Harness the power of your vagus nerve to reduce stress, overcome anxiety and release past trauma Feeling anxious and disconnected are signs of a nervous system that's out of balance. Something as small as a curt message from our boss can be perceived by our bodies as a threat to life. By understanding our physiological stress response, we can override and heal our emotional response, and fix the behaviours sabotaging our health and happiness. In The Vagus Nerve Reset, Anna Ferguson offers somatic therapies alongside the science of Polyvagal Theory, to help us train our nervous system to stop overreacting, and start responding more calmly to day-to-day stressors and heal past experiences. Anna provides practical, immediate ways to unlock a mindful connection with our bodies, helping us become more aware of our nervous system and notice what derails us - and transform the way we respond to every kind of challenge in life. By tuning into our vagus nerve we can gently shape our nervous system for greater resilience. This will have profound long-term positive influence on our overall health and wellbeing, providing relief from debilitating anxiety and symptoms of chronic illness. Including a programme of mindful movement, breathwork and meditation, journalling, and more, this comprehensive guide allows us to find anchors of safety amongst the chaos, reclaim a sense of control and step into the most confident, resilient and grounded version of ourselves.

Linda Annas Ferguson knows-to borrow Wallace Stevens' formulation-that "Death is the mother of beauty." She proclaims in one of her poems, "Everything / is drenched with endings, alive with dying." Her work exists at the shimmering mid-point between an urge to celebrate the world's beauty and a pained recognition that this beauty is mutable. She recognizes that our being only temporary inhabitants of this life is not a problem to solve but a mystery to feel-and a mystery that compels us to make poems. As she wryly puts it, she is "dying to write / a decent poem." Linda Annas Ferguson has done more than that. She has given us a book of tender, clear-eyed, complex meditations, a lovely book by a poet whose vision we can trust. - Chris Forhan, author of Black Leapt In