11 00:00:47.790 --> 00:00:50.180 Paru Desai (she/her): Hello, friends! Welcome! 12 00:00:51.080 --> 00:00:53.609 Paru Desai (she/her): Good to be here with you all today. 13 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:02.440 Paru Desai (she/her): We'll just let people… turn their cameras on and pop into our little Zoom screens. 14 00:01:04.190 --> 00:01:12.599 Paru Desai (she/her): And while we're waiting, I invite you to just put into chat where you are… oh, thank you, Craig, love you back! 15 00:01:13.300 --> 00:01:21.550 Paru Desai (she/her): Where you're dialing in from, and, one thing that you see in your view, what are you… what are you looking at? 16 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.049 Paru Desai (she/her): That's maybe, perhaps, drawing your eye. 17 00:01:25.160 --> 00:01:30.729 Paru Desai (she/her): And we'll just give the rest of our friends a few minutes to join in before we get started, but 18 00:01:31.130 --> 00:01:34.850 Paru Desai (she/her): Yeah, let everyone know where you're from and what you're looking at. 19 00:01:38.850 --> 00:01:42.759 Paru Desai (she/her): And I'll try to read some of these, but they'll start coming in pretty fast. 20 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:46.429 Paru Desai (she/her): Laura, you're seeing a Buddha painting on your wall. 21 00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:50.200 Paru Desai (she/her): Hello, Ruth from Provence. Sunset. 22 00:01:52.130 --> 00:01:55.760 Paru Desai (she/her): Amaryllis bulb, 4 feet of snow. 23 00:01:56.800 --> 00:02:07.219 Paru Desai (she/her): Looking at dinner, I like that. Palm trees, rainy dark garden… All of you. 24 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:12.980 Paru Desai (she/her): Looking at the backwoods, snow and icicles, lots of snowy days, looks like. 25 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:17.829 Paru Desai (she/her): Beautiful people on my screen. 26 00:02:18.690 --> 00:02:21.750 Paru Desai (she/her): Light shiny through the carpet, window on the carpet. 27 00:02:22.100 --> 00:02:27.109 Paru Desai (she/her): Welcome, everyone. Really, really lovely to be here with you all today. 28 00:02:28.590 --> 00:02:39.450 Paru Desai (she/her): So, as we get started, just want to share that we have Jeff here, who is our tech support, and that's under MMTCPAA. 29 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:45.129 Paru Desai (she/her): Any questions or anything you have related to tech, please direct them to him. 30 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:52.309 Paru Desai (she/her): However, he's having some challenges, which are literally a half hour old. He got locked out of his house. 31 00:02:52.580 --> 00:03:01.160 Paru Desai (she/her): And had to run to his dad's house to… to use his dad's very old computer and… and be on this call with us today, so… 32 00:03:01.570 --> 00:03:17.219 Paru Desai (she/her): Grace under pressure, which is why we have him, but yes, Jeff is here for tech support, and I'll do… I'll do some of that as well. Before I introduce Justine, just going to go over some Zoom logistics that we… we normally do. 33 00:03:17.220 --> 00:03:27.689 Paru Desai (she/her): So this call is being recorded, and we will share the recording in probably a week, so you don't have to take lots of frantic notes. And Justine also has material that we'll probably share later. 34 00:03:27.980 --> 00:03:42.249 Paru Desai (she/her): Transcript will also be available, but if you want to see that live, click on the three buttons. I think there's a little more screen, with three dots, on the lower right-hand side of your Zoom little menu bar. 35 00:03:42.250 --> 00:03:48.890 Paru Desai (she/her): And then you can turn on transcripts for you to view that live, but as I said, that will be available later as well. 36 00:03:49.590 --> 00:04:07.490 Paru Desai (she/her): And then when we get to questions, Jeff will spotlight people, so if you are going to ask a question, please turn your camera on. That makes it easier for him to find you and then spotlight you so that, there's not a big gap between him finding you and you having time to ask your question. 37 00:04:08.070 --> 00:04:24.239 Paru Desai (she/her): And then lastly, you can also view what you want to view. So, in the upper right-hand corner where it says view, there's a couple of squares, and if you want to see the whole gallery, which is all of us, or if you want to see just the speaker, you can choose that option as well. 38 00:04:25.080 --> 00:04:36.029 Paru Desai (she/her): So, with that, I'm really excited about this topic. Nervous system regulation is something really important for all of us, both for ourselves 39 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:44.350 Paru Desai (she/her): and people that we work with, so I'm just really grateful to Justine for being here to help us build some skills and knowledge in this area. 40 00:04:44.880 --> 00:04:54.420 Paru Desai (she/her): And it is my pleasure to introduce her. Justine has studied and practiced traditional meditation and Buddhist psychology for over 25 years. 41 00:04:54.610 --> 00:04:58.899 Paru Desai (she/her): And she completed her Dharma teacher training with Jack in 2012. 42 00:04:59.690 --> 00:05:07.640 Paru Desai (she/her): She's also a board-certified sexologist and fully qualified somatic experiencing practitioner. 43 00:05:07.880 --> 00:05:18.290 Paru Desai (she/her): And so the therapeutic modalities of somatic experiencing, internal family systems, relational mindfulness are all foundational to how she works with people, 44 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:32.210 Paru Desai (she/her): And, she works with individuals and couples, to unburden their trauma, fear, shame, judgment, anything that prevents them from being intimate with themselves and with each other and all aspects of their life. 45 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:44.839 Paru Desai (she/her): And as a teacher and guide, Justine mentors new teachers through the MMTCP program, she's a mentor there, and assists in somatic experiencing workshops and trainings. 46 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:54.590 Paru Desai (she/her): And also maintains a private practice working with individuals, couples around the world. And Justine physically resides in California, in Los Angeles. 47 00:05:54.760 --> 00:05:59.309 Paru Desai (she/her): So with that, it's my pleasure to have Justine here, and it's all yours. 48 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:07.980 Justine Dawson she/her: Thank you, Peru. Thanks for having me, and hello, everyone. 49 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:24.720 Justine Dawson she/her: It's so good to see, the pages of your faces, and some of you with your names, who are not ready to show their face yet, which I understand. Maybe it's early where you are, too. But welcome! As Prue said, my name's Justine Dawson, and 50 00:06:24.830 --> 00:06:40.809 Justine Dawson she/her: A little later, I'll say some more about myself, but I just wanted to start by welcoming you to this day, which is going to be all about the fundamentals of nervous system regulation, both for yourself as a teacher. 51 00:06:40.860 --> 00:07:05.229 Justine Dawson she/her: Because I know as a teacher, even today, even though I've been doing this a long time, knowing there was going to be a lot of you here, I could feel where my nervous system got stirred up, and certainly that's been a journey for me as a teacher, in this realm, is working with my nervous system so I can show up in a grounded, open. 52 00:07:05.230 --> 00:07:08.100 Justine Dawson she/her: present way when I'm with students. 53 00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:26.729 Justine Dawson she/her: And then also, I want to give you skills that you can take and share with your students, whether you're working one-on-one, or in groups, or in classrooms, or boardrooms, but ways that you can support people as they're learning mindfulness to be aware of their nervous system and how to work with it. 54 00:07:26.730 --> 00:07:35.109 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe because they encounter small bumps, but maybe also because they come having had a life with big bumps in the road. 55 00:07:35.110 --> 00:07:43.620 Justine Dawson she/her: And they need the support of helping regulate, stabilize, and develop a more fluid and resilient system. 56 00:07:43.660 --> 00:08:03.070 Justine Dawson she/her: So, today I'll do a mix of some theory and teaching. We're gonna do exercises. I actually really want you all to be able to experience what I'm talking about, because this is about somatics, it's not just about the cognitive. 57 00:08:03.070 --> 00:08:10.470 Justine Dawson she/her: But the embodied, so to give you opportunities to feel it, and to know it for yourself. 58 00:08:11.220 --> 00:08:18.230 Justine Dawson she/her: Some of these exercises we'll do individually. Some you'll do with others in small breakout rooms. 59 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:34.830 Justine Dawson she/her: And you might even take a moment and notice what happens inside of you when I say breakout room. Does something get stirred, or do you think, I'm excited or nervous? But really a chance to embody what I'm talking about. 60 00:08:35.030 --> 00:08:42.710 Justine Dawson she/her: And then I'll also have time for questions, because I really want to make sure that you get what you came here for today. 61 00:08:44.450 --> 00:09:03.090 Justine Dawson she/her: We're gonna take breaks every hour. You know, a big part of doing this work is looking after the body, so that we can be in touch with the body, and not just pushing through or enduring, or kind of checking out to make it… that we can make it through. 62 00:09:03.090 --> 00:09:17.670 Justine Dawson she/her: So, I want to make sure that even right now, that you're comfortable. Like, okay, I've got my cushions here, it's a little cold here today, I have my hot tea, I have the heat set right. 63 00:09:18.020 --> 00:09:26.209 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, I do what I can to settle my own system with the basics of comfort, and I want you to do that too. 64 00:09:26.290 --> 00:09:45.869 Justine Dawson she/her: Do you have hydration? Do you need to use the bathroom? Please, throughout the day, do what you need to look after your body. And that might mean that you get up and you lie down on the floor to listen when I'm talking. Or you might need to stand, or change your posture. 65 00:09:45.870 --> 00:10:00.539 Justine Dawson she/her: And I think by now we know the Buddha taught that there are many postures to mindfulness, so you don't have to stay rigid in your seat if it's not right for your body. I'll be happy for you to get up and move, and… 66 00:10:00.570 --> 00:10:02.720 Justine Dawson she/her: At times, I'll even encourage that. 67 00:10:03.920 --> 00:10:15.979 Justine Dawson she/her: So, that's just a brief overview of the day, and I'll say more as we go along. But just sort of notice how you're feeling right now, having a sense of what's coming. 68 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:21.670 Justine Dawson she/her: And, and to know that if there's anything that you need and you have questions. 69 00:10:21.670 --> 00:10:38.750 Justine Dawson she/her: I'm actually not going to monitor the chat while I'm talking, but I'm just going to ask if, Peru, maybe would you be able to kind of take a look at the chat as we go along, and if people have something that they really want answered or flagged that I can make sure that I get to, that you could do that? 70 00:10:38.750 --> 00:10:50.060 Paru Desai (she/her): Yeah, and just, I forgot to mention, Justine, we will turn chat off so it's not distracting to you, and if you have any questions tech-related, go to Jeff, and other questions, direct them to me. 71 00:10:50.780 --> 00:10:52.789 Justine Dawson she/her: Great, so they can chat you directly. 72 00:10:52.790 --> 00:10:55.969 Paru Desai (she/her): You can chat me directly, yes. Okay. So we'll turn chat off in a minute. 73 00:10:55.970 --> 00:10:56.750 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, great. 74 00:10:56.750 --> 00:10:57.619 Paru Desai (she/her): Thank you. 75 00:10:57.620 --> 00:10:58.330 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay. 76 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:09.570 Justine Dawson she/her: Alright! So, all of that said, let's take a moment to really drop into our bodies together. 77 00:11:09.690 --> 00:11:25.700 Justine Dawson she/her: Wherever you are. So, before we do this, before you close your eyes or do anything that you kind of already know what to do, take a moment and make sure you're comfy. Maybe, like, shift around in your chair, you know? 78 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:31.480 Justine Dawson she/her: Shake it out a little. Maybe there's a little stretch you need. 79 00:11:33.170 --> 00:11:39.369 Justine Dawson she/her: And notice if you're able to rest back into whatever you're sitting on. 80 00:11:42.050 --> 00:11:52.500 Justine Dawson she/her: And, you know, if you're not on camera, if you're still moving about, you can still listen to my guidance as you're doing what you're doing, and apply what you can. 81 00:11:57.050 --> 00:12:02.780 Justine Dawson she/her: So once you have a sense of, like, okay, I'm in my chair, I'm settled in the way that I want to be. 82 00:12:03.420 --> 00:12:12.730 Justine Dawson she/her: Before you close your eyes, I want to invite you, if it's accessible to you, to look around your space. 83 00:12:13.880 --> 00:12:17.030 Justine Dawson she/her: Really slowly, you know, turning your head. 84 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:21.429 Justine Dawson she/her: And taking in, allowing your eyes 85 00:12:22.210 --> 00:12:25.569 Justine Dawson she/her: To receive the space around you. 86 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:30.519 Justine Dawson she/her: Turn your head all the way one way. 87 00:12:30.860 --> 00:12:33.070 Justine Dawson she/her: All the way the other way. 88 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:40.720 Justine Dawson she/her: Especially notice if anything pleasant catches your eye. 89 00:12:41.040 --> 00:12:45.589 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe there's a color, or a light, or shadow, or shape. 90 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:50.439 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe you see your pet, or a picture. 91 00:12:51.980 --> 00:12:55.689 Justine Dawson she/her: And let your eyes rest there for a minute and take that in. 92 00:13:00.910 --> 00:13:05.149 Justine Dawson she/her: And notice what happens inside of you as you do this. 93 00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:09.600 Justine Dawson she/her: Orienting to your surroundings. 94 00:13:11.210 --> 00:13:16.909 Justine Dawson she/her: And, you know, if you haven't looked behind you… You can look behind you. 95 00:13:20.910 --> 00:13:27.119 Justine Dawson she/her: Once you feel good with that, Now you can come back. 96 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:31.970 Justine Dawson she/her: And settle here. 97 00:13:35.940 --> 00:13:42.370 Justine Dawson she/her: And if you aren't… if you don't have access to sight, you can also do the same thing with sound. 98 00:13:42.770 --> 00:13:49.530 Justine Dawson she/her: Just opening to the sounds that are around you, which you also might like to do even if you can see. 99 00:13:52.870 --> 00:13:58.040 Justine Dawson she/her: Receiving whatever sounds are arising, passing through your environment. 100 00:14:08.310 --> 00:14:16.160 Justine Dawson she/her: And now, as you're ready, you can allow your eyes to close, or be soft down towards the ground. 101 00:14:21.060 --> 00:14:27.550 Justine Dawson she/her: And notice, even as you make that motion of closing the eyes or letting the eyes go down. 102 00:14:27.790 --> 00:14:29.779 Justine Dawson she/her: What happens inside? 103 00:14:30.300 --> 00:14:31.819 Justine Dawson she/her: What changes? 104 00:14:46.510 --> 00:15:00.550 Justine Dawson she/her: Now, as your attention is drawn more inside, I want you to become aware of where your body is contacting the chair, or cushions, whatever it is that you're seated on. 105 00:15:00.780 --> 00:15:04.690 Justine Dawson she/her: So feeling where your back is supported. 106 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:09.410 Justine Dawson she/her: Your butt is supported, maybe your hips or thighs. 107 00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:15.299 Justine Dawson she/her: And where your feet are contacting the ground. 108 00:15:18.790 --> 00:15:28.540 Justine Dawson she/her: And you may even want to press into your feet, your butt, your thighs, your back, pressing in to notice the contact. 109 00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:30.630 Justine Dawson she/her: And the holding. 110 00:15:32.810 --> 00:15:35.880 Justine Dawson she/her: However you're seated, that you're being supported. 111 00:15:48.970 --> 00:15:53.110 Justine Dawson she/her: And again, having done that, noticing what happens inside of you. 112 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:04.270 Justine Dawson she/her: There might be a deeper breath, or a sense of settling, or… a greater awareness. 113 00:16:05.580 --> 00:16:07.989 Justine Dawson she/her: Whatever's there, you can welcome it. 114 00:16:22.370 --> 00:16:29.250 Justine Dawson she/her: And now notice if there's anything particularly that's calling your attention inside. 115 00:16:30.560 --> 00:16:33.540 Justine Dawson she/her: And wherever that is in your body. 116 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:37.890 Justine Dawson she/her: If it's within reach, you can place a hand there. 117 00:16:38.590 --> 00:16:44.730 Justine Dawson she/her: So maybe you feel a warmth or swirling in your belly, you could place a hand there. 118 00:16:46.230 --> 00:16:51.569 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe you feel the rise and fall of breath in your chest, you could place a hand there. 119 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:59.110 Justine Dawson she/her: Or maybe you feel a lot of activity, a lot of thoughts in your head. 120 00:16:59.690 --> 00:17:02.020 Justine Dawson she/her: You could place a hand there. 121 00:17:06.490 --> 00:17:11.219 Justine Dawson she/her: And just notice what happens with that supportive self-touch. 122 00:17:24.990 --> 00:17:27.820 Justine Dawson she/her: Notice what happens next inside. 123 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:56.579 Justine Dawson she/her: And take a moment now to notice, having done that, what's your internal state now? 124 00:17:58.450 --> 00:18:02.100 Justine Dawson she/her: Just a general check-in. How am I feeling now? 125 00:18:09.750 --> 00:18:14.130 Justine Dawson she/her: Knowing throughout today, you can return to any of these. 126 00:18:14.570 --> 00:18:18.149 Justine Dawson she/her: If you need some stabilizing or grounding. 127 00:18:18.340 --> 00:18:23.490 Justine Dawson she/her: You can orient to your environment by looking around and noticing pleasant. 128 00:18:24.350 --> 00:18:29.530 Justine Dawson she/her: You can notice your touch points, where you're grounded in the chair or on the floor. 129 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.029 Justine Dawson she/her: And you can use supportive self-touch. 130 00:18:34.020 --> 00:18:39.719 Justine Dawson she/her: To bring some extra care, attention, compassion to your internal experience. 131 00:18:47.250 --> 00:18:48.540 Justine Dawson she/her: All right. 132 00:18:49.320 --> 00:18:52.719 Justine Dawson she/her: Wrapping that up, and as you're ready. 133 00:18:53.020 --> 00:18:57.580 Justine Dawson she/her: Slowly opening your eyes, and once again, orienting here to the screen. 134 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:15.479 Justine Dawson she/her: Either if you're just on audio to my voice, but if you're on the screen, also orient and notice, oh, you're here with me, and you're here with all these other faces that are also here to practice together and learn together. And notice what it's like to be in Sangha. 135 00:19:15.590 --> 00:19:20.120 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe that is really comforting to some, maybe it's stirring to others. 136 00:19:20.250 --> 00:19:24.770 Justine Dawson she/her: But just notice, oh yeah, like, I'm not here alone, I'm here with others. 137 00:19:27.710 --> 00:19:39.930 Justine Dawson she/her: And as we go along, we're gonna go further into each of these aspects. We'll do some deeper practice with them, but I wanted you to have that right at the beginning, so you have touch points that you can come back to. 138 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:46.130 Justine Dawson she/her: Throughout the day, And also, you might notice there are things that you can do 139 00:19:46.770 --> 00:20:00.580 Justine Dawson she/her: Every day before you sit, or you could teach your students to do before they sit, to help calm and ground their system before they go into the process of insight or concentration. 140 00:20:04.430 --> 00:20:22.180 Justine Dawson she/her: So, before I go more into nervous system regulation, I want to talk just a little bit about myself and what brought me here, because then I'm also going to invite you all to, go into really small groups, just groups of three, to introduce yourself and what brought you here. 141 00:20:22.300 --> 00:20:33.990 Justine Dawson she/her: But as you notice on the screen, my name's Justine Dawson. My pronouns are she, her, and I'm in Santa Monica, California, which… 142 00:20:33.990 --> 00:20:46.750 Justine Dawson she/her: For me, it's really important to acknowledge, like, I'm on land. I'm oriented on this earth, and the land I'm on is the traditional unceded lands of the Tongva and Chumash people. 