Exercising vagus nerve pathways naturally.
Welcome to the Institute for Nonverbal Language Integration (INvLI). Our mission is to explore the efficacy and applications of the theory of Nonverbal Language Integration (NvLI) as a natural innate tool for self-regulation and engagement and to educate the public about NvLI. Our vision is to empower all people (from infants to the elderly) to be at their very best at any time and any place. INvLI's work is accomplished by promoting interprofessional collaboration for research, application, and teaching the theory of NvLI.
Be sure to click on the box below - Read more - to learn about our organizational plan. After reviewing the plan and exploring this site, please contact INvLI if you would like to join in this mission. If you are a professional who is working with people, we invite you to consider becoming an NvLI collaborator.
NvLI is a ground-breaking theory by speech-language pathologist Dorothy Bohntinsky, MA, CCC-SLP, DMin. She is the author of Nonverbal Language Integration for Exercising Vagus Nerve Pathways: Introducing the Theory and Practice of Enhancing Rapport Naturally through Pragmatics. NvLI uses evidenced-based findings to show how the omohyoid muscle (in the neck) activates vagus nerve pathways and the precuneus in the brain.
The omohyoid muscle is triggered by specific nonverbal language behaviors (postures, gestures, facial expressions, and vocalizations). Vagus nerve activation decreases stress and returns the body and mind to the state of engagement and rapport. The precuneus is important for integrating what is happening outside of us with our knowledge and experiences. It is also important for visualizing motor movements, and memory of everyday events (episodic memory).
If you clicked on the Homepage box Tell me more, you have already seen the document about the theory NvLI. There is a script at the end of this document that explains a simple progressive exercise. The exercise follows. Try it for yourself and then engage someone or begin an activity. How did you do? How did you feel? Want to know more?
Keep scrolling and click on the links to learn all about NvLI. Visit the Gallery for illustrations. Then send in the Form to see how you can become involved in the Institute for NvLI's mission.
Nonverbal Language Integration
Activating Your Vagus Nerve Naturally through Body Language
Here you will find stories of inspiration about how we can activate the vagus nerve naturally to promote positive engagement with others and ourselves.
From Loss to Inspiration and Discovery
"A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind."
Albert Imre Azent-Gyorgi
Dorothy Bohntinsky, MA, CCC-SLP, DMin has been an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist since 1976. Her journey through the loss of a young teenage daughter in 2000, closely followed by both of her parents, ignited her passion to help herself and family build resilience during those times of sadness, anxiety, and stress. She published her story in The Healing Room: Discovering Joy through the Journal.
Due to the public's positive response, she returned to post-graduate work regarding grief. In 2006, Dr. Bohntinsky received her doctorate of ministry with emphasis in cross-cultural healing principals of grieving, recovery, and resilience. These include awareness of feelings, identification of emotions, and creative expression. She was ordained as an Interfaith minister that same year after graduating from an Interfaith seminary in Berkeley, CA.
Her 2006 dissertation, Transformational Healing through the Integration of Self: A Simple Approach for Problem Solving that Inspires Brilliance, includes a process for writing about events, feelings, impressions of emotions, and recommendations regarding what could be done differently next time. She published her dissertation in 2016 after teaching the process to clients for a decade.
In July 2018, Dr. Bohntinsky's curiosity sparked where the preparation of her knowledge and skills intersected. She read about a sports collar that prevents concussion due to movement of the omohyoid muscle. Researchers stated that the yawn did the same thing. (See Inspired by a Sports Collar). However, Dr. Bohntinsky knew that the yawn promoted attention and social engagement.
She immediately noticed that light pressure on the neck generated an improved sense of wellbeing. Then her grandchildren (ages 4, 6, and 8 at the time), agreed to participate in real-life experiments with her. She observed reduced stress, decreased sibling conflicts, better behavior regulation, and improved attention.
Her ethnological research findings (research in real-life settings) combined with systematic review of sound scientific research led to her theory that specific nonverbal language behaviors involve movement of the omohyoid muscle. When these behaviors are engaged in, greater calmness and social engagement follows. This suggests that the vagus nerve is activated. Therefore, the vagus nerve can be exercised and tone by doing these behaviors voluntarily.
