Explore your Vagus Nerve & Pamper your Vagus Nerve: Online Training & Day Retreat on 14/06/2025

Imagine this. You go to a training or workshop alone. You enter the room that is already quite full of unknown people. You start scanning: Where do you want to sit? Is there still a whole row free at the front or do you feel inclined to sit further back? Do you leave a spot in between or do you sit next to the person who smiles at you kindly? As soon as you sit down, you feel more at ease. Then the person at the front asks everyone to briefly introduce themselves.

What did you feel when you read this text? That is your autonomic nervous system at work, constantly scanning for signals of danger and safety. It is your personal safety system that protects you when threatened and connects you when safe.

The vagus nerve is an important nerve in this system and travels through your entire body. A properly functioning vagus nerve brings your body to rest more quickly after stress and is important for the self-healing capacity. Due to long-term stress and trauma, this nerve can become unbalanced and cause complaints such as headaches, digestive problems and difficulty relaxing.

The polyvagal theory is known as “the science of feeling safe” and teaches you to better understand your own nervous system. Knowledge about this can help you to recognize why you react in certain ways and give you the opportunity to change it to a state where you do feel safe and connected.

During the retreat we will mainly feel and practice and there is mainly room for practical experience. But we also have a lot to tell about how your Nervus Vagus works. This theory is super valuable to get to know and understand your nervous system better. That is why the retreat also includes a preparatory online part with 2.5 hours of valuable content. In 11 short videos we explain everything about your nervous system and the polyvagal theory step by step. You can watch these videos before the retreat on our online portal. During the retreat itself we will provide a discussion and question round.

During the retreat, you will get to know your own nervous system better and what you can do to feel calmer, safer and more connected. And since your nervous system connects almost everything in your body, a regulated nervous system also has an impact on all your other bodily functions. So it definitely has its place in a holistic view of health.

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“ The Nervous System Holds The Key
To The Body's Incredible Potential To Heal Itself .” -Sir Jay Holder.

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During the retreat we will provide space for questions and we will fully immerse ourselves in the practical experience with 3 wonderfully different, but fantastically complementary workshops:

Breathe Your Nervous System into Balance
- Sharon Gits from Zuiver Coaching -
Speech therapist & heart coherence coach passionate about the vagus nerve

Breathing is an important gateway to your autonomic nervous system. It is also the only function within that nervous system that you can consciously control. The way you breathe reflects what is going on inside you. Our breathing changes depending on how we feel. But also the other way around, by consciously breathing you can activate your ventral vagus and feel more relaxed and connected.

In this workshop you will learn how to regulate your nervous system with your own breathing. The exercises are based on techniques from heart coherence. This way you will learn which breathing rhythm brings your nervous system into a safe mode and you will receive exercises to take home.

Support your Nervous System with Herbs
- Kristel Beyers from Mirabella's Botanicals -
Herbal witch with a keen interest in the nervous system

Everyone knows a cup of chamomile tea to calm you down, but with herbs you can do much more than that. In our modern society we are constantly 'on' and that is not obvious for everyone. Fortunately, there are herbs that can support you in different ways. Build up your mental resilience (again), help you relax, switch off those thoughts for a while, ...

We look at the functioning of the nervous system and the influence on other systems of the body that cannot function optimally when your nervous system is under stress, such as your digestion and your resistance.

We discuss the effects of various herbs, including Mirabella's favorites for the nervous system: Tulsi, Green Oats, Passion Flower, Rose,...

And we will really get to work and make two different preparations. Mirabella brings herbs and all the necessary materials and helps you choose herbs that support you best at this moment. This way you will learn with pleasure and confidence which herbs you can use and how you can process them into herbal remedies that you will actually use.

Increase Your Body Awareness: Increase Your Resilience
- Sally Antonissen from Healing Priurity -
Polyvagal therapist with a passion for somatic experiencing

Our body is constantly communicating with our brain, which allows our brain to activate the right responses to get back into balance. A simple example: you are thirsty, so you go get a glass of water. This happens automatically, but did you know that 80% of this communication goes from your body to your brain? Only 20% goes the other way. This is called self-regulation.

Trauma, persistent stress and a hectic lifestyle can disrupt this natural functioning. We become disconnected from parts of our body that experience pain or tension. Our brain can no longer regulate effectively in those places. This can cause a constant feeling of insecurity.

Physiological processes start to falter and you get physical complaints or vague ailments that you might think: "I have to learn to live with them, they are part of me" Nothing could be further from the truth! By restoring the connection between your body and your brain, the physical processes will be able to regulate themselves again.

In the workshop you will learn how to reconnect with your body. We will work with exercises that you can apply in your daily life. You will become aware of how your body reacts and learn what works for you and what doesn't.

By becoming more sensitive to your body's signals, your body will start to guide you again, and a sense of safety and trust will be a natural consequence.

During this retreat and the preceding online part you will learn:

• about the vagus nerve and the polyvagal theory
• recognize the signals of your own nervous system
• how breathing can help regulate your nervous system
• which herbs can support your nervous system
• restoring the connection between your body and your mind

You go home with:

• a ventral (read: safe and relaxed) feeling
• knowledge about your own nervous system and how you can work with it instead of against it from now on
• all kinds of exercises to regulate your nervous system
• 2 Homemade Herbal Preparations for Your Nervous System

Practical:

Date: Saturday 14/06/2025 9:45 am - 5 pm
Location: Hof Zevenbergen, Kasteeldreef 22, 2520 Ranst

We provide Mirabella with tea, coffee, water, snacks and a simple lunch of soup and sandwiches, please let us know if we need to cater for allergies or dietary preferences.

Price :

Sliding Scale (read the explanation below if you want more clarity on this)
Standard price: 217 EUR
Higher price: 227 EUR (share your prosperity)
Social rate: 157 EUR (we provide 2 places in this category)

A little explanation about the sliding scale:
We find this workshop super valuable and believe that as many people as possible should have access to this knowledge. Putting a value on this knowledge and on our time is not easy and it is not easy to balance accessibility (to you) and sustainability (to us). That is why we have decided to work with sliding scale for the ticket price, this means that you can choose from 3 different prices for this workshop depending on your income and financial resources.

We keep 2 spots at the lower price per workshop. These are reserved for participants for whom the price may be quite an investment. In addition, we have spots at the regular price, which we experience as the value of the workshop. We also provide tickets at a higher price. Those who have more financial resources can choose to help make the tickets at the lower price possible and to finance additional spots in the future.

Whatever price range you choose, this remains anonymous (only Sharon, Sally and Kristel know this) and you will receive the same workshop as everyone else.

Would you like to participate, but do you (currently) not have the financial space? Send us a message and we will see what is possible together.

 

By booking this workshop you automatically agree to the general terms and conditions. If you are unable to attend, you can always send someone else in your place. Cancellations up to 14 calendar days before the workshop will be refunded half; cancellations after that period cannot be refunded. If the workshop is cancelled due to force majeure, you will receive a gift voucher for a future workshop.

FAQ

I can't make these dates, will the retreat be repeated later?

That will depend on the interest. If there is a lot of demand, we will repeat this retreat in the fall of 2025.