Gordon Medical Forum
Drs Gordon and Parpia have a unique and proven approach to healing chronic conditions with over 50 years of clinical experience combined; they created the Gordon Medical Forum Podcast to introduce some of the most overlooked and important factors for overcoming chronic illness.
Eric Gordon, MD, is the Medical Director of Gordon Medical Associates, and Nafysa Parpia, ND, is the Director of Naturopathic Medicine. Gordon Medical Associates is the premier tick-borne illness, Lyme disease, and environmentally acquired illness clinic on the West Coast. To learn more about the team at Gordon Medical Associates, go to gordonmedical.com.
Gordon Medical Forum
What We’ve Missed About the Vagus Nerve
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The vagus nerve may be one of the most talked-about topics in integrative health, but most of what's being said barely scratches the surface.
In this episode, Dr. Eric Gordon sits down with Dr. Navaz Habib to discuss what’s happening inside this nerve and why getting it right matters deeply for anyone navigating chronic illness.
The conversation moves well beyond "rest and digest," revealing the vagus nerve as the body's primary communication highway between the brain and the immune system, and what happens when that signal starts to break down.
Dr. Habib explains that 80% of vagal signals travel upward, from organs to the brain, meaning the nerve is less about sending commands and more about relaying critical status updates. When chronic stress frays that signaling capacity, the brain can't make good decisions, inflammation goes unchecked, and the body gets stuck in a cycle that's very hard to break.
Fortunately, there are practical tools, many of them free, that can begin to restore that connection.
Episode Highlights:
- The four categories of stress that degrade vagal tone
- How tissue resident macrophages in every organ depend on vagal signaling to keep inflammation in check
- The three keys to vagus-activating breathwork
- When and how to layer in advanced tools
Listen in to learn more :
[0:01:30] Vagus Nerve: The Body’s Central Information Highway
[0:03:13] 80% Afferent: Organs Reporting Up to the Brain
[0:07:02] Four Stressors that Fray Vagal Signaling
[0:16:19] Tissue Resident Macrophages and the Inflammatory Reflex
[0:28:54] Breath Mechanics as the Master Vagal Lever
[0:36:40] From Basics to Devices: Building Vagal Tone Strategically
LINKS :
Gordon Medical Associates
Website: https://gordonmedical.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gordonmedical/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GordonMedicalAssociates
Gordon Medical Forum
Website: https://gordonmedicalforum.com/
Insgram: https://www.instagram.com/gordonmedicalforum/
Plasmapheresis at Gordon Medical
Website: https://plasmapheresiswest.com/
About Navaz Habib, DC
Dr. Navaz Habib, known as the Vagus Nerve Doc, is a functional medicine expert and bestselling author of "Activate Your Vagus Nerve" and "Upgrade Your Vagus Nerve," dedicated to empowering health through vagus nerve activation. He is the founder of Health Upgraded, an online health program that guides clients to enhanced well-being using his VAGUS protocol.
Interested in Becoming A Patient?
Find out if working with Gordon Medical is right for you. Set up a complimentary discovery call with our new patient coordinator at www.gordonmedical.com.
** This information is not to be taken as medical advice. Always consult your practitioner before making any changes to your treatment.