Mindfulness and Somatic Awareness, with Katie Nesbitt

0:00 Welcome to the Going Pro Yoga Podcast. If you love yoga as much as I do, then this podcast is for you. We talk all things yoga related for teachers in order to supplement and complement and even support after a 200 hour yoga teacher training.

0:17 Or if you've never done a training before, this podcast is all about just learning more about yoga in an authentic way. Together with Paul Tioto and Byron De Marseille, we put together this podcast to provide you with a free resource to learn more about yoga. Whether you want to share yoga or teach yoga or just practice yoga, this podcast is talking all things yoga related And we're trying to talk from the teacher's perspective and also the students perspective to make

0:41 sure we get a full 360 degree angle on what yoga is all about and how it's evolved in the modern world. Welcome to our podcast, Okay. Welcome back to the Going Pro Yoga podcast, Michael here. And today we have a guest episode with a friend of mine, Katie Nesbitt, who we actually met, Oh my God, three or so years ago here in Bali down in Uluatu through a mutual friend who you guys are familiar with.

1:07 Paul Yodo and Katie is a yoga teacher, and she's agreed to join us today on the podcast. And she has so many interesting things to share because of her interests and passions in life, which all relates back to, or at least a lot of it relates back to, yoga teaching. So Katie, thank you for joining us today. How are you?

1:29 Thank you, Michael. I'm wonderful. Really happy to be here with you. It's good to see you again. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a while. So it's nice to have you in our little podcast room here. And I think what will be easiest is if maybe the audience can get to know you a little bit by just kind of giving them a bit of a background of who you are, where you come from, so they can kind of subscribe to who you are, what you're interested in, passionate about. And then yeah, we'll, we'll dive

1:53 into the to the stuff after that. That's outside. That sounds great. Great. All right. So my name is Katie Nesbitt and I'm originally from the United States. I actually grew up in the state of Maine, went to school at Northeastern University in Boston, where I studied psychology and specifically in sports psychology because I have a collegiate athletic background as well. In springboard diving, which is a very mental sport, I should say.

2:21 What is springboard diving? Springboard diving is when is it? How do I describe that? It's when you're, you know, you're flipping off springboards doing flips into the water twists. I was doing it since I was about age 12, is where I got into it.

2:33 I was a gymnast for many years at a young age, and just through various injuries that I had and different aspects of life, I decided to stop practicing gymnastics and I got into springboard diving and that led me into a collegiate career in that as well. So that's really what started off a lot of the background that I have in psychology where springboard diving it is. I kind of always say it's about 20% of the physicality of it and about 80% of it is mental and

3:05 getting over fears. And is that where you're like really high up? Yes. And you're jumping off a board and you're like in the air free falling for. Yeah, I would hate that. That would be nightmare. So I I sort of specialized more in the 1 meter and three meter springboard.

3:21 I also did some platform diving as well, but mainly springboard diving. Yeah. So that's really what who allowed me to practice. I'll say a lot of mindfulness, a lot of mind, body awareness from a very young age and also learning to push through a lot of fear in life. And I think that's what has really built that foundation for me, is to life in general and being able to take more risks in life and go after my passions and, you know, having more of a purpose in life as well because

3:54 it started at such a young age. So athletics really helped to build a strong foundation for me overall. So after college I moved to California where I lived in Los Angeles for many years and jumped right into a career corporate career. One that I will be honest, I wasn't super excited about. And I speak pretty honestly about this as well as that. Coming from a background where so much of my life revolved around athletics and a very strict schedule and routine. And again pushing through a lot,

4:26 balancing a lot in my schedule, that when that ended I felt lost. And I really felt quite lost in life and a big passion that I was, you know, really living from for so many years, it felt like just kind of got wiped away because it's not like even swimming where you can go into a pool and you can continue to swim laps.

4:46 It's with diving. You need to have a coach, You need to have a lifeguard often times. And so you can't just go out there and continue with this sort of, you know, athletic career. It just sort of stopped for me. And that that's what kind of landed me in a place of feeling pretty lost, honestly, when I was in Los Angeles and kind of fast forwarding.

5:05 And I recognize that I really wanted to find a career that I was passionate about once again. Because let's be honest, I knew I was going to be working for many more decades. I wanted to really find something that, you know, hit my heart and my soul a lot more and allowed me to provide more of an impact in this world as well, and so bringing it all back to yoga right now. So I first started practicing yoga my first time when I was probably about 16 or 17 years

5:35 old. And then when I was a diver, I I used yoga really just as a supplement to my diving career, just staying more flexible, strong in my body. But it was very much of A sporadic practice for me, not until about my mid to late 20s that it become more of a regular practice. And it was really when I connected more deeply into the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of yoga that it became a very regular practice for me.

6:03 And that's what allowed me to enter more into a meditation practice, breathing practices. And that's what really changed everything for me going forward. So I wasn't one of those Yogi's that it was the first time I'm on my mat and everything changed for my life. It it actually took me quite a few years of of in and out cycling in, you know, practicing it regularly regularly for a few weeks or few months and stopping for a few months and getting back into it.

6:28 But I still remember there was there's one yoga class that where it all shifted for me. And I remember the posture that I was in, the asana that I was in, the breath, the literal breath that I took. And it was like it just sort of connected for me. And from there on out.

