In this post, I’m gonna talk about a single exercise introduced by Stanley Rosenberg that is intended to decrease stress and increase health and well-being. I’m going to give an explanation for why I think the exercise works and how it can be improved.
Basically, I think it has users adopt a posture that in most social situations, would cause them to feel uneasy, but by spending time there under no social pressure, they learn to relax.
The “Basic Exercise” by Stanley Rosenberg was introduced in his 2017 book, “Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve.” This exercise is a part of a set of techniques designed to reset the ventral vagus nerve, which plays a crucial role in our body’s autonomic nervous system. Rosenberg emphasizes the effectiveness of this exercise, noting that he uses it with everyone he sees.
To perform the Basic Exercise, you start by lying down comfortably on your back, interweaving your fingers and placing them behind your head. This simple position is believed to enhance social engagement, increase blood flow to the brain, and create a positive effect on the vagus nerve.
Most people are not at all comfortable, resting their hands behind their head with their elbows in the air. This is a non-verbal expression of superiority and dominance that would be difficult for most people to do in a crowded space or even among friends. However, having someone do this, in a safe setting, may help them, and certain unconscious brain centers, discover that their sensitivity to this posture may be an overreaction, and that it might be safe after all.
The other aspect of the exercise is looking to the side. Side eye is often a negative expression of contempt or disapproval. When used in social situations, it usually increases discomfort or tension between people. As I detailed in my other blog,
… it probably stems from covert looking, where apes won’t face or look directly at other apes that they do not trust. In other words, looking with a side long glance, out of the corner of one’s eye is usually an uncomfortable posture and maybe neurologically linked to the stress response.
Although we probably would never perform this exercise in public, performing it in a safe place allows us to relax. I think that we can relax our response to these postures even further by performing paced diaphragmatic breathing.
You can use my free app available on Android and iOS to do this. I recommend breathing around five seconds in and seven seconds out. The app is called Program Peace.
I think performing a body scan and being aware of the tension in your throat, chest, and stomach while using Stanley’s exercise can also be beneficial and improve its benefits.
This is all part of the concept of diaphragmatic generalization, where anything you do while breathing calmly is cleansed with peace. For more, please check out my free book Program Peace.
