Is Your Nervous System Silencing Your Voice? How the Vagus Nerve Shapes Self-Expression and Trauma Healing
I remember my first day of college and having to show up to my required public speaking class. The classroom was stuck in a trailer and 30 of us were crammed into this tiny space. Our teacher shows up and starts to share about how fun this class will be, this is a life skill we will need for the rest of our lives, blah blah. I look around and half the students are looking away at the walls. I know they are feeling what I am. “We don’t want to be here” seems to be stamped on each of our foreheads. I dreaded this class and wanted to bolt out of my seat. Yet here I was.
I remember the first time getting up in front of the class. I had practice for hours and yet there I was standing, all nerves and all, and I could barely think straight. To this day I still don’t know how I made it out of that class passing…yet somehow I did. And if what my teacher said was true, that this was a life skill I would need some day then how could I be better. It wasn’t just speaking up in front of a crowd that made me nervous, it happened even in my day to day conversations. My throat would almost just get locked up and my words would be gone.
Have you ever felt like your voice disappears when you try to speak up? Or like your words get stuck in your throat when it matters most?
You’re not alone.
For so long I thought it was “just anxiety.”
Little did I know, there’s a powerful reason why this happens, hidden deep inside your nervous system: the vagus nerve. There is a reason why your nervous system seems to lock up.
Let’s explore why this nerve matters so much for self-expression — and how trauma can block your ability to share your true voice with the world.
What Is the Vagus Nerve?
The vagus nerve is one of the longest nerves in your body, connecting your brain to your heart, lungs, gut, and even your vocal cords.
It’s often called the body’s communication superhighway because it carries signals back and forth between your brain and your body.
This nerve plays a huge role in how safe, calm, and connected you feel. It controls:
• Your heart rate
• Digestion
• Breathing patterns
• Vocal tone and pitch
• Facial expressions
• Social engagement
In short, the vagus nerve is crucial for helping you feel grounded enough to connect and express yourself authentically.
According to Dr. Porges’ Polyvagal Theory he suggests, “that the Vagus nerve connects with the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and helps you survive by telling one of the two parts of the ANS to get to work: the Parasympathetic or the Sympathetic nervous system. Parasympathetic has to do with lowered energy in two ways: relaxing for rest (ventral state) and collapsing for safety (dorsal state). Sympathetic is considered its own state because it only functions in one way, having to do with activated or mobilized energy.
Ventral vagal state is our least protective state, about feeling safe, resting, connecting, and social engagement.
Sympathetic state is our second most protective state, about anxiety, anger, fight/flight, and mobilization.
Dorsal vagal state is our most protective state, about shutting down, depression, dissociating, collapsing, “playing possum,” and immobilization.”
Why the Vagus Nerve Matters for Self-Expression
Your ability to speak your truth isn’t purely mental. It’s deeply tied to your body’s sense of safety.
When your vagus nerve is regulated and flowing smoothly (in the ventral vagal state), you’re more likely to:
Make eye contact comfortably
Speak with a steady, expressive voice
Feel confident sharing your feelings and needs
Stay connected to yourself and others during conversations
This is known as the social engagement system — a state where you feel safe enough to connect, communicate, and be yourself.
Due to being in our ventral vagal state, this is our least protected state. This is the state we are in when we most freely feel safe enough to be our authentic selves.
But when your vagus nerve is dysregulated, self-expression can feel blocked, even impossible.
How Trauma Impacts the Vagus Nerve
If you’ve experienced trauma — whether big or small — your nervous system may have learned to protect you by shutting down certain responses.
Instead of staying in a calm, connected state, your body may shift into:
• Fight or flight (sympathetic)→ feeling anxious, restless, or hyper-alert
• Freeze or collapse (dorsal)→ feeling numb, disconnected, or unable to speak
• Fawn (dorsal)→ people-pleasing or prioritizing others’ needs over your own to stay safe
When your vagus nerve perceives threat, it can:
Freeze your voice
Flatten your facial expression
Tighten your throat or chest
Create shame or fear around speaking
These are not signs of weakness. They’re physiological survival strategies your body uses to keep you safe. In this place we are either in sympathetic state, which is a activated state of protection. This means that our nervous system has detected a threat (either current or past) and remembers the need to keep us safe in order to survive. It will need to find connection via action or being mobilized.
If we are in shutdown, people pleasing, or disconnected we are in the dorsal state. Here our nervous system seeks out safety via disconnection in order to keep us safe.
With trauma, our bodies remember so even if there is not a current threat, our bodies hold on the emotional body memory until it is able to release. And in order to release we need to stimulate the vagus nerve to move towards the ventral state of safety. Safety is the crucial key to release stored trauma.
Signs Your Vagus Nerve May Be Stuck in Trauma
Some signs that your vagus nerve — and your ability to express yourself — might be impacted by trauma include:
• Feeling like your voice “disappears” under stress
• Tightness, shakiness, or strain in your voice
• Difficulty making eye contact
• Holding your breath without realizing it
• Feeling invisible or small in conversations
• Disconnecting from your emotions or words
If this resonates, please know: you’re not broken. Your nervous system has simply been trying to protect you.
Healing the Vagus Nerve: Reclaiming Your Voice
Here’s the good news: Your vagus nerve — and your capacity for authentic self-expression — can heal.
But it usually doesn’t happen through mindset work alone. You can’t simply “think your way” into feeling safe. You have to regulate through the body.
Some powerful ways to support vagus nerve healing and nervous system regulation include:
🧘 Somatic Therapy: Working gently with body sensations to release trauma stored in your nervous system.
🎵 Vocal toning, humming, or singing: These vibrations stimulate the vagus nerve and help calm your system.
🌬️ Breathwork: Slow, intentional breaths send signals of safety to your brain and body.
🤲 Safe, compassionate connection
Trauma often happens in relationships — and healing happens there, too.
As you gently rewire your nervous system, you may find that:
✨ Your voice feels stronger and clearer
✨ You’re able to speak your needs with confidence
✨ You feel more connected in conversations
✨ Self-expression becomes natural and joyful again
Finding Your Voice Again
If trauma has left you feeling silenced, invisible, or afraid to express yourself — please know that healing is possible.
Reclaiming your voice isn’t just about speaking louder. It’s about creating safety in your body, so your true self can shine through.
You deserve to be heard. You deserve to feel safe being fully, authentically YOU.
Ready to Begin Your Healing Journey?
If you’re curious about how somatic therapy, trauma-informed yoga, or other nervous system healing practices can help you reconnect with your voice, I’d love to support you.
We offer trauma-informed somatic yoga weekly (sign up here) and have 1:1 mindfulness coaching and 1:1 therapy.
Save this blog or share it with someone who’s ready to find their voice again.
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