A beautifully illustrated book, I loved how easy it was to read and the information was concise yet understandable and easy to follow instructions. It took me longer to read, only because I wanted to put into practice the themes of the bok and I found it really easy to jump back in and continue reading. Really enjoyed this.

This book was extremely interesting and as a body practitioner a useful tool in understanding the vagus nerve. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

Such a cool and powerful resource. I didn’t know much about the vagus nerve going into this, so I found it to be a great introduction to a really important topic.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

On the one hand, this book has reasonable, actionable suggestions and insight that a majority of people would find helpful. People experiencing low-support-needs anxiety, depression, or similar challenges will find helpful info. People experiencing non-organic stressors (trouble at work, difficult meeting at school, etc.) can absolutely use the tools to recognize their mental state and use techniques to help bring themselves back into balance.

In other ways, this wasn't what I was looking for. I have a chronic illness, and the vagus nerve comes up occasionally in other books/research/context, so I was hoping to get a better handle on how it interacts with whatever else I've got going on on any given day. The information was fairly general, and more intro-level. While that's great for many readers, it wasn't what I was hoping for. It also seems like everything about the vagus nerve + other body systems are in a chicken-or-egg space: science doesn't know if the nerve is causing the gut symptoms, or the digestive system is messing up the nerve. Without knowing which is causing which, spending time and resources on support the nerve when it may very well be being constantly unbalanced by other parts of the body feels a bit like trying to fill a barrel with a hole in the bottom.

The author shares early in the book that she no longer medicates her ADHD and anxiety, as she's able to control her symptoms through these practices and general lifestyle. She doesn't necessarily advocate that that's the right path for everyone but... it still left a bad taste. I wonder how much of her ADHD "management" can truly be attributed to cold showers and belly breathing, and how much of it is because she's fortunate enough to manager her own business, thus setting her own goals and working within her natural energy cycles.

originally received as an eARC through NetGalley. The format was difficult to read on my phone, so thanks to my local public library for providing a print copy for me to finish reading.

This is a really great resource for anyone trying to heal their nervous system. As someone who struggles with mental health, nervous system regulation is at the top of my list of things to incorporate. I’m excited to be implementing a lot from this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy to review. I found this book to be helpful in explaining the nervous system, the importance of the vagus nerve, and ways to go about implementing caring for ourselves. This could be an excellent starting point for someone who knows little or nothing about this topic. I also appreciate the resources at the end of the book.

I had listened to Amanda's podcast so I was so excited to read her book. I'm delighted to report it is excellent! The book is easy to understand a complex topic, it has easy to follow steps and exercises to help keep your nervous system regulated. I've started to implement them into my daily routine and am very happy with the results. I am so pleased with this I have purchased the paperback version to keep on my desk for quick referral. I will use this to help manage my anxiety and stress! Highly recommend.

With easy to understand text and graphics, trauma-informed coach and kinesiologist Amanda Armstrong teaches readers about the nervous system, and specifically the vagus nerve. She helps you learn to identify when your nervous system is regulated (calm and connected), activated (anxious), or shut down (depressed or overwhelmed). She then provides a menu of proactive practices to help you tone the vagus nerve to increase your resilience and reactive techniques to help you shift out of activation or shutdown.

Even though I’ve already read quite a few books on stress, resilience, and the polyvagal theory, I learned some new tips. I also really appreciated Ms. Armstrong’s gentle, encouraging teaching style. I loved her coaching on how to shift from feeling like there is something wrong with you to understanding why you are reacting a certain way and feeling empowered to shift that. I loved the variety of practices she explains, including breathing exercises, massage techniques, vision exercises, practitioner- and device-supported techniques, and others. She also provides great coaching and examples of how to develop a healing routine that works for you based on stacking tiny habits.

The back matter includes recommended books and other resources, a bibliography, and an index.

I think most people could benefit from reading this book, and I highly recommend it for anyone who suffers from stress-related physical or mental health problems.

I was provided an unproofed ARC through NetGalley that I volunteered to review.

As a pots sufferer I was intrigued to read this. The book is relatively short and spends a great deal of time setting the scene explaining the basis and then a couple of chapters on hiw you csn improve. The title implied more. I found the explanation too much and too clinical. This may be aimed st health care professionals rather than your average every da person. It needed to be longer with more indepth exercises to justify the title. If the market is the professionals it's spot on bit or every day people like myself who might be looking for help it needs adaption.
It reads textbook and lacks enough exercises that is the only reasons for the low rating.
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author

This book along at a time when, 1. I am looking at my own healing, 2. Instagram is all about the V.Nerve - and I dont know what exactly to do!
so, this book answered my questions and explained what it is, and gives some good practical activities and techniques to help yourself.

