Practicing Gratitude For My Nervous System

It's very beneficial that we have a nervous system to alert us to what's going on. Our nervous system communicates primarily through sensations and energy and sometimes through catastrophic thoughts. Since we tend to try to avoid what makes us uncomfortable or scared, it might be a stretch to entertain being grateful for our nervous system.

Life generally is fairly hard and not what we expect, not what we would hope for, and we have to go through these times of real difficulty. We have this ongoing up and down with our nervous system. It's good to know enough to be able to recognize what's happening in ourselves, and to use our regulating practices on the spot, as well as these guided practices.

We can do something for our nervous system every day, and we could appreciate ourselves for that.

Transcript

It's a difficult time for many people.

Life generally is fairly hard and not what we expect,

Not what we would hope for and we have to go through these times of real difficulty and then we'll have a time of less adversity,

More flow.

Things are going better as we say and then something will happen and you know we'll get back into the weeds with something.

We just have this ongoing kind of up and down with the nervous system which is really how it works.

It's just to know enough about the nervous system to be able to recognize what's happening in ourselves and to use our regulating practices,

To use them on the spot as well as these practices that we come in and do and it's very beneficial that we have a nervous system that can alert us to what's going on even as we're getting ourselves kind of settled into our body.

I appreciate that I'm here,

That we're here,

That of all of the things that we could be doing that we've made this decision to come and do a practice.

So let's give ourselves some appreciation for that just to notice,

You know,

I am here.

Something in me inspired me to come and do this practice today and let yourself sense into that.

For many of us we come every day or many days.

Sometimes something's in the way and we can't but it's our commitment that we come and we do a practice.

Doing something for your nervous system every day and we could appreciate ourselves for that.

I'm grateful that I'm now stable enough that I can come and do a practice every day.

That's a big deal.

Something that many of us worked at for years to try to do something consistently.

Something good for ourselves.

So we could really let that in.

Let ourselves appreciate what a difference that makes.

Let's go into our body a little bit and notice how that feels to be present in our body.

One of the things that we do is we notice our physical body.

We notice that we're supported.

Big thing like gravity but also we're supported probably on a floor or the ground or a chair or a bed or something.

So we also have enough financial resources to have a home and to have technology enough that we can sign on and do a practice like this.

It might be that we could really appreciate what a home gives us.

We have shelter from the elements.

Hopefully we have some emotional safety in our home.

I lived for many decades without that and I really appreciate that I have that now.

Wherever you are on that continuum,

Are you physically safe,

Emotionally safe in the environment that you're in right now?

And what does that feel like to notice that?

It doesn't have to be perfect either.

Now I'm relatively safe and let your shoulders soften.

Let your body know right now I'm pretty okay.

And see what it feels like to breathe,

To take a few deeper breaths.

And how does that feel in your body to breathe?

There's a couple of elements of that.

One might be if you have asthma or some kind of difficulty breathing,

Then maybe there's some worry around that or maybe you're having a relatively open lung day and you can breathe a little bit more smoothly.

I really noticed that after I've had a cold or something and we have that experience of the breathing is constricted.

So wherever your breathing is at right now to just tune into that,

The physicalness,

The air that's coming in and out of your lungs.

What is your lung tissue up to right now?

And we might notice also the quality of the air that we're breathing in.

And that brings up a lot of concern often about the quality of the air,

The climate.

So without having to go into that whole arena of what is the climate doing,

Keep bringing ourselves back into this moment.

We're not trying to ignore anything or make it go away.

And during this practice time,

We try to get really specific.

Could I be connected with the air that's moving in and out of my lungs?

And if I'm breathing smoothly,

Especially,

Could I feel some gratitude around that?

Can I notice that?

We're always working with that nervous system that's trying to alert us.

So as we're breathing,

We might notice that our body's starting to get a bit softer.

And then we work with the other really major element around breathing,

Which is trauma.

If we've had many years or decades of holding our shoulders up around our ears,

Of tight gut,

Of holding our breath,

Then we're going to have perhaps some hesitation around perhaps some hesitation around moving into a big,

Deep,

Open breath.

