So hello and welcome to you on this practice of notice,
Name,
And shift.
I'm going to give a little bit of background,
And then we'll have a practice together.
So this practice is a fairly simple practice,
But it has very profound effects in our whole system.
And I first heard this languishing of notice and name from Deb Dana.
Who is a therapist and polyvagal specialist,
And a similar terminology from Dr.
Dan Siegel,
Which was name it to tame it.
So when we're experiencing strong emotions,
Sensations,
Thought loops,
We have a lot of activation in the right side of our hemisphere.
From the brainstem to the midbrain up to the top.
It is a very active system,
And we often,
If the experience is more challenging,
Our protective responses are brought online,
Our fight and our freeze responses.
And we can lose the ability to be mindful in the moment.
And this happens to all of us.
And We have to have compassion for ourselves.
Bring ourselves back.
Together and back online as best we can.
And this simple practice of first noticing.
That brings our mindful awareness right to the forefront.
It also begins to create a little separation.
If I can notice a thought loop or notice an emotion.
Or notice a corresponding sensation.
There's a little separation between me and this experience.
And so already there's a,
I'm not so much spinning in the deep vortex.
Of the intensity of the experience.
And then when we can name it.
What that does is it begins to offer some right-left horizontal integration in the mind.
Instead of just this right hemisphere being really active.
Naming recruits circuits from our left hemisphere.
To find a word that matches the experience.
And what they're finding in neuroscience and psychology is that when we can name the emotion,
Decreases the intensity of the experience.
Just by giving it that label.
I'm sad.
I'm angry.
I feel collapsed,
I'm feeling guilt,
Whatever it is to be able to name it.
Really helps.
We can also name positive experiences too.
I'm feeling joy.
I'm feeling lightness.
I'm feeling settled.
All those are experiences that we can do this notice and name practice with.
And then what I have found in my experience is that when I notice what's happening and I give it a name.
And I'm sitting with it.
For a bit,
Just as it is.
There begins to come a shift.
It could be a shift in my body.
There could be a shift in.
The emotional experience of it may be.
It softens,
Maybe I get an insight,
You know,
There can be a shift in my thought process.
And it's very powerful.
So when we name something,
We soften the amygdala response.
In our system,
And we have this right-left horizontal integration.
And as with all mindful practices,
Remembering that it is a practice.
And so if you are experiencing something of intensity,
This is a repetitive process.
You might notice this piece of it and then this piece.
It's helpful to come back.
Again and again to Notice what's happening.
What am I sensing?
Naming it.
And then being present and sensing if there's a shift.
So let's practice together.
Come into a posture that supports your being present today.
Hopefully with some comfort.
And you're welcome to have your eyes open or closed for this practice.
And just take a moment to feel what arriving feels like for you today.
I'm feeling like I'm slowing down after my introduction,
And my weight is dropping more into my seat,
Into my pelvis.
And we're going to start this practice.
Of noticing.
Bye.
Just turning our attention towards our body.
And.
.
.
I'd like you to notice any body sensation.
It could be the sensation of your feet on the floor.
Or your legs crossed.
Your breath.
It can be a challenging sensation.
It can be a neutral sensation.
Or even a pleasant sensation that you notice.
And see if you can.
Notice the location of it in your body.
It may be I feel a buzzing in my chest.
Or perhaps your stomach is pleasantly full.
Or maybe that your back is being supported.
And this is part of the naming process,
Right?
I feel.
You know,
Heaviness,
Lightness in this location.
And then.
See if you can just stay with the sensation as it is.
And see if a shift occurs.
Begins.
You may be aware that.
An uncomfortable sensation might start to spread out and become a little less intense.
Or a neutral to pleasant sensation may do that also.
It spreads out maybe,
Maybe it gets stronger,
Maybe lighter.
Maybe you just notice a subtle shift in your breath.
And maybe you don't feel a shift at all.
Which is perfectly okay.
And remember to.
Pace yourself with how much attention you give to a body sensation.
Especially if what's in the foreground of your attention is a challenging sensation.
Can be difficult to stay with that for real long.
If it's painful or difficult to hold.
So you can shift your attention away from that,
Back to your environment,
Noticing my voice.
Whatever helps you pace yourself so that your sensation doesn't get to be too much.
And now we're going to bring on if there's an emotion.
That you're experiencing right now.
Perhaps the body sensation is the strongest cue and you can ask.
Is there an emotion connected to this?
Is this buzzing in my chest?
Worry.
Anxiety VIGILANCE Fear.
Excitement.
Just see.
Sinking in my belly,
Is it?
Feeling ashamed or wanting to disappear or feeling like you're contracting.
For some of you,
Your emotion may be the predominant thing that you experience.
And Part of this noticing and naming process can be bring your body into the gestalt of the whole experience of this emotion.
You might easily be able to say,
I'm angry,
I'm upset,
I'm ashamed.
But then it's hard to go further.
Emotion is easy to name.
See if you can notice how your body holds that emotion.
And where in your body.
Is it in the chest or the back?
Or your jaw.
Are the sensations heavy?
Contracting.
Expanding.
Zingy.
Fast.
And if you can,
Try not to go into the storyline.
This is the biggest challenge.
Because our emotions and our body sensations are always connected to a storyline.
A thread and we can easily spin out in that storyline.
But for right now,
See if you can.
Give yourself the gift of attention.
Without a story.
Right now.
I feel tightness in my chest and I'm feeling sad.