The vagus nerve is like this major highway linking your brain to your vital organs, handling everything from how your heart beats to how you digest food. It's made up of around 160,000 nerve fibers, and scientists are busy mapping it all out to get a better grip on how it affects stuff like our mood, immune system, and inflammation. I've been seeing a lot more about it on social media, showing just how crucial it is in our everyday life.

This book does an awesome job of breaking down all that complex info into something you can actually understand. It covers how the vagus nerve functions, its effects, and what you can do to support it. Big props to the author for making it so accessible and throwing in some great illustrations too. Wellness is super important, and this book makes it a bit easier to keep it on our radar.

This is an accessible guide to understanding the vagus nerve and improving your life through different approaches to regulating your nervous system. The author explains the science well, gives a variety of illustrative examples, and explores how increasing your awareness of your nervous system throughout everyday life can help you process stressors and take better care of yourself.

The book includes a variety of thought and reflection prompts, and also includes practical exercises and activities at the end. I wish that this had offered even more practical exercises and had interspersed them more throughout the book, but I was pleased with it overall. My only other significant critique is that the font size is unnecessarily small, and that it is sometimes difficult to read this, especially when the small text is in cramped columns. Nonetheless, this is a beneficial resource that combines scientific information with wellness activities that people can use to help themselves.

A great book for learning to heal yourself in conjunction with modern medicine and/or therapies.

The techniques given in this lovely book help calm your whole system through breathing exercises, massage, physical and visual techniques and are presented in a clear and easy to understand way.

A great book to use alongside your recovery and into your best self.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC.

Hands down the most informative book I have read about the Vagus Nerve. Anyone who thinks they have problems with their vagus nerve or is interested in polyvagal exercises need to read this book.

This is such a great resource! It explains the background of the vagus nerve and how to use the exercises very well. Great explanations.

I have been doing vagus nerve and nervous system regulation work for a while and this book was a great addition to this. It was a fantastic refresher in what I’d already learned with some great new practices I’ll definitely be adding into my routine.

Amanda Armstrong explains the neuroscience behind vagal toning in an accessible way. The illustrations are beautiful and the book is packed with great information and exercises. Would definitely recommended to those with nervous system disregulation!

I wasn't sure what I expected with this book. It was different than what I normally read. It was interesting timing in my life for this book to come out. Still processing it.

A Must Read for True Healing

The author states that in the last decade of neuroscience
and psychological research, it has been learned that so much stress, trauma, anxiety, and depression actually lives in the body rather than in the brain; and that when it comes to the mind-body connection and nervous system regulation, the vagus nerve is key to natural healing. She discusses how the nervous system, mainly the vagus nerve, is at the center of it all, and that the first part of this book focuses on building the understanding of the mind-body connection and nervous system.

The author organized this book is a very easy to read and understand way, proving detailed information on:
• The role your nervous system and vagus nerve play in your mental and physical health
• How to personalize your newly discovered knowledge to help you better understand the current state of your unique nervous system and vagus nerve
• How to regulate your nervous system and heal your vagus nerve in a personalized and strategic way
• Healing through a provided library of guided somatic and vagal toning exercises that can be utilized over and over again during one's healing journey
• Creating your very own vagal toning routine to help you reconnect to your body, regulate your nervous system, and reclaim your life through the provided blueprints offered in this book

The author states that there are powerful ways to train and leverage your physiology, your body, and your nervous system to influence and heal your psychology and your mind; that there are certain habits that hurt and others that heal; and that knowing how one's mind-body system works is the
most powerful step in learning to work with it, and
eventually train with it, instead of fighting against it.

I truly love this book. It offers various massage techniques, blueprints that are so understandable, and overall, just a wealth of information to begin living a better, and newer lifestyle without so much pain, stress, anxiety, and the whole lot of debilitating health issues.

Many thanks to Amanda Armstrong for such a very understandable and great book.

I highly recommend it. And it should be a reference tool for any suffering from any or all of the issues discussed in this book. Thank you.

"In a world where anxiety and depression are commonplace, so many are in search of a path to healing."

What a sad, sad sentence.

I found this book both fascinating and highly informative. I've been intrigued by the vagus nerve and its healing abilities for a long time so I am very happy I found this book. The information is indepth enough to teach you what you need to know but not so much that you get lost - it is easy to understand.

I'm so very hopeful some of these tools will aid me on my healing journey.

I am always looking for a better way of self-care. This book was a great insight into how the vagus nerve controls so much of one's mental health. It was written for a lay-person, easily understandable along with some great breathing exercises. Stress is with all of us every day, some folks have a handle on it, some folks not so much. I fall into the latter. The eye exercises were something new for me, and I appreciate the simple, forthright explanations. I'm hoping to be able to use many of these techniques and will most likely get a hard copy to keep close by. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this, and giving my unbiased review.