6:44 Yeah. How old are you? I'm curious. I would. You said you started when you were sixteen. Yeah, I was probably 26 or 27, but that long. It took that long. And again, it was just, you know, I practiced yoga on and off for, you know, close to a decade, mostly off, to be honest.

7:02 But it until that yoga class, that posture, that breath that I took, it just opened up so much inside of me. And then that's what sort of created that, oh, I have to keep returning back to this and to see where this can take me.

7:16 Can you tell me a little bit more about that moment? Sure. Maybe the pose, I was going to say I was in parvo kanasana, so I was an extended side angle. And I remember we were holding the pose for a long period of time and you know, I was in my head and I'm like, why?

7:29 Are we going to get out of this pose? You know, how much longer? Just like a lot of us, you know we especially when we first start off with yoga, it's it's challenging for a lot of us and it can be challenging either from the strength and endurance side of it, from potentially the power or the heat of it or for many of us, you know going into a slower, more yinlike practice that can be even more challenging for a lot of us. Or we just get stuck in the mind

7:54 and we kind of get out of the body sense of it all. And I remember we're in that pose. I'm just wondering how are we going to be done with this? And I then just get clicked inside of me, just close your eyes and slow down your breath. And it was just this instantaneous, instinctual response that I had.

8:10 And it was during those breaths that it was like something just lit up inside of me and I was able to stay with it. I was able to remain in the challenge. And so, you know, perhaps this conversation will lead a little bit more into that as to, you know, really where I come from in my practice, where I come from in my teaching.

8:29 And a lot of that can be sitting in the discomfort, not in a state of pain, but sitting in that state of mental discomfort, a physical discomfort. And knowing that we can support ourself through changing the breath, through changing where our mind and our awareness is, and really being with it.

8:48 Not running from it in our mind and letting our mind just take us somewhere else, but instead really sitting in it and allowing that to help us move forward and help us to get through the challenges. So that's a big foundation of the way that I teach. And that has sort of come from my own experience, right? And I think that's what really can make the best teachers out there is just teaching from your own personal experiences. Yeah, absolutely.

9:12 I love that. I love the story. Thank you for sharing. And I'm sure there's more to share. But I just, I kind of want to talk a little bit about how I love connecting to the breath and I love teaching and talking to other students or teachers about how valuable it is, how how simple it is, not necessarily easy, but how just amazing it is and the levels of stress or challenge that our bodies face or minds face on a regular basis. And I know I go all the way to

9:41 things like having a deep tissue massage that's really intense, Like sometimes that's a little, you know, stressful or challenging. But then I always say, like, what do you usually do in those moments? Or what? Like when you're popping up into a handstand and you're really trying to do this for the first time, what are you doing? Or I got to know, I'm like, are you breathing? Probably not.

9:57 I'm like, well, if you breathe, things will be different. You're gonna communicate to your body in a way that's gonna allow a little bit more of an understanding of being able to manage or deal with the stress or meet this challenge, which will feel a little bit more harmonious.

10:15 Yes, absolutely. And that is so where my yoga practice and my yoga teaching has has really propelled into that direction. You know, I, I, I started teaching yoga 11 years ago now. I did my yoga teacher training in Los Angeles and began teaching right away, which I was very blessed for. And again, stepping into this, the discomfort, you know, I don't think anybody feels immediately 100% ready to teach, but it's in taking the steps forward and in that discomfort and again connecting with the

10:47 breath, even with that is being right here, landing right here when I'm walking in feeling a little bit of those butterflies and still stepping through that. But learning the ways that we can regulate ourselves, regulate our nervous system, have a stay in the moment, which is, you know what I always say and a lot of people say this where life is happening.

11:06 You know, we want to be in that moment. We want to be in our body. We want to be in our breath. And that helps to create that deeper connection within ourself. And then that leads into these deeper connections in the world with other people, with nature, with animals, with our experiences, whether they are perceived as positive or negative or challenging, we're in it. But we can find the ways to really regulate ourselves. And the breath is, in my

11:33 opinion, one of the strongest foundations for that. And so when we can learn to connect to the breath, we can learn how to be in the discomfort, how to get through the challenges and to land us in a place that is, you know, beyond the fear, beyond that perceived negative experience that we're in. And so my background, you know, I started teaching yoga and I always taught from, you know, definitely very mindful place again, that deep mindful mind,

11:59 body connection from the years I've been practicing that. And over the years I started to deepen that practice of getting into the breath. And so it was probably about four or five years ago now, actually even longer than that, when I, when I did my first conscious, connected breathwork practice, and just what opened up inside of me from there just went even deeper, even more powerful, even more profound for me. And it was a few years ago where I was grieving the loss of some loved ones, And I entered into

12:34 some practices that allowed me to process that, to process that without having to intellectualize it and even verbalize everything that I was feeling. That this breathing practice allowed me just to really work through a lot of the emotions that that were there underneath the surface and from there. You know, then I started to really dive even deeper into what does this all mean?

12:57 You know, how is this all happening? How is this, you know, working inside of us and in my yoga practices or in my yoga teaching? I should say my yoga classes. Back in Los Angeles, I I would have a lot of students that would have a lot of emotional releases in my classes. I teach them a very heart space, you know, from my teachings. And it just would naturally allow people to open up and get very tearful.

