Being Here To Build Resilience (window Of Tolerance)

For the sake of our brains and nervous systems, we begin by remembering, in very simple and practical ways, our relationship to choice, and that we are Here, not somewhere in the past or future. We slowly discover that we have some real time stability, and how to utilize attention so we can have a sustained connection with stability. We then slowly study our relationship with the fluidity of breath, which allows for deeper nourishment for our nervous systems and sustained stability. Centering simple, and discerning the difference btw discomfort and danger, we consider how we might continue to anchor into Here, throughout our busy days.
This might especially be useful for activists on the ground, for those who experience CPTS(D), as well as those who experience intrusive thoughts/OCD, nervous system dysregulation, and anxiety/stress.

Transcript

If you're not already in a comfy spot, A comfy seat, A comfy position, Gift yourself with that. Gift yourself with the choice to make adjustments. Maybe you grab another pillow or a blanket or just maneuver a little bit, Listening to what your, Maybe your sit bones want, Your back wants, What your feet might want, Maybe what your ribs want, Your neck might want, Your head might want, Maybe even what your arms want, Shoulders want. We're reminding ourselves by doing this that we are right here and we remind ourselves that we're here by including ourselves, By including our bones, Our muscles, Our fascia, Our attention, Really bringing our attention to this moment in which we're sitting. Maybe the eyes had closed but I'm going to invite you to just really gently open them because we are going to do the sometimes hard work of remembering that we're here and sometimes it is hard work because there's a lot going on in the world and our trauma brains also are just not trained to be here so sometimes it takes work and effort so we're going to do that work and effort in this moment. Maybe it won't be effort for you, Maybe it will be easy. But I've noticed this morning it's already been, It's taken my capabilities that I do have, My capacities that I do have to be here. So I'm going to let your, Give your eyes an invitation to really see like you've never seen before your space that you're in and let your eyes mark or take note of the safety that you have in this moment from a practical standpoint. You don't have to just do it from your eyes, You might feel it from your feet. I can touch the wall from where I'm at, You might touch the wall, You might touch your desk. But we're just really giving ourselves, Doing ourselves a favor of bringing our attention here. There are people in the world today that are not safe, They are not safe. And we have been in predicaments that were not safe. But we want to honor the moment that we are in by consciously connecting to the safety that you and I all have right now, The privilege that you and I all have. And we do that, We honor that by slowing our attention down and coming to the actual factual. And even in this moment our attention may be drifting, It may be drifting to what's going on in the world, It may be drifting to the future, May be drifting all over the place. And that's not a bad thing, That just is going to happen. And then we use our attention and the muscle that we've been building through attention to retrieve attention back to this literal moment. And engaging with our privilege to slow down, To see our safety, To see the safety of our walls, Our ceiling, The floor. Even if we're feeling a certain way inside, We're not going to skip over the reality of our conditions. The earth plane is, It matters to our nervous system, So we've got to really sometimes slow down to use effort to include it in this practical way. And then we let our bodies find, We can let the eyes close, We let our bodies find the present moment. When I said that my body just happened to be, It happened to remember that I can lean back and receive the chair. So in your own way, Using effort and attention perhaps to find what your body is resting upon, That from all practical purposes is really safe and simple. For me, It's a pillow behind me. It's nothing to manage there. There's nothing to figure out. It's soft and sturdy and my back can lean into it, Can surrender to the moment of the pillow with the pillow. We get to be together. What a relief to the nervous system, Not necessarily to the ego or to different parts of ourselves, But to the nervous system. It wants, It needs, It desires simplicity. So we we do our best to honor that human part of us. Our nervous systems are so important. To feel the simplicity in whatever way you are, You know, Maybe it's through the air on your face or your feet on the ground or tucked under you or maybe it's standing and walking. Whatever way for your nervous system to feel some simplicity and some tangible support through gravity, Through object that we're in relationship with in our bodies. Letting our attention meander a little bit through our perhaps sitting or laying or standing body. So just invite the arms to be heavy. Don't have to do much right now to be heavy. The legs maybe don't have to do much right