The theme for this week is processing trauma.
And trauma is what happens to a person when there is either too much too soon,
Too much for too long,
Or not enough for too long.
The life lesson we learn from beekeeping is that a strong hive is a healthy hive.
But what happens if there are too many bees in a hive?
The hive will swarm,
It will take the majority of the honey,
And the bee colony will need to start over again.
Let's look at the concept of too much too soon,
Too much for too long,
And not enough for too long.
Too much for too soon would be like a one-time event,
A very traumatic event,
That would cause your nervous system to go into somewhat of an overload.
And when we talk about too much for too long,
That would be like being in a traumatic environment,
In an environment where things are happening on a daily basis or something like that,
And being exposed to that over time.
And not enough for too long is talking about connection,
Because our nervous system is looking for connection.
And if you didn't have that connection with others and feel that,
So that's not enough for too long,
So an example of not feeling that love is growing up,
That could be a traumatic event also.
And trauma as an event can affect our body directly.
But trauma as we're talking about it,
That's trauma that stays with us,
That happens in the mind,
And then it affects the body.
Our autonomic nervous system responds moment-to-moment to what we often competing needs to survive and to be social,
Our need to connect.
In a state of protection,
Survival is the only goal.
Our sympathetic nervous system,
As we call it,
The fight-or-flight.
In a state of connection,
We experience health,
Growth,
And restoration.
Our autonomic nervous system learns through our experiences.
The issue comes when we teach it to respond to all situations as they are responding to the previous traumatic ones every single time.
Our nervous systems regulate itself,
Going from connection to stress or survival as needed.
And dysregulation is when it reads signals incorrectly and responds in ways that are not appropriate for the situation.
Trauma survivors often suffer from unpredictable,
Rapid,
Intense,
And prolonged states of dysregulation.
The goal is to be able to interact with and respond appropriately to each situation as it happens.
And we can accomplish this through mindfulness.
With that in mind,
Come join me in today's meditation.
So just let's start by taking a moment to relax the body.
Just soften any unnecessary tension in your belly and shoulders.
And find a posture that feels both relaxed and alert.
Resting your hands in an easy,
Effortless way.
With your eyes open,
Take a few moments to scan your awareness.
Scanning your awareness through the sensations of your body.
Whenever possible,
Soften and release obvious areas of physical tension.
Let your eyes stay open and focus on the middle of the room wherever you are.
And then see how you can let your awareness travel across the room from where you're sitting.
And if you're lying down,
You can just let your attention go upwards to the ceiling.
And then notice how you can let your attention come back to the center of the room.
And see if you can bring your attention closer to about book reading distance.
As if you're reading a book in your hands.
So clearly,
You can determine where your attention goes.
And now,
You can let your eyes close and just let your attention go inward.
And as you do that,
Just gently focus on the sensations of the breath.
Moving in.
You can let your attention go to whatever the breath comes most naturally to you.
For some people,
It's the sensations of the air in the nostrils.
With that gentle feeling coming in and out as the air passes in and out of the nostrils.
For others,
They naturally feel the breath in the chest.
With the rising and falling of the chest with each half breath in and out.
For most beginners,
People feel the breath most naturally in the belly.
Feeling the diaphragm underneath their lungs.
Pulling air into the lungs.
Expanding your belly as you breathe in.
And when the air is released from the lungs as you breathe out,
The belly actually moves inward.
Sensing the abdominal movements in and out.
So see if you could just let your awareness ride the wave of the breath.
Wherever you feel it most naturally.
Your nostrils.
Your chest.
Your abdominal movement.
Or for some people,
It's even just the whole body breathing.
Whatever comes naturally for you.
And just let your attention ride the wave of your breathing.
As you're sensing your breath in and out,
You may also sense that your mind is as fast as the ocean.
Or deep in the ocean beneath the surface,
It is calm and clear.
And from that deep place in the ocean,
You can look upward towards the surface.
No matter what is going on in your life.
No matter what those conditions are.
Deep in the ocean,
It is calm.
Just sensing your breath,
It allows you to access the depth and stillness of your mind.
As fast as the ocean.
Or from this deep,
Peaceful place.
You can look upward at the waves at the surface.
The brainwaves that are the thoughts and emotions and conditions of your mind.
Can you notice all those fleeting thoughts and emotions that are just there at the surface?
That come and go pretty quickly.
Just sensing your awareness each day.
Like waves at the top of the ocean.
Sensing your breath,
Bringing you back to this peaceful place.
Feeling the profound depth of your mind.
And when a thought comes,
Or a feeling,
Memory,
Or sensation.
Then warmly and calmly,
Take me.
And just redirect your attention back to your breath.
And then,
Let your attention return to the breath.
This depth of your mind,
Where you can just sense and observe.
Sense and observe the activities of the mind as just activities.
And not the totality of who you are.
See if you can let yourself enjoy this deep tranquility that comes from just sensing the breath.
Knowing that just focusing your mind on your breathing,
Reach to this deep place of calm.
And now,
When you're ready,
You can take a couple more mindful breaths.
And as you do that,
You can let your eyes open when you're ready.
Coming back into the room.
And may you bring this same quality of kind awareness to the rest of your day.
Feeling relaxed in your body and mind.