13:22 Lot of tears during shavasana, you know during our cooldown posture is just allowing them to feel and recognize what is happening, not just covering it up with all that we are doing in our lives, everything that we're managing, but really allowing us that space to understand which is like what's happening underneath the surface level. And so I I had some students that came up to me and they would share some stories about some traumatic experiences that happened and.

13:48 Asking if I could even teach specifically, you know, for that. And I kind of said, well, I would want to have the right background, you know, for that. I take this very seriously. And from there, you know, I started to take a lot of courses and trainings and even play around with my own practices as well to go even deeper into what I have been working through in my life over the decades that I have been alive and what has happened in my life.

14:12 From some big unexpected events to, you know, ongoing things such as going back to my diving career, you know, living in the state of fear a lot. And how is that affecting my nervous system? How has that affected my nervous system up until this point? And so it's been a lot of diving deeper into myself and a lot of various practices and then taking many trainings with some of the top experts in trauma informed somatics and yoga teaching as well.

14:41 And so that's really where my pop has sort of led to. And I still teach Vinyalsa classes, I teach Yin, I teach meditation in Pranayama. But a lot of where my focus is now really leading to is trauma informed yoga and integrative somatic practices, working in trauma recovery programs with psychologists as well as clients of theirs to help us with this mind body connection with something that we call this bottom up approach to healing trauma and addiction.

15:11 Oh my God, I'm so excited. I actually have like 1000 questions. I don't actually know where to start. I'm excited. I mean, I kind of knew this is where we're going to go. That's just kind of why I invited you. And also, I just know that so many people are interested in learning more about this. And I scratched the surface on this, but I don't have formal training, which it sounds like you have. And you scratched the surface and then you said I'm going to take a shovel and start digging.

15:33 Yeah. So you got into it. So I'm. There's so many things that I want to ask you. I think one of the first things that comes up is I do give people a surface level of like this is, you know, usually what happens in your body when you're experiencing trauma responses. And you know, in yoga they can come out in certain ways, trembling with, you know, holding poses. And then I always communicate that connecting with their breath will allow, you know,

15:55 things to happen. But I don't really go much further than that because I don't feel like I can because I don't, you know, necessarily understand it fully. And then I related back to the Foster and I stick to my to my wheelhouse of anatomy and connecting it to the nervous system and stuff. So what I think is really helpful was something that people always seem to ask me after I tell them a bit about what it what what's happening is. They're thinking like, what do I

16:21 do next? Like, how do I help myself? Like, how do I like, what do I do in these situations, What do I explore, what should I start with, What's going to work for me? And I give my answers, but it's always like, basically, you know you're going to try something and see if it works for you, but what would you say to something like that? And someone asks, like what?

16:38 What should I do? Absolutely. So I will start off and say this that it's a very personal experience. So the work that I do is very customized within each client. Although there are there is a toolbox of so many different tools and very simple tools in theory and I always say this, it's very simple in theory.

16:57 The execution of it is can be the the challenging piece because it it may require us to sit in some of that discomfort as well and from that place to observe what is happening. So you know I'll I'll kind of back up a little bit here in terms of my training. So obviously I have this, this deep and lengthy education in the yoga world, and I'm so happy that I sort of started off with a lot of the yoga philosophy.

17:27 And then from that place years later started diving more into the neuroscience and what's happening actually in the body, in the mind, in the nervous system. And as you know, through some lectures that I've done is, you know, being able to merge those two together to understand from the yogic perspective, from this ancient Eastern wisdom.

17:47 Yogi's knew this, Yogi's knew so much of what was happening inside of us. But we didn't necessarily have the Western terminology until more and more recently and recently, meaning, you know, the last 20 years or so. We're now starting to really put together what is happening inside of the body from that more Western modern science perspective. But through all the trainings that I've done, each time, you know, especially if they were more related to the neuroscience and not much of A yoga

18:14 philosophy at all to it, things would start kicking off in my mind like. Wait, that's what? That's what we were talking about in yoga. Wait a second here. You know, there's such this, this merging of the two and that's what's really exciting to me. And I think that that you've witnessed that through some of my teachings, is that I'm so passionate about this and just from my own background and then clients that I've worked with, students I've worked with over

18:37 the years and just to be able to explain a little bit more of this to them. And so I'll go back to your question in terms of what do we do now? You know, I'm feeling this dysregulation or I'm feeling, you know, the sense of anxiety or I'm feeling depression or I'm feeling into this challenge and it's throwing me into this state of overwhelm or even numbness. So as we can see even as I'm describing that very different responses for different people.

19:01 And so you know there are there are reasons behind all of that that might be for a future podcast to go even deeper into it. But the first thing is that we need to come to this place of greater awareness for each individual person. So whenever I'm working with a client, we start off, you know me just understanding what is their stress response, what is their typical stress response for them, knowing that it can change in different scenarios.

19:25 But we first start off there. We start off with that level of awareness and that personalization to then be able to go into the toolbox that we have and the toolbox that can have different tools for different scenarios as well.

19:39 But a lot of it comes down to some of the basics around mindfulness. You know, that is really a foundation of all of this somatic work that I do with clients and that people that are in the somatic therapy field. We have to get to this greater state of mindfulness.