143 00:20:46.750 --> 00:20:55.959 Justine Dawson she/her: who were the guardians of this land for a long time, and continue to guard it, and I'm very grateful to be in this beautiful place. And… 144 00:20:55.960 --> 00:21:10.030 Justine Dawson she/her: Looking out my window is a way that I orient all day, every day, because I sit here on my laptop, meeting with couples and individuals and mentor groups and students around the world. 145 00:21:10.040 --> 00:21:14.469 Justine Dawson she/her: And when I look out, you know, what I'm seeing is a 146 00:21:14.760 --> 00:21:24.829 Justine Dawson she/her: Fortunately, today, a very blue sky, and there's just a slight breeze moving the green trees in the courtyard of my apartment. 147 00:21:25.190 --> 00:21:33.709 Justine Dawson she/her: It's really… and when I do that, and I look out, I can feel a settling in my chest, like a little bit of a deeper breath, and… 148 00:21:33.980 --> 00:21:38.280 Justine Dawson she/her: Almost as if it moves deeper into my belly. So… 149 00:21:38.430 --> 00:21:50.270 Justine Dawson she/her: I noticed that inside, along with a lot of energy to be with you today. So there's… there's both a settling and also a tingling in my chest, in my hands, in my arms. 150 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:55.099 Justine Dawson she/her: Which I've come to recognize as a kind of excitement when I teach. 151 00:21:55.460 --> 00:22:04.990 Justine Dawson she/her: I used to relate to it as a lot of anxiety, and I'll tell you about that. But now it feels much more like excitement. 152 00:22:05.300 --> 00:22:13.040 Justine Dawson she/her: And, yeah, I've been teaching now, well, it's been almost 20 years. I'm in my… 153 00:22:13.150 --> 00:22:26.029 Justine Dawson she/her: Sixth year of mentoring in the MMTCP, and I love it. I mean, all of you have been through the program. I love working with students all over the world and helping them find their own way of expressing the teachings. 154 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:39.480 Justine Dawson she/her: And so that continues to really delight me. I also, like Peru said, I meet with individuals and couples, and I bring a lot of somatic principles into all of my work. 155 00:22:39.710 --> 00:22:48.329 Justine Dawson she/her: I actually began my somatic experiencing, which is the modality from which I'm drawing a lot of what I'm going to share today. 156 00:22:48.430 --> 00:22:55.260 Justine Dawson she/her: It's a trauma resolution modality created by Peter Levine, and really informed by mindfulness. 157 00:22:55.380 --> 00:23:05.479 Justine Dawson she/her: And I actually started my training in 2007, because Jack Cornfield really wisely had all of us who were not licensed therapists. 158 00:23:05.560 --> 00:23:16.869 Justine Dawson she/her: Go and do the first year of that training so that we had greater capacity to work with students on retreat who might have traumatic memories or just difficulties coming up. 159 00:23:17.050 --> 00:23:35.310 Justine Dawson she/her: So I did that, and then I actually went all the way through and finally completed my training last year. And so, I did it over many, many years, and now it's really integrated into how I work with people, especially in the realm of intimacy, because that's a lot of the work that I do. 160 00:23:35.580 --> 00:23:46.609 Justine Dawson she/her: And ultimately, I think it's the work that we all do, is helping people be more intimate with themselves and with life. I extend that into intimacy and partnership and relationship. 161 00:23:46.740 --> 00:23:51.449 Justine Dawson she/her: But really, you know, that's what we're all here for, is to be more intimate. 162 00:23:51.740 --> 00:24:06.760 Justine Dawson she/her: And, I should say, I am not an expert in the nervous system. I am not a trauma expert. I'm a practitioner, and I've learned a lot of how to integrate these methods for myself and with clients. 163 00:24:06.760 --> 00:24:18.049 Justine Dawson she/her: But I want to also encourage you that this is going to be an introduction, and there might be more you want to learn. You could check out the SE trainings, there's a lot of great books and other things out there. 164 00:24:18.050 --> 00:24:33.119 Justine Dawson she/her: So I'm not gonna teach you how to do somatic experiencing, but I'm gonna teach you how to take some of the principles, some of the basic exercises, and really apply them to mindfulness teaching, to mindfulness practice and the classroom. 165 00:24:33.130 --> 00:24:39.220 Justine Dawson she/her: So that, you know, you can really, have that for yourself and your students. 166 00:24:39.410 --> 00:24:42.069 Justine Dawson she/her: So that's what… that's what today will be about. 167 00:24:43.060 --> 00:24:52.240 Justine Dawson she/her: So, I want to invite you now to go into groups of three, and to introduce yourself. 168 00:24:52.480 --> 00:25:00.059 Justine Dawson she/her: And I want you to share, like, what's one pleasant sight or sound that you're experiencing from where you're sitting? 169 00:25:00.890 --> 00:25:06.460 Justine Dawson she/her: What's one thing that you're noticing about your internal experience? 170 00:25:06.580 --> 00:25:19.180 Justine Dawson she/her: And then, what drew you to this workshop? Why are you here? More than just being a member of the alum of MMTCP, but maybe specifically why you chose to spend 3 hours today learning about the nervous system. 171 00:25:19.350 --> 00:25:29.479 Justine Dawson she/her: And, you can take 3 minutes each, up to 3 minutes each. I ask that you watch your time, because… so everyone has 3 minutes each in your group to share. 172 00:25:29.620 --> 00:25:47.270 Justine Dawson she/her: If you don't go as long, that's fine, you can end early. And I'm gonna say, when you get together with your other people, go in alphabetical order for what order you go in. So whatever name is closest to A, first name, you start first, and then so on. That will just make that process simpler. 173 00:25:47.860 --> 00:25:49.510 Justine Dawson she/her: And, 174 00:25:49.780 --> 00:26:00.630 Justine Dawson she/her: Again, just your name, one pleasant sight or sound you're experiencing, one thing you're noticing about your internal experience, and then what drew you to this workshop. 175 00:26:00.940 --> 00:26:14.660 Justine Dawson she/her: So, Jeff is going to invite you to a breakout room where you'll be for 10 minutes to share this with two other people, so 3 in total, and then after 10 minutes, we're all going to come back here. 176 00:26:14.790 --> 00:26:21.149 Justine Dawson she/her: So you'll get a one-minute heads-up before your breakout room ends, so that you can wrap up together. 177 00:26:22.930 --> 00:26:26.950 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, so we'll go… we'll go into those breakouts to introduce yourselves. 178 00:26:50.760 --> 00:26:54.639 Paru Desai (she/her): And if anybody has any trouble getting into a breakout room, just let us know. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 250 00:36:13.370 --> 00:36:16.420 Justine Dawson she/her: We see folks returning from their breakouts. 251 00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:37.580 Justine Dawson she/her: Alright, here come everyone. We have a few seconds for everyone to return. 252 00:36:58.050 --> 00:37:17.350 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, welcome back, everyone. I want to invite you to take a moment and notice how you feel having gone in and having some Sangha time, some social engagement with others. Do you feel more stirred? Do you feel more calm, more energized? 253 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:21.649 Justine Dawson she/her: Just notice what's happening inside, having had that social contact. 254 00:37:24.820 --> 00:37:42.030 Justine Dawson she/her: I notice it's actually, like, I'm noticing some more smiles and things like that on the screen. So, you know, it affects each of us differently, but definitely, in nervous system speak, we would say social engagement is an important part of the healing process. 255 00:37:42.100 --> 00:37:58.079 Justine Dawson she/her: And finding ways, to be able to do that that feel good to us. So, we'll talk about this as we go along, but often starting small and building up, and knowing that, you know, within our Buddhist practice or our mindfulness practice. 256 00:37:58.090 --> 00:38:05.559 Justine Dawson she/her: That, Sangha is really key. In fact, the Buddha taught that, you know, Sangha is all of the spiritual life. 257 00:38:05.770 --> 00:38:08.970 Justine Dawson she/her: And, we have that even just being here today. 258 00:38:09.110 --> 00:38:29.349 Justine Dawson she/her: So, I do want to mention, just in case for you, if today's social engagement doesn't feel right, you do not need to force yourself, you do not have to do breakout rooms, you can always decline when the invitation to breakout comes, you can just say, no thank you, because, of course. 259 00:38:29.450 --> 00:38:38.870 Justine Dawson she/her: One of the most… probably the most significant part of any of this work is your consent, and feeling your agency and choice that you get to choose. 260 00:38:39.080 --> 00:38:49.049 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, feel free, if it really isn't right for you, to decline. And you can either practice some of the exercises with yourself, or just listen today. 261 00:38:49.320 --> 00:39:01.340 Justine Dawson she/her: But as you'll see as I go along, I am gonna encourage you to try going into some areas that are a little challenging, but within the right range for you. 262 00:39:02.630 --> 00:39:26.229 Justine Dawson she/her: So, I'm gonna talk now for a little while. I'm gonna share a little bit about my own journey of studying nervous system regulation, and then the basics of our understanding of how life experience affects us and affects the nervous system, and what we might see in students and ourselves to help identify nervous system patterns. 263 00:39:27.020 --> 00:39:33.409 Justine Dawson she/her: So, like I mentioned, I do this work in part for myself. 264 00:39:33.700 --> 00:39:39.920 Justine Dawson she/her: And when I think back, I actually was first drawn to mindfulness when I was 265 00:39:40.030 --> 00:39:50.660 Justine Dawson she/her: I guess about 18, one of my best friends in high school gave me a book by Thich Nhat Hanh, and it was… I think it was the one called Being Peace, and I opened it. 266 00:39:50.750 --> 00:40:01.600 Justine Dawson she/her: And he talked about, you could be doing dishes and feel at ease. So he was talking about having an easeful nervous system, and I thought. 267 00:40:01.720 --> 00:40:03.010 Justine Dawson she/her: I want that. 268 00:40:03.280 --> 00:40:16.599 Justine Dawson she/her: Like, I was someone who felt a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, I did a lot of dishes in my house, and when he talked about you could just be there with the water and, you know, the soap and the warmth. 269 00:40:16.740 --> 00:40:24.319 Justine Dawson she/her: It really touched me, and it gave me a felt transmission of what I might experience inside of me. 270 00:40:24.460 --> 00:40:26.649 Justine Dawson she/her: So that really set me on the path. 271 00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:39.089 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, I sat my first retreat when I was 23, and then went on, and in fact, I moved from Canada to the U.S. to study at Spirit Rock, and then where I eventually trained to be a teacher. 272 00:40:40.040 --> 00:40:53.190 Justine Dawson she/her: And, I had never imagined myself being a teacher. That wasn't… I didn't come in with that plan. And, when I was invited to take that seat and to offer the teachings to others. 273 00:40:53.210 --> 00:41:05.180 Justine Dawson she/her: I had to face all of my own anxiety again. You know, how can I show up in a way that these teachings can come through me, and they can be of service, and they can help others? 274 00:41:05.180 --> 00:41:14.969 Justine Dawson she/her: without me getting in the way. I remember when I very first started teaching, and I would teach these little classes every Tuesday night. 275 00:41:14.970 --> 00:41:19.630 Justine Dawson she/her: And every time I went to go to teach the class, I would think. 276 00:41:19.890 --> 00:41:27.119 Justine Dawson she/her: I hope no one shows up. I hope nobody's there in the classroom, because I felt so nervous. 277 00:41:27.230 --> 00:41:41.790 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, I had to learn to apply my meditation practice, which, you know, like most of us, had happened for me in silence, in seclusion, in solitude. I'd done these beautiful retreats. 278 00:41:41.790 --> 00:41:53.509 Justine Dawson she/her: I loved them, I felt so at home there, but how do I apply that to being with other people, to teaching, to being in more challenging circumstances? 279 00:41:54.120 --> 00:42:15.989 Justine Dawson she/her: And I realized, in some ways, my meditation practice had fit lock and key with my conditioning. Like, I loved silence and solitude. It was easy for me. And, not that meditation was always so easy, but it certainly was easier than being with people and uncertainty and social interaction. 280 00:42:16.580 --> 00:42:33.469 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, my… at one time, I was practicing with a Zen teacher, Ed Brown, and he talked about, one day he was on a long session, and he was staring at the wall, you know, in this cold room, like, wrapped in these robes. 281 00:42:33.470 --> 00:42:46.690 Justine Dawson she/her: And he suddenly had this image, that he was a baby in the NICU, which he had been. And he had been isolated in this little box, kind of just staring at the ceiling, wrapped up, and he thought. 282 00:42:46.690 --> 00:43:04.899 Justine Dawson she/her: am I just recreating my perinatal trauma? You know, what am I doing here? And certainly, that's not all of a meditation practice, but sometimes we can be drawn, and our students are drawn to meditation. 283 00:43:04.930 --> 00:43:14.870 Justine Dawson she/her: Because, it… they're longing, and we're longing, for a sense of ease, and a sense of more easeful circumstances, inward and outward. 284 00:43:14.960 --> 00:43:31.620 Justine Dawson she/her: But we also don't want to use it as an escape. You know, we want… we do want to use the meditation practice, mindfulness, to help us be more regulated, be able to encounter life more peacefully, but not be that it's a way that we're getting away from life. 285 00:43:32.630 --> 00:43:48.259 Justine Dawson she/her: Conversely, on the other side of things, I also found that when I was with students, I needed ways to help them navigate their own challenges and difficulties. 286 00:43:48.420 --> 00:43:59.040 Justine Dawson she/her: And, you know, honestly, sometimes when I had first been taught to meditate, this was, like, more than 25, almost 30 years ago. 287 00:43:59.350 --> 00:44:03.899 Justine Dawson she/her: I was taught, like, when you sit, you just sit. Don't move. 288 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:15.379 Justine Dawson she/her: If there's something difficult, stay with it. You know, just power through. And there was a very strict kind of approach to being with difficulty. 289 00:44:15.380 --> 00:44:25.420 Justine Dawson she/her: And, you know, then I also did quite a bit of personal development that had that, like, push yourself, you know, don't stop, you know, override your fear. 290 00:44:25.520 --> 00:44:33.679 Justine Dawson she/her: And what I saw when I was with students is that, often, that kind of approach had a big kickback. 291 00:44:33.770 --> 00:44:49.039 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, for some people, and sometimes, for me, I could do that. I had a strong will. I really had, like, a very fierce intention. But also, I could see where it could freeze things in myself, and also freeze things in students. 292 00:44:49.330 --> 00:45:00.019 Justine Dawson she/her: Now, I saw people come back from studying in Burma in very rigorous monasteries, and end up with chronic fatigue, because they had so pushed their system so far. 293 00:45:00.620 --> 00:45:18.620 Justine Dawson she/her: And so I thought, you know, there's gotta be a different way that we can do this, and certainly we see a lot more of it now. You know, in the past 20 years, in the Western mindfulness tradition, we've come a long way in making the practice more trauma-informed. 294 00:45:18.810 --> 00:45:26.399 Justine Dawson she/her: And how we work with stuck points in ourselves and our students, is so important. 295 00:45:26.700 --> 00:45:30.879 Justine Dawson she/her: So, you know, I just really invite you to actually take a moment and think. 296 00:45:31.640 --> 00:45:50.900 Justine Dawson she/her: how do I relate to myself and to these stuck experiences inside of me when I touch them? Like, when something comes up, like, I can't settle when I get on my cushion, or my mind wanders a lot, or I just feel really foggy. 297 00:45:51.070 --> 00:45:53.530 Justine Dawson she/her: What do you do there with yourself? 298 00:45:54.070 --> 00:45:58.310 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, how do you relate to your own stuckness in your practice? 299 00:46:01.230 --> 00:46:15.289 Justine Dawson she/her: the invitation, that I make, and I really want to be the center of everything we do today, is how do we meet anything that is stuck with curiosity and compassion? 300 00:46:16.460 --> 00:46:21.750 Justine Dawson she/her: That that is the, primary orientation. 301 00:46:22.090 --> 00:46:25.140 Justine Dawson she/her: Not force, and not indifference. 302 00:46:25.570 --> 00:46:33.659 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, not just skimming over or seemingly equanimous, but actually indifferent, and also not pushing. 303 00:46:34.320 --> 00:46:41.279 Justine Dawson she/her: So, when we have this curious, compassionate approach to ourselves. 304 00:46:41.460 --> 00:46:44.340 Justine Dawson she/her: Then we can also more likely bring it to our students. 305 00:46:44.660 --> 00:46:57.860 Justine Dawson she/her: And we can also just notice, because we're human, right? We're all going to have places where it's hard for us to be curious, and it's hard for us to be compassionate with ourself and with others. So we can be curious about that. 306 00:46:58.850 --> 00:47:02.660 Justine Dawson she/her: Ultimately, what we want to build 307 00:47:03.210 --> 00:47:22.529 Justine Dawson she/her: inside of our own systems, inside of our students, is the capacity to be pliable, to be strong, but also resilient and pliable, to not just be, force and also not be acquiescence, but to have an uprightness. 308 00:47:22.530 --> 00:47:25.959 Justine Dawson she/her: To have a strength and a flexibility. 309 00:47:26.160 --> 00:47:45.610 Justine Dawson she/her: So that's really what we're aiming for, is how to develop that capacity on the cushion and also off of the cushion. So when our students leave the classroom, they have a more resilient, pliable system. Resilience is probably the word that you can really hold as number one here. 310 00:47:46.140 --> 00:47:49.480 Justine Dawson she/her: And actually, Jeff, will you bring up the first slide? 311 00:47:49.730 --> 00:47:56.179 Justine Dawson she/her: Cause this is, a way that I think about having a flexible system. 312 00:47:56.570 --> 00:48:04.979 Justine Dawson she/her: So, you can see here… maybe Jeff's gonna see if he could make it, I don't know if you can make it a little bigger or not, Jeff, but, 313 00:48:05.250 --> 00:48:22.289 Justine Dawson she/her: We have a circle, and in the very center of the circle is where it feels safe to us. So that, for me, was like, oh, when I was on retreat, it was quiet, I was alone, I could just feel I was completely relaxed. 314 00:48:22.380 --> 00:48:32.709 Justine Dawson she/her: And, I felt safe. I didn't have to interact with a lot of people. And so, you could think of, where do you feel safe? 315 00:48:32.710 --> 00:48:42.539 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, where in life do you feel you can let down the most? Maybe it's on your cushion, maybe it's when you're under the covers in bed. 316 00:48:42.540 --> 00:48:47.080 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe it's when you're with your favorite pet, or a partner, a friend. 317 00:48:47.760 --> 00:48:54.370 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe it's when you're in nature, but where do you feel like your system is most safe, most at ease? 318 00:48:56.450 --> 00:49:03.380 Justine Dawson she/her: Now, on the furthest out… outside of that, that furthest pink area is what we could think of as unsafe. 319 00:49:03.570 --> 00:49:23.200 Justine Dawson she/her: Like, and when I say unsafe, I mean where we can't stay consciously present, where our experience overwhelms us, we're not able to be embodied, and likely because of that, we're not able to be compassionate. We're… another way of thinking of this is we're activated, we're triggered. 320 00:49:23.240 --> 00:49:38.490 Justine Dawson she/her: And, but we can't stay conscious with the trigger. So it's too overwhelming. And you could think of it in a way, that that's where trauma occurs, when we feel so unstate, so unsafe, and we don't have a way of being with our experience and processing it. 321 00:49:40.800 --> 00:49:44.569 Justine Dawson she/her: Now, there's this circle between the two. 322 00:49:44.670 --> 00:50:00.999 Justine Dawson she/her: Which I call safely uncomfortable. And that means we're not completely relaxed, we're not completely at ease, we're out on an edge, maybe you felt this way going into a breakout room. Like, oh god, this is a little uncomfortable. 