Somatic Practice For Nervous System Regulation During Change

Navigate life transitions, uncertainty, and stress by restoring biological safety from the inside out. This 80-minute, trauma-informed video offers polyvagal-backed somatic practices to regulate your autonomic nervous system when daily routines and life structures shift.

Instead of trying to think your way out of stress, you will learn precise, bottom-up interventions to interrupt survival physiology, expand your window of tolerance, and build long-term nervous system resilience.

In this session, we explore grounding and orientation to signal safety directly to the brainstem using sensory inputs. We also utilize Dr. Peter Levine’s practices of titration and pendulation to safely process stress in manageable doses. Additionally, we focus on honoring endings through vagal-activating gestures to navigate the grief and friction of change, while providing essential space for integration and rest to absorb inputs and build self-regulation pathways.

This video is helpful for anyone navigating chronic stress, anxiety, burnout, shutdown, or major life transitions. Please note that while these practices are supportive, they are not a replacement for professional medical or psychological care.

Transcript

So some general guidelines. So we're going to start with a practice like a welcome opening practice to ground ourselves to start to go inside of our bodies. And then from there, I'm going to talk a little bit about change. And transitions and how to navigate that in a way that reduces anxiety, That also allows us to build some resilience and to feel a sense of inner stability. So that we can navigate change and transitions in a way that doesn't unground us, In a way that doesn't drain us, In a way that doesn't overwhelm us or shut us down or get us into some type of sympathetic fight or flight activation where we're not able to actually just relax and move smoothly through the change and also feel resourced. So we'll be talking about that and then we'll go into about three or four practices depending on the time. So I'll do the practices. You'll see that there'll be a period of integration. A lot of my work is around polyvagal theory and nervous system regulation. And part of rewiring our brain and repatterning our nervous system is actually resting and taking a moment to notice. The changes or the shifts between before a practice and the end of the practice. That's going to help us integrate the benefits of the practice and make it more relevant and more salient to the brain. And then the brain is going to start, We're going to develop a neural pathway essentially for that new way of being and feeling. And then it's going to be more accessible to us. So I like to do that after each practice. And then you're going to see that at the end of each practice, I also talk about the neuroscience. So what's going on in the brain. In the body and in the nervous system. And I'm going to be referring to some studies and some scientists who have looked at what happens when we do those practices so that you also have that like some relevance. Okay, So we're going to begin. And we're going to begin with a practice that's going to allow us to be more relaxed, To be more embodied, And also to be able to feel the support from the ground, From the earth. So that we can yield into that support. And by the way, In relationship to change, When we're changing and things are maybe feeling uncertain. And we are navigating unknown situations, The more we ground, The better it is. So one practice, And it's gonna be integrated into our opening practice that you can do throughout the day when you're going through a lot of change, Is pressing your feet into the ground when you're sitting or even standing, And feeling the earth pressing back up. If you can do it barefoot, Somewhere in a garden, On grass and on earth. Or on the sand, That's even better. That said, You might not be able to do that many times a day. And what I'm inviting you to do, Which is what rewires the brain and re-patterns our nervous system, Is to do it many times. Pressing your feet into the ground. Many times and feeling the earth offering back its energy, Its support. Moving through your feet, Into your legs, Into your body so that you can start to unwind whatever stress patterns you are holding. So we're going to start with that. So. . . If you'll begin by either having a soft gaze, And what that means is just like allowing your eyes just to be. Soft and gentle and not focused on anything even if you're seeing me on the screen right now you can just let go of that for a moment and just allow yourself to take in the space just like if you were looking at a landscape at a sunset and just taking it all in. And as you do this, When you feel that your eyes are softening and you're feeling maybe your shoulders beginning to drop and you're feeling a little more relaxed with this soft gaze you can gently let your Eyes closed, If that's comfortable for you. And if not, You can just keep the soft gaze. Now if you'll begin by Feeling your body in space. Noticing where you are right now. Even maybe naming who you are, You can say your name. You can say the date. And where you are. And that helps your nervous system get a sense of the here and now. And as you get a sense of this spatial and time awareness Start to feel, If you're sitting, Or even if you're laying down, The contact between your body, Whether it's your sit bones or the whole back of your body, Or if you're standing, Your feet. So the contact between whatever part of your body is contacting a surface. And see if you can yield into that support. And so one way that you would know that you're yielding into the support is that you would feel kind of like a softening. Maybe in your jaw. Your neck. Your shoulders, Your belly. Your pelvic floor. And maybe some kind of unwinding of some tension that you might have been holding. And just notice that happening naturally. You're not trying to make it happen. Just allowing yourself to be supported. To yield into the support. And through that, Let the unwinding of tension. Naturally occur. Now if you'll bring your awareness to your legs and your feet. And very gently, Mindfully, Press the soles of your feet into the ground. And see if you can make contact. Without force. On the right side, The left side, Inner, Outer. The front, The back. As much contact with the ground if you're sitting or standing. And if you're lying down, Just allow your whole body to soften and yield into a bed or sofa. Or an armchair. And feel the object or the ground, The energy of that like kind of pushing back on you in a way that is supportive. In a way that is nurturing, That is holding you. And allow yourself to be held in this way. And now as you've yielded into the support, As you feel your connection with the earth and the support of the earth, Or the object that's holding you right now that's connected and being held by the earth. Just notice what's going on inside of you. Not as if there might be tensions of patterns. Maybe a tight chest. Maybe your hands slightly clenched. Maybe your pelvic