19:55 And so with mindfulness, you know what that means because some people might even say, well what the what the heck does mindfulness even mean? You know, I hear that term, it's a buzzword, you know, it's all over the place these days.

20:05 But I love the way that John Cab is in has ascribed it in the best way that there are. There are three pillars to it. That's the most simple way is you're in the present moment. That's the first pillar with intention. So we're doing it with that purpose of being in the present moment. That's the second pillar.

20:21 The third one is the hardest, non judgmentally. So we land in the present moment, being there with that intention of being right here with whatever is happening, but then recognizing where's our mind. Are we judging it? Are we feeling these other emotions involved in that? Feelings of shame, feelings of guilt, feelings of beating ourselves up for how we're feeling in that moment? So that's where a lot of this work then comes from, is working on that non judgmental piece and

20:52 getting to that place of the awareness of it, the recognition, the acknowledgement, like really acknowledging what am I feeling right here right now and not getting too emotionally attached to that, but just taking that observer view and then we look at it and we try to work our way towards the acceptance of. It as to what really is happening without, you know, identifying as that emotion, without identifying as that situation, that experience, that

21:20 something that happened to me or that's something that I have done to to put me in this place in a sense instead of just recognizing it, acknowledging that, recognizing that it's there and not judging ourselves or judging others.

21:34 And that allows us to more easily be able to move forward from that and be able to process that through us. And so there are a lot of different techniques to help us process some of that stuck emotion that we have. And so breathing practices are really big one.

21:49 Yet I will say this, for some people turning to their breath can create more anxiety. So it's in that selfknowledge. So again, going back to the yogic principles of learning more and more about ourselves and our reactions, our responses, our triggers, our, you know, stress response from a lot of us know fight, flight or freeze.

22:08 But there are also some other responses when it comes to stress response from flop to friend, you know. So there are a lot, there's there's more to it then what we've learned over the last few decades kind of through you know more of I'll say media or sort of the basic understanding of the stress response. There's actually some more deeper layers to that as well. And when I work with clients, when I work with students, I really like to get to the

22:34 educational piece first so that they start to understand the why behind it, you know, instead of we stay in that judgmental part of our mind. Like, why is this happening to me? Why am I responding this way? Why can't I fix this? I keep seeing these same cycles coming through my life, you know?

22:51 And my responses are the same responses. How do I get through that? How do I get beyond that? We need to back it up. We need to be able to really kind of look. Back and see what is my personal stress response in this specific situation when we get into that through not just the mind but really into the body.

23:12 And so that's where I come into play. Whenever I'm working with people that are in trauma recovery, I am a big proponent of cognitive behavioral therapy and that is considered a more up down approach to trauma and stress.

23:29 And where somatics comes in as we work from the bottom up, so from the body into the mind. And there's a really beautiful piece of when we can have both of those approaches that we see such incredible strides forward. Beautiful.

23:48 I love so much that you said in particular helping people understand why, which is exactly how I like to teach anatomy or Physiology in general, or just if I'm working with a client in the physiotherapy world to help them with an injury or particular problem. Because in order for them to subscribe to what I'm telling them they need to do, they need to understand why. I mean, anyone in general usually needs to understand they're they're more likely to

24:17 be compliant to something if they understand why. So I think providing people with the education or their understanding is, is one of the most foundational things as well. So I'm glad to hear that as well. And the other thing that came up for me, if I can remember is the awareness piece, the mindfulness piece. And then what was coming to my brain was what somebody might be thinking, which was you know there's there's there's probably more than two situations, but in

24:50 my brain right now there's two situations. One, when you're in a traumatic response that basically you're you're not even, you're not able to become aware because you know, you're not to get too far into it. But your reptilian brain has taken over and you don't have access to the resources in your brain to be able to use logic and stuff like this, which I do talk a little bit about.

25:08 But then there's also, before that happens, where the trauma response is coming in or you're just thinking about some of your challenges that you face, you know, because I'm imagining myself in front of a student, so 30 people.

25:20 And I'm talking about trauma and talking about trauma can be triggering in itself. But also just people start to think about their traumas, think about the challenges they face. So they haven't quite gotten to the place where their brain is now, you know, doesn't have access to their tools and resources to be able to do something about it.

25:38 So I think what a lot of students or people are trying to do now is be like, what can I do before I get to that stage? Like, well, how can I help myself? So because once you're in that stage, it's kind of like there's not a whole lot you can do besides regulate your nervous system with breathing and many other modalities, I'm sure.

25:55 But people are more thinking like when I'm actually like available to be able to do something, what can I do? How can I help myself? So I think that's what a lot of people usually think. And the awareness piece is very important for that. Because if you're in that stage where you have parts of your brain that are working to be able to understand, you know, maybe your main trigger is frustration. And frustration comes up for you all the time in certain situation or not trigger.

26:21 Sorry, but your responses is frustration that it's starting to become aware of, like when do we get frustrated? And then now you're starting to connect dots a little bit. So yeah, that piece there with the awareness is it's really hard to do that when you're in a full trauma response.

26:39 And I just want people to understand that like if you're a full-fledged, like anxiety, don't think like I need to be aware cuz like right now it's like all you need is regulation. Yes, absolutely. So just to be clear on that.

