Nervous System Explorations in Community
Dear fellow nervous system explorers,
I am so happy to be in community with you all. Below is part of a note friend and student Christen Corey sent me to let me (and now us) know about her experiments in feeling into her own nervous system. I am always SO happy and excited to read of your explorations and new understandings. Keep them coming.
In the meantime, we have dates for the next two workshops which will be continuations of the past one, Portals to Connection. Turns out that was Part One. Part Two will be on January 20, 2024. Part 3 will be on Saturday, February 24. The description and sign up, both in-person and livestream, is at the link highlighted in the dates.
Generally, I like for these workshops to be stand-alone but that just isn’t possible this time. If you missed Part One, we edited that workshop down to about 50 minutes of background information that is important to have for these next two programs. This is available for $20 at either of the registration links. I strongly encourage you to get and watch this before either or both of the next workshops if you were not able to attend Part One. And anyone attending or signing up for Parts Two and Three will get the recordings of those sessions. So, if you are not able to attend Part Two, you can sign up for it and watch it before joining Part Three. Reach out to me if any of this is confusing, or you have questions.
These portals are so precious and so interesting to pay attention to. I am seeing that they work on many levels too. There is the strictly physical level in which we want to keep our bodies open enough so the vagus and social engagement nerves have all the oxygen and space they need to be a good conduits for information. And then there are the emotional and psychological aspects of each portal, as well as spiritual. And as Christen says in her note below, a very important question to keep asking ourselves as we pay attention is, “How do we know?” When you are feeling connected to something or someone, how do you know? What are the details of what you are feeling? If you are not connected, how do you know? This minute-to-minute practice is such a powerful way of staying in touch and getting clearer and clearer on our own systems and how it responds to life around us.
I’m so looking forward to sharing the next group of portals with you all. In one way they are separate but in the most important ways they are interconnected. AND you can enter through any portal to get the whole experience. More about this in the upcoming workshops.
And now these words from Christen:
I read your last blog post about Portals to Connection, and my gosh, so many feelings and thoughts. I love the question “How do you know?” That is THE question, isn’t it? Well, of many amazing questions. And I loved how you revealed this sort of toggling or shifting or meandering through the different vagus states and how you knew, what did each state offer, or feel like and that there were often blending experiences.
I was fascinated about the nose breathing, and these athletes learning to use this sort of breath so they can stay in flow state during performance. As yogis, this is a given, breath in practice is often nuanced and taught, but I had never considered how it would feel to not mouth breath during exercise. And so I tried it while jogging and wow! It doesn’t send me into SNS like running usually does (running in and of itself in interesting to figure out with SNS, because it’s an actual flight mechanism).
So, I’ve been playing with observing myself while cooking, just simple meals right now. Am I pinched anywhere in my body while leaning over the countertop? Yes, I am. Can I open up those places in my back, opening up energy channels so vagus nerve can communicate better and isn’t getting shut off? Yes I can, that’s so much better. And then can I stay open when a migraine is coming on? Noticing where my body is closing off, protecting, awareness in the quality of the breath. Can I soften and open vagus nerve, can I soothe it? Yes I can! My migraine came and went in less than 4 hours.
I think sometimes we are eager to jump at the next new idea for self-care. Polyvagal Theory doesn’t seem to be a "new and improved" version of self-help, but I do think it’s a more nuanced and highly detailed way of observing and understanding the bodymind state in a way that makes responding to the real-time need of the self very accessible. And very fine tuned. And through the ability to remain in awareness while my system begins to phase into dorsal vagal or collapse, I am able to give myself feedback about what is happening, which gives a measure of the good feeling of control. That there are real physiological happenings when I experience stress, or when I am triggered, or when I feel safe and relaxed. And those physiological indicators are measurable simply by asking the question, how do you know? How do you know you are in SNS, or VV? Or a blend of both? This feedback makes the progression of feelings around our bodymind state tangible and nameable and so less scary or mysterious.
The body becomes a place of empowerment, a stronghold of consent. So, a very rambling way to say, I am so grateful you shared your experience with it, because those tendrils of discovery have reached into my life, as they do in our community.