323 00:50:01.130 --> 00:50:12.050 Justine Dawson she/her: But I can still stay present with myself. Like, oh, I'm going to the edge! Like, this is a challenge, but I can still feel compassionate or embodied with myself. 324 00:50:13.110 --> 00:50:18.519 Justine Dawson she/her: And this, ultimately, is some of our aim in this practice. 325 00:50:18.720 --> 00:50:30.389 Justine Dawson she/her: is how to go into the safely uncomfortable zone. So, you can see maybe most of the time, we hope to be in the safe zone. We need a lot of the safe zone to give us a sense of ease. 326 00:50:30.430 --> 00:50:43.290 Justine Dawson she/her: of goodness. You know, you've probably all heard about negativity bias. We're so oriented to the negative, we need a lot of the positive, to feel relaxed and at ease. 327 00:50:43.520 --> 00:50:49.440 Justine Dawson she/her: So we want to spend time there, but we want to be able to dip out. We want to go into safely uncomfortable. 328 00:50:49.690 --> 00:50:58.910 Justine Dawson she/her: Even to the edge, and maybe it doesn't quite show it here, but, you know, because life, we don't totally control it, it might sometimes mean going a little into the unsafe. 329 00:50:59.540 --> 00:51:17.839 Justine Dawson she/her: But then we want to come back. And we want to have this system that can go out, and go into safely uncomfortable, and be there and experience, and then come back to safe. And then inside of us, we can feel that. Oh, we can go out, we can go to edges and to uncertainty, we can take risks in life. 330 00:51:18.030 --> 00:51:21.009 Justine Dawson she/her: And expand, and then we can come back. 331 00:51:21.430 --> 00:51:39.890 Justine Dawson she/her: And this is a healthy nervous system when we can do this. We don't have to cling to safety, and we don't spend all of our time out in the unsafe, but we have a system that flux and flows between the two, between safe and safely uncomfortable. 332 00:51:40.090 --> 00:51:43.019 Justine Dawson she/her: And even when we dip into unsafe. 333 00:51:43.030 --> 00:52:02.760 Justine Dawson she/her: we're able to come back into this regulation. So regulation is not a flat line, I just feel completely calm, peaceful, economists all the time. We're not aiming for flatlining, we're aiming for flexibility, for pliability. That's… that's what we aim for. 334 00:52:03.660 --> 00:52:18.060 Justine Dawson she/her: So today, you can think of this chart and think, like, oh, am I feeling safe? Am I feeling safely uncomfortable? Am I actually over the edge and I need to help myself ground, maybe do some supportive self-touch? 335 00:52:18.360 --> 00:52:22.520 Justine Dawson she/her: Some orienting, to help me come back into safe. 336 00:52:22.940 --> 00:52:24.090 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay? 337 00:52:24.200 --> 00:52:38.739 Justine Dawson she/her: So… so that's… that's what it looks like, that we can move in and we can move out. And Jeff, if you'll do slide 2, we aim to be compassionate, embodied, and consciously aware. 338 00:52:38.740 --> 00:52:45.229 Justine Dawson she/her: That's… that's what we're doing in our practice, and that's what we do in nervous system regulation practice. 339 00:52:45.230 --> 00:52:56.799 Justine Dawson she/her: you know, we can't do it 24 hours a day, but we can do a practice to cultivate that more and more. So, you can just sort of sit with that and think of that, like, oh. 340 00:52:56.800 --> 00:53:10.709 Justine Dawson she/her: When, when I feel a little scared, when I feel a little anxious, when I feel a little overwhelmed, can I do that? Can I be with it in a compassionate, embodied, consciously aware way? That's what we'll aim for. 341 00:53:12.920 --> 00:53:31.569 Justine Dawson she/her: So, we're gonna talk about how to build this. How do we cultivate this in ourselves and our students? But before we do that, I want to tell you a little bit more about what creates dysregulation. Like, what creates it that some people chronically live in unsafe. 342 00:53:31.830 --> 00:53:34.320 Justine Dawson she/her: Even if they look around. 343 00:53:34.430 --> 00:53:39.810 Justine Dawson she/her: You look around your space, and I am totally safe here. I live on the second floor. 344 00:53:39.840 --> 00:53:53.350 Justine Dawson she/her: my neighborhood's safe at the moment, I, you know, it all looks good to me. But sometimes, for some people inside, it perpetually feels unsafe anyway. And maybe some of you feel that, or even a little bit of that. 345 00:53:53.350 --> 00:54:01.699 Justine Dawson she/her: Or maybe you're sometimes in safe places. Maybe your Sangha is a safe place, but still you feel anxious, like I used to, around people. 346 00:54:02.660 --> 00:54:09.730 Justine Dawson she/her: So, let's talk about why that happens to us. And of course, you know. 347 00:54:09.730 --> 00:54:22.950 Justine Dawson she/her: Those of you, you've had some trauma training, you know that there's many things that happen, because we can have, capital T trauma, like things like assault, accidents, abuse. 348 00:54:22.950 --> 00:54:36.299 Justine Dawson she/her: And we can have little t trauma, like chronic shame, stress, fear, ongoing personal, cultural, societal conditions that just eat away at us over time. 349 00:54:36.420 --> 00:54:39.920 Justine Dawson she/her: And trauma, as we're teaching it here. 350 00:54:39.920 --> 00:54:56.610 Justine Dawson she/her: it's not about the event. It's not that, oh, I had a car accident, or even that, I was sexually abused when I was little. It's not the thing that happened, but it's what happened inside of us, in our nervous system, in response. 351 00:54:57.250 --> 00:55:09.659 Justine Dawson she/her: And whether or not we were supported and had the support and the conditions to be able to respond in the way that we needed to. 352 00:55:11.050 --> 00:55:14.780 Justine Dawson she/her: So, if you'll go to slide 3, Jeff, 353 00:55:15.230 --> 00:55:19.330 Justine Dawson she/her: You'll see that when threatening events happen. 354 00:55:20.130 --> 00:55:29.829 Justine Dawson she/her: Our nervous system instinctually, like pretty much all animals, definitely all mammals, respond in, one of these ways. 355 00:55:29.970 --> 00:55:37.150 Justine Dawson she/her: So, first of all, the first healthy response to any threat is to want to run. 356 00:55:37.290 --> 00:55:39.070 Justine Dawson she/her: To want to get away. 357 00:55:39.210 --> 00:55:45.070 Justine Dawson she/her: That that is just instinctual. There's a threat coming at you, and let's get out of here. 358 00:55:45.990 --> 00:55:46.870 Justine Dawson she/her: if… 359 00:55:47.040 --> 00:56:02.889 Justine Dawson she/her: you cannot get away. A natural response, if it is possible, let's say if you might be bigger than the thing that is coming at you, would be to fight, to actually have contact with your healthy aggression and want to fight it off. 360 00:56:03.680 --> 00:56:05.490 Justine Dawson she/her: If… 361 00:56:05.630 --> 00:56:13.699 Justine Dawson she/her: You are not bigger than… if you… it's not going to be possible for you to fight it off, you might have two other responses. 362 00:56:13.830 --> 00:56:21.929 Justine Dawson she/her: One is to fawn, and that is to try to placate the thing that's attacking you. So, you could think of. 363 00:56:21.930 --> 00:56:34.269 Justine Dawson she/her: Is racism attacking me? And then, do I have a fond response? Or is a parent attacking me, and I have a fawn response? That these are things, these are how we might respond? 364 00:56:34.950 --> 00:56:43.260 Justine Dawson she/her: And of course, if none of these things work, what the healthy system does is it freezes. 365 00:56:43.420 --> 00:56:53.259 Justine Dawson she/her: It goes into a state where it basically plays dead, and hopes that the predator goes away. The predator being whatever the unsafe force is. 366 00:56:53.830 --> 00:56:57.940 Justine Dawson she/her: So these are our four main things that we would see at any stage of life. 367 00:56:57.970 --> 00:57:14.040 Justine Dawson she/her: But there's also a fifth one that's not always mentioned, and that's when, especially when we're young, the first instinctual response is to seek protection. Like, where is the competent protector that's gonna protect me from this threat? 368 00:57:14.140 --> 00:57:17.550 Justine Dawson she/her: And that, that's important to remember from later. So… 369 00:57:17.720 --> 00:57:36.319 Justine Dawson she/her: You can think of, like, with each of these different ways, like, that they will have a different impact inside of you. When a threat comes, and our nervous system, when they're healthy, we would have access, in some ways, to all of these. They're all smart, intelligent survival strategies. 370 00:57:36.980 --> 00:57:39.070 Justine Dawson she/her: But also what happens… 371 00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:53.739 Justine Dawson she/her: is that these different strategies bring up a tremendous amount of energy. If you think about it, to get away from attack, you need a lot of energy to run, you need a lot of energy to flight, to flight, to flee. 372 00:57:53.930 --> 00:58:10.100 Justine Dawson she/her: Even when you fawn and freeze, all of that energy that's there that didn't get to go, then is trapped inside of you. It's all activated, but you're putting a lid on it so that you can fawn or you can freeze. 373 00:58:10.220 --> 00:58:16.499 Justine Dawson she/her: So, with all trauma responses, a tremendous amount of energy is brought up in the system. 374 00:58:17.280 --> 00:58:18.360 Justine Dawson she/her: And… 375 00:58:19.300 --> 00:58:33.780 Justine Dawson she/her: Inherently, in the wild, especially if we look at a lot of wild animals, they know what to do with this energy. Like, maybe you've seen your dog, like, if it was, they got in a fight at the dog park, and then they shake it off. 376 00:58:33.920 --> 00:58:45.300 Justine Dawson she/her: Right? And maybe you've seen other animals do that. That they have a way of shaking off the stress of the interaction, and re-regulating their systems. 377 00:58:45.680 --> 00:59:04.249 Justine Dawson she/her: And, you know, honestly, in traditional tribal societies, there was more contact to this stuff. There was rhythmic movement, dance, community ritual, chanting, sweat lodges, ways to move this activated energy out when there was a traumatic situation. 378 00:59:04.860 --> 00:59:18.140 Justine Dawson she/her: But, because we live in this culture and society and ways of being, we've disconnected often from those ways, and really from our instinctual ways of being able to respond. 379 00:59:18.140 --> 00:59:33.060 Justine Dawson she/her: And, like, in fact, probably many of you were taught, like, if something bad happened to you, like, buck up, don't even cry, like, push through, you're brave! And so, instead of releasing the energy, it gets locked down even more. 380 00:59:33.220 --> 00:59:41.190 Justine Dawson she/her: And so you can think of, actually, if you go to slide 4, Jeff, that we have… 381 00:59:41.190 --> 00:59:57.070 Justine Dawson she/her: when you think of someone who is stuck in their trauma, there's all of this energy that's been inactivated inside, and it has nowhere to go. Like, it hasn't been released, and so it's just playing out over and over again. 382 00:59:57.680 --> 00:59:58.820 Justine Dawson she/her: of… 383 00:59:58.910 --> 01:00:09.320 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, you know, what happens is then that affects the rest of your life. You are in this chronic experience now, which is what we come to think of as trauma. 384 01:00:09.320 --> 01:00:13.110 Justine Dawson she/her: Is the chronic activation of this energy. 385 01:00:13.110 --> 01:00:35.960 Justine Dawson she/her: Like, the vet that comes back from a war zone, and, you know, they had explosions happen when they were… when they were there, and they never got to have the release of the energy that was activated inside. So every time they hear, like, a firework or something, their system just goes back in the exact same response. 386 01:00:36.170 --> 01:00:38.830 Justine Dawson she/her: That response is patterned inside of them. 387 01:00:41.310 --> 01:00:51.599 Justine Dawson she/her: I want to give you just one… we'll do one quick example of this together, okay? So we're gonna just do a quick visualization of what this might feel like. 388 01:00:52.840 --> 01:00:58.939 Justine Dawson she/her: So if you'll just take a minute and close your eyes, or let your eyes be soft and go inside. 389 01:01:01.630 --> 01:01:13.200 Justine Dawson she/her: I, I want you to imagine right now that you're, you're out in the forest or on the plain, you're somewhere where there is a wild animal. 390 01:01:13.390 --> 01:01:28.470 Justine Dawson she/her: like a mountain lion, maybe that's if you're in the Pacific Northwest or California, or it might be that there's a tiger or a puma, but there's a dangerous animal, and you're out there, and you're walking around. 391 01:01:28.980 --> 01:01:39.539 Justine Dawson she/her: And suddenly, you see… That animal. And you feel in your body that you have got to run. 392 01:01:40.070 --> 01:01:51.509 Justine Dawson she/her: It might not be the right thing to do, but that's the instinct, right? So you feel that you've got to run, and I want you, before you do anything, I want you to just feel inside of you that impulse to run. 393 01:01:51.920 --> 01:02:07.109 Justine Dawson she/her: And in your body, feel it in your legs, in your arms, that impulse, like, I have got to run, I've got to get out of here. And notice what's happening inside of you as you think of that, in your feet, in your legs, in your arms. 394 01:02:08.220 --> 01:02:27.789 Justine Dawson she/her: And I've gotta run, I've gotta run, and even if you imagine in your mind, and feel in your body what it would be like to start running, and to run, and to run, you better run, you gotta go so fast, because that lion, or that tiger is coming after you. You gotta run, run, run, run, run, run, run, and feel it in your body, even let your body move, like, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, freeze! 395 01:02:29.320 --> 01:02:32.840 Justine Dawson she/her: So freeze, and notice… Don't move an inch. 396 01:02:33.240 --> 01:02:38.800 Justine Dawson she/her: What it feels like inside to freeze with all of that energy inside of you. 397 01:02:41.920 --> 01:02:47.129 Justine Dawson she/her: That is what it's like to live with this chronic activation. 398 01:02:49.790 --> 01:02:55.989 Justine Dawson she/her: You can just notice how much energy. It's all there, it's all activated, but it has nowhere to go. 399 01:02:57.630 --> 01:03:11.070 Justine Dawson she/her: And you could imagine, in its own way, the other responses, like a fight response. Ugh, you're so ready to fight! You're so ready to punch! You've got to get this thing off of you! And then, ugh, you're not able to do it. 400 01:03:11.330 --> 01:03:18.250 Justine Dawson she/her: You're not able to complete that, and what it's like to suddenly be frozen with all of that energy inside of you. 401 01:03:21.150 --> 01:03:37.959 Justine Dawson she/her: You might even think now, like, oh, do I have some of that energy inside of me? Like, in fact, when you look out on the world, sometimes you can see in yourself or with others our predominant responses. 402 01:03:37.960 --> 01:03:47.229 Justine Dawson she/her: Like, am I predominantly a fleer? Am I predominantly a fighter? My fight response is stuck on. Or am I predominantly a fauner? 403 01:03:47.590 --> 01:03:58.319 Justine Dawson she/her: Or a freezer. That we've had ways that we were designed to actually escape threat, but that got frozen inside of us. 404 01:03:59.250 --> 01:04:06.260 Justine Dawson she/her: We all have our somatic patterning, we all have it, so we can just be curious about what's there. 405 01:04:06.350 --> 01:04:14.589 Justine Dawson she/her: And, and what's in our students. So, I just really briefly, we'll go to slide 5, and I want to tell you, 406 01:04:14.590 --> 01:04:28.469 Justine Dawson she/her: about how you might notice these things. And I want to note, this is a lot of information, I realize. You'll have these slides after to look at them, but I just wanted you to have this, because it is really helpful when we're seeing students. 407 01:04:29.460 --> 01:04:33.120 Justine Dawson she/her: And seeing ourselves. So… 408 01:04:33.340 --> 01:04:44.849 Justine Dawson she/her: When hyperarousal, meaning too much arousal, that, just like we experienced, we're running, but then we weren't able to finish running because the prey caught, or the predator caught us. 409 01:04:45.280 --> 01:04:52.809 Justine Dawson she/her: And we get stuck in flight or fight, these are some things we might notice inside of us. 410 01:04:54.180 --> 01:05:00.379 Justine Dawson she/her: our mind races. You can just think of all of that energy is in the mind, racing, racing, racing. 411 01:05:00.530 --> 01:05:04.430 Justine Dawson she/her: The breath becomes shallow and fast. 412 01:05:04.570 --> 01:05:24.540 Justine Dawson she/her: Our muscles are tight, right? Because we were ready to fight, or we were ready to run. So it's like, oh, there's a lot of tightness. A lot of feeling wired. Anxiety, panic attacks, feeling really vigilant, like, oh my gosh, is the tiger gonna come back at any moment? You know, whatever the tiger was in your life, or is. 413 01:05:25.620 --> 01:05:28.299 Justine Dawson she/her: And the difficulty falling and staying asleep. 414 01:05:28.770 --> 01:05:41.229 Justine Dawson she/her: So, these are not meant to diagnose people, please don't. But they might help you notice, like, when someone, let's say a student in your class. 415 01:05:41.230 --> 01:05:51.239 Justine Dawson she/her: You notice, wow, they're really tense, or they're really wired. Their mind won't stop racing, like, huh, there's probably some hyperarousal. 416 01:05:51.350 --> 01:05:57.890 Justine Dawson she/her: You aren't necessarily gonna know why, but you can just know, oh, their system is amped up. 417 01:05:58.000 --> 01:06:02.940 Justine Dawson she/her: Because this will be important when we look at exercises later to help bring it down. 418 01:06:05.050 --> 01:06:24.250 Justine Dawson she/her: Conversely, there's hypoarousal, so when there's not enough arousal, and that's when we're stuck in freeze, to some degree, when we're stuck in fawn, because we've had to clamp down on our system in order to get through experience. So all that energy is really pushed down inside of us. 419 01:06:25.250 --> 01:06:28.989 Justine Dawson she/her: And there we can see, numbness. 420 01:06:29.360 --> 01:06:31.820 Justine Dawson she/her: Like, a lack of sensation? 421 01:06:32.180 --> 01:06:50.539 Justine Dawson she/her: And this is not just, no, someone's never meditated before, they're not connected to their internal world. But even when they start to sit, there might be whole areas of their body where they feel nothing. You know, in my work, I often see a lot of women just feel frozen in their whole pelvis, like, no sensation. 422 01:06:50.690 --> 01:06:57.039 Justine Dawson she/her: Not surprising, like, given the environment or so many conditions that women go through growing up. 423 01:06:58.050 --> 01:07:16.190 Justine Dawson she/her: And, you know, for anyone, it might be shame that also freezes them. So many different things, but there's a disconnection from self, like, kind of feeling like you're not really connected to yourself or your environment or others. 424 01:07:16.330 --> 01:07:18.100 Justine Dawson she/her: There's a fogginess. 425 01:07:18.640 --> 01:07:38.020 Justine Dawson she/her: a feeling like you're flat, and like, almost like you're weak. And, you know, I'd mentioned before chronic fatigue. Sometimes we see these kinds of things, in… in syndromes, with people, that… and it can be sometimes, or at least a contributing factor, is a lot of energy is held down. 426 01:07:38.640 --> 01:07:41.580 Justine Dawson she/her: Hopelessness, helplessness, apathy. 427 01:07:41.890 --> 01:07:43.310 Justine Dawson she/her: So… 428 01:07:43.820 --> 01:07:54.729 Justine Dawson she/her: just notice, because even as I read these, you might feel them stir in yourself, and you might notice, like, wow, I suddenly feel hyperaroused, or I suddenly feel hypoaroused. 429 01:07:55.140 --> 01:08:00.209 Justine Dawson she/her: And let's just take a moment and notice what's happening inside of you. 430 01:08:01.560 --> 01:08:08.090 Justine Dawson she/her: And again, if it helps to bring some self-touch… Some grounding, some orienting… 431 01:08:10.320 --> 01:08:13.129 Justine Dawson she/her: As you take this information in. 432 01:08:19.010 --> 01:08:27.330 Justine Dawson she/her: again, like I've mentioned before, we all have some degree of this, and we go in and out of it. You know, we sometimes can cycle between the two. 433 01:08:27.330 --> 01:08:40.669 Justine Dawson she/her: And most people that have, some degree of a trauma imprint, they learn to be functional inside of this. Especially if they're coming to your class, they've been functional enough in their life that they've gotten to your class. 434 01:08:40.720 --> 01:08:48.440 Justine Dawson she/her: And they can look totally normal on the outside. I'm successful doing this and that, but on the inside. 435 01:08:48.540 --> 01:09:03.019 Justine Dawson she/her: It's like they're either, stuck or on fire. So they might even appear like, wow, they're the best meditator, so calm, never move, so still, but actually, inside, they're frozen. They're actually hypoaroused. 