26:49 Yeah. Yeah. So I can, I can talk about that a bit right now, like. So I will. I'll touch upon a little bit and then reel me in if you need to Michael, please, because there's a lot of information around this and a lot of dots to connect as you just said. And 1st starting off with what you were just talking about with that reptilian brain.

27:09 So we have the reptilian brain, we have the nimillion brain and we have more of that logical human brain that we have. And so a little bit of a background there in terms of the neuroscience. So we have what is called the hindbrain. So that is the brain stem.

27:21 That is the area of the brain that helps to regulate the body just automatically. We actually cannot really. Change that through our thinking mind. That is what allows our heart to be. That is what allows basic responses in the body to remain alive. Then we move into the mammalian part of the brain and that is considered the emotional threat center of the brain. Or more specifically, we're looking at the limbic system. Within the limbic system, the

27:48 amygdala is really that main piece. Also the hippocampus plays a part as well that's involved with memory time around certain experiences. But the amygdala is really that key piece. And what you are saying exactly is when we are in a situation where we are already just instantaneously triggered or we're in a traumatic event, we go straight into that emotional threat response in our brain. And it is a good thing.

28:14 It keeps us alive. So this is a big piece of the teaching as well and we're working with clients, is the brain and the body are reacting in a way to keep you alive. So we don't want to judge that again. It's more of getting back into that judgment, the shame piece of why didn't I respond or react in a certain way.

28:32 We don't have control over that in those moments. And you know, that can sound a little down, you know, when I say it in that way. But just having that understanding of that knowledge can help us almost exhale a little bit into that of okay. My brain is trying to help protect me in these. Big situations or events that are happening. So I'll now go into the other part of the brain, the forebrain.

28:58 So that is considerable. That is the prefrontal cortex, You know, that's where the logical, practical, pragmatic, you know, I'm here, I know what to do. And that's when that part of the brain is kicked on. And so when we are in a threatening experience, whatever that may be, we are stuck in that amygdala part of the brain.

29:19 Now, if we cannot bring ourselves out of that piece of the brain and into the prefrontal cortex, we can remain in that emotional threat center within our brain, which affects the body, the nervous system, every part of us.

29:32 So it's called amygdala hijacking. You know, it's what what it's termed, you know, in many ways like emotional hijacking. Yeah. Or relatable. I think. Yes. Yes, that emotional hijacking. And I'm sure we have all experienced that at some point in our life. We can look back and recognize that and that we don't feel like we have any control in that moment. Like, sure, Katie, I'll try to be mindful, but like like you're saying it's a very challenging

29:55 in those moments. And So what we need to do is we need. To be practicing these very important practices in mindfulness, these breathing practices, things that can bring us into that prefrontal cortex. So that kind of relating it back in a way to you know athletics or a body like this muscle memory in a sense.

30:14 And in another term that we, we call it for the brain is these neural pathways. And in yogic terminology, we're looking at these patterns, these some scars that we're in, you know, these patterns, these habits that that we find ourselves in and our reactions. And you know, this is what we're working on. And a lot of these somatic practices is we're working on building these new neural pathways from the amygdala into the prefrontal cortex so that we

30:39 can more easily and perhaps more quickly in the end return back to a state of recognizing okay. I'm safe now. I am safe. My body can now relax. It can. It can sort of lessen the tightening, the reactionary, you know, activity that is happening inside of the body by way of the brain and the nervous system.

30:59 The body is just reacting to that, to the signals that it is getting from the external or internal world. Saying that we may not be safe right here and right now. And a lot of the times it can be a memory, you know, something that has happened in the past. And so then we meet somebody, let's say that reminds us of somebody where we've had a negative interaction with, we can immediately go right back into that amygdala, into that emotional threat center of the

31:24 brain. So then the brain, the body kicks off. Keep yourself safe, keep yourself safe. And so the heart rate might start to increase, it might start to sweat and preparation for fighting, for fleeing, whatever it may be. But again, we have other responses within the body as well that do help to protect us such as freezing, flopping, disassociating, numbing out. And so again with these practices, you know it's not just a one and done of okay, I sat and I meditated for a while. Now I'm going to be good going

31:53 forward. It's sort of again we're building these neural pathways in the brain. We are learning to regulate our nervous system and we're learning variability of the nervous system. It's not just about staying in this super calm state all the time because let's be honest, life happens and we're going to have things that happen to us. Let's just say, you know, out of your control, You know you're driving in a car or out here in Bali on your scooter and all of a sudden you know you're at

32:17 this, you know, very close accident that's even about to have. It doesn't even happen. But you can feel inside of your body the response that takes place. And so the more that we can then recognize Okay, I'm Okay, I'm safe.

32:31 Come back to my breath, come back to this moment right here, I'm okay. Then we can more easily move forward from that. And one thing that I, my clients know this that I like to say and again relating back to my background in athletics, I also played soccer as well growing up. But it's it's one of those things where if you think about, you know a big competition or a big game championship, whatever it may be.

32:55 And again, this kind of stems from my sports psychology background as well that I have is we have to prepare for that. We have to prepare in ways, you know, a lot in sports psychology is around visualization. It's around preparing our body, not even being in that moment, but preparing for that moment.