floor slightly. Held in or your belly pulled in. Or maybe you notice calm and ease and relaxation in your body. Whatever you notice, You're now trying to change it. You are actually acknowledging that it's there, You can say, Even you can Say to it, Hello. I know you're there. And see if there's a response when you acknowledge whatever you sense. Whatever you observe within yourself. And now when you are ready we're going to Take a breath out and we're going to really focus on the breath out. On. . . Releasing, Dissolving anything that we're holding on to. Anything from the past, The old, And the new. What is changing? What is transforming? And we're going to do that with a sigh, Making a sound. Hmm. . . So you can repeat that one more time if you'd like. You can inhale. Hmm. And just feel this downward movement. Of energy as you sigh. And you dissolve whatever tension was being held. Let the breath help you. You can continue with the sign if you'd like. Or you can simply. Rest and just notice what is happening inside your body. And now before we bring our awareness back into the room, I'd like you to pause, Rest, Notice. So that is something that I like to practice at the end of any practice, Any exercise that we do, So that the brain can register. What has happened can take the time. To notice. The difference between what was before and what is now, Or simply notice what is now and that in itself is laying down a new neural pathway. And the more you do that every time you practice, The more you're going to be rewiring your brain. Deepening those new grooves in your brain and then being able to access these kinds of practices and tools during times, Like times of change and transition, For instance, Where we might be more dysregulated and have less access. To these grounding tools. Before I ask you to reflect back in the chat if you'd like and ask any question, I'm just going to share with you the neuroscience of what's happening in your brain and your body when you do a practice like this. And specifically as it relates to change and transitions because that's the scope of our life today. So when we're in the middle of a life transition or change, Whether it is wanted or not, Our brain's salient network is going to be working over time. The salience network. Which is anchored by the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex. Don't worry too much about the words. Constantly monitors for salient information, Meaning relevant information, Including anything also ambiguous or unresolved. Our nervous system doesn't like when there's things that are not certain. And that are not resolved because it's going to keep us in a stress loop of, I need to fix this. I need to find a solution to this. During times of uncertainty, Ambiguity functions as a persistent low-grade alarm signal. So it's like a cue of danger to our nervous system. It's telling us something's not right. There's a threat because we might not know what might happen. So, The result is a nervous system that is never fully at rest. Hyper-aroused hyper-vigilant Because there's always something unresolved to scan for, Right? We're going to scan if it's unknown, If it's uncertain, We're going to scan even if it's just in our imagination for what could go wrong, What might not happen the way we want it to. Or the way that we are. We are used to. An arriving or grounding practice like the one we just did interrupts the scanning loop. By giving the brain a concrete anchor in the present moment. And that anchors the body itself and all the associated sensations. When we direct our sustained attention to physical sensation, We're activating the insula and this grounds the default mode network. Which would otherwise tend towards rumination and future projections. So we would ruminate about, Oh, I don't know what might happen, Or what if, What if, What if. And then future projections of all the different scenarios. The body is always in the present, Which is why the most powerful tools to self-regulate and to navigate change and uncertain times of transition is bottom-up approaches. So we're going to talk about that in a moment. What is a bottom-up approach? Essentially, We're using the body to calm the brain, Right, To send through the autonomic nervous system a signal to the brain that everything is OK. And when the body sends that signal to the brain, The brain stops looping into thoughts. Deb Dana from the Polyvagal Institute says Story follows state. So all the thoughts that we have, All the story and narratives that run through our minds, They are defined by our nervous system state. So when we access the body somatically and through nervous system regulation, Then what happens is that we're able, Through the body, To tell our brain we're safe and everything is okay. And then it's easier, Our prefrontal cortex comes online instead of our amygdala, The threat detection center coming online. And then our prefrontal cortex is like, Oh, Okay, This is changed, Could go this way, Could go this way. Well, If it goes this way, I'll do this. If it goes that way, I'll do that. And then we can do that. That said, That requires us being regulated. So, Coming home to our body is one of the most reliable ways to step out of anticipatory anxiety. And that's what I was explaining a moment ago, Right? It's like, Bottom up is 80%, Top down, It's actually 80 to 90%, Because 80 to 90% of the vagus nerve fibers are afferent, Meaning they, The information moves up to the brain and only 20% is top down which is why sometimes meditation for some people can be difficult because some of the meditation can actually be something that is like you know controlled by the mind and we're telling some things to our bodies And we can be sometimes, It's not always the case, Disconnected from our bodily experience. And then if that 20% or that 10% is saying, Yeah, Everything is okay. And, You know, Saying positive things. And then there's signals from the body, 80 to 90% that saying, No, Actually, Uh, I'm dissociated. And I'm like thinking about basically connecting to all the negative scenarios that could happen inside my body because I'm holding those memories. Then that's like the 10 20% is just going to not have much of an impact compared to the 80%. And yeah, I'm going to tell you a little bit about what else we'll be doing today. So we started with this grounding practice. And so that's one of your tools for navigating change and transitions in your life. And building resilience, Building flexibility and capacity in your nervous system. And now I'm going to talk a little bit because I prefer to do more practices than, You know, I mean, Every practice, Again, Will have the science. That said, I prefer to do more practices with you and to facilitate you in this way rather than to talk about the science because that can come up naturally as I'm also answering your questions. So. . . That said, I'm going to say a little more about the nervous system and what's happening in the nervous system and the brain during times of transitions and why that leads to chronic stress when we're in times of change and transition. Anxiety, Worry, Overthinking, Fight