Our thoughts influence our body's responses, and those responses, in turn, affect our thoughts. The vagus nerve is a key communication pathway between the mind and body. It is the largest cranial nerve, beginning in the brain and extending down through the neck, around the throat and voice box, through the heart and lungs, and into the digestive system. This directional communicator facilitates the exchange of information between the brain, heart, and digestive system, playing a crucial role in the parasympathetic nervous system. The vagus nerve controls many involuntary functions, including swallowing, breathing, speech, heartbeat, blood pressure, hearing, taste, circulation, digestion, bladder movement, orgasms, and fertility.

A well-functioning vagus nerve is essential for overall health, enabling access to the brain's regions responsible for creativity, complex thinking, and decision-making—skills vital for taking radical reasonability for our lives. Conversely, an unhealthy vagus nerve restricts the brain to primal responses associated with fear and stress. This dual control means that issues can originate in the brain and impact the body or vice versa. Factors like chronic stress, poor lifestyle choices, overworking, lack of exercise, inadequate nutrition, and sleep deprivation can impair vagus nerve function. When the vagus nerve doesn't work optimally, both the mind and body become vulnerable to various health issues, including depression, anxiety, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, digestive problems, chronic inflammation, kidney dysfunction, and infidelity. 

At Inward Focus Coaching, we uncover how your nervous system handles life and provide tools to increase emotional regulation, reduce stress responses, and connect with your body for optimal health.  Through movement meditations and mindfulness practices, we will enhance self-awareness and patterns of cognition and create a lifestyle that benefits your self-growth and personal/relational goals. 

Our minds can feel like a battleground, constantly seeking proof and evidence to reinforce the reality we create and thought patterns built over time, with decades of accumulated beliefs shaping how we perceive and behave in the world. Life is uncertain, and our brains are wired for survival, constantly trying to predict and protect us. Although the brain fully develops around age 25, neuroplasticity shows that it continues to change and evolve based on experience. Research from Dr. Richard Davidson and Dr. Bruce Lipton highlights how our beliefs and experiences reshape our brain and body. Negative thoughts can trigger stress responses, and ruminating thoughts can create anxiety and depression, but by rewiring out negative thought patterns, we can create new neural pathways and unlock untapped personal resources.

We have to work out our brains just like we could our legs for them to gain strength. It doesn't happen overnight; navigating change and uncertainty can make the mind feel like a war zone. To break free, you must move, feel, think, and present your body differently—and I can show you how. I teach my clients to reprogram how they think about themselves, the world, and their relationships, how to spot limiting beliefs, and how to reduce negative thought patterns that bring anxiety, stress, and depression.

Changing your life requires intention, effort, and discipline—just like earning straight A's, working toward a degree, or pushing for results at the gym. Personal transformation works the same way.

Just as a baby must eventually be born, no matter how challenging the process, intentional, gradual growth WILL lead to transformation. It begins with a clear INTENTION, which shapes our BEHAVIOR. Over time, these behaviors evolve into HABITS, and eventually, these habits become a DAILY PRACTICE. The practice, with consistency, becomes ingrained as our SECOND NATURE, embedded deep into our subconscious, and becomes a fundamental part of who WE ARE. 

If you want something different, you have to do something different. It often takes courage to quiet your ego, which thrives on predictability and keeps you stuck in the familiar. The ego is your protector, not your enemy, but it can't control the show. By working with a coach or therapist, you get support in checking your ego, staying accountable to your goals, and learning tools to set boundaries, navigate challenging conversations, and create a life where you control your time and energy. Change is hard, but you don't have to navigate it alone.