436 01:09:04.340 --> 01:09:17.369 Justine Dawson she/her: So… one of the… one of the first, Dharma lessons that we might come to is that our thoughts and our feelings and our sensations 437 01:09:17.439 --> 01:09:29.260 Justine Dawson she/her: are passing through us. They're arising and passing through, but they're not who we are. And it's really important to remember that, that these patternings 438 01:09:29.260 --> 01:09:40.110 Justine Dawson she/her: we can start to feel like they are who we are, or our students might feel like, you know, I'm just an angry person, or like, I'm just a placid person. 439 01:09:40.590 --> 01:09:55.569 Justine Dawson she/her: But it's not that. It's the way physiology has adapted to deal with the traumatic experience. And not just the experience, but the energy that came from the experience. 440 01:09:56.830 --> 01:10:06.819 Justine Dawson she/her: And what we want to help is help them to restore that flexible, fluid system, right? Like I talked about in one of the… I think it was the very first slide. 441 01:10:07.740 --> 01:10:10.730 Justine Dawson she/her: If you think of, 442 01:10:11.070 --> 01:10:20.519 Justine Dawson she/her: my favorite Zen Koan, which was from, I think, the 10th century, the master Yu Men, and someone asked him. 443 01:10:21.530 --> 01:10:28.530 Justine Dawson she/her: What is the teaching of a whole lifetime? And that means, like, what's the ultimate result of our practice? 444 01:10:29.340 --> 01:10:34.300 Justine Dawson she/her: And he said, an appropriate response. 445 01:10:35.380 --> 01:10:37.430 Justine Dawson she/her: An appropriate response. 446 01:10:37.760 --> 01:10:44.030 Justine Dawson she/her: And that is what we're talking about. How can we have an appropriate response to life? 447 01:10:44.170 --> 01:11:00.919 Justine Dawson she/her: And to situations we find ourselves in, that we have this fluidity, this flexibility, this resilience, and that we can respond appropriately and release the energy appropriately, rather than having it be trapped inside of us. 448 01:11:01.420 --> 01:11:10.720 Justine Dawson she/her: So rather than it becoming locked down and frozen, how can we have it move and restored to this flexible fluid system? 449 01:11:13.090 --> 01:11:23.570 Justine Dawson she/her: So we can turn off the slides for now, Jeff, and thank you, everyone. That was a lot of information to take in, and you'll, again, you'll have those slides to refer to later if you want them. 450 01:11:23.730 --> 01:11:30.360 Justine Dawson she/her: But I want to just invite you to take a moment to notice how you're feeling inside, having heard all of that. 451 01:11:31.200 --> 01:11:46.330 Justine Dawson she/her: And, we're gonna come back, and we're gonna do some questions, if there's anything that's come up for you that you have questions about. But I want to take a short break, just a few minutes, to stand, and I really invite you to move. 452 01:11:46.420 --> 01:11:55.530 Justine Dawson she/her: Like you saw, one of the biggest things that happens when we have energy that's stuck is we stop moving and it gets trapped. 453 01:11:56.010 --> 01:12:09.599 Justine Dawson she/her: So I invite you to stretch to stand up. I'm going to put a little music on, you might even want to move your body and dance a little bit. And, we will start back here in about 454 01:12:10.660 --> 01:12:20.679 Justine Dawson she/her: 4 or 5 minutes, okay? So, take a little stretch, and I'm gonna put some music on if I can find it, and we'll be right back here. 455 01:12:28.060 --> 01:12:33.160 Justine Dawson she/her: Company The world is soon. 456 01:12:34.050 --> 01:12:39.499 Justine Dawson she/her: Down his travel roads, we stumbled into. 457 01:12:39.860 --> 01:12:40.880 Justine Dawson she/her: We're all in. 458 01:12:44.370 --> 01:12:53.640 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: If you walk with me… I walk with you Be there for me. 459 01:12:53.810 --> 01:13:11.019 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I'll be there for you When we're riding out of hope When we don't know what to do Like a candle in a darkness, shining bright and true Be there for me 460 01:13:11.250 --> 01:13:16.889 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I'll be there for you Whoa, everything. 461 01:13:17.710 --> 01:13:27.320 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: It's gonna be, gonna be, gonna be alright, everything It's gonna be all right. 462 01:13:27.640 --> 01:13:34.399 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: You and me got better days Every day's coming, yea, everything. 463 01:13:34.870 --> 01:13:40.180 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: It's gonna be alright Welcome me! 464 01:13:40.680 --> 01:13:43.049 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: A woe with you. 465 01:13:43.760 --> 01:13:44.929 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I know the rain. 466 01:13:45.220 --> 01:13:49.020 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: You know, today, We'll bring tomorrow's room 467 01:13:49.530 --> 01:13:57.659 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Where we can't see where we're going What the world is coming to, you work with me 468 01:13:58.120 --> 01:14:02.030 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I won't walk with you. 469 01:14:02.270 --> 01:14:04.750 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: We'll be alright. 470 01:14:04.860 --> 01:14:09.190 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Walk with me, alright? 471 01:14:09.580 --> 01:14:15.029 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I will, what will feel all right, anything. 472 01:14:15.490 --> 01:14:21.280 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Oh, walk with me all right. 473 01:14:21.840 --> 01:14:25.719 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I will walk with you. It's gonna be… 474 01:14:27.730 --> 01:14:32.890 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: It's gonna be, gonna be, gonna be a ride any day. 475 01:14:33.630 --> 01:14:36.030 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I will walk away. 476 01:14:41.550 --> 01:14:43.810 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: We all ride, amen. 477 01:14:44.860 --> 01:14:52.100 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: And I will walk, we'll be all right, I will walk It will be alright. 478 01:14:52.860 --> 01:14:59.869 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: You'll be all right, walk with me, I will walk with you. 479 01:15:07.710 --> 01:15:11.580 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: My memory's fading. 480 01:15:12.380 --> 01:15:15.879 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Are the good days all gone? 481 01:15:17.690 --> 01:15:31.529 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I ask for my maker. She shows up in song. I see my behavior. 482 01:15:32.030 --> 01:15:46.410 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Where I go wrong I guess it's my nature. My head is too strong. 483 01:15:49.310 --> 01:15:53.530 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: If I can only get out Oh, we… 484 01:15:54.860 --> 01:16:01.280 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: That's when the light shines over I've got nothing to lose. 485 01:16:01.520 --> 01:16:02.240 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: birth away. 486 01:16:10.540 --> 01:16:13.279 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: You're broken down, I'm tired. 487 01:16:14.870 --> 01:16:15.870 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Livin' lives! 488 01:16:16.170 --> 01:16:18.270 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: On the merry go around. 489 01:16:18.770 --> 01:16:26.219 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: You can't find a fighter But I see the U, so we gon' walk it out. 490 01:16:30.600 --> 01:16:31.830 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: One day. 491 01:16:33.200 --> 01:16:37.079 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: We gon' walk it out and woo! 492 01:16:45.710 --> 01:16:46.670 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: A ride! 493 01:16:49.620 --> 01:16:50.650 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: it around! 494 01:16:53.040 --> 01:16:56.519 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I'll do it a thousand times again. 495 01:16:57.390 --> 01:16:58.770 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Hello! 496 01:17:01.900 --> 01:17:02.930 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Please arrive! 497 01:17:04.210 --> 01:17:05.070 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Inspire! 498 01:17:05.220 --> 01:17:06.779 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: W. A country! 499 01:17:09.200 --> 01:17:13.859 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I do it a thousand times again. 500 01:17:31.880 --> 01:17:34.410 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: And the silence is it? 501 01:17:35.820 --> 01:17:39.939 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: And it feels like it's a-gittin' hard to breathe. 502 01:17:40.200 --> 01:17:42.049 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: And I know you feel like that. 503 01:17:42.800 --> 01:17:47.949 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: But I promise we would take the world to its feet. 504 01:17:52.740 --> 01:17:53.870 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: All day. 505 01:17:54.450 --> 01:17:56.099 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Bring it to his feet. 506 01:18:01.320 --> 01:18:02.120 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Founded. 507 01:18:03.080 --> 01:18:03.770 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Hello, Rob! 508 01:18:16.240 --> 01:18:18.560 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: 10 times again. 509 01:18:33.250 --> 01:18:40.609 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: We'll start back in one minute, if you want to find your way back to your seat, or wherever you want to settle. 510 01:18:41.380 --> 01:18:42.440 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: It's hard. 511 01:18:43.630 --> 01:18:46.079 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Now we have each other. 512 01:18:46.430 --> 01:18:48.700 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: And for that, we have it here! 513 01:18:48.980 --> 01:18:50.139 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: each other. 514 01:19:12.360 --> 01:19:13.920 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: I'll rise up! 515 01:19:14.450 --> 01:19:20.800 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: In spite of the air, I will rise A thousand times! 516 01:19:20.960 --> 01:19:22.970 Audio shared by Justine Dawson she/her: Hands again. 517 01:19:29.250 --> 01:19:33.410 Justine Dawson she/her: Alright, everyone! Welcome back. 518 01:19:35.350 --> 01:19:43.930 Justine Dawson she/her: Peru, I wonder for this, would you be able to turn the chat back on in case people are more comfortable chatting in their questions? 519 01:19:44.120 --> 01:19:46.220 Justine Dawson she/her: That would be helpful. 520 01:19:46.910 --> 01:19:56.829 Justine Dawson she/her: Because we have some time now for a little dialogue, based on the first part of our day together. And just to give you a heads up. 521 01:19:57.060 --> 01:20:09.409 Justine Dawson she/her: After this, we're gonna go into some exercises and practices for working with this energy. So, we just talked about all of this energy that gets stirred up and frozen. 522 01:20:09.410 --> 01:20:19.559 Justine Dawson she/her: And how that affects the patterning of the nervous system. But don't worry, we're going to talk about how to work with it. So if that's your question, we're going to come to that next. 523 01:20:19.710 --> 01:20:25.039 Justine Dawson she/her: But any questions based on what we've been doing so far today? 524 01:20:26.060 --> 01:20:38.090 Justine Dawson she/her: And again, you are welcome to chat it in, or if you want to use the raise hand function, in the bottom, you should have a little reaction button where you can press, 525 01:20:38.230 --> 01:20:44.179 Justine Dawson she/her: A raised hand, or a heart, or a thumbs up, and we can bring you on, with a question. 526 01:20:49.360 --> 01:20:55.419 Justine Dawson she/her: So, anything from… The first part of the day. Okay. 527 01:20:56.860 --> 01:21:05.559 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, so… Need my glasses to see your name. Noon. Hi. 528 01:21:05.670 --> 01:21:15.489 Justine Dawson she/her: I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Says, I am curious, I had a prolonged ACE, so that means, adverse childhood experiences. 529 01:21:15.640 --> 01:21:34.259 Justine Dawson she/her: And ACE scores are often used to kind of assess, yeah, the impact of childhood experience, negative childhood, adverse childhood experiences on well-being. And I'm curious what is typical, a 9-year-old response to a prolonged ACE, 530 01:21:35.220 --> 01:21:51.779 Justine Dawson she/her: Well, thank you for the question. I'm sure there's so much to say here, and there could be a… because this is such a personal question. And, there's one thing that we know about trauma, is that it affects everybody differently. 531 01:21:52.530 --> 01:22:00.119 Justine Dawson she/her: Two people could go through the same exact circumstantial experience and have a very different reaction. 532 01:22:00.210 --> 01:22:15.649 Justine Dawson she/her: And that is, you know, because like I was saying, it's not in the event. It's not that you had the event, it was what happened inside of you and how you were supported or not to be with the impact. 533 01:22:16.030 --> 01:22:21.879 Justine Dawson she/her: So, for example, someone might have had, a tragedy, a sibling die. 534 01:22:22.140 --> 01:22:32.530 Justine Dawson she/her: And they received a tremendous amount of support and love and, and were able to release the trauma, the grief from their system. 535 01:22:32.880 --> 01:22:50.089 Justine Dawson she/her: And that would look very different than a child that had a sibling die, and their parents shut down, maybe had their own grief, and started ignoring them, and didn't talk to them about their feelings, and they were told to buck up, or take on more responsibility. So you can see, it's really, 536 01:22:50.090 --> 01:23:07.189 Justine Dawson she/her: again, what happens inside of you, and what happens whether you receive the support to be with the experience. So I, I can't say what's typical, because it really is gonna be so, based on your personal experience, and whether… was there someone there with you? 537 01:23:07.190 --> 01:23:20.200 Justine Dawson she/her: Did you, you know, when I said the thing before about competent protector, that's what we know, is having someone who's going to be there to support and love and provide compassion and approval makes such a big difference. 538 01:23:20.280 --> 01:23:31.810 Justine Dawson she/her: Or, if, you know, it was welcome to have emotions, and to be able to shake and cry and express that, or were you told to lock that down? 539 01:23:33.170 --> 01:23:52.749 Justine Dawson she/her: But, you know, prolonged negative experiences are, and sometimes the subtle ones are the ones that add up over time to some of the most, difficult patterning, because over and over again, the system is having to compensate for what it's experiencing. 540 01:23:52.770 --> 01:24:00.579 Justine Dawson she/her: So I'm sorry if I can't answer that entirely, but those are some of the things to think about for yourself, and also for students. 541 01:24:02.450 --> 01:24:05.929 Justine Dawson she/her: Guido, I see you have your hand up. Go ahead. 542 01:24:06.920 --> 01:24:10.280 Guido Stalman: Yes, thank you so much for everything so far, and… 543 01:24:10.280 --> 01:24:13.399 Justine Dawson she/her: I can't hear you, I don't know, maybe Jeff needs to unmute you? 544 01:24:13.820 --> 01:24:15.540 Guido Stalman: I am unmuted. 545 01:24:16.290 --> 01:24:22.020 Justine Dawson she/her: Oh, hold on a second, that is maybe my fault because of the music. Hold on a second. 546 01:24:22.420 --> 01:24:23.170 Guido Stalman: Okay. 547 01:24:23.170 --> 01:24:24.000 Justine Dawson she/her: I see. 548 01:24:26.320 --> 01:24:27.670 Guido Stalman: Can you hear me now? 549 01:24:27.670 --> 01:24:29.210 Justine Dawson she/her: There we go, now I can hear you. 550 01:24:29.210 --> 01:24:30.530 Guido Stalman: Sorry about that. Perfect. 551 01:24:30.660 --> 01:24:41.670 Guido Stalman: Perfect. So, first off, thank you, and I was wondering, because you showed us this slide, the hyper and the hypo. 552 01:24:42.040 --> 01:24:48.760 Guido Stalman: Could it be possible that I am bouncing from hyper to hypo and back? 553 01:24:49.440 --> 01:25:03.949 Justine Dawson she/her: Absolutely. Okay. We are dynamic beings, and you might… you might see people go between the two, because it's probably also… most of us have more than one experience imprinted on our nervous system. 554 01:25:03.950 --> 01:25:04.340 Guido Stalman: Yeah. 555 01:25:04.340 --> 01:25:10.729 Justine Dawson she/her: So, it sounds like that's your experience, is you're noticing you might, oscillate between the two, yeah. 556 01:25:10.730 --> 01:25:13.260 Guido Stalman: Definitely, yeah. So that's quite normal. 557 01:25:13.760 --> 01:25:15.869 Justine Dawson she/her: Absolutely. Not unusual. 558 01:25:16.350 --> 01:25:19.490 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, and we'll talk about how to work with that. 559 01:25:19.640 --> 01:25:20.569 Guido Stalman: Cool, yep. 560 01:25:20.570 --> 01:25:22.740 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you. 561 01:25:23.040 --> 01:25:23.980 Guido Stalman: Thank you. 562 01:25:26.250 --> 01:25:34.950 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, so I'm gonna take back a look here. We have quite a few questions, we'll see, and I'll get to some, and then we might share some. So, 563 01:25:35.060 --> 01:25:48.280 Justine Dawson she/her: How might the safe, unsafe, and safely uncomfortable, and window of tolerance, thank you for bringing that up, that's, one of the ideas we have of where we can stay, consciously aware, is in the window of tolerance. 564 01:25:48.610 --> 01:25:53.109 Justine Dawson she/her: How do they apply or be considered for processing grief? 565 01:25:53.610 --> 01:25:59.890 Justine Dawson she/her: Great question. So, acute and longer term. 566 01:26:01.720 --> 01:26:08.600 Justine Dawson she/her: And I imagine if you're asking this, Erica, that you might have your own experience with this, and 567 01:26:08.600 --> 01:26:25.010 Justine Dawson she/her: And I'd be curious, actually, if anyone has experience with grief, what they found, maybe you want to share in the chat, if you personally have experiences with grief, what you found about, you know, being in and out of that window of safe and unsafe and comfortably unsafe. 568 01:26:25.010 --> 01:26:31.649 Justine Dawson she/her: Grief often takes us into the unsafe, you know, without our consent. 569 01:26:32.320 --> 01:26:39.779 Justine Dawson she/her: And, and this is, the thing about all of this work is, is life, doesn't always ask for our consent. 570 01:26:40.690 --> 01:26:45.380 Justine Dawson she/her: And, and certainly in traumatic experiences, that's true. 571 01:26:45.800 --> 01:26:53.809 Justine Dawson she/her: And so we can't control whether we stay in the safe or the uncomfortably, like, the safely uncomfortable. 572 01:26:54.370 --> 01:26:58.940 Justine Dawson she/her: But what we can do is we can do some practices 573 01:26:59.200 --> 01:27:03.340 Justine Dawson she/her: To help us come back into more tolerable places. 574 01:27:03.750 --> 01:27:15.279 Justine Dawson she/her: And, I think most of us, you know, anyone who's had experience with grief or studied it would know that, it comes in waves, right? It's not a linear process. 575 01:27:15.390 --> 01:27:17.140 Justine Dawson she/her: Like, so much of life. 576 01:27:17.240 --> 01:27:28.420 Justine Dawson she/her: So sometimes you might feel like, I had a student recently, you know, her husband died, and for the first couple of months, she actually had a lot of vitality. Suddenly, it was like, oh my god, life's worth living. 577 01:27:28.420 --> 01:27:38.809 Justine Dawson she/her: Like, I just went through this terrible death, like, I feel so alive, positive arousal. And then after 2 months, it was like, oh wow, now I'm really feeling it. 578 01:27:39.190 --> 01:27:48.879 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, again, it's not linear, but what I would say is, no matter where you are and what kind of journey you're on, grief or otherwise. 579 01:27:49.210 --> 01:27:59.900 Justine Dawson she/her: You can notice what's happening inside of you, and you can use some of the tools that I'm going to share to help bring back some sense of ground and relative safety. 580 01:28:00.260 --> 01:28:03.770 Justine Dawson she/her: Regardless of the circumstances. 581 01:28:04.160 --> 01:28:19.690 Justine Dawson she/her: But of course, you know, safety, and I'll say… I'm going to talk about this a little next. Recognizing your own safety first, getting a little bit of pleasant, pleasurable resource is important. 