or flight reactions, Even reactivity with others can lead to feelings of overwhelm, Feelings of even shutdown. Or collapse or freeze. So those are all things that can happen because we are not having the practices and the tools that we need to navigate change. We need more tools. Available to us when things are changing. Because change, Like I was saying earlier on, Is perceived as a threat to our brain and our nervous system. Our brain and our nervous system want things to be the same all the time. If they could be the same all the time, They would just be very happy with that. That said, Life is constantly changing, Nothing is permanent and we're always in this state of flux and learning and growing. So it's so important to build that flexibility, That capacity and that resilience in your nervous system so that you can approach change in a way that you are resourced and it doesn't feel threatening to you. So after I share a little bit about that, If we have time, I'm intending to do about an hour and 15 minutes today, Possibly an hour and a half. So. . . Whatever you have time for, Stay with me and then the live will be available as a recording on Insight Timer once I've processed it. So we're gonna probably do some orienting. And resourcing. We might do some titration and pendulation. We're gonna do somatic honoring of endings. So how do we grieve the end of something? So that we can actually Completely embrace the new right that's a really important part Otherwise we can kind of like being this pendulum swing going back and forth between The upcoming change or the change that is already happening and being pulled back into the past And then we might also have time for building some internal steadiness. Although what we did, The first grounding practice, Is actually building internal steadiness. And also orienting and resourcing in itself is also building internal steadiness. Also, Another simple way of building internal steadiness is to notice a part of your body that is steady and strong. And when you are navigating change and uncertain times, You place your attention there. Now, That doesn't mean that you're not aware of what's happening around you and what you're facing, What you're working with and through. It means that you're also aware of that place of stability and strength in your body because that's actually a neural pathway. And when you're accessing that, That neural pathway becomes available and begins to actually be accessed in the experience that you're in. So now you have access to that strength. And that sense of stability. In the situation that you're in. So that's a very simple, If we don't get to do that last practice, That's a very simple one to have. Understanding why change feels so dysregulating. The brain and the nervous system do not like change. Is perceived by the brain as like a threat, Like a danger. And so there's part of the brain when we're in those transitions or those times of uncertainty and unknown. That are going to essentially be constantly trying to think about, Okay, Well, You know, How do I address this threat? What do I do about this? And it might not even be a conscious process. It's just like we might be flooded with worries or negative thoughts or negative emotions or a sense of not trusting ourselves or not feeling that we are able to navigate the situation that we're in. So That's very dysregulating because that is going to take up a lot of energy. And one of the things that is very important to understand is that your brain is 60% fat. And a lot of the ways that we eat. In our modern societies, Unfortunately, We are not getting the quality of fat that we need, The omega-3s, The EPAs and the DHAs that we need to actually give enough fuel to our brain. And in times of change, The brain is going to need a lot more fuel, Meaning a lot more healthy fats. So the EPAs, The DHAs, If you go to, You know, On insight timer you have our profile you have our website if you go to our blogs you'll be able to access some of our blogs on that and you can find out more about okay how can I feed my brain the healthy fats that it needs to be able to navigate those times where it requires more fuel. And by the way, For women who have a cycle, That's also relevant. When we are having a cycle, We need more fats. That's why we're often actually wanting, You know, Sometimes, Not everyone, Sugar or we want to eat more and we're attracted to chocolate and things like that because the body and the brain in particular is needing the fats because it's actually, The body is processing and when it's losing all of this nutrition, The brain is also losing some of that nutrition. So I just wanted to to bring that up. There's been many studies that have been done that show that when we have the good fats that we need, Then we're going to be more resource and capable of navigating change. Um. . . Kind of looking to see if there's anything else I wanna say before I answer questions. So yeah, We're always looking for certainty. We have maps, We have neural pathways that are there in the brain, And we're constantly trying to make sense from past experiences of what's happening right now. And if there's no, If it, If it's not connecting, If there's not really a connection between what's happening right now and what happened before, It's going to feel disorienting, Which is why a practice like orienting in space is very helpful because it helps us through the body, Feel a sense of orientation that helps us not dissociate and stay in our bodies. So another thing is, For those of you who have participated in past lives, I talk a lot about polyvagal theory. I've studied under Dr. Steven Porges and other people at the Polyvagal Institute. And in polyvagal theory, There are three main states. There's the state of ventral vagal, Which is when we're regulated and socially engaged. There's the state of sympathetic activation, Where we're more in a fight or flight. And then there's the state, Dorsal vagal state, Which is a state of shutdown. Or collapse and when we're going through change we might be going through a cycle of these different states which is very destabilizing to the nervous system and ungrounding for us, And it can also be ungrounding to people in our lives that we're interacting with who might either go through the same change with us or their own experience of that same change together. If you're moving, Or if you're getting married, Or if you're getting separated, Or if you're having a child, So. Whenever we have this change occur and there's all this unpredictability, And we're changing rapidly from state to state, If we don't have tools to ground ourselves, To orient in the here and now, To feel the sense of inner steadiness, And to be resourced, Then it's going to be more difficult to navigate those stages. The more your vagal tone, Meaning your capacity to change state, The higher it is, Because you've done a lot of nervous system practices, The less disorienting it will be and the easier it will be for you to move from state to state. So that's also something to be aware of. I think that's also one more thing. Our ventral vagal