33:12 And how do we allow ourselves to stay calm, to stay focused, to be in that moment. So a lot of that comes into play here where we need to practice before, as I say, the big game, you know. And so a lot of these practices is it's not just even working in a one session a week with somebody in somatics or in yoga or mindfulness, but it has to be a very regular practice in order to create those new neural pathways so that when a challenging situation comes up,

33:41 we can more easily regulate the body during that situation. But again, like you said, to your point, the way that the brain works is it goes straight into that limbic system and it it, it reacts in a way that we don't have complete control over. What we can learn is how can we get out of that state and it's through these practices of being more mindful that awareness, that recognition.

34:04 I'm okay, I'm okay right now. So that's where a lot of. These these practices come in. I have something I'm going to reel reel in for a moment. So my thoughts, which is fleeting as I'm talking, was about, oh, so whatever.

34:22 I have these moments because, I mean, we're talking about this like, we're perfect, but we're not, You know, we we experience these things as well. In fact, I think I was experiencing yesterday, I was noticing anxiety, Something was happening. And I was just like feeling.

34:35 I was like, I don't feel like I don't feel awesome right now. And I'm like, why don't I feel awesome? I feel like something's not right. What is that right? So I'm like, I'm basically going through my, my process and my brain be like, like my body's trying to communicate something to me.

34:49 My nervous system is trying to communicate something to me. It's maybe, you know, protecting me or whatever it is. And I had to kind of like, just acknowledge it, being like, OK, I'm not not comfortable right now. Something's bothering me. What is it?

35:02 And then I eventually figured it out. I think it's because I forgot about something that was important. And then I basically, to myself, said thank you for reminding me in the way in which you reminded me, even though it wasn't enjoyable, which was anxiety or whatever it felt like. But I was like, I'm glad that you, you know, you sent me my. I'm communicating to my body like it's a separate thing or my nervous system like it's a separate thing. But to me, it actually makes it

35:25 easier for my, my human brain to understand that, to be like, yeah, yeah, OK. My nervous system is trying to say something to me. It's making me feel anxiety. And then once I start to, like, listen to it a little bit more and then actually start to think about it, like, before, I've had, you know, the anxiety get to a point that's like, too much. And then I can acknowledge what that is. And then I figure it out.

35:44 And then all of a sudden I feel it soften. I'm like, OK, good. Thank you. And also thank you for you know, showing your face right, which allows me to and this kind of goes into the non judgment thing instead of me being like I shouldn't be feeling anxiety, it's more so everyone has is is going to experience anxiety in their life, right? And it's all it is, is just a part of your body communicating to you.

36:07 So the way that I help to make myself feel good is to think that part of myself for communicating with me. I love that. I love that. That is exactly where we want to get to, because like you said, the body is always. Communicating to us whether we feel safe, whether we don't feel safe, and to acknowledge that, to acknowledge that feeling of okay, what am I feeling?

36:28 And you can name that feeling. I name it as a feeling not, you know, I am anxious. I am feeling anxious right now. In this moment. Then oftentimes what we want to do is try, like you said, bring it into the body. So in somatics, that is what we always do.

36:41 We always come back to the body, back to the body, back to the body. What is it trying to communicate to us? So we turn to about Where am I feeling anxiety? Where am I feeling it in my body? Am I feeling it in my chest? Am I feeling a tightness in my stomach and it's my jaw clenching? Are my shoulders lifting up towards my ears? Where exactly am I feeling it?

36:59 In my body? So we already start to get out of that emotional part of the brain and into the prefrontal cortex by bringing ourselves into that moment with intention and without judging it. So we look at, I'm feeling this tightness in my chest or I'm feeling this constriction all around my abdomen right now. Okay, okay.

37:20 That's what I am feeling. I'm not going to judge it, but that is what I'm feeling right here in this moment. That is where I'm feeling it in my body, already bringing us into mindfulness, already bringing us into the prefrontal cortex. Then from there you have the choice to either continue, you know, thinking that or find some ways to help soften that, to help soften the areas of the body because the body is communicating to the nervous system, which is communicating to the brain.

37:45 So we can do this bottom up approach to get us out of that emotional part of the brain by getting into the body, learning where we want to soften or where we want to even activate. If we're feeling pretty disassociated, if we're feeling numbed out, if we're feeling depressed, if we're feeling that we can't get off the couch, that's a whole different set of tools that we would use and that we would turn to in our practices to help us up regulate the nervous system versus down

38:08 regulate the nervous system. But it's all about getting into the body and learning about what it's communicating to us exactly what you were saying. And so to do that from that nonjudgmental piece is really big. And that can take a while for us to work into that side of observing from that nonjudgmental side of things.

38:28 And so just recognize. What is what? Is right now without judging that, without attaching to it. So we realized, oh, my chest is tight. How can I bring more space into that area? How can I bring a greater sense of maybe some freedom?

38:45 How can I do something that can be a little bit of the opposite of what is happening inside of the body? And that's when we then learn we can kind of take that little, that sigh, that exhale out, thank it, thank you, body, for showing me something that I needed to recognize right now.

39:01 And it might be a feeling of anxiety. I might be a feeling again of a trigger in some sort of a situation and is okay. I am recognizing this is reminding me of something in my past that's not actually happening right now from that exact scenario, but it's reminding me of that. And so the brain is responding in that way. Drop it down into the body.

39:21 Drop it down into the body. And it's through that consistent, ongoing practice of that even throughout our day, you know, waking up, checking in, doing even a brief meditation of mindfulness, of recognizing where am I? Where could that be coming from? What room am I in?