582 01:28:22.210 --> 01:28:31.370 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, so that's… that's what I have to say, but I also… I noticed that, you know, at least there's one here when I'm grieving, I want a safe place, literally, to be quiet in. 583 01:28:31.770 --> 01:28:38.680 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, yeah, if anyone else has things that they've learned about grief, please share them in the chat. 584 01:28:38.880 --> 01:28:41.240 Justine Dawson she/her: I'm sure there's a lot of collective wisdom here. 585 01:28:42.800 --> 01:28:47.389 Justine Dawson she/her: Can you share the difference of signs between fawn and freeze? 586 01:28:48.650 --> 01:28:54.130 Justine Dawson she/her: So, they look different in different people and different degrees. 587 01:28:54.950 --> 01:29:09.550 Justine Dawson she/her: Fawn is much more, relational. Not always in a positive way, but fawn we can think of classically as what we might think of as codependence, right, in Western psychological terms. 588 01:29:09.580 --> 01:29:20.389 Justine Dawson she/her: That, we're constantly accommodating. We're looking how to please others around us, because if others around us don't seem pleased, we feel unsafe. 589 01:29:20.940 --> 01:29:34.450 Justine Dawson she/her: If our partner, our parents, our children, our coworkers, if there's anything that we sense might be making them unhappy, we want to take actions to smooth it over, to make it better, might be self-sacrificing. 590 01:29:35.290 --> 01:29:41.409 Justine Dawson she/her: So you could think of, if you have that habit in any way, you know, which most people have some degree of. 591 01:29:41.670 --> 01:29:49.989 Justine Dawson she/her: That, that kind of fawn. Versus a freeze can be just a numbness. 592 01:29:50.140 --> 01:29:55.939 Justine Dawson she/her: I don't feel much at all. I feel really separate and disconnected. 593 01:29:56.300 --> 01:30:12.019 Justine Dawson she/her: I feel my… I'm so internal, I'm shut down. And so, freeze tends to be less relational. You might actually be going along, kind of acting as if you're relating, but on the inside, you don't feel it. You don't really feel much at all. 594 01:30:13.160 --> 01:30:16.930 Justine Dawson she/her: So that would just be a little bit about the difference between the two. 595 01:30:17.510 --> 01:30:22.650 Justine Dawson she/her: And that was from Susan, thank you. Gail says. 596 01:30:22.820 --> 01:30:27.399 Paru Desai (she/her): Justine, there's a live question from Jerome, yes. Yeah. 597 01:30:27.400 --> 01:30:29.619 Justine Dawson she/her: Hi, Jerome! Good to see you! 598 01:30:32.730 --> 01:30:33.990 Jerome Freedman: Good to see you, too. 599 01:30:34.480 --> 01:30:38.339 Jerome Freedman: I'm glad to be here. This is really beneficial. 600 01:30:39.120 --> 01:30:45.279 Jerome Freedman: Coming up this May, It'd be 50 years. 601 01:30:45.530 --> 01:30:50.400 Jerome Freedman: Since my son, Was admitted to the hospital. 602 01:30:50.980 --> 01:30:51.960 Jerome Freedman: with… 603 01:30:52.300 --> 01:30:59.710 Jerome Freedman: a Wilm's tumor, which is a kidney cancer that had spread to his lungs. He was 7 years old. 604 01:31:01.260 --> 01:31:15.580 Jerome Freedman: And my, my reaction… was… To find out what alternative healing methods could be used for his treatment. 605 01:31:16.330 --> 01:31:18.190 Jerome Freedman: I didn't panic. 606 01:31:18.510 --> 01:31:28.170 Jerome Freedman: I… I didn't go into… Freeze or fawn, which are my typical ways of doing things. 607 01:31:28.480 --> 01:31:31.890 Jerome Freedman: I think I went in to fight, but I'm not sure. 608 01:31:32.530 --> 01:31:36.869 Jerome Freedman: And so I started calling around to friends, and… 609 01:31:36.980 --> 01:31:45.570 Jerome Freedman: in Mill Valley that I knew were into natural medicine and organic food and stuff like that. 610 01:31:45.920 --> 01:31:51.319 Jerome Freedman: And I was led to… Very wonderful. 611 01:31:51.600 --> 01:31:53.430 Jerome Freedman: Psychologist. 612 01:31:53.860 --> 01:32:02.319 Jerome Freedman: By the name of Sheldon Ruderman, who was trained in guided imagery, which is exactly what I wanted for him. 613 01:32:03.360 --> 01:32:12.479 Jerome Freedman: And so… The long and the short of the story is… My son will be 57. 614 01:32:13.100 --> 01:32:19.449 Jerome Freedman: What had already turned 57, so he's… he's survived that ordeal. 615 01:32:19.700 --> 01:32:21.009 Jerome Freedman: The question I… 616 01:32:21.010 --> 01:32:32.040 Justine Dawson she/her: Can I pause you? Can I pause you for one sec? Yeah. I wonder how it feels inside when you say that. My son survived. What happens inside when you said those words? 617 01:32:32.840 --> 01:32:36.669 Jerome Freedman: It seems like… what I did. 618 01:32:37.370 --> 01:32:40.890 Jerome Freedman: From my own intuition about healing. 619 01:32:42.930 --> 01:32:48.600 Jerome Freedman: served… To change the direction of his illness. 620 01:32:48.600 --> 01:32:49.420 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah. 621 01:32:49.420 --> 01:32:54.140 Jerome Freedman: he had… 2 or 3 ep… 622 01:32:55.350 --> 01:32:59.629 Jerome Freedman: Shop, hit 2 or 3 chemotherapy sessions. 623 01:32:59.630 --> 01:33:00.390 Justine Dawson she/her: Huh. 624 01:33:00.390 --> 01:33:05.830 Jerome Freedman: And it looked like, if he had another one, He wasn't gonna make it. 625 01:33:05.830 --> 01:33:06.590 Justine Dawson she/her: Huh. 626 01:33:06.590 --> 01:33:09.439 Jerome Freedman: So we stopped the chemotherapy. 627 01:33:09.860 --> 01:33:12.810 Jerome Freedman: And focused on the guided imagery. 628 01:33:12.810 --> 01:33:13.700 Justine Dawson she/her: Huh. 629 01:33:13.960 --> 01:33:21.790 Jerome Freedman: And… Four years later, He was starting gymnastics, he was starting… 630 01:33:21.960 --> 01:33:24.709 Jerome Freedman: the San Francisco Boys Chorus, he was… 631 01:33:24.710 --> 01:33:26.040 Justine Dawson she/her: Amazing. 632 01:33:26.040 --> 01:33:29.160 Jerome Freedman: a straight-A student. 633 01:33:29.160 --> 01:33:29.740 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah. 634 01:33:29.740 --> 01:33:34.630 Jerome Freedman: a graduate of Stanford, he's just… Such an incredible person. 635 01:33:35.480 --> 01:33:43.729 Jerome Freedman: I've just… Is that… was that a fight response, or was there something beyond the fight response? 636 01:33:43.730 --> 01:33:56.379 Justine Dawson she/her: Well, first, before I answer that, I want to say, let's celebrate for a moment. Like, I saw when you said, yes, like, the celebration of making it through. Like, your son survived… he's 57, did you say? 637 01:33:56.880 --> 01:33:57.470 Jerome Freedman: Yes. 638 01:33:57.470 --> 01:34:05.120 Justine Dawson she/her: He's 57, like, how amazing. And that you followed your instinct, and to celebrate that. 639 01:34:05.640 --> 01:34:08.390 Jerome Freedman: That's right, I celebrate. 640 01:34:08.390 --> 01:34:12.870 Justine Dawson she/her: I bet! I bet. There's a lot to celebrate, yeah. 641 01:34:13.370 --> 01:34:23.599 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, and that… and I just want to name for everyone the celebration of making it to the other side of an experience is so important. 642 01:34:23.860 --> 01:34:26.180 Justine Dawson she/her: To, like, help our bodies feel, like. 643 01:34:26.570 --> 01:34:45.129 Justine Dawson she/her: we made it! We made it! And you can see sometimes in the wild when, like a… let's say a deer escapes from the tiger, and then it will bounce around, like it's so happy, because it's like, that's another way we release the energy of celebrating. So… 644 01:34:45.130 --> 01:35:04.300 Justine Dawson she/her: Thank you, Jerome, for giving us something to celebrate. And… and your question is, sure, that could be a fight response, and, these responses are innate and healthy, and appropriate in different circumstances. 645 01:35:04.300 --> 01:35:17.069 Justine Dawson she/her: So, you know, when I said the flea or fight are usually the first ones, we want access to that. You know, we want access, when something is coming at us, to be able to either get away, or… 646 01:35:17.070 --> 01:35:26.200 Justine Dawson she/her: to be able to say, I'm gonna fight it! Now, what we don't want is to get trapped there, and for the rest of our life, be stuck in the fight response. 647 01:35:26.700 --> 01:35:31.070 Justine Dawson she/her: But… but we… we want to be able to fight. That's how we survive. 648 01:35:31.180 --> 01:35:36.029 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, all four of those responses, fawning. 649 01:35:36.090 --> 01:35:53.319 Justine Dawson she/her: how many… how many people have survived horrific circumstances culturally and socially, because they learned to fawn, you know? And so it's like, yeah, that is… that actually is a very important response. And you don't want to be stuck in there forever, but that helps people get through a lot. 650 01:35:53.450 --> 01:36:07.559 Justine Dawson she/her: Abusive relationships, abusive cultural patterns. Fight! Yeah, we need to fight! And we're gonna talk about that more a little later, about how to be in touch, and help our students be in touch with that response. 651 01:36:07.780 --> 01:36:25.670 Justine Dawson she/her: Because it's… especially as meditators, sometimes we can lose access to that, and we start to prioritize only feeling peaceful. But let's celebrate. I celebrate your, Jerome, your fight response, and… and your son's survival, and thank you for sharing that with us. 652 01:36:26.290 --> 01:36:27.980 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, thank you. 653 01:36:28.890 --> 01:36:38.889 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, and everyone else, if you are… are thinking of, your own experience. 654 01:36:39.810 --> 01:36:48.559 Justine Dawson she/her: Then, you know, to actually… to celebrate, to look at where you felt that you made it through, and to celebrate it. 655 01:36:50.000 --> 01:36:55.119 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, the fawn, I think I gave some more examples there. 656 01:36:55.270 --> 01:37:04.900 Justine Dawson she/her: And Noon, I see your comment here, and I wonder if you wanted to share… oh, that you… I think you're saying you had no support or invitation to share experiences. 657 01:37:05.220 --> 01:37:09.690 Justine Dawson she/her: And yeah, this is, again… social engagement. 658 01:37:09.830 --> 01:37:26.629 Justine Dawson she/her: Having space where we are welcomed… I mean, this is why therapy can be a… can be sometimes effective, to be able to share experience in a safe space. Or to have Sangha, where you can share experience. So, so important. 659 01:37:28.930 --> 01:37:35.959 Justine Dawson she/her: So Carrie says, I have worked with someone with trauma who seems to move through hypo and hypoarousal equally. 660 01:37:35.960 --> 01:37:52.030 Justine Dawson she/her: Sometimes there is overwhelming anxiety, and other times they totally dissociate. So yeah, I think I was saying that with Guido, right? Sometimes in people, there's one that's very predominant, and often it's, like, the nervous system gets so amped up, it's like… 661 01:37:52.030 --> 01:37:58.839 Justine Dawson she/her: Fight, fight, fight, flee, flee, flee, and then, of course, it can't maintain that forever, so then it goes into the opposite, into the shutdown. 662 01:37:59.490 --> 01:38:13.479 Justine Dawson she/her: So again, that's sort of how the system survives, right? So it's not always that there's one more predominant. Some people, in fact, with really extreme, trauma patterning might… you might really notice that. 663 01:38:16.220 --> 01:38:23.269 Justine Dawson she/her: Margie, Margie, saying, I use self-compassion when I experience grief. Thank you for saying that. 664 01:38:23.610 --> 01:38:30.140 Justine Dawson she/her: An incredible resource. And yeah, that's… now, look at that! 665 01:38:30.540 --> 01:38:34.039 Justine Dawson she/her: Guided imagery and some celebration, so… 666 01:38:34.100 --> 01:38:52.399 Justine Dawson she/her: Thank you for everyone who shared and put their questions here. We're gonna turn off the chat just for now, but we'll have more time for questions a little later. So, if you think of things that you want to ask as we go along, please hold on to them, because I want to make sure you get your answers, and… 667 01:38:52.640 --> 01:38:59.010 Justine Dawson she/her: they bring a lot of learning forward, you know, this collective sharing, so… thank you. 668 01:39:00.170 --> 01:39:07.109 Justine Dawson she/her: And if there's any follow-ups from just the sharing we just did, that, would be good to hear. 669 01:39:08.970 --> 01:39:12.300 Justine Dawson she/her: Alright, I'm gonna come back to my notes. 670 01:39:13.780 --> 01:39:15.860 Justine Dawson she/her: So, 671 01:39:16.020 --> 01:39:35.049 Justine Dawson she/her: We're gonna talk a little bit here now about what to do when you're activated, or your students are activated, when we go into this hyper, or hypoarousal. And like it was pointed out, sometimes, you know, you're going back and forth, some people cycle quite quickly. 672 01:39:35.050 --> 01:39:41.299 Justine Dawson she/her: between activation and defeat. Or you might just notice it's more of a subtle, like, wow. 673 01:39:41.530 --> 01:39:53.360 Justine Dawson she/her: you know, in yourself, or in students, or people you know, in life, I feel like I just always want to fight everything. Or in life, I feel constantly like I just don't… I'm just completely in apathy, I'm collapsed. 674 01:39:53.560 --> 01:39:56.319 Justine Dawson she/her: So it might be more of, like, a subtle experience. 675 01:39:56.540 --> 01:40:01.510 Justine Dawson she/her: But… However you experience this internally. 676 01:40:02.650 --> 01:40:11.400 Justine Dawson she/her: The very first step in healing is noticing and experiencing right now some safety. 677 01:40:11.770 --> 01:40:27.200 Justine Dawson she/her: So, if you don't feel… like, well, actually, let me say this. If you are not safe, it's gonna be really hard to come out of hyper or hypoarousal. Like, if someone, a student, let's say, is still in a domestic violence circumstance. 678 01:40:27.240 --> 01:40:40.510 Justine Dawson she/her: it's really hard to come out of it. Or, if they're living with acute racism, or chronic racism, or in a very dangerous part of a city, it's really hard to come out. So… 679 01:40:40.760 --> 01:40:45.149 Justine Dawson she/her: Spaces need to be created where there's some safety. 680 01:40:45.300 --> 01:41:01.320 Justine Dawson she/her: And that's why having a songo where people can come and feel safe. Not that they never feel challenged, you can remember my diagram, but as a baseline where people feel safe, they are welcome, they are held, is so important. 681 01:41:02.240 --> 01:41:04.170 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, 682 01:41:04.550 --> 01:41:11.449 Justine Dawson she/her: you know, even the Buddha, in his story, you see a little bit of this. You know, you might have heard of his story that 683 01:41:11.450 --> 01:41:33.539 Justine Dawson she/her: the Buddha was doing really brutal aesthetic practices, joining all of these different groups of spiritual practitioners, and kind of… he had brutalized his body. I would say his body did not feel like a safe place. He was starving himself, he was doing all of these different practices, and he kind of realized that, like, this was not the way. 684 01:41:34.160 --> 01:41:41.309 Justine Dawson she/her: And, the sign of him switching over and turning towards a new way. 685 01:41:41.500 --> 01:41:51.100 Justine Dawson she/her: There were… there were, two things. One of them was that he was sitting by a river, and a woman came by with this, rice milk. 686 01:41:51.120 --> 01:42:04.900 Justine Dawson she/her: And you could think of her as, like, a sign of nourishment, like an archetype, in a way, that offered him, and usually, he would have refused it. I think at that point, he was just eating, like, a grain of rice a day or something. 687 01:42:05.230 --> 01:42:11.430 Justine Dawson she/her: But he received it. He received this nourishment, this pleasant nourishment. 688 01:42:11.580 --> 01:42:20.019 Justine Dawson she/her: And then when he did that, that's what allowed him to then go and sit under the Bodhi tree and begin his final process of waking up. 689 01:42:20.840 --> 01:42:34.680 Justine Dawson she/her: So you could see that the Buddha needed something to create a little pleasure and safety in his body. He knew that he couldn't just keep in this cycle of, like, negative and body repulsion. 690 01:42:35.720 --> 01:42:54.100 Justine Dawson she/her: And when he was sitting under the Bodhi tree, there was a moment where he got an image, and he recalled, as a young boy, sitting under the rose apple tree in his father's yard, in his, I guess, his family compound. 691 01:42:54.130 --> 01:42:56.010 Justine Dawson she/her: the palace grounds. 692 01:42:56.110 --> 01:43:13.249 Justine Dawson she/her: And he remembered, like, the smell, and the sight and the felt experience of being under this tree. And it was really helpful for him to call on that. So it's another example of where the Buddha used resourcing, where he created an internal sense. 693 01:43:13.280 --> 01:43:26.660 Justine Dawson she/her: Both through something external and some internal visualization, so coming back to Jerome, that helped create a healing environment that he could actually go into now, this next stage of awakening. 694 01:43:27.380 --> 01:43:36.140 Justine Dawson she/her: So, we can know that pleasure has an important place in practice. Sometimes pleasure gets a very bad rap. 695 01:43:36.360 --> 01:43:50.370 Justine Dawson she/her: Comfort can get a bad rap. We don't only want pleasure. We don't only want comfort. Just like anything, we don't want to become rigid and stuck on one thing. This is, again, about being pliable. 696 01:43:50.620 --> 01:44:01.700 Justine Dawson she/her: But to begin with, we need some pleasure, some pleasant. And that's why at the very beginning of class, I did that, like, look around you. Notice pleasant. 697 01:44:01.700 --> 01:44:11.120 Justine Dawson she/her: Feel the chair supporting you. Bring some pleasant self-touch. Those are actually some beginning ways that we can resource. 698 01:44:11.550 --> 01:44:18.109 Justine Dawson she/her: And just like the Buddha showed, you know, our mindfulness practice is full. 699 01:44:18.110 --> 01:44:32.330 Justine Dawson she/her: of, great principles that we can apply in this area. Ways to actually land in something. In somatic practices, they're called resources. You could also call them grounding, or, 700 01:44:32.530 --> 01:44:41.710 Justine Dawson she/her: or cultivating safety or pleasure. So if you think… I think this is actually slide 6, Jeff. 701 01:44:41.880 --> 01:44:47.089 Justine Dawson she/her: that… Here's some of our mindfulness principles we use to do that. 702 01:44:48.130 --> 01:44:59.000 Justine Dawson she/her: coming out of the past and the future into the present. Like, even if we have, let's say it's a visualization or it's a memory, like the Buddha had. 703 01:44:59.210 --> 01:45:01.959 Justine Dawson she/her: We feel it in the present. 704 01:45:02.430 --> 01:45:17.070 Justine Dawson she/her: So we might imagine, like, oh, when we were little, there was a safe place, like, our pet dog. We might imagine the pet dog, but then we feel what it's like in this moment in our body to think of that. So we're in the present. 705 01:45:18.520 --> 01:45:27.639 Justine Dawson she/her: we slow things down. So we stop moving fast and slow down, and bring attention into the body. 706 01:45:27.930 --> 01:45:34.840 Justine Dawson she/her: So interoception, the capacity to notice the internal experience of the body. 707 01:45:35.740 --> 01:45:38.250 Justine Dawson she/her: To track our sensation. 708 01:45:39.270 --> 01:45:51.940 Justine Dawson she/her: to notice when it shifts and changes. These are all really core components we use. Like, you probably even notice we did those when we were doing the grounding practices in the beginning. 709 01:45:52.630 --> 01:46:00.060 Justine Dawson she/her: Also this social engagement that we're doing, like, just hearing, hearing Jerome share, like, how many people felt moved 710 01:46:00.060 --> 01:46:14.300 Justine Dawson she/her: to either read some of the questions that were put there, or move to hear, like, Jerome, or I think it was Guido share, that, like, oh, I felt something through hearing someone else that brought some more ease or openness to my system. 711 01:46:14.800 --> 01:46:21.719 Justine Dawson she/her: And then, of course, that we cultivate a practice, because nervous system work is a cultivation. 712 01:46:22.140 --> 01:46:38.139 Justine Dawson she/her: So, I'm telling you these things, I'm pointing them out because I want you to know you all have ingredients to do this already, and inherently in your teaching, you have the ingredients, and it's now, how do you apply them, right? So, how do you use them? 713 01:46:38.360 --> 01:46:39.560 Justine Dawson she/her: of… 714 01:46:39.800 --> 01:46:50.609 Justine Dawson she/her: And I'm going to teach you a few exercises that you can use that apply these things that you already have, to do this regulation with yourself. 715 01:46:50.760 --> 01:46:55.379 Justine Dawson she/her: and with students. So we can go on to slide 7, Jeff. 716 01:46:57.890 --> 01:47:05.340 Justine Dawson she/her: So, these are different practices we have, that can help regulation. Hyper and hypo. 717 01:47:05.440 --> 01:47:20.329 Justine Dawson she/her: To… when we are in either of those states. Or even if we don't know what state we are in, but we know that we're not totally present and at ease, how we can increase the internal experience of pleasant, of resource, of grounding. 