Polyvagal-Informed CranioSacral Therapy

Understanding How CranioSacral and Polyvagal Therapy
Can Help Your Stress and Gut Health

How Stress Affects Your Gut

Have you noticed that when you’re stressed, your stomach gets upset? You’re not imagining things! Your brain and gut are constantly talking to each other through what scientists call the “gut-brain axis.” When you’re under stress for a long time, this communication can get disrupted, potentially leading to problems like:

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
Indigestion and stomach discomfort

Research has shown this connection is very real.

The good news? There are gentle, hands-on approaches that can help your body manage stress better and improve your gut health.

In my practice, I begin any hands-on treatment after you’ve completed several LENS neurofeedback sessions. These sessions help balance your nervous system and allow us to build trust together. When you feel safe and comfortable with me as your practitioner, your body becomes more receptive to the gentle manual therapy techniques I use. This sense of safety is incredibly important for the healing process – it helps your body relax and integrate the treatment more effectively.

What is CranioSacral Therapy (CST)?

CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle, hands-on treatment where a trained therapist uses very light touch to work with the tissues around your brain and spinal cord. Think of it like a gentle massage for your nervous system.

How CST Helps Your Gut

1. Calming Your Nervous System

When you’re stressed, your body goes into “fight-or-flight” mode. CST helps shift your body into “rest-and-digest” mode instead. When your body is in rest-and-digest mode, your gut can:

Move food through more easily
Make more digestive juices
Get better blood flow
Have less inflammation

2. Direct Relief for Your Belly

CST therapists can also work directly on your abdomen to:

Release tight areas around your digestive organs
Improve blood flow to your gut
Help your diaphragm (breathing muscle) work better
Get your digestive system moving more smoothly

Studies have found that gentle manual therapy like this can significantly improve IBS symptoms like pain, bloating, and irregular bowel movements.

Polyvagal Approaches: Working with Your Body's Master Nerve The Vagus Nerve and Your Gut

The Vagus nerve is like the main communication highway between your brain and digestive system. About 80% of this nerve’s fibers actually send information from your gut to your brain (not the other way around)!

Dr. Stephen Porges, who developed Polyvagal Theory, discovered that this nerve has two important branches:

One branch that activates when you feel safe, supporting healthy digestion
Another branch that can slow down or stop digestion when you feel threatened

Understanding these settings helps explain why stress affects your gut so much.

What Happens in Polyvagal Therapy? Learning to Track Your Nervous System

You’ll learn to:

Notice early signs that you’re getting stressed
Identify what triggers digestive distress
Develop personalized strategies for returning to a calm state
Create practical tools for managing digestive discomfort

Strengthening Your Vagus Nerve

Like exercising a muscle, you can strengthen your vagus nerve. Therapists teach you exercises like:

Deep breathing with longer exhales
Voice exercises which activate the nerve
Gentle self-massage along nerve pathways
Awareness exercises to help you feel grounded
these techniques can reduce gut inflammation..

Research shows how vagal treatments can decrease inflammation.

Combining Both Approaches

When used together, CST and Polyvagal therapy address both the physical and emotional aspects of stress-related gut problems. Research supports this combined approach:

A study found CST reduced stress markers and improved gut health
Polyvagal techniques improved gut symptoms and reduced inflammation

These approaches don’t just treat symptoms – they help your body remember how to regulate itself naturally. By restoring balance to your nervous system and releasing physical tension, many people find lasting relief from stress-related gut issues.