Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
To better sense your stance, the gluteal plow will help you feel your way into your standing position. As we sit, our glutes fall asleep and are stretched, when we stand-up we frequently ‘take our chair with us’ and go on about our day. Our sleepy muscles don’t fire well. This move will help bring your attention to your posterior postural muscles and put your glutes back where they belongs for more efficient standing and moving.
For more sequences read our article on Posture: The Dynamic Way Your Body Organizes Itself:
tuneupfitness.com/blog/posture
This video excerpt is from Walking Well with Katy Bowman and Jill Miller - a 6 hr+ course on mechanics of walking well: try.tuneupfitness.com/walking-well
To better sense your stance, the gluteal plow will help you feel your way into your standing position. As we sit, our glutes fall asleep and are stretched, when we stand-up we frequently ‘take our chair with us’ and go on about our day. Our sleepy muscles don’t fire well. This move will help bring your attention to your posterior postural muscles and put your glutes back where they belongs for more efficient standing and moving.
For more sequences read our article on Posture: The Dynamic Way Your Body Organizes Itself:
tuneupfitness.com/blog/posture
This video excerpt is from Walking Well with Katy Bowman and Jill Miller - a 6 hr+ course on mechanics of walking well: try.tuneupfitness.com/walking-well

![Vagus Voyage: Vagus Nerve Myofascial Self-massage for Relaxation
Take a Vagus Voyage with Jill Miller as she demonstrates three zones to stimulate the vagus nerve and access areas of the body to aid in increased downregulation through breath and myofascial self-massage.
Wouldnt it be great to get chill without having to take a pill?
Im going to take you on a Vagus Voyage. The vagus nerve is your chief parasympathetic nerve. Its a nerve that, when stimulated, helps you to relax, feel calm, balanced, and centered. And it innervates three primary zones of your body.
Zone 1, Supraclavicular Zone
The first zone is above the collarbone, its the supraclavicular zone. You can use a Coregeous Ball — place it against [the side] of your throat with light pressure and then youll twist the ball as you rotate your head in the opposite direction. As you cross across your throat lighten the pressure a bit, but those are the tissues, tubes and hyoid — those are the structures that can actually move. With each pass you get a little deeper as your comfort level increases and after several of those passes youll remove the ball and you should feel there is a considerable difference in a sense of tone and the muscles deep to the face, your neck, and even the quality of your voice may change because all of these areas are innervated by the vagus.
Zone 2, Thoracic Zone
Then, well go into Zone 2, which is thoracic region, or the ribcage region, its the stuff above your diaphragm, your big breathing muscle. Youll lay down on your side (you can lay down directly on your chest) and bring your hand on top of your rib. Youll breathe into the ball, which is supporting your ribs, and into your hand which is on top. Take a big breath in [Jill deeply inhales], hold your breath, contract your muscles within your rib cage — and then exhale all of the air out. Youll do that for about 8 - 10 rounds on one side and then switch to the other side.
So this ribcage region is innervated by the vagus. There are sprays of it that link into your diaphragm, there are also different sprays of it that sense the movement of your actual lungs. So when you get these areas moving with breath, it helps to flip that switch and relax you.
Also, the vagus nerve innervates the heart — its actually the component that slows down your heartbeat. So if you tend to find yourself racing, and full of anxiety this is a great place to go.
The 3rd Zone is below the diaphragm, this is the subdiaphragmatic region on our voyage. You bring the ball anywhere in your gut area, and if youre a little sensitive to that pressure you can be up a little higher — or depending on your comfort level you can go lower. We can make it more comfortable by breathing. So, youll breathe into the ball, hold your breath. Contract the muscles of the core. And then exhale and release [the abdominal muscles]. Repeat that again and again and increase the compliance, the receptivity of your core. The reason were in this gut area is that all of your organs are innervated by the vagus. Its a surveyer, it tells the body about the balance in your organs, so when we massage our organs we also help to stimulate that nerve and induce a sense of calm in our body. I hope youll set sail on this voyage frequently and let it be a mechanical way of inducing the relaxation response rather than reaching for the bottle . . . or the pill.
Interested in learning more about anatomy and physiology of stress-relief and new science of the vagus nerve?
Explore your primary breathing muscle, the diaphragm, and learn new breathing practices to implement downregulation techniques for yourself and your clients during our Body by Breath immersion. Learn more here: https://tuneup.fit/23bPna
Try this Breathe exercise from Jill Miller’s Body by Breath with or without a Coregeous ball.
Buy your Coregeous Ball: https://tuneup.fit/oK2bcU
Find the full Body By Breath Online Video Library: https://tuneup.fit/SamqKh
Find this exercise in Jill Miller’s bestselling book Body By Breath: https://tuneup.fit/dJGltZ
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