39:36 What am I seeing? Where am I? I'm right here, right now. And then working it into the body with that introception, those sensations that we're feeling into the body, checking in. How am I feeling this morning? Am I feeling any tightness in my body? Is there something on my mind right now that's just been, you know, circulating around and acknowledging that without even forcing a change, just that place of acknowledging and accepting that it is there can

40:06 help us more naturally move into that place of processing it, of releasing it. I'm not attaching to it again, bringing us into this moment when it's happening. So, so good, so good. I said it's funny. Before we started this podcast, I told Kate I gave her a piece of paper and a pen and I said, you know, in case.

40:26 You know, you want to write something down so that you can continue to listen in case you want to say something later. And I've been listening to you and I there's like, there's so many things I want to say, but I keep forgetting everything and I'm not writing anything down because I'm just so tuned into what you're saying. So, I don't know, I might just ramble for a second or so, but one of the things that was coming up for me was what was it?

40:54 It's gonna kill me. But you guys can wait for a second. Yeah. What was the last thing you said? The last thing you said was about let's see if it springs it back up again with being non judgmental and what you're feeling in your body. Perhaps in that moment, other practices. Got one of them.

41:12 I got one of them. So I'll talk about one of them and the other one. We'll see if it comes safe. So one of them was about body movement and how. And the reason why I'm thinking of this or the why it came up for me is because I had an experience one time where I was aware of these things and I was trying certain practices, meditation and regulating my nervous system.

41:34 But nothing seemed to work. And after the fact, I had communicated with another friend who was a trauma informed hypnotherapist. And he said you probably needed to move your body. You needed to move your body. So it's good that you were aware of it and you were trying to like process it. But I think I had gone to the stage where it was my trauma response was just a lot stronger and it was harder for me to like, you know, down regulate it. And even though I was meditating

42:00 and really trying to process it and like I just couldn't and I was like, what do I do? What do I do? And he said you needed to move your body. You needed to move it through. So that was one thing. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about that.

42:11 I love talking about that. That is one of oftentimes one of the first things and in a client session that I I speak to as well where oftentimes you know we can we hold on and we don't even recognize that we're holding on.

42:23 And it gets to that point of we are just holding on to this response that's happening inside of the body unconsciously. You know, it's just the body is responding. But moving the body is a very, very therapeutic approach.

42:35 So it's helping to move that energy through to move any of that stuckness that stagnancy through that threat response that fear responds. And you know, very well known example there is if we think about animals, if you think about dogs who get into a little tussle or a little fight or just you see, you know, you know, through documentaries or whatever, it may be animals in the wild and they're, you know, there's, you know, an animal chasing after another, you know,

43:00 their life is being threatened in that moment. The first thing that you see animals do very naturally, instinctively is they shake their body after. Yes. So when we learn, we can learn from other animals. We learn from everything around us. But when we look at that, we see. So everybody who's listening right now, if you have an animal, imagining my dog just like, yeah, different one of those shakes.

43:24 Just giving me, I always just thought it was because there was something on there fur sometimes, but now connected to their emotional state exactly that is helping the fear and that threat response to move through the body.

43:35 And so that is something that I will bring in in a lot of teachings and a lot of even we haven't gotten to this point. But I teach active breath work, this transformational style of breath work as well. And oftentimes because of my yogic background as well and this trauma informed background that I have, I like us to get into the physical body first.

43:52 So we we we connect to the physical body through either gentle movement or even shaking the body out. And I encourage that even as we're doing some active breathing sessions, as you're feeling anything moving through the body or even some stuckness. Because this happens to me when I practice active breathing, like, Oh my gosh, my shoulder is feeling really tight all of a sudden.

44:10 Move it. You want to shake it out. You want to help support the movement of all of that energy that's pulling up inside from that emotional response. Again, especially if we can't fight or flee, you know that that gets triggered in our bodies.

44:27 But then given a certain scenario, situation, let's just say even a work situation, we're at work, we're having a really challenging conversation with a boss. And like, you just want to like release and really tell the truth or whatever it might be. But you need to close your mouth and shut it and just, you know, get through that meeting and move on. Those feelings are in the body still. And unless we can release it and move that energy through us, it's going to be piling up

44:52 inside of us. And so the more that we can release, move the body, shake it out, stretch it out and doing this in a very intuitive way. So the way that I like to teach is just really getting into your own body. And that's another side subject here around teaching.

45:07 When it comes to trauma, informed yoga is choice. Agency is one of the very first principles. They're always giving students the choice. Often times in a trauma related event, it was not of their choice and so that's a whole other subject.

45:25 But to allow people to move in a way that feels good for them, so that they can then feel deeper into their body, be able to process where they're feeling it. Because it can be different from you to me to anybody else out there. I might be feeling it more on the eyes or the the jaw. Other people might be feeling it in the chest or the stomach or other areas of the body.

45:43 We need to be able to help open it up, create more spaciousness, more freedom, more choice, more movement. That absolutely helps to move through those processes. That's great. Thank you for commenting on that. It came up twice or I mean in that's quick story that I shared and then more recently I was actually working on someone. She had some hip stuff going on and I was working on a few of her muscles and it was painful for her. But she was happy for me to

46:10 continue. And I could see her. She was like shaking her hands. And she was, she's, I don't even know what she is, but she's very emotionally intelligent, let's just say that. And she was doing this shaking. And she was saying that, yeah, I just need to move.