It was her grandchildren who insisted that she document all the details in a book that they could read someday. Nonverbal Language Integration for Exercising Vagus Nerve Pathways: Introducing the Theory and Practice of Enhancing Rapport Naturally through Pragmatics is a guidebook written for practitioners. She is currently working on a version for the general public.
Click on "Read more" to visit her Author's Page at Amazon.com.
How Nonverbal Language Integration Works
Everything is interconnected! Neuroscience has already shown that the yawn is a natural behavior that activates the vagus nerve and stimulates the precuneus. The precuneus is the area of the brain involved with attention, focus, memory, visual imagery for motor planning, and reasoning. The yawn involves the omohyoid muscle.
The yawn is considered to be negative and most cultures discourage its display. There are many nonverbal language behaviors that are also considered in many cultures to display negative emotions. Many cultures discourage the display of negative emotions. Yet, when analyzed, many of these behaviors involve the omohyoid muscle.
The theory of Nonverbal Language Integration states that these specific nonverbal language behaviors activate the ventral vagus brake. Researchers for the Q Collar showed that light pressure on the omohyoid muscle creates pressure on the jugular vein. This prevents a small amount of blood (between the brain and the skull) from flowing out of the brain. The carotid artery continues to pump blood into that same area. This creates a kind of airbag to prevent concussion.
The theory of Nonverbal Language Integration shows that this same pressure on the omohyoid muscle activates the vagus nerve, which is in close proximity to the jugular vein and carotid artery. (Click on Location at the Home Page). A hand placed on the throat is a common gesture when something is upsetting but not life threatening. This same placement is mimicked by the Q Collar.
Nonverbal Language Integration identifies specific postures, gestures, and vocalizations that naturally activate the omohyoid muscle. These nonverbal language behaviors are natural maneuvers that stimulate the ventral vagus nerve brake when the circumstance is not immediately life threatening. The system returns to a greater state of ease, harnessing the rapport required for activities and relationships of daily living.
As a speech-language pathologist, Dr. Bohntinsky knows that exercising muscles actually involves exercising and strengthening nerves. Therefore, she knew that the vagus nerve could be exercised through specific nonverbal language behaviors involving the omohyoid muscle. Exercising the ventral vagus nerve via the omohyoid muscle improves its tone. Improving the tone of the ventral vagus nerve improves the reaction time and duration of the parasympathetic nervous system. The yawn (nonverbal language behavior), omohyoid, vagus nerve, and precunus are all interconnected. The yawn/sigh is an evidenced based strategy to achieve a relaxed voice. The precuneus promotes attention, focus, memory, visual imagery for motor planning, and reasoning. It is all interconnected!
Dr. Bohntinsky provides education regarding Nonverbal Language Integration through webinars, phone, and Internet. This instruction is separate from her clinical services in speech and language therapy. A wide range of specific behaviors are also included in her book. Contact her if you would like to discuss this theory and its applications. Meanwhile, start exercising what you already do unconsously. Start yawing and pay attention to how you feel. Then yawn in a loved ones face and see what happens.
Speech-Language Pathology
Dorothy Bohntinsky, CCC-SLP, D.Min., has been a speech-language pathologist since 1976. Her career spans from beginning with providing outpatient services at Easter Seals Society to being Director of Speech Pathology and Audiology at Alameda County Medical center for over twenty years. She took early retirement in 2002 and worked in home health, skilled nursing, and Rehab Without Wallls. Since 2002, she has been the per diem SLP at Kindred Hospital of the SF Bay Area, which specializes in treating respiratory failure.
Dr. Bohntinsky has also had a small private practice since the 1990's. This included teaching pragmatics (nonverbal language skills) and English pronunciation training Fortune at a Fortune 500 company. She also contracted to work with school-aged children.
She has provided training on a multitude of topics within the field of speech language pathology since the 1980's. It is only natural that she has expanded concepts and practices from the field of speech-language pathology into Nonverbal Language Integration. From this platform and website, she is "paying it forward" by giving you the important basics without any requests that you make some kind of purchase. This website is educational.