718 01:47:22.560 --> 01:47:30.609 Justine Dawson she/her: The very first thing I want to say is whatever practice you choose, the most important thing is 719 01:47:30.800 --> 01:47:47.039 Justine Dawson she/her: that as you do it, you notice what's happening in your body. So, you know, we can easily, okay, I'm doing a practice, now what? Applying those principles that I said are the most important part, so slowing down. 720 01:47:47.250 --> 01:47:52.359 Justine Dawson she/her: Feeling inside the body, noticing what changes as you do it. 721 01:47:52.670 --> 01:47:55.759 Justine Dawson she/her: And then taking time to integrate it. 722 01:47:56.200 --> 01:48:08.369 Justine Dawson she/her: Sometimes we want to do an exercise, like, oh, okay, yeah, now I'm oriented, okay, now I'm going to close my eyes, okay, now I'm following my breath, and I actually had a student say it really well the other day, it was like. 723 01:48:08.370 --> 01:48:18.669 Justine Dawson she/her: It's kind of like my internal policeman is running my meditation practice, like, 1, 2, 3, 4, keep going, you know, like a drill sergeant, I guess is a word. 724 01:48:18.670 --> 01:48:31.380 Justine Dawson she/her: There was no actual felt sense of goodness in the practice, but it was like, there was a sense of being a good little boy and doing the practice right, but what we want is the felt sense. 725 01:48:31.670 --> 01:48:33.000 Justine Dawson she/her: So… 726 01:48:33.170 --> 01:48:45.180 Justine Dawson she/her: I'm going to describe these practices, and then we're going to go into dyads to practice them. And of course, if you don't want to practice them with someone, you don't have to, but you can decide that when we get to that part. 727 01:48:46.570 --> 01:48:47.590 Justine Dawson she/her: So… 728 01:48:48.130 --> 01:49:01.359 Justine Dawson she/her: The very first thing that you can do, and probably the easiest thing that you can start with, is, when someone's feeling dysregulated, like, either they're really shut down, or they're really stirred up. 729 01:49:01.520 --> 01:49:04.349 Justine Dawson she/her: Is to take an external object. 730 01:49:04.680 --> 01:49:09.799 Justine Dawson she/her: I'm just gonna take… well, actually, so I've got a couple ones here. So I have actually near me here this nice 731 01:49:09.910 --> 01:49:15.729 Justine Dawson she/her: Fluffy blanket. And, so someone could take something like this, like a blanket. 732 01:49:16.200 --> 01:49:23.800 Justine Dawson she/her: A pet, a glass of water or tea, whatever they have close to them. 733 01:49:24.030 --> 01:49:29.400 Justine Dawson she/her: And… and put their attention into their hands and the felt sense of it. 734 01:49:29.970 --> 01:49:34.810 Justine Dawson she/her: So what does it feel like… To touch the blanket. 735 01:49:36.350 --> 01:49:39.460 Justine Dawson she/her: So, you know, for me, it's soft… 736 01:49:39.910 --> 01:49:43.940 Justine Dawson she/her: There's a bit of warmth as I hold it against my chest. 737 01:49:44.580 --> 01:49:48.820 Justine Dawson she/her: For me, it's a pleasant color to look at, it's very neutral. 738 01:49:49.840 --> 01:49:53.519 Justine Dawson she/her: And just having it here, so as I do this, I notice 739 01:49:54.980 --> 01:49:56.609 Justine Dawson she/her: I want to take a deeper breath. 740 01:49:56.790 --> 01:50:02.069 Justine Dawson she/her: And as I take a deeper breath, I notice more sensation in my butt on the cushion. 741 01:50:02.270 --> 01:50:05.189 Justine Dawson she/her: More of, like, a gravity, a weightiness. 742 01:50:06.660 --> 01:50:09.059 Justine Dawson she/her: And that brings another deeper breath. 743 01:50:10.160 --> 01:50:21.000 Justine Dawson she/her: So, an external object. Some people use stuffed animals for this, you know? It might be that they like a cushion on their lap when they meditate. 744 01:50:21.270 --> 01:50:23.940 Justine Dawson she/her: But let's say if it's a cup of tea, like. 745 01:50:24.180 --> 01:50:29.729 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, let me hold this. Oh, yeah, there's, like, a warmth permeating into my hands. 746 01:50:30.530 --> 01:50:36.970 Justine Dawson she/her: And there's the solidity. I like, I like the roundness of this mug and the way it fits perfectly in my hands. 747 01:50:38.450 --> 01:50:42.540 Justine Dawson she/her: And I notice that brings, like, a warmth and lightness in my chest. 748 01:50:43.540 --> 01:50:51.300 Justine Dawson she/her: So I'm feeling the felt sense of the object, and noticing how it affects me inside of my body. 749 01:50:51.800 --> 01:50:54.779 Justine Dawson she/her: And then I'm taking a moment to take that in. 750 01:50:55.710 --> 01:51:09.589 Justine Dawson she/her: So that's… that's the process. So, an external comfort object, and, if you have students that have a lot of dysregulation, they might have something that they like. Like, some people carry, like, a stone in their pocket. 751 01:51:09.710 --> 01:51:24.819 Justine Dawson she/her: So, you know, you can… if you're… this might be mostly if you're working with someone one-on-one, but if someone's really dysregulated, or you're really dysregulated, like, if you teach, and you find yourself that you get really stirred up, maybe bring your favorite blanket or pillow to put in your lap. 752 01:51:25.260 --> 01:51:27.730 Justine Dawson she/her: And let yourself settle in and feel it. 753 01:51:28.380 --> 01:51:33.050 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, or wear a sweater or light pants that, when you touch, help soothe you a little. 754 01:51:33.600 --> 01:51:37.229 Justine Dawson she/her: So notice this, allow this. You know, we might kind of think. 755 01:51:37.300 --> 01:51:55.770 Justine Dawson she/her: That feels needy. Like, notice if you have a judgment, you know? Like, how much when you're a kid is it like, just wait till they outgrow their, you know, their attachment object, their blankie, or their stuffy, their stuffed animal? But as adults, it can be helpful to have something that helps us come into regulation. 756 01:51:57.780 --> 01:52:08.820 Justine Dawson she/her: Now, the second thing that we can use is something outside of ourselves, like, that is the sight or sound, right? And that's orienting to the pleasant in our surroundings. 757 01:52:10.020 --> 01:52:14.739 Justine Dawson she/her: An important part of this is when there's a threat. 758 01:52:14.990 --> 01:52:31.010 Justine Dawson she/her: Orienting is usually the very first response. Like, you hear an explosion, your first thing is, where did that come from? You hear a rustling in the forest? Where is that? So, the ability to actually orient helps us orient that there is safety. 759 01:52:31.990 --> 01:52:41.519 Justine Dawson she/her: And then in addition, taking in the pleasant. Like, I have a painting, actually, of a very talented client who's an artist, and I have a painting on my wall here. I'll show it to you. 760 01:52:41.730 --> 01:52:44.680 Justine Dawson she/her: It's, beautiful flowers and colors. 761 01:52:45.140 --> 01:52:48.910 Justine Dawson she/her: And so I often look over at that, if I don't look out my window. 762 01:52:49.270 --> 01:52:55.139 Justine Dawson she/her: And, I let my eyes take in the yellow, and the blue, and the pink. 763 01:52:55.370 --> 01:52:58.799 Justine Dawson she/her: And then I notice what happens. So… 764 01:52:59.260 --> 01:53:05.020 Justine Dawson she/her: This kind of orienting, I often start my meditations and my meditation instructions with. 765 01:53:05.200 --> 01:53:13.129 Justine Dawson she/her: Before I expect people to go inside, where it can feel often unsafe, because that's where our trauma reactions are. 766 01:53:13.270 --> 01:53:18.250 Justine Dawson she/her: Is allow them to have their eyes open and notice outside is safe and pleasant. 767 01:53:18.700 --> 01:53:19.760 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay. 768 01:53:21.130 --> 01:53:26.180 Justine Dawson she/her: You can also follow me along as I'm explaining these things, especially this next one. 769 01:53:26.290 --> 01:53:27.200 Justine Dawson she/her: So… 770 01:53:27.490 --> 01:53:40.089 Justine Dawson she/her: This next one is about, self-touch. And we did a little bit in the beginning, right? And I want to show you some different… different ways of doing that. There can be self-touch that helps come out of freeze. 771 01:53:40.560 --> 01:53:42.880 Justine Dawson she/her: Squeezing the body. 772 01:53:43.720 --> 01:54:01.860 Justine Dawson she/her: A little bit of shaking, a little dancing, that's why I put dancing music on at the break. So it might seem counterintuitive, but you could start a Sangha meeting with some music on, and invite people to get up and stretch a little, or just even move really subtly in their seat, sway even. 773 01:54:01.930 --> 01:54:15.559 Justine Dawson she/her: But rather than having people come in and sit down and just go automatically tight and frozen, and oh my gosh, I'm in a Sangha meeting and I better be very a still little good boy or girl, it's… or whatever gender they are. 774 01:54:15.560 --> 01:54:23.379 Justine Dawson she/her: But that to actually allow for some motion. Like, oh, yeah, it's… you're permitted to move here. Motion is good and important. 775 01:54:23.380 --> 01:54:29.240 Justine Dawson she/her: So… so this… there's that kind of self-touch that could be awakening. 776 01:54:29.660 --> 01:54:36.980 Justine Dawson she/her: There's also self-touch, and I didn't actually put that on there, the awakening part, but there's also self-touch that's containing. 777 01:54:37.180 --> 01:54:49.339 Justine Dawson she/her: Which is especially for hyperarousal, when there's a lot of energy stirred. People come in often, they've, like, let's say you're having an in-person meeting, or even a Zoom meeting, or for yourself. 778 01:54:49.450 --> 01:54:56.030 Justine Dawson she/her: Handling kids, handling work, handling traffic. Suddenly, you're supposed to sit down and meditate. 779 01:54:56.800 --> 01:54:59.989 Justine Dawson she/her: Well, how do you bring all of yourself there? 780 01:55:00.110 --> 01:55:04.360 Justine Dawson she/her: So, one way of doing this is this self-touch. 781 01:55:04.680 --> 01:55:21.620 Justine Dawson she/her: So we can do this one together. So for the first one, the self-hug, you put your right hand, like, kind of under your armpit here on the left side of the body, so, like, where the heart is, right? Over here, put that one there, and then take your left hand and put it on your right shoulder. 782 01:55:23.590 --> 01:55:29.340 Justine Dawson she/her: And then notice what happens. Like, as soon as I do that, I take a deeper in-breath. 783 01:55:32.220 --> 01:55:34.500 Justine Dawson she/her: And I feel my shoulders drop. 784 01:55:34.820 --> 01:55:37.169 Justine Dawson she/her: And I feel my face soften. 785 01:55:38.580 --> 01:55:41.690 Justine Dawson she/her: So just see if this does anything for you. 786 01:55:42.090 --> 01:55:47.070 Justine Dawson she/her: And you could even play doing it a little firmer, or a little softer. 787 01:55:51.260 --> 01:55:55.550 Justine Dawson she/her: And then track. Notice what happens inside as you do this. 788 01:55:59.680 --> 01:56:01.110 Justine Dawson she/her: And then let it go. 789 01:56:02.580 --> 01:56:05.549 Justine Dawson she/her: And having done it, notice how you feel now. 790 01:56:05.710 --> 01:56:10.130 Justine Dawson she/her: Are you a little more grounded, or a little more stirred? Just being curious. 791 01:56:15.340 --> 01:56:18.570 Justine Dawson she/her: And then we're gonna do… I'm gonna show you one other one for containment. 792 01:56:18.730 --> 01:56:24.779 Justine Dawson she/her: And that is, this is especially good if people have a lot of energy in their head, a lot of thoughts. 793 01:56:25.890 --> 01:56:29.999 Justine Dawson she/her: You can put one hand on the forehead and one hand on the back of the head. 794 01:56:31.470 --> 01:56:34.650 Justine Dawson she/her: And again, notice, just as you do that, what happens? 795 01:56:34.940 --> 01:56:39.320 Justine Dawson she/her: Maybe you let your hand… your head kind of rest into your hand? 796 01:56:39.740 --> 01:56:41.629 Justine Dawson she/her: And do this with me. 797 01:56:42.850 --> 01:56:46.629 Justine Dawson she/her: And then again, notice, notice what happens inside. 798 01:56:48.820 --> 01:56:57.470 Justine Dawson she/her: And as you start to feel settling, you might notice signs like a deeper breath, muscle softening. 799 01:56:57.680 --> 01:57:02.240 Justine Dawson she/her: More of a… the energy going down, like an elevator going down. 800 01:57:02.570 --> 01:57:07.499 Justine Dawson she/her: Then you can take the hand off of the back of the head and put it on the chest. 801 01:57:09.990 --> 01:57:12.219 Justine Dawson she/her: And notice what happens there. 802 01:57:15.400 --> 01:57:19.739 Justine Dawson she/her: And when you feel the next level, this might… you could do this over 10 minutes. 803 01:57:19.870 --> 01:57:29.120 Justine Dawson she/her: Or this could… you could do this in 30 seconds. When you feel the next level of landing, you can take the hand off your forehead and put it on your belly. 804 01:57:29.930 --> 01:57:38.599 Justine Dawson she/her: Or you might want it lower down towards, like, your Dantian, wherever feels right, like your lower kind of area, like above your pelvis. 805 01:57:43.130 --> 01:57:44.970 Justine Dawson she/her: Notice what happens. 806 01:57:48.190 --> 01:57:55.420 Justine Dawson she/her: And then finally, you can take your hand off your chest and place it over the hand on your belly, so both hands are on your belly. 807 01:58:02.110 --> 01:58:07.390 Justine Dawson she/her: And then from here, this is where you might begin your meditation, connecting to the breath and the belly. 808 01:58:10.330 --> 01:58:20.840 Justine Dawson she/her: But you can take as long or as short for that. You could do a very brief one. That could be something that you teach students to do before they even begin their meditation. 809 01:58:20.840 --> 01:58:30.940 Justine Dawson she/her: So they're actually there for it. They're not just going through the, steps, like, as if they're just a, you know, a soldier in the army. 810 01:58:33.420 --> 01:58:38.160 Justine Dawson she/her: Just two more brief ones. Grounding, we did at the very beginning. 811 01:58:38.450 --> 01:58:40.829 Justine Dawson she/her: Feeling the feet on the floor. 812 01:58:41.200 --> 01:58:54.230 Justine Dawson she/her: the butt on the chair, the back on the cushion, and really pressing in and feeling, like, there's something about activating the muscles in the feet and the legs, and feeling that, okay, I can press into the ground and it's got me. 813 01:58:54.810 --> 01:58:57.999 Justine Dawson she/her: I can lean back, sometimes even leaning back an inch. 814 01:58:58.590 --> 01:59:00.070 Justine Dawson she/her: And it's got me. 815 01:59:01.250 --> 01:59:06.809 Justine Dawson she/her: And then noticing, again, what happens as you lean back, as you press into the floor. 816 01:59:08.020 --> 01:59:18.579 Justine Dawson she/her: what happens inside of you. And I'll say, actually, in that I felt like a little burp, and burping is a sign of regulation. I didn't do a slide on this, but I should tell you. 817 01:59:19.440 --> 01:59:22.150 Justine Dawson she/her: Signs that your system is regulating? 818 01:59:22.450 --> 01:59:26.129 Justine Dawson she/her: Burping? Yawning? 819 01:59:26.610 --> 01:59:28.940 Justine Dawson she/her: A deeper exhale. 820 01:59:29.260 --> 01:59:32.249 Justine Dawson she/her: Sometimes there's flushing. 821 01:59:32.390 --> 01:59:37.870 Justine Dawson she/her: Some people might even feel like a little shiver or, like, a shake, a tremble go through their body. 822 01:59:38.600 --> 01:59:49.159 Justine Dawson she/her: So, allowing for those, and letting people know, like, some people will stifle things, like, they go to yawn, they're like, or try to contain it. No! Bring on the yawn! 823 01:59:49.450 --> 01:59:52.800 Justine Dawson she/her: That's a way that your body is helping regulate itself. 824 01:59:53.450 --> 02:00:02.660 Justine Dawson she/her: So, you know, if you notice that you have embarrassment around any of those things, or for your students might, let them know that this is great, this is a sign that their system's settling. 825 02:00:04.720 --> 02:00:24.310 Justine Dawson she/her: And the last one is self-compassion or compassion from others. You know, sometimes it's just… when I said the thing about, in the very beginning, or towards the beginning, about, as a child, our first impulse is to seek protection, to look for, like, where's the person who's supposed to be guarding me? 826 02:00:25.720 --> 02:00:31.330 Justine Dawson she/her: Self-compassion can offer a similar feeling of, I'm here for you. 827 02:00:31.990 --> 02:00:33.870 Justine Dawson she/her: I'm here with you. 828 02:00:33.930 --> 02:00:41.450 Justine Dawson she/her: Or as a teacher offering that to your student, I'm here with you. Like, or as a class, let's offer Meta. 829 02:00:41.470 --> 02:00:59.900 Justine Dawson she/her: Or, for example, with Jerome. Let's celebrate with Jerome. That that, you know, that kind of compassion, sharing an experience can bring regulation. The person is not alone anymore in their experience. There is someone there with them in the experience. 830 02:01:02.500 --> 02:01:12.390 Justine Dawson she/her: So, we can… actually, will you just put me on big screen, and we'll come back to that slide, because I want you to have it, because we're going to go into some practice now, to practice. 831 02:01:12.630 --> 02:01:15.330 Justine Dawson she/her: And… 832 02:01:15.630 --> 02:01:30.830 Justine Dawson she/her: So, notice, this is what we're going to do, and I'm going to invite you, before we go into the breakouts, to stand up and stretch, and then we're gonna go into the breakouts, because there's still some more I want to do with you in this last hour we have together. There's so much I would like to offer. 833 02:01:30.960 --> 02:01:35.990 Justine Dawson she/her: But what we're gonna do in the practice, if you would like, and again, I'm gonna say. 834 02:01:36.290 --> 02:01:48.630 Justine Dawson she/her: See, even if it's a little uncomfortable, if it's safely uncomfortable, try this out with someone. This is a way that you can practice it, so when you take it to your students, you have a little experience. 835 02:01:49.040 --> 02:01:54.079 Justine Dawson she/her: And you're gonna practice some social engagement and see how that is. 836 02:01:54.710 --> 02:02:12.189 Justine Dawson she/her: So, for one minute, the first person is gonna share a mildly activating experience, and I mean mild. Please don't go into your deepest childhood trauma, or a car accident, or something horrific that happened. It might be like… 837 02:02:12.190 --> 02:02:18.440 Justine Dawson she/her: I was driving, and someone cut in front of me, and it worked out okay, but for that minute… 838 02:02:18.680 --> 02:02:37.469 Justine Dawson she/her: I felt like this. Or, you know, my child came home an hour late, and I had a moment of being, you know, like, anxious, where were they? Or, my partner and I got in an argument, like a verbal argument, but it resolved. You know, something ultimately that's resolved, or something that's, like, maybe even a little bit stirring, but not too much. 839 02:02:37.980 --> 02:02:50.909 Justine Dawson she/her: You don't have to tell the whole story. You only want to take a minute. It's not about telling your story, it's about bringing up the energy inside of you. So notice, oh, I'm getting stirred as I think about that. 840 02:02:51.890 --> 02:03:00.110 Justine Dawson she/her: And then, your partner is gonna pick one of those resourcing activities and guide you through it, okay? 841 02:03:00.130 --> 02:03:16.689 Justine Dawson she/her: So, and maybe actually the first thing I should say about this is that the first thing that's important is getting consent. Would you be open to doing an exercise? And make sure your partner says yes. Yes, they want to do an exercise, okay? 842 02:03:16.690 --> 02:03:20.390 Justine Dawson she/her: You'll guide them through the exercise, so taking about… 843 02:03:20.490 --> 02:03:23.360 Justine Dawson she/her: You know, 5 minutes to do that, or less. 844 02:03:23.690 --> 02:03:36.800 Justine Dawson she/her: And then to include in that some time to integrate it. Now what do you notice? Now what's there? Okay? And, and then… and then you can let it go, and you can take a moment to debrief, so… 845 02:03:37.000 --> 02:03:50.250 Justine Dawson she/her: Let's see, when… as we get… as, Jeff organizes our breakouts, I'm gonna invite you to stand and stretch and move a little bit, and then we'll… we'll arrive in our breakouts. 846 02:03:50.370 --> 02:03:53.830 Justine Dawson she/her: And take a moment to introduce yourselves. 847 02:03:54.290 --> 02:04:11.369 Justine Dawson she/her: take about 5 minutes in each direction to do the practice, plus a couple of minutes to debrief. And what we'll do is, we'll, come on and tell you when it's time to make sure that you've switched to your second person going, so that you both have a chance to go. 848 02:04:11.630 --> 02:04:19.660 Justine Dawson she/her: And I think we'll take about 20 minutes total from now, so till 55 to do this, so you have time to practice. 849 02:04:20.090 --> 02:04:28.500 Justine Dawson she/her: And then we'll come back, and we'll talk… I want to make sure that we answer any questions from this whole experience, and plus to give you a couple more things. 850 02:04:28.990 --> 02:04:39.919 Justine Dawson she/her: So, Jeff's gonna, arrange breakouts for us. If you end up in a breakout by yourself, please bring yourself back to the main room, and Jeff can reassign you to make sure you have a partner. 