Hi everyone.
My name is Jeremy.
And you can start by just surviving just as you are.
Nothing special to do.
And we're going to be together for about 15 minutes here.
I'm getting to know our nervous system a little bit.
I work in brain and spine surgery.
And we know from that that nerves don't respond to force.
They often respond to the right conditions.
And there's a few things that are built into our body that can help us access those conditions more easily,
Especially around this time of day.
When possibly people could be feeling a little more on edge.
Possibly you're in the middle of your day at working.
Or trying to push through or think through something.
And so these are going to be short resets.
And we're not going to try to calm anything.
We're just going to see how the system responds.
When we set our conditions.
So no need to change anything.
Just start coming into the space you're in.
Start noticing the light.
And the new sounds.
You don't need to change your posture.
But you might notice how you are.
You don't need to close your eyes.
That you might just notice.
And just arrive.
We're just landing here together.
We're all breathing together.
Now we're all in our space.
And this is enough.
This is enough for our nervous systems to start responding.
You see,
Often when we adjust or notice one place of our nervous system,
It allows other places to follow.
And so let's start with a few pieces of our body.
And we'll start with our hands.
You see our hands carry a lot of nervous system information directly to our heads.
They take up a lot of space in our brains.
And the wires go directly there.
So we can use them as tools to kind of start noticing.
What's happening inside of our bodies.
So a few things that are easy to do.
You might just start noticing your hands bringing your attention there.
Don't overthink it.
And then you might gently try a few things,
Either palms up.
And just take a breath here.
And notice sensation on your palms.
Texture temperature of air.
And this is often a signal.
To the nervous system.
That openness we're exploring.
Another thing we can try is palms down.
And you can notice you can rest your palms on your legs,
Down to your sides.
And just notice that difference.
And this is often a signal of grounding.
And so just a breath in either of these positions.
Is enough for the system to start picking up the signal.
And there isn't a right position.
But you might notice if one feels more easy or natural.
This is the first layer,
The hands.
Now you might bring your attention to your eyes.
You might let your gaze soften.
You can close your eyes if you'd like.
We see our eyes are also taking an input constantly.
Sending signals to our brain.
And so we can adjust with our eyelids how much input.
Is going.
And we can adjust the ease and the effort here.
And just notice.
And so you might begin to notice the edges around you and the space.
Peripheral,
Anything in the background?
And you're just sensing here.
You're not scanning.
And if your eyes are closed.
You can do this too.
Gently moving your eyes around.
Not scanning.
But just being here in your breath.
And just noticing.
I'm just seeing if there's any more space.
Inside of this.
Now you might notice your jaw.
We carry a lot of tension here.
Your jaw is a big muscle.
It also has nerves ride right to your brain and is in close proximity to your brain,
So the wiring does not take very long to get there.
So our jaw and our tongue and the muscles of our face carry a lot of tension.
And we can do things.
Not necessarily adjustments,
But small releases maybe.
And so you might notice if you can let your jaw drop.
Just a little.
Maybe 2%.
You can see the smallest adjustments,
The smallest inputs.
Can start clear shifts that can cascade through the nervous system.
And see if your tongue can drop in your mouth a little.
And see about maybe your eyes,
The muscles around them.
If there's any ease there.
There's no need to release.
We're just sensing what's already there.
Maybe there's a little more space between your eyes.
A little softening.
It's 2%.
Now you might start sensing into your breath.
No need to change it.
There's no technique to manage it.
You've been breathing all day.
Just let it arrive on its own.
We're not going for deep or slow here,
We're just noticing where we're already at.
You don't have to do more.
But you might see if you can let the breath expand.
Outward.
Through your ribs.
Through your sides.
Inhaling in.
Expansion out through your sides.
Maybe even your front.
And into your back.
And gentle exhales.
And if you'd like,
You can try inhale and exhale through your nose.
This also stimulates nerve tissue in our sinuses.
And helps with oxygen to our nervous system.
And so we're doing a three-dimensional breath here.
We're not necessarily breathing downward.
Breathing easily and gently.
Expanding like a cloud.
Outward through our ribs,
Through the sides.
Gently through the front.
Feeling it into our spine in the back.
And we're just noticing.
This layer.
And you might let your exhales extend,
Maybe just by 2%.
You might just notice what's moving.
Maybe thoughts are here.
Maybe sensations in the body.
And just sense for a moment.
Gentle inhales in.
Exhales out seeing if there's any softening.
Where we already were.
In our eyes.
In our hands.
In our face.
2%.
Noticing the layers.
Noticing our thoughts.
Not holding on to them.
And letting them move like our breath.
Letting them move like sound or sensation.
Exhale a thought.
Don't follow it.
And if you need to return,
Your breath is here.
And your hands.
Gently return.
And stay here for just a few moments.
And sense the different layers of yourself.
Sensation.
Noise texture.
There's no need to stop any of this.
I'm just taking the time to notice.
And some of these things are moving in and out of the background.
Maybe some of them feel sticky.
Maybe there's just a little less effort.
That can be applied to some of these areas.
I'm just noticing.
The sensation.
Space.
And the rhythm of our breath.
Most of the time our nervous systems or really ourselves,
We're just tuned to the loudest thing.
And so here.
We're seeing that they're not necessarily separate.
But layered in our system.
And we're noticing how our systems are responding.
Not through force.
We know that force is not how nerves respond.
And so there's not really a need to change anything.
But more of a need to notice.
And maybe just sit.
In the moment.
And so as we're noticing our layers,
Coming back to our bodies.
And coming back to sensation.
To our hands.
Into our weight and to the surface beneath us.
And here there's room.
Maybe 2%.
Room for something to notice.
Some space not to hold on to.
But just see that it's moving too.
And then this movement.
And in this space,
And this is where our nervous system organizes.
And this is where trust.
And experience can return.
And so a few more breaths here.
And gently in.
Natural out and bringing yourself back to your hands.
And noticing.
Palms up,
Still.
Maybe now palms down.
And see which one of those feels easier now.
Maybe the same.
It may be different.
We're just noticing.
No right answers.
You might bring yourself to your breath.
You might give yourself a curious hmmm.
I wonder.
It's even that,
Hmm.
Stimulates another nerve in our nervous system.
The vagus nerve that travels throughout our body.
And so these are tools that are built into our bodies.
That we have access to.
And so use them when you have a moment.
Or when you can return to a moment.
And take time just to notice.
Not improving.
Or letting the system settle where it is.
And we're just letting everything land.
And in that space,
That's where the conditions shift.
And this is where things can start to feel different.
Not necessarily because they are different.
Maybe because the layers that we're sensing.
And the quality.
Are in this moment.
And they're shifting.
And so stay here for a few more moments.
And start to come back into your bodies.
And start to notice the room.
Any sounds?
And it's been a very good pleasure being with you all.
Thank you so much.
Now we're just remembering the small inputs.
Can create clear shifts.
And thanks for being here.
If you found this helpful.
There's a few other insight timer meditations that I have,
And I look forward to seeing you all soon.
