest this book.
Batya Levine (verified owner) –
Thank you Quarto Publishing Group – Fair Winds, Fair Winds Press, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this amazing book. This well-researched book provides detailed instructions on how to heal oneself through the vagus nerve. It was a wonderful review and a reminder for me, and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who would like to take their health into their own hands and help themselves feel better.
Brittany Eiring (verified owner) –
I’ve been listening to Amanda’s podcast and have found it immensely helpful for myself and in my practice where I help others struggling with anxiety and depression. I was so excited she wrote a book and preordered it as soon as I heard about it. I am so happy to have a physical copy of the so many important things she refers to. Well worth it!
Jess (verified owner) –
I can’t even describe how amazing this book is. I literally want to buy it for every human being I know. It emphasizes giving yourself grace, learning helpful tools, & empowers you to heal & lead an overall better life. As a health coach, this will be recommended to every client I work with. And as a mom, it will be recommended to every friend, family member, & incorporated into my parenting daily. It’s a handbook I’ll use for life.
Kali (verified owner) –
The skills Amanda details in this book have completely changed my life. She does an amazing job of taking a really complicated subject and making it understandable and accessible. I used to have daily anxiety but learning about my nervous system has given me the tools to really learn what I need, and don’t need, and be able to realistically put these tools into play. I continue to learn from Amanda everyday. I’ve also known her for 10+ years and she is one of the best humans I know!
Ray Lehman (verified owner) –
This book is beautiful inside and out. I’ve only flipped through it and skimmed so far, but I can not wait to dive in. After listening to Amanda’s podcast for awhile now, I was thrilled to order her book. This is going to be a wonderful and impactful read for sure!
KL (verified owner) –
This is a topic I am becoming increasingly interested in, and I love that I have had the opportunity to read this book. The vagus nerve affects so much and I don’t think people truly realize its impact. This is a great introductory guide that is very informative and helpful. If someone is struggling with their nervous system and how to improve mental health and physical health, then this is the book for them. It’s revolutionary and can answer so many questions and help a person begin to find answers and help themselves so that they can be happy and healthy!
Nicole R (verified owner) –
Healing Through the Vagus Nerve by Amanda Armstrong is a fascinating resource. I took so many notes and I know I will be reading this again!
The author provided practical suggestions on how to feel better and better deal with stressors. I look forward to implementing some of the ideas in my own life.
If you are looking for a resource to feel better, you may want to check this one out!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Carianne Nadeau (verified owner) –
This book is changing the way I think about health and healing. I can’t recommend it highly enough not just for people who have anxiety or depression, but for everyone.
Lily (verified owner) –
This book offers practical strategies for managing mental health issues by focusing on the body’s natural responses. Miss Armstrong provides clear explanations and easy-to-follow exercises that can be implemented in daily life. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the vagus nerve and its role in regulating emotions and stress levels. Overall, it’s a valuable resource for anyone seeking to enhance their well-being through mind-body connections.
E’s 2 cents (verified owner) –
Is “Healing Through the Vagus Nerve”! With everything happening on the Earth at the moment, we all could use these techniques for better handling stress. I really only discovered what the vagus nerve was this year via YouTube. So I was excited to deep dive into the subject through Amanda’s book.
It’s beautifully illustrated and easy to read. It contains practical knowledge that I have applied to my life right away. The book addresses a wide range of issues that healing the vagal nerve can help improve. This non-medical layman could easily understand the terminology. I think that people of all ages could benefit from reading this book.