2d • Practice
Gratitude and Reflection
I have struggled most of my life oscillating between hypervigilance and collapse. Both kept me safe and were useful for survival. Years of really good therapy have helped me to identify these experiences and patterns. What this looks like today is hypervigilance in work, and collapse in personal life. Difficulty looking at parts that need tenderness, care, attunement, attention - the health of my body, of my emotional and spiritual life, of my relationships with family, friends, community, planet. At work I was putting one foot in front of the other to meet the task - burnt out from 2+ decades of tireless, unrecognized work and holding boundaries and accountability with insecure leadership through significant chronic health challenges until I had to step down to slow my nervous system down. Now in my new career as a therapist I realize more than ever how these extreme patterns leave me unbalanced and depleted, and oftentimes not fully present and available for the important work I am called to do.
I’m in the overlapping moment in the spiral of my life where I have an opportunity to integrate all that I have learned and am learning to make small shifts. Within the neuro-somatic framework, engaging in practices that invite and allow for regulation begin to gradually shift our brains out of default mode network to build new pathways of being, of relating, reflecting and reimagining. The practice doesn’t have to be big or intense or strict.
I want to highlight a micro practice I have been engaging in for a few months that seems to be scrambling my default network of patterns and unfurling for me ways in which I want to show up for myself, for my community and for the planet. For a few months I have been Earthing. In my backyard which is huge and not cared for. I walk bare feet on the grass for about 5 minutes. At first it just started out without any intention. The more I did it the more I was called to do it. Whether it was a sunny morning or a cold dark wet one, the sensations my feet felt when I walked on the grass, the communication the mycelia were having with my body and nervous system, led to an awakening of the connection I have felt with nature all my life. With putting my fingers in the dirt..smelling it, playing with it, eating it as a child. My renewed connection with nature through this micro practice is creating shifts that might seem small but are huge feats for me!
I notice that I have more energy when I return from work and over the weekends to reimagine what home time can look like - eating away from tv, gardening, tending to the house, conversations. I have less anxiety and worry at work - not being hard on myself when I make a mistake, holding boundaries without guilt and worry. There are so many more things to be done, so many things I am still afraid of, and ways in which I am still hypervigilant or in collapse/overwhelm. But now I feel I have tapped into the motherlode of the source of life.
One thing that has felt like a constant supportive backbone during this time is reading and engaging with the Daily Dose that had been posting. I feel immensely grateful for your posts and have found incredible value in the idea of micro practices. The neuro-somatic integration framework allows for gentle curiosity and a decolonized reimagining of healing. For me this has emerged as - healing is a practice not a destination. When you are attuned, listening to your body’s messages and patterns without judgement and urgency, you are providing it with what it needs in that moment. You are nourishing it. When you respond from a place of attunement, you are rooting the healing practice deeper into your soma. When you stop doing it, it doesn’t go away. It is there for you to come back to when you’re in that moment in the spiral again.
2
2 comments
Gratitude and Reflection
powered by
skool.com/rooted-in-healing-1816
A community to explore healing through shared stories, reflection, and growth. A space to learn, connect, and stay rooted in what supports you.
Suggested communities
Powered by