And being present with that experience.
No need to fix it,
To change it.
But you're continuing to turn towards it.
With curiosity.
With kindness.
In this process,
You are staying in the present moment.
And not abandoning yourself.
And then just check to see.
What your body and your heart does with you.
With your attention on this experience.
Oftentimes,
There's maybe a slight shift or movement.
Some perhaps some reorganization.
Some.
Subtle or very obvious.
Change or shift.
Or not.
And for those of you that it's hard to tap into body or difficult to be aware of your emotions,
Give yourself a lot of grace.
This is.
Practice that requires some skill building.
But even if you're not sure what you feel or can't even find a name for it,
Just listening to your body,
To your heart.
Is the start of this beautiful.
Reconnection process with yourself.
And then.
If you want to.
We can add in awareness of your thought process.
So what I find with myself is when I have body sensation with emotion.
There's usually.
A thought process,
A dialogue.
It could be the inner critic showing up.
It could be some languaging around my beliefs,
Or.
.
.
You know,
Certainly the storyline can show up in my thoughts.
Just again,
Notice.
The thoughts that seem to be connected.
With this emotion.
And with these body sensations.
So you might notice,
Ah!
My heart beats faster with this worry thought.
Huh.
Oh,
My breath changes,
It's more shallow.
Or when I have this thought.
My body kind of disappears.
I can't feel much.
I kind of go numb.
So just noticing this.
This intimate connection.
Between our bodies,
Our emotions,
And our thoughts.
We make a shift or a turn in one of these wheels,
And it affects the other two.
It's all connected.
And with stepping into your mindful awareness,
My wish is that you can begin to sense a bit of space between your awareness of it and the experience of it.
A little bit of separation that a bit of spaciousness in what it is that you're feeling,
Thinking and and sensing in your body.
When we practice this.
Over time.
Our body will begin to do these shifts into greater regulation.
More quickly over time.
Not always,
But it's a process.
And then we might also.
Be paying attention and noticing what we need in the moment.
Do I need to speak with a friend?
Do I need to move my body so that I can be present to what's happening?
Do I need to sit quietly with myself?
Do I need to journal?
Or stretch.
Or drink some water.
So this practice that we're doing today,
This is a more extended part of that where we're stretching out our awareness,
Noticing sensations,
Spending some time feeling the location,
Noticing the emotion,
Naming it.
Noticing thought loops,
Naming that.
Right,
This is a more extended version of notice,
Name,
And shift.
But if you're caught in a particularly intense.
Process right now.
Which I know many of us are.
You can do this practice in a more condensed way.
And I'll give you some examples.
Oh,
I notice.
Oh,
I just.
Just this thing dropped into my belly.
I feel shame.
It feels like it's all my fault.
That's my mental loop.
For the shift,
I will consciously shift my attention to something perhaps in my environment.
To maybe.
.
.
Moment of beauty in the environment,
Maybe a place in my body that feels less heavy.
This shift you can actually kind of manually do.
Oh,
I noticed this.
Oh,
This intense.
Oh,
My chest just seized up.
Oh,
I'm scared.
Okay,
Let me orient,
Let me see if this is really accurate,
Right?
And then you can look into your environment.
So you can.
In the extended practice,
Wait for and be curious about.
A possible shift in your physiology.
Or your experience of your emotion.
Or your thought.
Or you can be more intentional of,
Oh,
I'm noticing this,
Ah,
It's this,
You know,
This sensation,
This emotion,
And oh,
My thoughts,
Let me consciously shift to something else.
That is something that Kristin Neff calls fierce compassion.
In the sense that it's not going to be helpful for me with this process to stay spinning in it.
So I'm going to notice it,
Name it,
And then move away from it.
And it is kindness.
To yourself to do that.
And you can always come back later when you feel like you have the capacity.
To do a longer process with this.
So.
.
.
Just take a moment to do a condensed practice yourself.
Notice a sensation or emotion or thought loop.
Name it.
Shift your attention somewhere else.
And then as we begin to bring this practice to a close,
I'd like you to take a moment to.
Notice.
The connection that you and I have as we've been practicing together.
Or if you are noticing any other neutral to positive experience right now.
You can notice that.
And name it.
And experience if there's any shifting.
Through our connection together,
Through your attention to this practice.
So often we narrow our focus onto just working with our challenges,
What's hard,
The painful emotions.
And sometimes it can be helpful to.
Notice the goodness.
That you and I are having right now.
Notice something in your environment that has beauty or wonder.
Notice that,
Name it.
And then let it.
Help you shift,
Let it do its magic.
And when we can do this with neutral to positive experiences.
We can begin to wire those goods.
Experiences into our nervous system more strongly.
And then they become more accessible to us.
As a resource,
As.
.
.
A good part of our life that we can recall.
So I'll close today with a poem.
This is entitled,
When It's Just All Too Much.
By Rosemary Wotoa-Trommer.
The more complex the problem.
The more trapped,
The more closed in I feel.
The more I learn to trust what is simple.
The way the potato in the cupboard does the one thing it can do.
It calls on whatever thrives inside itself.
Then grows doggedly,
Awkwardly toward the light.
I want to turn toward the life that lives through me.
Give it all my energy.
Offer it back to the world.
So this practice of notice,
Name,
And shift is a way that we can trust what is simple.
Paying attention to our experiences.
Noticing Naming And then.
Opening to the possibility of a shift in our experience.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
And be well.