now. They can be heavy. For me, It was reminding my shoulders. They don't need to do anything. They can kind of fall down, Slide down. Reminding my jaw can soften. Hmm, Maybe reminding our bellies that they can maybe soften a little bit. Maybe the inner thighs or the sphincter muscles, Maybe they can soften a little bit. Oh, Maybe the fingers and the toes can just kind of be be free, Can have some ease. Hmm, What a privilege to not have to have fingers pulled in like a fist but to instead let them release out soft and open if they want to be in that position. What a privilege it is to be able to be slow in attention so we can be aware of breathing. To honor this moment, We just, Yeah, We just let ourselves lean back in our movie theater chairs, So to speak. We utilize attention in any simple way to notice that we are being breathed in this moment. To feel how our bodies are moved literally by breath. Some of our bodies will feel ease with filling or being filled up by breath in all the ways, All the way from our nostrils to our pelvic floor. We'll feel that fullness of reception of breath and others of us will just feel a tiny bit, A tiny bit of receiving breath. Just in a very small way and there isn't a right way or a inviting attention to notice that breath is having breath sway with us and our bodies might be fighting breath a little bit or might be opening to breath a little bit. Maybe some of both. We just let that be for now. Trusting breath more than paying attention or trying to manage breath. Letting breath just come in. Notice how it's already coming in. In the simplest of ways, Just notice that we are in co-relationship with breath. So if it's useful, We might purposefully count breaths. Maybe we purposefully breathe in four counts and then we purposely slowly exhale six counts. So now we're in co-creation with breath. We're engaging purposefully to help ourselves play with breath. Maybe in this way, That count of four in slowly, That slow exhalation of six. It can be different numbers. It could be six in and eight out. It could be more in. It could be eight in and ten out. Just whatever your count is or even if you don't want to count, Have a longer, Slower exhalation. A longer, Slower exhalation. Doing that for a few rounds and then just letting breath move back to just breathing you. Or you don't have to count. Or becoming intimate in this moment with sensation. When we are filled up with breath, We feel sensation. Different kinds of sensation. Some we like, Some we don't like, But none which are dangerous. And we're reminding ourselves of that in this moment. You can have eyes open and you might just practice seeing what it's like to reduce data by letting the eyes close so you can become more intimate with the sensations that are happening. The simple sensations that are happening in your relationship with breath and gravity. Receiving gravity and receiving breath. Receiving gravity, Releasing breath. And I'm just going to be quiet for a little bit. If your attention drifts, As is so normal, Let's gently retrieve attention back to something of this moment right here. That's simple. Notice what helps you to return to the simple moment. Maybe it's a sound that you include in your attention. Maybe it's a particular sensation or location in your sitting breathing body. Let's practice the art of reclaiming attention to simple in this moment. And I'm going to invite you to keep doing what you're doing and add any movement that wants to be had. Any kind of movement back to including ribs or head or feet or fingers. Anything that wants to be connected with while you're still perhaps having eyes closed still connecting to simple of gravity and breath. And as we're doing this last piece I'm going to invite you to have an audible exhalation. No one can hear you so just be as gracious with yourself allowing with yourself to have a nice audible sigh as air leaves your body. I'm going to be quiet on my exhalation so I don't disrupt your own exhalation but let yourself really play with your human body, Your throat, Your belly and having audible exhalations for a few cycles. Maybe your body wants to move while you're doing that. Maybe your spine wants to arch or do a cat-cow or your arms want to stretch. Let your exhalation, Your audible exhalation play with bodily movements. And with your eyes still paused, Closed, Naming for yourself how you can feel the here-ness of this moment, How you are here, Simply here. Then letting the eyes softly open. Now a different here is going to come into perception. But we're not going to leave behind the other here's that we had discovered. So staying sharing attention now, Sharing attention with the different senses. Gravity and breath and the simpleness of experiences that we were connecting with with eyes closed are still here. They haven't left but our attention may have left. So we're just going to practice keeping attention still here. And as we bring this rest to a close maybe you want to jot some things down that you discovered or are in the middle of learning that you want to take note of or stay connected to so you can jot them down so you don't forget. And then when that feels complete and come back to the room.