system is the system through which we are able to engage socially, And we are able to co-regulate with others. One of the main support systems during periods of change and transition is to actually, If that's accessible to you, Depending, You know, If you're neurotypical or neurodivergent or, You know, Maybe have some form of autism. For instance, I am ADHD, So I have some form of autism, But gifted autism. So I'm able to function in the world. That said, It's more relationally, Sometimes it's difficult for me, And also I tend to feel a lot and that can be overwhelming to my body. So there's different ways to co-regulate depending on how you feel about social connection. You can co-regulate. The first step is just with nature, In nature. Just being in nature you get to have the nervous system of the natural environment help you come into a place of self-regulation, Right? Co-regulation is all about supporting you into your own process of self-regulation. You're getting the support from something else, Someone else, To help you through, Again, Change or transition. So. . . Animals? Horses are absolutely wonderful if you have access to horses of course dogs cats depending on what you prefer if you like animals Any animals really that you that you can feel a sense of ease with and you feel Comfortable with is going to help you co-regulate and then if you're okay around human beings, Then that's also wonderful For instance, There's been studies that show that a 20 second hug so if you have a partner for instance Hugging 20 seconds in the morning before if you are going to work in separate places for instance is extremely regulating. Same thing, You come home, You hug, Extremely co-regulating. When you feel some anxiety, Some grief, Some unsettling because you're going through change and transition, Asking for a hug, Or hugging someone who's going through that brings the co-regulation factor, Which then helps them to self-regulate and to have the inner steadiness. And the capacity and the resilience that they need to face the change. Um. . . And I think that's it for the science of change. And what's happening in your brain, Your nervous system, And your body. Is this for neurotypicals? No, It's not just for neurotypicals. And now there are many different types of neurodivergence. I just told you that for myself, I'm ODHD, Gifted ODHD. So my brain and my nervous system are wired differently than a neurotypical person. And actually, From what I'm aware of within my own experience and the training I've done in Um. . . All of the neurodivergence and autism fields. Actually transitions. Are even more difficult for people who are neurodivergent. Now that might not be true because there are so many different types of neurodivergence. So I was recently on a training with Dr. Gabor Maté and he was saying exactly the same thing. It's like you can't really pigeonhole, You know, Like, Okay, Someone is neurodivergent that said there are so many different expressions of neurodivergence. So I wanted to share that with you so that you can just be aware of you and your system. And know that, For instance, For me, Periods of transitions because of my neurodivergence are more difficult and I'm aware of that so I've learned how to navigate that and how to resource myself and give myself the kind of support that I need or ask for that kind of support and that's also true for people who are for instance, Who still have unresolved trauma. When people have had a lot of trauma, Transitions are also difficult because people who have had a history of trauma are looking for more control and more stability because they didn't have that. So I highly recommend that you look up Dr. William Davis. Um. . . So it depends for what. So for instance, If you are looking at EPAs and DHAs. If it's for neuroinflammation to keep your brain healthy, Because now we've seen that there's a connection between the inflammation in the brain and anxiety and chronic stress and even like burnout and depression and other mental conditions. So the recommended dosage for that, Even Dr. Andrew Uberman on the Uberman Lab team I can't remember what he calls it, But lab something. Says a thousand milligrams. Um and it By the way, I've mentioned that in a prior live, A thousand milligram of EPAs is the equivalent of Prozac in terms of helping with depression, For instance. So, Now, If it's for heart health, Dr. William Davis, Who is an American cardiologist, Who wrote, I think he wrote The Wheat Belly, And his latest book is called Super Gut, And he actually recommends for people who have some issues with their heart, A much higher dosage, 3, 000 to 3, 600 milligrams. So that's what I mean and maybe you want to check into that. I lose. This Fish oil, I'm not sure if you can see it well. Okay, Here is better. Or these. It has EPAs in it. So it's certain types of fat that our brain needs. And actually, According to Dr. Eric Berg, Who is a DO, It's actually even better to source our fats. From cod liver oil because cod liver oil is the closest composition to the brain fat in our bodies. It depends the realization I feel my five senses blur they become foggy and I start to not see well to not hear well this happens to me because of abandonment trauma And my mind has associated stimuli with danger. I feel stimuli very intensely. So when I face changes, I feel in danger and I automatically experience more derealization. Okay, I get it now. Um. . . Yeah, So it's a way of dissociating basically from your senses is what I'm hearing you say and what I'm realizing which was kind of what I was sensing and what I would say is that that's a way of of actually keeping yourself safe. And not feeling too much because you have those associations between stimuli and danger, Like you said, Because of abandonment trauma. I also have abandonment trauma, So I can relate. And what I would say is one of the practices that can help the most is going to be the titration and pendulation. So it's like slowly being in your body, Feeling what it feels like. And sons by sons. So there's a practice, By the way, Where you, I think you name five things that you see then four things that you hear, Then three things that you smell, Than two things that you taste. And then one thing that you touch, That you feel. It's something like that. So that would be a practice for you to integrate. I think that that would be super helpful. That said, In titrated ways, Meaning you touch into it. And then you allow yourself to dissociate and to come back to your natural state of feeling safe of what you've built as a way of protecting yourself because the derealization is a self-protective mechanism and it's wise. And so it's good to listen. To what your body is asking for and then to just give new inputs to say hey, Let's do a tiny little bit Let's feel let's feel a tiny little bit Let's hear a little bit. Let's look a little bit. Let's smell a little bit. There have been studies on mice. There's a study in epigenetics where they were showing that, And I'm sorry for bringing that up, That said the contact is useful. They use a lot of mice for epigenetic studies because mice reproduce