And maybe that's really changed over the last little while as well.

Once we start noticing that we're holding our breath,

The awareness of that helps the breath to become smoother,

More continuous.

Let's sit with that for a little bit and not in any sense of there's something wrong with me that I'm holding my breath or anything like that.

I really wish I was always breathing more deeply.

Our mind always likes to comment on our experience.

Notice as you're breathing,

You could be breathing quite full or maybe a little bit quieter.

I'm grateful for my breath.

And see if the thoughts could move to the background.

We're not really trying to think about gratitude or think about the breath so much as just pay attention.

Let it be in our awareness.

And as you're breathing,

You might do some bigger inhales and exhales just to let your body experience more oxygen in the tissues,

In your brain,

In your whole body.

We could do the cyclic sign maybe for half a dozen times.

Breathe in through your nose twice,

So your lungs are pretty full.

And then that long slow exhale like you're breathing out through a thin straw.

Let your exhalation continue as long as you're comfortable.

And then another deep double inhale through the nose.

As you're breathing out,

Let your body go with that softening that often happens as we breathe out.

Bringing our awareness to these autonomic processes can help.

And notice how you feel about this in terms of comfort.

Are you okay with breathing more deeply?

Is there anything that's a bit uncomfortable about that?

It could be physical,

It could be nervous system related.

Let's really allow ourselves to have the experience that we're having.

We don't need to push ourselves into something different.

Let your body soften from head to toes.

And then let's work with the body,

The physical body again for a moment.

Notice the back of your head,

The sides and back of your neck.

You move your shoulders around.

Notice the muscles in your upper back.

And then let those muscles soften as you breathe out.

Back of the arms and hands.

Back of the legs,

Through your heels.

When we bring our awareness to our back body and when we allow it to soften,

Which is a little bit easier on the exhale,

We're really giving our body the message that it's okay.

We don't need to be hypervigilant.

We don't need to be on duty.

We don't need to be ready to jump up.

We could settle back into the support that's here.

Again,

Notice your breath.

Let the exhalation help you with that.

Long exhalation gives us more time in the body to soften.

And sometimes that's enough just to bring our attention.

Other times you might want to do some movement,

Shake your hands and feet and your legs.

Sense into that,

What would be the most helpful right now?

If you have a lot of jittery energy in your arms and legs,

It's often really helpful to give them a good shake.

Release some of that.

You don't need to expect our body to be completely still all the time.

Sometimes it's not.

And let's dip into what might be a reverse inquiry.

Reverse inquiry is being something that we say that we suspect isn't completely true.

And then we see what the response is.

So if you were to say,

I'm grateful that the nervous system that I have makes me hypervigilant at times.

Or I'm grateful that I can feel in my body what's going on in my nervous system.

Our nervous system is always giving us signals.

It's always trying to let us know what's going on.

Sometimes that's through thoughts in the mind,

Catastrophic thinking,

Or ruminating.

Often it's through energy,

Sensations in the body.

I'm grateful that my nervous system is trying to alert me.

We do feel grateful in the logical part of our brain.

It's like,

Yeah,

I do need to know when something's dangerous.

Let's sit with that for a little bit longer and sense into that in our heart,

In our body.

I'm grateful that my nervous system is trying to alert me.

I'm grateful that my body is signaling me.

So often what happens is we have something that's uncomfortable.

Maybe we're holding our breath,

Or we're feeling really anxious or jittery,

And we kind of turn against ourselves in a way.

Well,

That's not acceptable.

So one of the ways that I feel gratitude around that is,

What if I didn't know?

People talk about this so often.

I didn't know I was holding my breath.

Or I didn't know that I'm always on the edge of my seat.

And now that I know that,

I can work with that.

So maybe the gratitude is not for this feeling of jittery,

Or uncomfortable,

Or the sensations in our body.

Maybe it's gratitude for the awareness that we now have around what our body is trying to let us know about.

Just give that some time,

And as you're doing that,

To soften through your body.

Maybe if you're on the edge of your seat,

If you could let yourself accept the support a little bit more deeply.