851 02:04:39.920 --> 02:04:41.409 MMTCP - AA: Actually, don't bring yourself back. 852 02:04:41.410 --> 02:04:43.479 Justine Dawson she/her: Oh, don't? Okay. 853 02:04:43.480 --> 02:04:50.719 MMTCP - AA: stay in the room, I'll see that you're alone, and I will… I will, move that person to a new room, so… 854 02:04:51.020 --> 02:04:51.570 Justine Dawson she/her: Amazing. 855 02:04:51.570 --> 02:05:00.049 MMTCP - AA: I can see who has joined and who hasn't, so everyone join a room, and if you're by yourself, please just be patient, I will move 856 02:05:00.370 --> 02:05:03.280 MMTCP - AA: It just takes a minute for me to get through everyone. 857 02:05:03.360 --> 02:05:04.500 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah. 858 02:05:04.590 --> 02:05:09.010 MMTCP - AA: the jumping back and forth is what makes it really difficult, because it's kind of like I'm trying to… 859 02:05:09.170 --> 02:05:11.429 MMTCP - AA: See where you are and where you're going to be. 860 02:05:11.820 --> 02:05:27.499 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, so everyone stand up, stretch, move, allow your body to move if you want to shake it out while Jeff gets us organized. Yeah, and just notice how that feels to allow yourself to move freely. 861 02:05:28.310 --> 02:05:33.859 Paru Desai (she/her): And if you don't want to go in a breakout room, you don't need to leave the meeting, you can just hang out in the main room. 862 02:05:34.110 --> 02:05:35.260 Justine Dawson she/her: Absolutely. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 900 02:23:53.000 --> 02:23:56.239 Justine Dawson she/her: Welcome back, as you're returning from practice. 901 02:23:58.950 --> 02:24:03.170 Justine Dawson she/her: Folks will be popping back in here in just the next few seconds. 902 02:24:05.200 --> 02:24:10.859 Justine Dawson she/her: And again, just notice how you feel returning here after having done that practice. 903 02:24:11.140 --> 02:24:16.099 Justine Dawson she/her: Or, if you didn't do the practice and you took a break, noticing how you feel now. 904 02:24:25.590 --> 02:24:45.459 Justine Dawson she/her: All right, so we're gonna take, a few minutes for some more question time, or sharing time, either if you want to share anything that you noticed through doing the exercise, or if you have a question from the exercise, or from the teaching in the last little bit. 905 02:24:45.650 --> 02:24:47.980 Justine Dawson she/her: Feel free to come forward. 906 02:24:48.640 --> 02:24:51.360 Justine Dawson she/her: And Sherry, I just saw you! Hi, Cherie! 907 02:24:51.470 --> 02:24:55.579 Justine Dawson she/her: One of my old mentees! So fun! 908 02:24:57.070 --> 02:24:59.490 Paru Desai (she/her): Sebastian had his hand raised. 909 02:24:59.710 --> 02:25:02.809 Justine Dawson she/her: Oh, yeah. Yeah, go ahead, Sebastian. 910 02:25:02.810 --> 02:25:04.450 Sebastian Porrua: Okay, okay, sorry. 911 02:25:04.830 --> 02:25:08.629 Sebastian Porrua: Yes, I have a question, this came from, 912 02:25:09.600 --> 02:25:18.330 Sebastian Porrua: sometimes when I've practiced with trauma, or I've heard these things, one thing came up from my childhood in which I was 913 02:25:18.770 --> 02:25:28.970 Sebastian Porrua: my brother put me inside of a very small cupboard, and I couldn't get out, so I remember that I started shouting, but, like, he didn't open, so I froze. 914 02:25:29.370 --> 02:25:39.380 Sebastian Porrua: And after coming out, I was, like, in this kind of state, like, very contracted state, and then I forgot, but now, sometimes practicing, I've noticed this. 915 02:25:39.720 --> 02:25:43.809 Sebastian Porrua: And this comes, like, this very, frozen energy. 916 02:25:44.210 --> 02:25:54.220 Sebastian Porrua: and I'm just with it, and I just hold it, and it kind of does something, but it comes again, so I don't know if there's something, like. 917 02:25:54.220 --> 02:25:58.749 Justine Dawson she/her: more active to do, or just let it go, or that was the case? Yes. 918 02:25:59.130 --> 02:26:12.390 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah. Would you be okay if we took a minute together to explore it? Yeah. This is actually what we were going to talk about next. So, even just notice, as you were describing that, I'm in this cupboard. 919 02:26:12.420 --> 02:26:21.020 Justine Dawson she/her: And it's… and I'm trying to get out, and I can't. And notice what's happening inside of you right now, as you recall that. 920 02:26:23.260 --> 02:26:24.650 Sebastian Porrua: I get nervous. 921 02:26:24.920 --> 02:26:26.000 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay. 922 02:26:26.040 --> 02:26:29.979 Sebastian Porrua: Where do you feel that inside? Where do you feel the nervousness? 923 02:26:30.820 --> 02:26:32.790 Sebastian Porrua: In the chest, the throat… 924 02:26:32.990 --> 02:26:38.979 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, okay. Is it okay if we stay there for a minute, with that feeling in the chest and throat? 925 02:26:39.210 --> 02:26:40.190 Sebastian Porrua: Yeah. 926 02:26:40.820 --> 02:26:45.470 Justine Dawson she/her: So there's a nervousness, and as you stay with it, what happens to it? 927 02:26:47.270 --> 02:26:48.700 Sebastian Porrua: It gets more intense. 928 02:26:48.980 --> 02:26:49.430 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay. 929 02:26:49.430 --> 02:26:53.570 Sebastian Porrua: It's… yeah, there's some, like, pressure on the upper chest. 930 02:26:53.850 --> 02:27:01.840 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, so noticing that pressure, and what happens in the rest of the body as you feel that pressure in the chest? 931 02:27:05.250 --> 02:27:07.820 Sebastian Porrua: Yeah, it's, like, tight, a bit tired. 932 02:27:10.570 --> 02:27:16.920 Justine Dawson she/her: Good, so just… we're gonna just stay with it if you can. Just stay with it, and notice there's, like, the tightness and the pressure. 933 02:27:17.900 --> 02:27:27.740 Justine Dawson she/her: And see if… does that tightness want to do anything? If it could… not that it's going to right now, but if it could do anything, then does that tightness want to do something? 934 02:27:27.740 --> 02:27:30.420 Sebastian Porrua: Yes, there's some movement, yeah. 935 02:27:30.420 --> 02:27:33.840 Justine Dawson she/her: What is it… how is it wanting to move? 936 02:27:34.400 --> 02:27:36.239 Sebastian Porrua: It's, like, opening, and… 937 02:27:36.470 --> 02:27:41.470 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, yeah. So, so stay with it. First of all, stay… hold on one second before you 938 02:27:42.540 --> 02:27:52.369 Justine Dawson she/her: It's okay, it's okay, you're great. Notice the impulse to move, like, it wants to move, and just notice how that feels, to feel the impulse to move. 939 02:27:53.640 --> 02:27:56.330 Justine Dawson she/her: And stay with it, and notice what happens. 940 02:27:59.510 --> 02:28:05.699 Justine Dawson she/her: And then make the smallest movement possible, really feeling it from the inside. 941 02:28:06.550 --> 02:28:10.500 Justine Dawson she/her: If you feel it in, like, your bones and your muscles as you do it. 942 02:28:18.270 --> 02:28:21.449 Justine Dawson she/her: And then notice what happens, having done that. 943 02:28:35.870 --> 02:28:37.740 Justine Dawson she/her: What do you notice now? 944 02:28:38.520 --> 02:28:40.619 Sebastian Porrua: I noticed more space. 945 02:28:40.810 --> 02:28:47.249 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, so, so pause… Pause right there and take in that feeling of space. 946 02:28:48.960 --> 02:28:51.789 Justine Dawson she/her: What it feels like to have a little more space. 947 02:29:01.870 --> 02:29:02.990 Sebastian Porrua: Relax. 948 02:29:03.680 --> 02:29:05.820 Sebastian Porrua: There's more relaxation. 949 02:29:06.070 --> 02:29:16.910 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, yeah. So, so from this more relaxed place, you can open your eyes if you want and look around and notice what it's like to look around with a little more relaxation. 950 02:29:21.250 --> 02:29:24.479 Justine Dawson she/her: And again, what happens inside as you do that. 951 02:29:35.990 --> 02:29:38.540 Sebastian Porrua: Yes, no, I'm more relaxed. 952 02:29:39.320 --> 02:29:40.270 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay. 953 02:29:41.550 --> 02:29:51.279 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah. So, clearly this is just a tiny little taste, of the kind of work that we can do somatically. 954 02:29:51.790 --> 02:30:11.390 Justine Dawson she/her: But what you want to notice is that when there's that feeling that rises up, usually there's an impulse for the body to do something, right? Like, my guess would be is that if you're… you've been trapped in a cupboard, sometimes there might be an impulse to, like, yeah, to get out, or to create space. 955 02:30:11.880 --> 02:30:24.250 Justine Dawson she/her: And the way that we do it in this work is we slow it down so that we can feel it, like, let the body deeply feel it and integrate that ability to make space. 956 02:30:24.640 --> 02:30:43.680 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, for you next time, if it comes up, if you're able to stay with it, and then very slowly, like, slow motion movie almost, or even, do it in the smallest amount, like, just a little bit of making space, feeling it. 957 02:30:44.640 --> 02:30:46.150 Justine Dawson she/her: Then let it go. 958 02:30:46.470 --> 02:30:50.090 Justine Dawson she/her: And then notice what happens. And that's… 959 02:30:50.470 --> 02:30:55.790 Justine Dawson she/her: Retraining your nervous system to experience things in a different way. 960 02:30:58.180 --> 02:30:59.830 Justine Dawson she/her: How, how was that? 961 02:31:00.190 --> 02:31:04.519 Sebastian Porrua: Yeah, it was good, yes, thank you. Just one more question, so, so this… 962 02:31:05.740 --> 02:31:12.190 Sebastian Porrua: this comes and just… it goes slowly, or… like, the process usually is like that, no? It just… 963 02:31:12.190 --> 02:31:24.429 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, that's right. And it's possible that, like, as you do this over time, your system releases that energy, right? Like, if there's something inside of you, in your nervous system, that still feels trapped. 964 02:31:24.480 --> 02:31:40.650 Justine Dawson she/her: Still feels like it's back in that closet as it experiences being able to push out, get out, and we won't do the whole thing here, but there's a way to actually go through the whole process. Then, that energy is liberated, and it doesn't have to keep repeating inside of you. 965 02:31:41.720 --> 02:31:43.020 Sebastian Porrua: Okay, thank you very much. 966 02:31:43.020 --> 02:31:46.890 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you for being willing and volunteering. 967 02:31:53.110 --> 02:32:00.409 Justine Dawson she/her: Any more questions or shares? Again, you're welcome to write them in the chat, or to come on. Gail, you go ahead. 968 02:32:03.900 --> 02:32:07.350 Justine Dawson she/her: Oh, you're muted, Gail. You need to unmute yourself. There you go. 969 02:32:09.580 --> 02:32:10.919 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, you're good now. 970 02:32:11.190 --> 02:32:23.489 Gayle Wright, she/her: Okay. I apologize, I'm in a library, so I'm trying to keep my voice low. But I'm curious, how would you distinguish this from, like, Vipassana out loud? 971 02:32:24.010 --> 02:32:34.010 Justine Dawson she/her: It's a great question, because the Passana Out Loud has many of these features, right? Like the mindfulness features. Notice what's happening inside. 972 02:32:34.250 --> 02:32:37.900 Justine Dawson she/her: Track it, notice what happens next. 973 02:32:38.030 --> 02:32:57.440 Justine Dawson she/her: So, Vipassana out loud really came from a lot of these principles. There's kind of a marriage between these schools. And, so the… ultimately, with somatic experiencing, like, unless you were to do the training, you probably wouldn't take students through a full completion experience. But… 974 02:32:57.440 --> 02:33:07.880 Justine Dawson she/her: what you might notice is, oh, there is an energy that wants to complete. So there's the first stage, like we've done, which is the regulating and finding safety. 975 02:33:08.010 --> 02:33:25.979 Justine Dawson she/her: And then there's the second stage, like Sebastian just touched into, that, it's not just about establishing calm. In fact, or, like, noticing what's happening. In fact, what happens is sometimes the energy needs to be expressed and released. 976 02:33:25.980 --> 02:33:34.379 Justine Dawson she/her: And so the difference with me passing out loud is you might just track and notice and track and notice, and there might be some ease and calm and… 977 02:33:34.380 --> 02:33:40.409 Justine Dawson she/her: Grounding. And sometimes we actually want to bring the energy up and out. 978 02:33:40.540 --> 02:33:49.059 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, let's say, yeah, there's a trapped feeling, not to just calm it down, because again, that sometimes reinforces a freeze. 979 02:33:49.900 --> 02:34:00.710 Justine Dawson she/her: We actually want to see that the body wants to do something, it wants to push out, or it wants to fight back, and to make room for those responses. 980 02:34:01.340 --> 02:34:08.229 Justine Dawson she/her: And, yeah, thank you. And I love that you brought this up, because it's something I want to talk a little bit about. 981 02:34:08.390 --> 02:34:16.870 Justine Dawson she/her: And in… if there's another question we can… or a question we're sharing, we can do that, but otherwise, I'll talk a little bit about this, about completing responses. 982 02:34:19.480 --> 02:34:20.560 Justine Dawson she/her: Allison. 983 02:34:21.810 --> 02:34:27.500 Allison Schuette: Yeah, just very quickly, I was wondering if this is why you didn't have Sebastian do 984 02:34:27.660 --> 02:34:32.150 Allison Schuette: any self-touch. That was not a prompt that you worked with. 985 02:34:32.430 --> 02:34:42.669 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah. So, so I heard… because he was sort of saying, like, is there more to do? And so, yeah, that it would be, you know, let's say in a classroom. 986 02:34:42.670 --> 02:34:54.979 Justine Dawson she/her: And if someone comes in and they're either stirred up or really frozen, I might want to just bring them into some regulation. Like, you're not going to do trauma therapy in the middle of a meditation class. 987 02:34:54.980 --> 02:35:06.260 Justine Dawson she/her: But if someone, if something is, like, right there, there might be a little bit of how to release a little energy. So rather than trying to calm it back down. 988 02:35:06.550 --> 02:35:10.570 Justine Dawson she/her: Is actually, oh, this energy could be ready to express. 989 02:35:11.050 --> 02:35:22.120 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, yeah, like, you know, in meditation, we tend to… and again, like I said, sometimes it's an important first step, but since you've just done that first step, then there's the next step that can happen. 990 02:35:29.700 --> 02:35:49.530 Justine Dawson she/her: So, let me… let me talk about this, for a few minutes, about… about these sort of distinctions and… and what the next steps might look like. And, again, you know, you might not always be taking students through this, but I want you to know about it, because sometimes, in meditation, we might… 991 02:35:50.160 --> 02:36:01.879 Justine Dawson she/her: Orient our perspective towards calming things down, being equanimous, just noticing and letting it arise and pass. 992 02:36:01.990 --> 02:36:04.950 Justine Dawson she/her: Really important skills to have. 993 02:36:05.490 --> 02:36:22.959 Justine Dawson she/her: And, sometimes energy, in the system that, again, like I was saying, has been trapped there, just noticing it arise and pass, it's kind of going the same groove over and over again, right? Like, oh, here I am feeling trapped again, or here I am feeling rageful. 994 02:36:23.040 --> 02:36:33.840 Justine Dawson she/her: And we can develop a kind of witnessing, but nervous system-wise, we also want to give that energy an opportunity to move out into complete. 995 02:36:33.930 --> 02:36:37.949 Justine Dawson she/her: So, in the beginning, we were running, running, running, running, freeze! 996 02:36:38.410 --> 02:36:51.150 Justine Dawson she/her: And we could just, you know, in meditation, we could notice, oh, tense, tense, frozen, frozen, and there might be some relaxation, but then that pattern might come back again, right? It's still there. 997 02:36:51.290 --> 02:37:06.540 Justine Dawson she/her: And so what we want to do is, ultimately give a chance for the running to complete, and that whole motion, and then to feel like, oh, it got to express. Or, in Sebastian's case. 998 02:37:07.110 --> 02:37:26.239 Justine Dawson she/her: get out of the cupboard. The body wants to push out, wants to break down the door, be able to get out of that cupboard, and not just be okay with being in the cupboard. And so, this is really our balance, right, between, equanivity and what you could say is right action. 999 02:37:26.270 --> 02:37:37.640 Justine Dawson she/her: In Dharma terms, that there is right action to take. And it's not only about being equanimous, or about being okay, kind of just staying with what is. 1000 02:37:37.640 --> 02:37:47.939 Justine Dawson she/her: And for people with a lot of trauma history to always stay with what is can, yeah, like I said, can create a numbness or a frozenness. So we want to watch out for that. 1001 02:37:48.110 --> 02:37:54.520 Justine Dawson she/her: So again, it's like, how to liberate the energy, how to be with it, how to be with the energy, how to liberate it. 1002 02:37:55.190 --> 02:38:09.529 Justine Dawson she/her: And probably as a meditation teacher, speaking from my own experience, probably because of my personality to start with, and then through a lot of the teachings, I had a lot of beef on aggression. 1003 02:38:09.820 --> 02:38:18.300 Justine Dawson she/her: I, I really thought, like, oh, no, peaceful, you know, don't, don't feel aggression, really calm that down. 1004 02:38:18.830 --> 02:38:31.219 Justine Dawson she/her: And as you could see when we were talking about responses, the flea and the fight response are our two first responses. They are so much healthier than freeze. 1005 02:38:31.340 --> 02:38:39.420 Justine Dawson she/her: Freeze is only because there's no other option except dying. Because if we could, we would have fought, or we would have run. 1006 02:38:39.630 --> 02:38:50.649 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, freeze is like, then, once we start coming out of freeze, we're gonna have to fight, we have to complete that impulse we didn't get to complete, which is to fight or to run. 1007 02:38:50.920 --> 02:38:52.919 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, 1008 02:38:53.090 --> 02:39:07.040 Justine Dawson she/her: as a… as a teacher, you might think, how do I… what's my feeling towards fight, or towards run? And do I think… do I sometimes feel like I'm not so sure about that? Like, I'll share an example. 1009 02:39:07.390 --> 02:39:26.010 Justine Dawson she/her: In my early days, I had a client who had been working through a lot of bullying when she was younger by an older brother. And when we got to completion, like, what her body wanted to do, her body wanted to push him away and wanted to kill him. She's like, my impulse is to kill him. 1010 02:39:26.140 --> 02:39:41.610 Justine Dawson she/her: And my first thing I said is, well, I wonder if there's something we could do besides killing him. You know, because I was uncomfortable with that energy, that life force, like, I am going to just protect myself at all costs. 1011 02:39:41.880 --> 02:39:44.920 Justine Dawson she/her: And I had to look at that in myself. 1012 02:39:44.980 --> 02:40:03.630 Justine Dawson she/her: Because, of course, in real life, we're not saying, yeah, kill this person, but the energy in the nervous system wants to fight off that tiger, wants to fight off that predator. And if we don't allow that energy out, as we all know, it comes out sideways. 1013 02:40:03.900 --> 02:40:08.999 Justine Dawson she/her: It can come out either sideways against ourselves, or sideways against other people. 1014 02:40:09.160 --> 02:40:11.589 Justine Dawson she/her: And so, 1015 02:40:12.060 --> 02:40:24.389 Justine Dawson she/her: you know, in this role, to really look at, like, oh, A, when we see aggression coming up in our students, to know, oh, they might have a fight response that hasn't completed. 1016 02:40:24.470 --> 02:40:36.570 Justine Dawson she/her: And that can give you some compassion to notice, oh, there's a fight energy here. Okay, how can I notice that? How can I even be welcoming to that? With boundaries, but welcoming. 1017 02:40:36.620 --> 02:40:47.129 Justine Dawson she/her: How can I say, wow, yeah, like, there's a… there's a strong, there's a strong impulse here, and… and… and to have approval rather than a disapproval, or thinking that it's bad or dangerous. 1018 02:40:47.330 --> 02:40:50.159 Justine Dawson she/her: So, noticing our own relationship to it. 1019 02:40:50.290 --> 02:41:05.580 Justine Dawson she/her: And even in, in things like Vipassana, like, yeah, there's fight, okay, great, like, and what happens? What does it want to do? Like, how does it want to express? And have the approval and the welcoming. I think that's what I'm coming back to over and over again. 1020 02:41:07.910 --> 02:41:18.479 Justine Dawson she/her: And if someone is… has that really tamped down, we can look at, like, what, what might we do to invite it forward? 1021 02:41:19.000 --> 02:41:23.600 Justine Dawson she/her: So again, noticing where there's shame in ourselves or others. 