and don't have a long life cycle. So it's easy to be able to understand, Like the, For instance, Intergenerational traumas, How they are basically down, How do you say, How they are handed down. So There was a study where mice were exposed to water in a way that was dangerous and therefore they began to be afraid of water. And so. A few generations, So I think it was the great, Great, Or maybe the great grandkids of those mice, When they were exposed to water, Even though they didn't have that same trauma, The way that they were traumatizing the other mice with water, They were afraid of water. So it was epigenetically something that had been recorded, And there was a marker, And now they had that response. That threat response to water. And by slowly reintroducing them, To the water and nothing happening, Then it completely dissolved. So that's why Dr. Peter Levine, Who is the one who created the titration and pendulation process, That's how he came to develop this because he realized if we do small doses, And we pendulate back and forth between you know, A real. . . Touching you know that that that place that is unknown to us or the change or the uncertainty and then coming back to our natural state or resourcing ourselves. There's different ways to pendulate. Then we can acclimate the body and then that pattern dissolves. So the derealization pattern is going to dissolve. For vegans, Let me show you what I do every day. So this is water. With chia seeds. Chia seeds, Sorry it's not very clear. Chia seeds are the best source of omega-3s. So I don't know if that's EPA, I can't remember the language that said omega-3s are really good for you. So omega-3s through chia seeds are really good. If you have any seeds, You wanna put them in the fridge so that the oils don't go rancid because rancid oils are extremely toxic to the body. Keep your nuts and your seeds in the fridge. I've done a lot of sweat lodges with the And I love how we call the directions and there is, Now we become, You know, There's this sense of feeling safe in the space. Into the next practice, Which is orienting and resourcing. When we're going through change, And or times of uncertainty transitions, The more we again allow our body to feel like we are safe. And we are in this present time then you know the easier it is when we're orienting to the space that we're in to actually feel resourced, To feel like, Oh, I'm okay. I'm going to guide you through a practice that you can then apply when you are facing some changes or going through a transition in your life where throughout the day, By repeating this practice every time you become anxious or you start to future project or you worry about what if, What if, What if, Then you can come back and let your body feel like we're good. There's no threat here. Everything is okay. And then from there, It's easier, As I said before, For the prefrontal cortex to come online and for you to think through what you might do and how you might address the different ways that this change is having an effect in your life. So if you'll start once again. . . By finding a relaxed position, Whether you're sitting, Or lying down. And either soft gaze or gently closing your eyes. And see if you can rest into the support of the space that you're in. And right now we're just closing our eyes temporarily because we're going to open them and orient to the space in a moment. That said, We're just settling into our body. Allowing ourselves to feel what we feel. And if we need to we can have a little dose of that and then get out of the body, Whatever is comfortable for you and works for your body right now. So now, If you'll open your eyes. And as you feel yourself supported. Begin to look around your space. So you might look at So if you're inside, You might look at a wall. And you might feel the stability and the structure of the wall. And just take some time to sense that stability, To register. Stability, Steadiness. And then keep looking around and depending on where you are in your nervous system. You might go fast or you might go slower. Don't force yourself to slow down in your orienting practice until the body is ready for that. So you can begin you know like if someone is a bit dysregulated and a bit disoriented, They might, You know, They might just like look around and that's okay. You start there. And then see if you can notice some things and then that might slow you down naturally. Again, You're not forcing the nervous system because if you force your nervous system, That's a cue of danger. The nervous system is going to say, This person is not listening to me. There's a threat it needs to be and then it's gonna basically heighten your state of anxiousness and hyperarousal and hypervigilance. So you always want to let the nervous system guide the way while you maintain your awareness. And if you're looking and orienting in the space, Looking for things that are calming, Dot R. Strength building. That bring a sense of stability, Of ease, Of support. So remember, We're right now resourcing through orienting in our space. So that we can do that during times of change. And even if it's a new environment, Well, Find the stability and the strength and the calm or even, We've talked about glimmers for those of you who have been in my lives before, Like something that brings you joy or delight. And then look up. Like so that your your nervous system and brain can register oh no it's not just safe here it's safe up there it's safe down there look down and then turn around by the way that's one of the things that's most helpful when you're feeling dysregulated look all around Let your body see that there's no threat. Facing forward. Our nervous system is neurocepting, Meaning sensing. At the back and doesn't know what's going on in the back, We need to help our nervous system see a note. Oh yeah, The stability there, The strength there. The steadiness There's some familiarity, Even if it's a new environment, I can find things that are familiar, You know, Like if you're a new place. Well, Might have wolves too. Or a ceiling to, Or a floor to. So that's still familiarity. And then feel what it feels like. Okay, I'm orienting myself. I'm resourcing myself. I'm safe. You can again name. The time. The day. Your name, Your age if you want. And you can even move your body in the space, So standing up if you'd like, And just like allow yourself to feel the space, You know, To move into the space, To feel your body in the space. You can even. . . Swing a little bit, Sway back and forth. That's really soothing to the body and nervous system. It reminds us when we were babies. Being rocked. So. . . Just giving yourself that resource. And so that is very relevant. Right to what we're talking about which is bringing this sense of orientation through change because one of the things that change brings is a sense of disorientation and then we can tend to then dissociate because we feel unsafe or we can be in a stress loop, Stress response. Looking for the threat, Looking for cues of danger as a result. So. I'm going to ask you for a moment before I talk about the neuroscience to pause, Rest