Now that I know that it's hypervigilance,

That's my nervous system trying to alert me,

That's creating this jitteriness,

Or creating this uncomfortable sensation,

This heaviness in my chest,

Whatever that might be,

Maybe I could allow that in a little bit more.

And as we're doing this,

We might be able to soften that automatic connection we have of being against something that's uncomfortable.

This doesn't feel good to be sitting here all agitated.

Hypervigilance feels uncomfortable.

We have all that thoughts in the mind,

Our body's not settled.

Why would we be grateful?

Theoretically,

We might be able to do that,

But just to sit with that for a little bit longer.

I'm okay with having a nervous system,

Maybe gratitude's a little bit much,

But I can accept this is how my nervous system's trying to get my attention.

And that now that I know more about my nervous system and how that all works,

What could I do that would help?

What is the most efficient way to regulate our nervous system?

But what is the deepest way?

I notice when I'm sitting here just working on my computer a lot of the time,

My shoulders are a little bit up around my ears.

Not up around my ears like they used to be,

But there's some unnecessary tension there.

There's a little bit of weariness,

Even though I live in a safe environment.

So that's a habit,

It's a long-term habit in the nervous system that's lodged in the body.

And I love that we can get more and more awareness of that,

And that when we do,

It starts to shift,

It starts to soften.

And also the mind might come in with some kind of criticism.

It's a matter with me that I still can't relax my shoulders or whatever that is.

So we could see that for what it is,

It's not valid.

We could offer ourselves a bit of space to be human,

To have a nervous system,

To be affected by the world around us.

And as you're inhaling and exhaling,

Notice your whole body head to toes,

Physical body,

Your breath,

The energy,

Sensations.

Notice your whole experience.

Notice if you could focus a little bit on gratitude for being in a human body with enough help and enough resources to be here.

You're doing a practice of gratitude.

You have enough spaciousness to be grateful even when things aren't perfect,

Or even when things are pretty hard.

I love that we can come back to the body,

To the breath,

Back to kindness for ourselves.

Right now in this moment,

This is my experience.

I'm enjoying some of it more than other parts for sure.

And it's safe enough for me to be connected with myself,

Softening muscles,

Breathing,

Feeling grateful.

Before we finish the practice,

You might bring to mind one thing that is really present for you right now.

I'm grateful for whatever that is for you.

And if you have abundance of them,

That's fine too.

Just to really bring in one though,

I'm really grateful for,

Let yourself feel that.

Notice your body again,

Move it around a bit.

Notice any changes that have happened in your body or in your energy.

As you look around,

Notice what's changed in your environment.

It might be interesting to check back in tonight before you go to bed.

Notice if there was something during your day that you could bring into your heart.

Some days that's going to be just abundant,

But other days it's like,

Well,

You know,

I'm grateful that finally I get to lay down the burdens of the day and go to sleep.

It was a hard day.

Maybe I'm grateful I didn't turn against myself during this day,

Or when I did,

I noticed it and I brought some kindness in.

There's so many complexities and wonderful things and hard things about being human.

I hope you have some wonder in your day.

Reviews

Thank you for this meditation - it’s made a difference in my outlook

Thank you Lynne! A great way for me to get going today. Feel more energised and grateful I get to do all the chores I set for this day, as well as for my health. I shall find wonder in my day! May you too.

As a person who’s had 4 spine surgeries.. there are days when my nervous system is just too much to bear, so having an understanding of the many intricacies associated with this system is paramount. Having an open mind and awareness to the tools necessary for it’s healing and calming is very important. Thank you for sharing this insight!

How validating and loving towards ourselves and our bodies. ❤️

I appreciated the reminder of how important it is to note that the fact that I have enough spaciousness and resources to be able to meditate daily is a blessing. And that I can recognize, at least some of the time when I’m in disregulation Thank you for offering this.

Lynn, absolutely magical thank you, peaceful system for the first time in weeks of repressed trauma 🙏🫶🪜🔥🌸

This was so helpful, dear Lynn- it saved my peace of mind this afternoon and helped me relax. Love to you from Poland, where I am visiting my folk. Iga 🙏🏽💚✨️🩷

As always, such a calming practice. Thanks Lynn for all that you do.