Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve – by Dr. Stanley Rosenberg

There are a lot of books out there about using vagus nerve stimulation to improve various aspects of one’s mental and physical health, but often they boil down to “massage this and relax”.

In this case, the book makes heavy use of the ideas described in a book we’ve reviewed previously: The Polyvagal Theory – by Dr. Stephen Porges

That book is considered the book on this topic, so… Why read this one when that one is right there?

The main reason you might want to read this book rather than that one, is that that one’s a very dense and technical 386 pages, whereas this one’s at the heavy-end-of-pop-science, and 296 pages. This distinction makes it a lot easier for the layperson to read—the other, while published for the public, was very clearly written for academics.

A second reason you might want to read this book rather than that one is that this one is written with practical intent; while Dr. Porges’ book was focused on “how this works”, Dr. Rosenberg’s book is focused on “how to use this to achieve specific, practical ends”.

As to what those are: the list of things the author claims these techniques will cure is too long to go into each item here, but we will say that it doesn’t look to us like the evidence is here for all of these claims. In many cases the author relies on anecdotal case studies, and in equally many (often the same) cases, it might be fairer to say that the techniques support the body’s natural processes rather than that it, say, will treat a hernia or fix bipolar disorder. Maybe one day evidence will be found to demonstrate that these exercises can indeed do those things, but it’s not today.

Bottom line: in this reviewer’s opinion, the author makes some overly bold claims about the results one can expect, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this is still an excellent practical guide to vagus nerve stimulation, and in many ways a much more accessible introduction to polyvagal theory than Dr. Porges’ magnum opus, while still being head and shoulders above most books about the vagus nerve.

Click here to check out Accessing the Healing Power of the Vagus Nerve, and access the healing power of the vagus nerve!