and notice. Now that you've done some resourcing through orienting, What do you notice? Is something different? How do you feel? Is there a place in your body that feels more steady and strong? Remember that inner steadiness will help you move through transitions and change so bring that in the body. Because when the body feels stable, And study. You will be able to move through the change more smoothly, With more ease. With less stress, Less anxiety, And less worry. So. . . I'm going to let you ask questions in a moment and I'm going to simply share what's happening in your brain and body when you're orienting and resourcing for this orienting. So orienting activates the superior colliculus and sends information to the prefrontal cortex and insula that the environment can be scanned and assessed rather than being reacted to. So instead of you know, Being kind of like dysregulated in the environment. No, No, We can scan, We can assess the environment, And we can feel a sense of steadiness and safety in the environment. This is a critical distinction for a nervous system during times of transition. Instead of having a background FRET monitoring that is, Like I was talking about before, Metabolically expensive and exhausting, It takes a lot of energy, Caloric energy, To move through change and to constantly monitor for FRET, That's draining. And again uses calories. Orienting invites deliberate environmental evaluation that results in updated safety signals. So instead of being stuck in a loop of looking for cues of danger and threats, We're now looking for cues of safety. And support. Each time we orient and find evidence of present moment safety, Our amygdala, Which remember it's the threat detection center in the brain, The signal, The alarm in the amygdala, The signal is going to be down regulated and so that's going to help us to Calm down. To come back to the present moment, To feel more comfortable in our bodies. Resourcing right so resourcing is like noticing when we're orienting like things that are steady strong delightful places in our body that are steady strong and and or at ease Resourcing works by activating the ventral vagal branch of our autonomic nervous system, The one that I was telling you about, Which is the social engagement system that we co-regulate through, And building what Dr. Peter Levine calls titration. So the ability to approach something that's difficult. In small doses, Which is what I was explaining before. A possibility to reliably return back. To a sense of being okay and being stable and being resourced and also being regulated. A nervous system that has a resource available can tolerate more than one that has none. So resources is very important during times of change and transition. Can be named as neurological preparation for dealing with uncertainty rather than trying to avoid it. So that's now another tool that you have in your toolkit. When you're going through transitions and change, You can use orientation and resourcing during the orientation. To be able to feel more stable, More capable, More flexible and more resilient. I have a course on nervous system regulation and it does have orientation and resourcing in it. Glimmers are actually in the nervous system regulation course I think savoring might be in it. If not, You can go back to the last live which was I think Breathwork for emotional regulation. And I think we may have talked about savoring in that life. So that's another way to resource. So there's many ways to resource. And then there's different also nervous system regulation practices in our guided meditations. And those might have some orienting. That said, If you don't find it in that, We have a course on nervous system regulation. So is everybody ready for the next practice, Which is actually the pendulation? In a titrated way. So, Pendulation can be called just pendulation or it can be called titration and pendulation. For the most part, Especially for nervous system and people who have trauma experiences like Deborah, For instance, What Deborah was sharing, Titration is really, Really important in the context of pendulating, Right? When we're going back and forth, Between our resource and something that is either touching the change or touching something that feels difficult or a little bit activating. We can do that in micro ways, Just like I was describing with the mice study, Just like micro inputs so that we don't get out of our window of tolerance. I'm just going to bring that up before I start the next practice. One of the things that's most important when we're going through change and transitions is to stay within our window of tolerance. And what that means is that whatever happens, We don't go into hyper arousal, Which is fight, Flight, And freeze, Really, Freeze is also a state of hyperarousal. We're just frozen, That's it, Inside. When they measure the heart rate of someone who's frozen, It's not a calm heart rate. And then hypoarousal, Which is like when we get so frozen and we just don't know what to do, And then we go into a shutdown or a collapse. And then we're not able to even do anything because we feel completely drained, Like we have no ground underneath us to carry us through the situation that we're in because we got so actually hyper-arousal that then we're hypo-arousal. So hypo-arousal is a result of hyper-arousal that is not managed and then we go into hyper-arousal for conservation, For energy conservation and survival basically. Because the nervous system is like this is using way too many resources We're not going to be able to continue like that. So it shuts everything down and shuts us down into a dorsal vagal state so that we can survive. We've inherited that from, You know, From our ancestors. That's what even hibernation is a form of that. It's a way of energy conservation during times where there's not enough resources, For instance, With certain animals during the winter. Or not enough sunshine when those animals rely on sunshine to function. Okay, So we're gonna pendulate. And Deborah, I'm gonna invite you to be very gentle. And to titrate this process and to really use your awareness to be aware. Of just being very gentle with yourself, You know, Touching the change or touching something, You know, Even being in your body and sensing and feeling through your senses and then going back to either a resource or to your natural state of derealizing and allowing things to be more blurry. So don't force anything. Just let yourself pendulate back and forth at your own rhythm. You don't even have to follow the rhythm of what I'm going to be guiding us. Week. So if you'll start. Bye. Sensing your body. And seeing if you can soften, Just soften the body. Yield into the support of your chair, Let your eyes be soft, Your gaze be soft. And then If you want to, If that's comfortable to you and that you feel safe in your space right now, You can gently close your eyes. And remember, You can open them at any time and you can orient. And just realize I'm safe where I am right now. Look at something of delight in your environment. I like to look at candles or art or beautiful trees. And