Healing and the Vagus Nerve

Healing and the Vagus Nerve

How do people manage co-occurring mental and physical health issues while recovering? This episode of the Narcissism Recovery Podcast zooms in on a very specific piece of that puzzle: the vagus nerve and its huge role in healing after trauma and narcissistic abuse. Host Yitz Epstein breaks down complex nervous system science into something you can actually use day to day. Drawing on *Our Polyvagal World* by Stephen W.

Porges and Seth Porges, he explains the central idea that the nervous system is constantly asking, “Am I safe?” – often outside of conscious awareness – and that this shapes whether someone connects, shuts down, or goes into fight or flight. You’ll hear how the vagus nerve links the brain to many body functions and acts like a switch between “fight and flight” and “rest and digest”.

Yitz explains why two people from the same family can live through the same events but come away with very different levels of wounding, based on how their nervous systems interpret safety. As he puts it, “Just because there is safety, that doesn’t necessarily mean we feel safe.” A big part of the conversation is about practical tools.

Yitz lays out how breath work gives you rare conscious access to an automatic body function, so you can deliberately send a “you’re safe” signal to your parasympathetic nervous system. He also shares Stephen and Seth Porges’ “Safe and Sound Protocol”, a listening-based intervention that uses filtered music to gently remind the body that it’s okay to relax and connect. Throughout, Yitz returns to one key message: intimacy and self-expression demand safety, both with others and in your own body.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn long after the danger passed, this episode may help you see your reactions as signals from a frightened nervous system rather than personal failings. Could learning to feel safe inside your own skin be the next step on your healing journey?