If you would like to learn more about the field of speech-language pathology, Dr. Bohntinsky invites you to visit her website at dbohntinskyslp.com. Click on "Read more" to go to that link.
Inspired by a Sports Collar
A discovery that the woodpecker's tongue and omohyoid muscle is what keeps it from getting concussions inspired the creation of a sports collar (Q Collar) to prevent concussion. It was invented by David Smith, M.D. in coordination with Greg Myer, Ph.D. at the Human Performance Laboratory at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. In June 2019, Canada approved the use of the Q Collar by children and adults during contact sports. It is still being assessed by the FDA in the U.S.A.
The Q Collar mimics what happens in all mammals. The researchers said that the Q Collar mimicked the function of the omohyoid muscles and "mysterious" yawn. Light pressure from the Q Collar compresses the jugular vein, decreasing the flow of blood away from the surface of the brain. Meanwhile, blood continues to flow to the brains surface via the carotid artery. This creates a slight build up of blood between the surface of the brain and skull (compensatory reserve volume). The result is that the movement of the brain within the skull (slosh) is prevented when the head is struck.
Dr. Bohntinsky knew that the yawn activated the precuneous (see Welcome page), so she experimented with pressing on her neck. She felt her mood uplift immediately. Then she made her own collar. Her ethnologic experiments (real-life research designs to see what happens) and research of the scientific literature ultimately led to her discovery that certain nonverbal language behaviors involving the omohyoid muscle not only mimic the purpose of the Q Collar but also activate the vagus nerve naturally. Click on "Read more" for the link to current information on the Q Collar. Dr. Bohntinsky does not have any affiliation with the Q Collar.
Building Upon the Polyvagal Theory
An important finding that led to the theory of Nonverbal Language Integration is the Polyvagal Theory by Stephen Porges, Ph.D. Click on "Read more" to visit his website, which includes specialized services and equipment for individuals with autism. In the 1990's Dr. Porges showed that the autonomic nervous system is not antagonistic - stress (fight or flight) verses relaxation.
Historically, the autonomic nervous system was viewed as having two opposite functions. The sympathetic nervous system's job is to produce adrenalin, which activates the heart and large muscles in order to insure survival when threatened. The parasympathetic nervous system returns the body to a state of ease when the threat passes.
The Polyvagal Theory shows that in all mammals, three systems within the autonomic nervous system are working in coordination. A very important component of this system is the long vagus nerve, which wanders from the ears down to the sexual organs. (See the illustration at the end of the document in "Tell me more.") According to Dr. Porges, its job is to put a brake on the adrenalin that prepares our body to fight or run away when we feel threatened. All mammals' systems are returned to a state of homeostasis necessary for social engagement.
The first of the three systems is the dorsal vagus nerve, which causes us to freeze when our senses alert us to danger. The body quickly determines if there is a real threat. If so, we are ready to run away or put up a fight. If there is no true threat, the ventral vagus nerve is activated, and it puts a brake on the adrenalin. This returns the system to a state of optimum balance for engagement in life activities - eating, digesting, fine motor tasks of the fingers, interpersonal communication, concentration, relationships, and learning. This is called equilibrium, which is also the state of rapport. One problem that arises when an individual experiences constant stress is that the vagus nerve loses its tone. Then the brake upon the sympathetic nervous system does not work well.
Nonverbal Language Integration takes the Polyvagal Theory a step farther. The same omohyoid muscle that helps to prevent concussion when two heads butt also activates the ventral vagus nerve through specific nonverbal language behaviors (body language and sounds). Many of these stress-reduction maneuvers express negative emotions. Ironically, according to Nonverbal Language Integration, these behaviors actually serve to put the brake on the sympathetic nervous system. For example, the diving reflex stimulates the vagus nerve in order to enhance attention when underwater. The similar body language that activates the vagus nerve is tapping the head when trying to concentrate.
Dr. Bohntinsky is not affiliated with Dr. Porges Integrated Listening Systems. However, click on "Read more" to visit his website.
References:
Porges, Stephen W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, Self-Regulation. New York, New York: W.W. & Company.
Porges, Stephen W. (2017). The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New York, New York.