just allow myself to feel safe in my own space. So you can do that anytime. Now. If you'll start by choosing an anchor. And that's going to be a place in your body. That ever feels calm. Feels ease. Relax. Feel soft. Feel strong. Feels stable, Whatever it is to you that you are going to pendulate back to. As we go back and forth into touching the unknown, Touching uncertainty. And then coming back to this place in your body. Where you stand. That you can resource, Where it feels good for you to be. So that's gonna be different for everybody. And I may not even have named what that might be for you. That might not be any of the adjectives that I used, Any of the qualities that I've used. So just find something that you can anchor to, Something that's comfortable to you. And if that's not in your body, That's okay. Maybe you have a flower in your environment and that's going to be your anchor and your resource. Maybe there's a beautiful painting or maybe you have access to nature and you can see, You know, Like a beautiful tree or you can see some animals, Some birds, And that's your anchor. Whatever your anchor is, Just allow yourself to know that you have this anchor and you can come back to it. So now. . . As you tune into this anchor, And you're aware of it, And you're aware that you can pendulate back to it, Meaning go back to it anytime. You don't have to follow the rhythm. That I'm going to follow. Can go back to your anchor anytime you start to feel a little bit of activation in your nervous system. So starting to be, You know, More aware of the very subtle signs of dysregulation or activation in your nervous system. And now. . . You're on this live, Maybe you are navigating change right now, Maybe you are navigating some kind of uncertainty, Some kind of ending, A new beginning. And there's a level of unknown, Of things that you don't yet know. How to be with, Or how to feel about, Or how to address, Or how to resolve. And if you'll just, In whichever dose, Works for you if you'll just bring that into your awareness. And notice what happens to your body. When you bring that into your awareness. A man? Come back to your anchor so moving away from the activation it's probably activating to bring about that unknown or that uncertainty or something a loop that is open and not resolved So then come back to your anchor, Inner or outer. And really allow yourself to feel the quality that this anchor brings for you. And the resourcing that becomes available to you. Maybe you feel yourself, If you're sitting, More grounded in your seat. Maybe you feel yourself just yielding or maybe there's a breath of relief. Like a Hmm. . . And just be with your anchor for a moment. And then again, Remember, Follow your own rhythm. Go back and touch again. The place where there is uncertainty and notice what happens in your body. When you touch into the uncertainty, Even just a micro dose, Whatever is comfortable enough, Not taking you out of your window of tolerance. Into hyperarousal or hypoarousal. So when you touch into that uncertainty, Maybe there's like a heaviness or a quickening, Or a little bit of unsettling, Or maybe your sit bones rise up and you have less of this yielding. Just notice. Whatever you become aware of. And then return to your anchor. Allow yourself. To be held. To be a resource, To be supported. By the strength the stability the peace, The delight, The joy, Whatever your anchor is bringing for you, That's resourcing you. It's gonna be very. . . Very personal to you. Just be with that for a moment. Now, As you rest, With your anchor we're gonna end this practice on an anchor Just allow yourself to really connect to the fact that your anchor is a resource to you. It's a resource to help you move through change, To help you move through the unknown, Through uncertainty. And maybe even place your hands on your heart. Thank you body. Thank your resource, Thank that place inside of you, Or even if it's outside of you. Thank that thing. That helps you feel resourced. That brings your nervous system into balance. A state of being steady. Strong, Stable. So when we were moving back and forth between touching. . . Right, In a titrated way. We were touching into the unknown, Into the uncertain, Into the change, Into the transition. Which is activating, And then we're going back to the anchor or the resource. And back and forth. That's pendulation, Right? And the titration part is how much of that you do. The resource you can do as much as you want. It's just the thing that is activating that you titrate. And then. . . Whenever you're using that tool, You're going to do it back and forth a few times, However many times you want. The beauty of pendulation. So the beauty of first titration is that titration allows you to do just enough that you don't get out of your window of tolerance and therefore you build nervous system capacity. If you, And resilience, If you get out of your window of tolerance, You're not building resilience or capacity because you're dysregulating yourself. So that's why titration is so important, Especially for people who have trauma histories. Or who have some form of. Hypersensitivity, You know, Or certain forms of neurodivergence, Like for myself, For instance, I'm HSP and ADHD, So I feel things a lot. And so for me, Titration is really important. And pendulation, And as you've noticed, We stay more with the resource, With the anchor, Than we go into the titrated, Like, Difficulty or challenge. So I'm going to tell you a little bit. And so what happens is that when you're pendulating like that in a titrated way, Your nervous system is like, Oh, I can get dysregulated and come back to regulation. I can get dysregulated and come back to regulation. And so that gives you the realization. I don't stay stuck in dysregulation, Which is extremely dysregulating in itself. And when you build that neural pathway of, I don't have to get stuck in dysregulation, I can get a little bit dysregulated. Get back to my anchor and my resource and and come back to myself and feel safe and okay and then your nervous system starts to trust oh i can take little doses of change i can take little doses of transition and i can allow myself to know. What is right for me. What is the right dose. And how much of it I expose myself to. So for instance, For me as an ODHT person, I love people. That said, I also, I'm not, I'm, I'm an introvert in many ways. And extroverted. I love people. That said, The doses that work for me, Especially if I'm around dysregulated people. I'm not going to want to be with them, You know, Like. A long time. So my friends, O-D-H-D. So O-D-H-D is A-U-D-H-D. It means ADHD and autistic. So for me, For instance, All my friends know that I'm very sensitive. And so they know that like when I'm done, I'm done. Like if it's like an hour. I'm just there for an hour. So I'll go to an outing. Uh, And then if within an hour, There's like so much dysregulation around me that I'm like, Hmm, No, That's not really resourcing for me. I'm just going to go hike or go in the river or pets a dog or go see the horses or whatever. You know, I have access to that