1022 02:41:23.710 --> 02:41:36.509 Justine Dawson she/her: Also knowing that some resolution impulses don't look like they fit in a Dharma hall or in a meditation space. Like, I remember on some of my long retreats, like 3-month retreats. 1023 02:41:36.510 --> 02:41:53.159 Justine Dawson she/her: I would get to places where I could not stop laughing. Like, a laughter would rise up, and I could not stop it. Or crying, or, like, this impulse, like, I have got to scream, like, this is inside of me. And maybe classically, I would try to hold that down and just notice. 1024 02:41:53.340 --> 02:41:59.350 Justine Dawson she/her: But then I actually learned eventually, like, I need to leave the Dharma hall and go somewhere where I can let this out. 1025 02:41:59.510 --> 02:42:10.820 Justine Dawson she/her: In a safe way, in a contained way, but holding it in, actually, was not healthy. These things were coming up, and could be released, so there could be healing. 1026 02:42:12.690 --> 02:42:15.399 Justine Dawson she/her: Susan, I see you have your hand raised. 1027 02:42:16.470 --> 02:42:21.650 SusanKushner Grades K-8: Yeah, I just wanted to say that this is… Speaking to me so much. 1028 02:42:21.930 --> 02:42:32.160 SusanKushner Grades K-8: And I'm in therapy now, and I have gone through much, much trauma, and I was even having, like, dorsal vagal shutdowns in therapy, and… 1029 02:42:32.160 --> 02:42:50.380 SusanKushner Grades K-8: now, I kind of went to the other side, and I've had a lot of shame about it, because I… I mean, it's not nice, but my husband's like, this is too much, like, now all that energy is coming out, and I'm very angry, and now this is taking all the shame away, and now I know what I have to do. 1030 02:42:50.570 --> 02:42:51.709 SusanKushner Grades K-8: And it feels really good. 1031 02:42:51.710 --> 02:42:56.910 Justine Dawson she/her: Oh, good. I'm so glad. I'm so glad. Yes, that… 1032 02:42:57.640 --> 02:43:01.919 Justine Dawson she/her: Anger, aggression is a sign that healing is happening. 1033 02:43:02.070 --> 02:43:07.660 Justine Dawson she/her: Because you're not frozen anymore, and then it's how to work with it, right? 1034 02:43:07.800 --> 02:43:09.420 Justine Dawson she/her: So, 1035 02:43:10.220 --> 02:43:17.259 Justine Dawson she/her: we don't… we don't have a lot of time, so we won't have time to really go in, but I want to offer you a couple things. Would you… would that be helpful? 1036 02:43:17.950 --> 02:43:20.710 Justine Dawson she/her: Of being with it, and this could be for everyone. 1037 02:43:23.130 --> 02:43:32.549 Justine Dawson she/her: So there's shutdown, and then there's also catharsis. And sometimes when energy starts coming out, it feels so good. 1038 02:43:32.550 --> 02:43:51.459 Justine Dawson she/her: Because it's been inside so long. And, you know, I sort of remember, like, in my early days, like, personal development, like, bang a pillow, scream, you know? And, the one thing is, is that we found in… with nervous system regulation, is that catharsis gives temporary relief. 1039 02:43:51.740 --> 02:44:01.709 Justine Dawson she/her: But it doesn't necessarily heal. And so, what's really important when the energy starts moving is that it's met and integrated. 1040 02:44:02.020 --> 02:44:11.099 Justine Dawson she/her: So, like I did with Sebastian, what I'd really invite is, like, inside of you, you feel the impulse to scream, and this is where you could think with yourself or with a student. 1041 02:44:11.470 --> 02:44:13.120 Justine Dawson she/her: Feel the impulse. 1042 02:44:13.590 --> 02:44:19.570 Justine Dawson she/her: You can even imagine in your head what it would feel like to scream. 1043 02:44:22.720 --> 02:44:25.539 Justine Dawson she/her: Then notice what happens in the rest of your body. 1044 02:44:26.950 --> 02:44:29.390 SusanKushner Grades K-8: Complete terror. 1045 02:44:29.740 --> 02:44:34.329 Justine Dawson she/her: There's terror, okay. So, where is the terror in your body? 1046 02:44:35.270 --> 02:44:39.910 SusanKushner Grades K-8: In my stomach, in my heart, in my throat, and my jaw. 1047 02:44:39.910 --> 02:44:45.709 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, so let's actually put a hand there, like, in one or two of those places where you feel the terror. 1048 02:44:48.880 --> 02:44:51.460 Justine Dawson she/her: And notice what happens as you do that. 1049 02:44:56.180 --> 02:44:58.529 Justine Dawson she/her: What happens with the terror now? 1050 02:45:06.810 --> 02:45:09.539 SusanKushner Grades K-8: It's hard to describe, it's like, 1051 02:45:09.650 --> 02:45:16.789 SusanKushner Grades K-8: it's in a bigger container, like, it's not, like, so intense. It's more, like, still there a lot, but, like. 1052 02:45:17.100 --> 02:45:18.370 SusanKushner Grades K-8: more spread out. 1053 02:45:18.370 --> 02:45:24.429 Justine Dawson she/her: So feel that, like, and just see how much it wants to spread out. Yeah, feel that exhale. 1054 02:45:24.550 --> 02:45:29.870 Justine Dawson she/her: A little motion wants to happen, a little movement, and notice how that feels to do that. 1055 02:45:30.010 --> 02:45:33.410 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah… yeah, a little rocking. 1056 02:45:38.920 --> 02:45:40.200 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah. 1057 02:45:41.920 --> 02:45:45.400 Justine Dawson she/her: I'm just checking back in with where things are at now. 1058 02:45:47.140 --> 02:45:50.390 SusanKushner Grades K-8: It's helping to feel my feet on the ground. 1059 02:45:50.390 --> 02:45:56.849 Justine Dawson she/her: Great! Yeah, really feel that feet, the grounding of your feet. Yeah. A little more space. 1060 02:45:57.400 --> 02:45:58.679 Justine Dawson she/her: Little more breath. 1061 02:46:01.540 --> 02:46:07.850 Justine Dawson she/her: And you can even open your eyes. I can't tell if your eyes are open, but you can look around with this sense of feet on your ground. 1062 02:46:08.950 --> 02:46:15.620 Justine Dawson she/her: Look around what it's like to look around from that place of a little more space, feet on the ground. 1063 02:46:18.650 --> 02:46:20.970 Justine Dawson she/her: Feeling that little swaying motion. 1064 02:46:23.000 --> 02:46:25.229 SusanKushner Grades K-8: Yeah, I feel like I want to shake. 1065 02:46:25.230 --> 02:46:29.049 Justine Dawson she/her: So do a little, a little shake, let it move. 1066 02:46:29.790 --> 02:46:38.019 Justine Dawson she/her: If anyone else wants to shake a little, again, we're not aiming for catharsis, but we're aiming to stay with the felt experience. 1067 02:46:38.360 --> 02:46:44.439 Justine Dawson she/her: And then let it go, and then now notice, having shook… What's there now? 1068 02:46:50.270 --> 02:46:55.969 SusanKushner Grades K-8: It feels smaller. It feels smaller. It's not gone, but it's more manageable. 1069 02:46:56.130 --> 02:47:06.410 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, so we're gonna just stay with it there, like, feeling it's… there's more manageability inside, and just what that's like, to have more manageability. 1070 02:47:12.820 --> 02:47:15.619 Justine Dawson she/her: Thank you for bringing that to us. 1071 02:47:17.000 --> 02:47:21.659 Justine Dawson she/her: Is it okay if I say a couple of things about that process? 1072 02:47:22.560 --> 02:47:23.410 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay. 1073 02:47:24.500 --> 02:47:39.849 Justine Dawson she/her: So, first of all, everyone might have noticed that… sorry, was it Susan? When she… she said terror, that we paused. So, terror is going into unsafe, right? So we… we don't want to start going into terror, especially with a few minutes left on a call. 1074 02:47:40.370 --> 02:47:42.519 Justine Dawson she/her: So we want to… we want a resource. 1075 02:47:43.290 --> 02:47:54.439 Justine Dawson she/her: And… and… and then… so then, okay, grounding, right? That's… that would be too much. So we've been thinking in a classroom. What is… where is it going to be too big a piece to go into? So come back to resource. 1076 02:47:55.830 --> 02:48:05.199 Justine Dawson she/her: And then in the resource, there was a little energy discharge, like, oh, okay, there's a little… there's some more space, and then there's a little shaking. There's some room for a little shaking. 1077 02:48:05.660 --> 02:48:12.760 Justine Dawson she/her: But you can see I didn't say, oh, shake it all out! You know, jump around your room. It's like, shake it, then feel. 1078 02:48:12.960 --> 02:48:23.220 Justine Dawson she/her: And that's one of the main principles of being able to regulate and discharge the energy. The first is called titration. 1079 02:48:23.640 --> 02:48:32.219 Justine Dawson she/her: We do a little bit at a time. And actually, maybe this week could go to my last slide. I think, slide, 9, Jeff. 1080 02:48:32.720 --> 02:48:37.210 Justine Dawson she/her: This is the last one we'll do today, is… 1081 02:48:38.090 --> 02:48:40.200 Justine Dawson she/her: Oh, it's the next one, actually. 1082 02:48:41.250 --> 02:48:46.470 Justine Dawson she/her: Here we go. So, first of all, consent, right? Asking if it's okay to go there. 1083 02:48:47.260 --> 02:49:06.219 Justine Dawson she/her: then making sure we're only doing a little at a time. So, a little touch. Sometimes it's like, oh, let's say if we had longer, there's terror. What would it be like to touch the very edge of it? Or there's tension? What would it be like? What's the furthest out it goes? Can we touch the edge? 1084 02:49:07.080 --> 02:49:23.000 Justine Dawson she/her: and then return to the resource. So, the second is pendulate. We want to go in and touch, and we want to come out. So that's the opposite of catharsis. Catharsis is go in, stay in till, like, you get it all out, and it feels like you're done. 1085 02:49:23.000 --> 02:49:37.959 Justine Dawson she/her: But it's really kind of like… I mean, the way I'd say it, it's kind of like a cheap orgasm, like, it's the bear, it's big, it's gone, but there's not much, like, gratification afterwards. Like, it's just, you know, like, it's not actually nourishing. So, you want to dip in. 1086 02:49:38.160 --> 02:49:45.810 Justine Dawson she/her: You want to feel it, there might be a little release, and you stay with it, and then return and take in the ease. 1087 02:49:46.960 --> 02:49:59.199 Justine Dawson she/her: You saw, when I was working with… sorry, I'm my short-term… I can't remember your name, who I was working with before with the cupboard, but feeling the impulse. 1088 02:49:59.840 --> 02:50:03.999 Justine Dawson she/her: Then, feeling the slowest, smallest motion. 1089 02:50:04.660 --> 02:50:18.399 Justine Dawson she/her: That those could be other things while feeling inside of the body. And again, all of these things is feeling it from the inside. This is where our mindful practice is so helpful, that we feel it from the inside. 1090 02:50:18.980 --> 02:50:20.170 Justine Dawson she/her: And then integrate. 1091 02:50:20.490 --> 02:50:39.670 Justine Dawson she/her: So you could see there might be small ways that you can do this in the classroom. Someone's like, I'm feeling so charged! Okay, yeah, so let's just take a moment and resource what's there now? Like, oh, I just want to do, you know, I just want to scream. Okay, can we just take a moment and just feel what that's like inside of your body? 1092 02:50:40.500 --> 02:50:51.919 Justine Dawson she/her: Okay, now, and then really, but this is also the containment we offer is, now notice what it's like. And even saying, we're not gonna go all the way in there, we're gonna, we're gonna touch it and come out. 1093 02:50:51.930 --> 02:51:04.830 Justine Dawson she/her: Because you don't have the space and the time and all of that and the training to be able to go all the way in. And ultimately, a little at a time is how it really, heals. 1094 02:51:04.960 --> 02:51:12.270 Justine Dawson she/her: that's how we reprogram the nervous system. It's like, I think the best way I heard it described, it's like. 1095 02:51:12.430 --> 02:51:20.190 Justine Dawson she/her: let's say, in LA, we have the Hollywood Bowl, and when, like, it used to be that you'd park there, and there'd be, like, a thousand cars all in this parking lot. 1096 02:51:20.300 --> 02:51:30.099 Justine Dawson she/her: And if everybody tried to get out at the same time, it would be, like, traffic jam. Like, if everyone tried to move at the same time. So you have one cargo. 1097 02:51:30.450 --> 02:51:35.529 Justine Dawson she/her: Then you have another cargo, and then another cargo, and then eventually everyone gets out. 1098 02:51:35.710 --> 02:51:50.199 Justine Dawson she/her: And that's the same principle here, is a little at a time integrated, and eventually the system is more free, more pliable, more responsive in the way that we want it to be. 1099 02:51:52.910 --> 02:51:59.799 Justine Dawson she/her: So those are… those are some of the principles and the practices we can use with ourselves, with our clients. 1100 02:52:01.650 --> 02:52:11.220 Justine Dawson she/her: I want to say that… we can turn the slide off now, Jeff, thank you. I want to just see if there's any final questions before we go into our wrap-up. 1101 02:52:14.820 --> 02:52:34.330 Justine Dawson she/her: Also, actually, maybe, Jeff, if you'll put up the very last slide that has my email address and my website, because if you have questions you didn't want to ask here, or if you just want to talk more, you can reach out. That's my website and my email address. Don't hesitate to reach out to me, and I'd be happy to chat, email. 1102 02:52:34.330 --> 02:52:38.899 Justine Dawson she/her: If you want, more resources on applying this in your teaching. 1103 02:52:38.900 --> 02:52:47.059 Justine Dawson she/her: Also, if you want more information about somatic experiencing, or potentially even training in it yourself. 1104 02:52:47.240 --> 02:52:57.880 Justine Dawson she/her: Like I mentioned, Jack had us all do at least the first year of the training, which goes over some of these fundamental concepts and practices that can be really helpful if you're teaching a lot. 1105 02:52:58.070 --> 02:53:01.190 Justine Dawson she/her: We're working on one-on-one mentoring students. 1106 02:53:01.360 --> 02:53:05.940 Justine Dawson she/her: So that's also something that's out there that you could look up. 1107 02:53:06.060 --> 02:53:18.739 Justine Dawson she/her: And, Peter Levine, who, created Somatic Experiencing, has lots of great books that you can read, that kind of go over more, in more depth these principles that we touched on today. 1108 02:53:19.610 --> 02:53:33.600 Justine Dawson she/her: And this is really scratching the surface, I just want to say that. I actually had more, if we had more time, that I would share with you, but hopefully that gave you some, some basic foundations to be able to work with yourself. 1109 02:53:33.830 --> 02:53:42.370 Justine Dawson she/her: And to work with students in the classroom, and that threads that you can keep following, if you want to learn more and apply them. 1110 02:53:42.730 --> 02:54:01.279 Justine Dawson she/her: I'd love to take these last minutes together to hear maybe what's one piece you're walking away with. A reflection, a gratitude, or one little piece of information that was, helpful or enlightening to you today, and if you want to share it in the chat, please go ahead. 1111 02:54:01.280 --> 02:54:03.330 Justine Dawson she/her: One thing you're walking away with. 1112 02:54:03.910 --> 02:54:11.569 Justine Dawson she/her: Or if you want to come on and while people write in the chat, if there's anyone who's willing to share, we'd love to take a few live shares. 1113 02:54:13.140 --> 02:54:15.969 Justine Dawson she/her: Just go ahead and raise your hand, and we can… 1114 02:54:16.070 --> 02:54:18.739 Justine Dawson she/her: You can unmute yourself to share. 1115 02:54:19.340 --> 02:54:24.669 Justine Dawson she/her: One gratitude, one reflection, one piece of insight you're taking with you. 1116 02:54:27.990 --> 02:54:30.140 Justine Dawson she/her: Karen, go ahead. 1117 02:54:31.130 --> 02:54:38.039 Karyn: I just wanted to say the, practice that you did where you started with the head. 1118 02:54:39.380 --> 02:54:40.570 Karyn: and, 1119 02:54:40.760 --> 02:54:48.150 Karyn: And I wrote it down. I did find… I liked it, because a lot of my clients will… you know, their head is… they're in their head. 1120 02:54:48.260 --> 02:54:57.639 Karyn: So, matching the motion of the hands coming down and then resting on the belly, I think that's really, 1121 02:54:58.140 --> 02:55:03.649 Karyn: useful, and I think that that's a great practice, so thank you very much. 1122 02:55:04.040 --> 02:55:07.169 Justine Dawson she/her: Thank you. I find that one so helpful, too. 1123 02:55:07.730 --> 02:55:08.899 Justine Dawson she/her: Appreciate it. 1124 02:55:10.700 --> 02:55:11.920 Justine Dawson she/her: Sharon. 1125 02:55:15.520 --> 02:55:24.750 Sharon Pinney (she/her): Okay, hi! Thank you. I just wanted to say thank you. And something that I really loved that you said. 1126 02:55:24.850 --> 02:55:31.509 Sharon Pinney (she/her): I love the way that you reframed Anxiety as excitement. 1127 02:55:32.590 --> 02:55:35.580 Sharon Pinney (she/her): I'm gonna… I'm gonna hold on to that. I'm just gonna… 1128 02:55:35.980 --> 02:55:38.870 Sharon Pinney (she/her): Like, let that marinate. So, thank you. 1129 02:55:39.170 --> 02:55:51.490 Justine Dawson she/her: Really good, thank you. And the more we bring regulation to our system, the more we can go into activation, and it can feel like arousal, and can feel like excitement. It can feel safe. 1130 02:55:51.920 --> 02:55:53.770 Justine Dawson she/her: Even when we're in arousal. 1131 02:55:56.290 --> 02:56:02.880 Justine Dawson she/her: We have some here, feeling the impulse before you act on it, slowing down. 1132 02:56:03.300 --> 02:56:09.010 Justine Dawson she/her: Slow minor movements of the energy that's ready to be expressed. 1133 02:56:09.310 --> 02:56:11.140 Justine Dawson she/her: the touchpoints. 1134 02:56:11.410 --> 02:56:21.130 Justine Dawson she/her: Reminder to integrate. That's one thing, that it's little steps at a time, and take time to integrate. So important. 1135 02:56:21.430 --> 02:56:23.280 Justine Dawson she/her: Yeah, the hands… 1136 02:56:23.890 --> 02:56:35.310 Justine Dawson she/her: The integration part again, going slowly, and the felt sense in the body. Catharsis being momentary relief? Yeah, that's a big one. 1137 02:56:35.640 --> 02:56:53.480 Justine Dawson she/her: Signs of regulation. Yeah, that can be a great one to look up to realize, oh, because it helps us notice in students when they're regulating, when their systems are landing, and it… we can apply our perceptive mindfulness to notice people. 1138 02:56:53.480 --> 02:56:57.410 Justine Dawson she/her: Is their breath up here, or are they relaxing more deeply? 1139 02:56:58.370 --> 02:57:05.979 Justine Dawson she/her: My own… noticing my own attitude to fight. Yeah, to healthy aggression! Healthy aggression, so important. 1140 02:57:06.720 --> 02:57:09.260 Justine Dawson she/her: Healing is possible bit by bit. 1141 02:57:09.960 --> 02:57:22.569 Justine Dawson she/her: And hand under the armpit, and the other one on top. Maybe, maybe we can end just by doing that together, putting… putting your hand under your left armpit, and your left hand on your right shoulder. 1142 02:57:25.280 --> 02:57:30.280 Justine Dawson she/her: Taking a moment to notice the landing, what happens inside as you do that. 1143 02:57:36.370 --> 02:57:39.420 Justine Dawson she/her: Taking a look around your space… 1144 02:57:39.810 --> 02:57:44.569 Justine Dawson she/her: Noticing how it feels to land here together. 1145 02:57:47.850 --> 02:57:53.019 Justine Dawson she/her: It's helpful, you can look at me, look at others on the screen here. 1146 02:57:54.290 --> 02:58:04.709 Justine Dawson she/her: And I noticed Peru says she will compile the resources and share them, and the next mentor-led session is with Jill Sattersfield this week. 1147 02:58:05.520 --> 02:58:10.909 Justine Dawson she/her: And there's a lot of great stuff coming up, so to look out for the emails from her. 1148 02:58:11.190 --> 02:58:27.240 Justine Dawson she/her: And Jeff, will you repost my contact info? We'll also send that out, and yeah, if anyone is interested in going further with this healing work, please reach out, and with questions or desires, I'm happy to chat, and 1149 02:58:28.080 --> 02:58:36.809 Justine Dawson she/her: Really so happy to be here with you all. There we go, yeah, Peru linked my, my website in the comments. If you want it, you can reach out that way. 1150 02:58:37.460 --> 02:58:38.590 Justine Dawson she/her: So… 1151 02:58:39.130 --> 02:58:47.849 Justine Dawson she/her: Thank you all so much for being with us. Feel free to send some hearts or gratitude, or hop off mute and say goodbye. 1152 02:58:47.850 --> 02:58:56.909 Paru Desai (she/her): Just, Justine, just want to say thank you so much. This was such a rich session, and I told you at break, I was taking lots of notes. I think everybody else was. 1153 02:58:57.330 --> 02:59:01.770 Paru Desai (she/her): Learned a lot, and it was beautiful how you integrated 1154 02:59:01.920 --> 02:59:07.060 Paru Desai (she/her): The practice for ourselves, as well as how to bring it to people we're working with, so… 1155 02:59:07.400 --> 02:59:11.640 Paru Desai (she/her): Deep gratitude for this work, and your offering. 1156 02:59:12.400 --> 02:59:13.030 Paru Desai (she/her): Thank you. 1157 02:59:13.030 --> 02:59:15.709 Lisa Cottrell (she/her): Thank you so much, Justine and Peru. 1158 02:59:16.230 --> 02:59:18.110 Justine Dawson she/her: Thanks, Lisa! 1159 02:59:18.350 --> 02:59:19.699 Justine Dawson she/her: Thanks, everyone, so much.