Anchors And Nervous System Regulation For Awareness

Welcome,

Welcome.

Today I wanted to talk to you and also practice with you the concept of anchors,

Of anchoring our attention in the present moment.

So we can be more aware moment by moment,

So we can widen our perspective,

So we could access more of the data that's unfolding moment by moment.

And the way that we can support all that is with anchoring our attention in the present moment.

Now the mind can be in all sorts of places,

Yet thinking in life always happens here and now.

And I guess before we get into anchoring I also want to explain why I'd like to infuse today's practice with down regulating the nervous system.

And how by doing that it can also enhance our connection and experience with anchors.

What are anchors?

Simply put,

Anchors keep the mind from drifting off too far.

They keep the mind from thinking too much about the past or the future,

Getting caught up in stories and visual and language.

Anchors support us in also down regulating the nervous system because thoughts are often,

If not always,

Interwoven and integrated with emotional states.

And thus biology and chemistry and sensory reactions in the body.

Anchors are things,

Aspects,

Elements that are always present for you,

That are steady,

Not agitated,

That are grounding,

Not overwhelming.

For many people breathing is an anchor.

The sensations of breathing,

Sensing,

Feeling the breath happens in the present moment.

And often when the mind is busy,

When we're caught up in a reaction state,

Breathing can help us center ground.

And just focusing on breathing might not be enough,

Hence the down regulation.

And by actually changing the breath,

Doing breath works,

Can help us not only in being more present,

But down regulating.

Shifting in a more rest,

Recovery,

Rational,

Logical,

Compassionate state,

Rather than a reactive,

Autopilot,

Fast,

Habitual state.

One can lengthen the breath,

Deepen the breath,

Count the breath,

Do all sorts of fancy and simple breathing techniques to sense more breathing in the present moment.

Perhaps you can be doing this right now as you're listening.

And with breathing you can down regulate and up regulate.

Simply put,

If you want to down regulate the nervous system,

Calm down,

Relax,

Often extending the out breath,

The exhalation is the way to go.

If you want to up regulate,

Create more energy,

You lengthen the in-breath,

The inhalation.

Breath is an anchor.

Another anchor is the body itself,

The body as a whole,

And or parts of the body.

The felt experience of the body is always in the present moment.

Perhaps right now you can feel the temperature in the hands,

The feet,

The pressure,

The contact the body is making with the ground or the chair,

The cushion.

You might be able to feel pleasant,

Unpleasant sensations in the body.

That feeling,

That sensing of the body can bring the mind back to the present moment.

And again,

We can use the anchor of body to regulate the nervous system,

Down or up regulate.

We actually,

In my opinion,

Should be doing this before we start a meditation.

Because before we get to the insight,

Often the benefits from meditation,

We first need to settle the body,

The mind,

Emotions,

Nervous system and so forth and so on.

So the body anchor helps us come back to the present moment,

And we can enhance regulation by moving the body,

Changing the posture.

If we want more energy,

We can do more active movements.

If maybe we want to calm down,

We could do more passive movements.

There's a whole yang yoga world out there and a yin yoga out there.

We can also bring in the breath into the body,

Breathe with the body.

We can consciously tighten,

Relax the body.

We can practice self-compassion to the body.

You'd be amazed how far some self-compassion touch can go.

Just holding the body,

Shoulder,

The hands can help us regulate and can bring us back to the present moment.

We have breathing as an anchor,

We have body as an anchor,

And we can change,

Control,

Adapt breath and body to help us up-regulate and down-regulate the nervous system,

Which can support us in how much we can get out of as well as put into a meditation or a spiritual practice or a mindfulness practice or actually any sort of interaction.

Now the last sort of category of anchors is anchors that we can label as outside the body,

But I'm not best at distinguishing what's inside outside the body as everything is quite connected.

Yet for simplicity's sake,

Let's say outside the body are anchors that involve our senses,

Sight,

We can only see in the present moment,

We can anchor our attention on something we can look at,

A candle flame,

Something in nature,

A picture,

Whatever it might be,

That can help us center the mind in here and now.

And of course what we look at can up-regulate and or down-regulate the nervous system and also how we look at it,

But that's for another talk.

Sound,

Listening to something can also anchor our attention back to the present moment.

Listening only happens now and while the mind gets involved in any of the anchors,

The judging,

The labeling,

If we go back to just listening for listening sake or looking sake,

Brings us back to the present moment.

And as you know from your own experience,

There's certain sounds that are more pleasant and unpleasant to your ears.

Some sounds can increase your nervous system activation and other sounds can decrease your nervous system activation.

In other words,

We can use anchors inside and outside the body to bring us back into the moment and we can use those anchors,

We can stimulate those anchors,

We can do something with those anchors to up-regulate the nervous system,

Down-regulate the nervous system intentionally to nurture and also reap more of the benefits out of what we're choosing to do.

Interaction,

Meditation,

Yoga,

Working,

Being,

Whatever it might be.

With that being said,

Let's take a few moments to practice this.

And the invitation is to find an anchor that is steady,

That is grounding,

That draws your attention to feeling and sensing something directly in the present moment.

Maybe breath,

Maybe body,

Maybe something outside the body.

And deciding,

Do I change the breath to up-regulate,

Down-regulate,

Or I just keep the breath the same?

Body,

Up-regulate,

Down-regulate,

Outside anchor,

Up-regulate,

Down-regulate.

And the thoughts that arise,

The emotions that accompany them,

Bringing them along for the ride,

Not needing to put energy into resisting or fighting,

Ignoring.

If I'm starting to think about my to-do list or something that happened in the past,

Just recognizing that,

Okay,

Mind is thinking right now,

Body is feeling,

And re-centering the focus on anchor of choice.

There we have it,

Anchors and what,

How,

And why of anchors.

I thank you so much for attending this,

For watching this,

For practicing.

Wishing you a mindful rest of the day.