day. That's what I'll do. Um, So that I can keep myself inside of my window of tolerance. And resourced and grounded and stable and comfortable inside my body because if I were to stay for instance I've done that before in social situations for six hours with a lot of dysregulation around me then I get completely overwhelmed then I I also basically mask i'm not showing anyone that i'm completely overwhelmed and then i'm completely drained and uh kind of just holding that for a while and then except that I have Qigong, So then I just use Qigong and I clear the energy. That said, I've learned through my own personal experience, So I wanted to share that with you. So what's happening in your body and brain? Pendulation works by gently expanding your window of tolerance, The range of arousal within which your nervous system can function without going into full activation or shutdown. Dr. Peter Levine's research showed that trauma and chronic stress is going to narrow our window of tolerance. Titrated oscillating contact with activation, Arousal, Without getting overwhelmed or shut down. Is going to gradually widen our window of tolerance again. So we'll be able to face more challenges, More change, More difficulties, More uncertainty, More transitions without getting dysregulated essentially. Neurologically speaking, Pendulation builds what researchers call inhibitory control. The prefrontal cortex ability to regulate the reactivity amygdala, The threat detection center. Center. By repeatedly practicing the sequence of activation followed by a return to our baseline or our resourcing, Our resource state, Our natural state of relaxation. Each completed cycle reinforces the neural pathway that says, I activated and I came back. I'm safe. I'm OK. This is the neurological foundation of building resilience. So that's the neuroscience. We, Unfortunately. . . Because I always run overtime. We've only had time to do those practices and I did get a chance to name some of the other practices for you. And what I will do is. . . I will basically in the next live, I will address some of these other things maybe that we didn't address today because a lot of my lives while they can be like focused on a topic, They're really about nervous system regulation and somatic practices. So, You know, I can bring those practices in any context. It really doesn't matter. One thing I do want to say is about somatic honoring of endings. Because it's so important in the process of transitions and change. Is that It's really important when something ends that you, Because there's change, Right? Whatever it is, A new job, A new relationship, A new place that you're living in, A baby, A new pet, Whatever change is happening in your life, That you honor the ending. Of what? Is being left behind or what is dissolving. And you do that by being in your body and allowing yourself to feel what that feels like. You can talk to the parts that come up. You can say, I hear you. You can go back to my life, By the way, Where I talked about inner relationship focusing. That life talks about, How to build that relationship. I think it was the life that was around If someone remembers what the live was called, I can't remember what it was called, But essentially it was about building a relationship with your part. So you can do the same with those parts, Just like being, You know, Coming inside of you and honoring the grief. For those of you who have come to my lives before, You may have heard me talk about grief. One of my favorite teachers, His name is Dr. Gordon Nuffield. He's actually the mentor of Dr. Gabor Maté. He is one of the most, In my opinion, I've studied and I have a certification in somatic biology. Attachment therapy. And he is the one who has had a body of research. On basically relational trauma and also basically attachment trauma. And his framework and his model is brilliant, In my opinion. He says that for us to actually learn, And integrate and feel safe. With moving through, You know, Change and endings. That the grief part of that is so important. So if you need to grieve something that is ending, Uh, Before you can actually allow yourself to feel and embrace something that is new, A new beginning, It's really important. Even if it's just a job, It doesn't matter whatever, Or a friendship, You know, That has ended and you're, Or you're moving from a place and therefore you're not going to see certain people from the place where you were, That you really allow yourself to grieve that, To feel the sadness, To feel the loss, To feel that this is no longer in your life or not in the way that it was before, And to honor that and to talk to those parts of you that have that relationship. So that are feeling the grief basically. I do have experience with different devices. Auricular vagal neuromodulation is wonderful. By the way, I did a live on neuromodulation. You might want to watch it. Well, It might be helpful to you because I do a lot of the exercises with the ears. Of course, The ears, By the way, The place right behind the ears, Like between the top of your neck or the end of your jaw and here the ear is one of the most powerful ways to access your vagus nerve. And usually it's painful, By the way, When you press there. So be gentle, Titrate that. Press there. And Yeah, I recommend. I don't know that specific device that said I have heard of it. I would say What is that AI? There's an AI for all the research, I think. Perplexity. No, I can't remember the name. Anyway, Look up the AI that Has all the research and then look up the research and then in my blogs also I address certain neuromodulation Devices so you may want to look into that one device that I really love is is this vagotism that is really good. And then there's another one that you can put on your third eye, On your throat. Which has a lot of access to your vagal nerve and on your heart and on your belly. Pieces to it. And it's like it vibrates all those places and it brings coherence to all these different places in your body. And so it brings integration and congruence and it's super helpful. I can't remember the name right now of that one. It's my favorite. I use it a lot. I do a lot of psychedelic assisted therapy, Legal. And so I used that during integration. It's Gordon Nuffield. They co-wrote with Gabor Maté, Hold On To Your Kids. If you have kids, Read that book. It's amazing. It's all about attachment theory because we're wired for connection. And so the way that we raise our children and the more, Especially in the world that we live in, Where there's so much, You know, Basically, Distractions, You know, For the youth, It's so important that we establish really strong relationships with our children, That we hold on to them. So I highly recommend this teacher and all of his work. I love him. He's probably, He's my mentor too, Even though I've only taken a few courses with him. He is one of the people I most resonate with in terms of his teachings. So thank you everyone. Connect with me through all of our practices. And I love you. I'm so grateful for you. And thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all of you.