A workshop exploring the vagus NERVE, the ‘social nervous system’ and the polyvagal theory with John Wilks 

24th & 25th May 2025 in Queen Camel, Somerset

17th & 18th September 2025 in Ash, Surrey

In this workshop, we will explore practical ways of stimulating the vagus, using a variety of approaches including Bowen and other manual therapies and use of the breath.  As well as explaining how our autonomic nervous system works, the workshop will look at the vagus within the framework of the Polyvagal Theory (Stephen Porges) and provide skills for tracking and working with our own and our client’s responses within a safe and contained environment.

Now more than ever, understanding how people can regulate their nervous systems in response to current challenges is incredibly valuable. During this workshop, we will explore some very practical ways that we can engage our clients’ social nervous system and our ‘ventral vagus’ in order to calm our nervous systems and integrate experiences positively.

The following will be covered:

Understanding the function of the various aspects of the vagus nerves and how they interact with other cranial nerves

Understanding what affects the efficient functioning of the vagus (trauma, nerve entrapment, the gut microbiome, viruses, bacteria etc) and how we can address this using Bowen and other manual therapies.

How to work with the vagus through Bowen and other manual therapies and vary our touch depending how and where we want to stimulate the vagus

Looking at specific areas of the body where the vagus is more susceptible to nerve entrapment and how to work with that (the temporal area, the atlas/axis, the thoracic outlet, the diaphragm and the enteric nervous system)

Giving simple self-help strategies to clients by using the breath, specific exercises, movement etc

Looking at other things that affect the vagus – food, environment, stress, social factors etc and how to advise clients to support their healing process.

Because the vagus is a pair of very long nerves, there are a lot of places that nerve entrapment can occur. In Bowen and other manual therapies we work a lot on the areas where the vagus is quite exposed and superficial in the body.  In this workshop we will explore the following areas of the body:

·       The Upper Respiratory/TMJ work (where the vagus exits the cranium next to the jugular vein just behind the ears and then travels down the neck behind the SCM)

·       The area where the vagus goes under the clavicle and goes to the heart and lungs

·       The lower respiratory where the vagus is anterior and posterior to the oesophagus

·       The abdomen where there are about half a million neurons connected to the vagus which modulate gut function (particularly inflammation in the gut and the healthy functioning of the microbiome). Here work around the colon, abdominal, gall bladder etc have a strong effect on the vagus

·       The kidney area (the kidneys and the adrenals) and other procedures that affect our viscera.

The workshop will be held at The Old School, Queen Camel, Somerset, BA22 7NH (May 2025) and at The Ash Centre, Ash, Surrey in September 2025

Book your place here