46:22 She's like, keep going, but I just need to move my body. And I was thinking to myself, I was connecting the dots. I was like, she's probably trying to move this emotional energy through because maybe there's some emotional tension stuck in the fossa that I'm working on or whatever.

46:34 So interestingly, after that session happened, I had a deep tissue massage a few days later and it was extremely painful. And usually I breathe through it trying to regulate my nervous system. But this time I said maybe I need to move my body a little bit.

46:47 So while I was getting and there's some spots that it was really digging into because I'm like a breathe, yes. But then also maybe I'll like, you know, I'll just like, you know, shimmy shake, move my wrist, which he might be like, why are you moving? But I was thinking like, I think I need to, but he doesn't didn't get bothered by it.

47:03 And I don't know if it helped because I was just like I I believed it was going to help. So that's kind of what we're speaking about, right? Yeah, Yeah, absolutely. And I mean I I recommend to friends, to clients, to students. I do it myself that after any sort of. You'll get a tough conversation that you might even just have. Or a tough day out in the world and you come back home, shake out the body, shake it out.

47:29 Like move it, move it, move it. The sooner that you can do that, the less likely that it's going to be held and trapped inside of the body. So make this a regular practice. Even do it when there aren't challenging times.

47:41 You know, you just got off the phone with a loved one and you're feeling good. Shake it out, move it through, you know, just get used to that practice. Because again, to your point, earlier when we were in those stressful scenarios, we cannot remember a lot of these practices. But the more that we build for that, that muscle memory, for lack of a better term, or just that association of moving the body after conversations, after situations, after, let's say, to yoga teachers out there, you're

48:07 teaching your first classes, you're nervous, or you've been teaching for years and you're still nervous. Or whatever is coming through, or you're noticing that emotion you're naming, that emotion, that feeling that you're feeling. Jump around.

48:17 Shake it out before you teach, even after class. Just so you can keep that energy flow moving through so it's not getting pulled up and it's not layering up inside as well, because let's be honest, how many situations a.

48:30 Day do we have that could feel a little stressful and the accumulation of all of that on a daily basis. Daily basis, you know, and it's just and this is what I like to speak to, to take any shame out of it, like this is our life, this is our world. That we live in.

48:47 We have constant stressors. We have constant, you know, people in our lives. Situations in our lives work to do. Lists everything that can. Lead to overwhelm to burn out. We need to have these practices to help move it through us so it doesn't pile up inside.

49:03 And I relate it, especially when I'm doing active breath work with folks, is that it's sort of like a pressure cooker and we need to find ways to release the steam before we blow. You know, at a time that is usually not in the right situation, nor would the right person that might have been creating that pressure system inside of us.

49:25 And we can't always predict when it may explode. So learning these ways that releasing some of that pressure, releasing some of that stress on a regular basis, on a regular basis is the way to help when we get into those bigger situations and scenarios to help us work through that more quickly.

49:47 Beautiful. That just reminded me of the second thing that I thought about 20 minutes ago and I wrote it down this time too. So I definitely wouldn't forget. And that was basically avoidance. When you avoid something when you you need, don't listen to your bot. When you don't listen to the thing that is trying to talk to you or communicate to you or not talk to you but communicate to you, it just gets stronger and stronger and louder. Or what you used was layering,

50:11 layering, however, you know whatever language works for you, for you to understand that. And I had a conversation recently with the therapist, actually psychiatrist, and she said and basically to this point like anytime you avoid something, it will just get stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger in some people's patterns of coping through trigger or traumatic responses is to avoid fleeting, fleeting, flighting flight, right.

50:38 So just like that's it copes somewhat for the moment, but it just piles on to make things more difficult later. And the example that she used it in was overwhelmed, overwhelming. People experience overwhelm all the time, but if you avoid acknowledging the overwhelm it, the overwhelm just gets stronger and you become more overwhelmed and more overwhelmed. And then that's when it clicked.

50:59 For me, I was just like, oh shit. So that's why now when I feel anxiety or you know, any type of emotion that just doesn't make me feel like my full potential self, then I'm like, okay. I got to like acknowledge whatever this is, give it a second to like think about it, you know, say thank you or whatever.

51:14 Or at least like go through some sort of process so that I don't avoid it because to your point, I don't want it to be worse. I rather like it's kind of like an injury. I'd rather take care of an injury before it gets way worse.

51:26 So sooner rather than later if I can. And granted, I totally have empathy that sometimes you don't have the opportunity to take care of an injury or a traumatic response because you know you you have to other things or other responsibilities that you need to take care of first and then you know that takes a back seat.

51:42 So I get that that is probably most people's situations most the time, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about it and find opportunities for us to acknowledge and not necessarily avoid so that it doesn't pile up and add more to our daily accumulation. Yes.

51:57 Yeah. And just that recognition of all of that is so key, I mean, you know, examples. That I like to say, it's, you know, let's just say that one night you get into an argument with your spouse, your partner, and then the next day you have to show up for work.

52:10 It's not you have to, you know, it's just I'm such a realist, you know, in this world is that recognizing that that is just the world that we live in, yet if we just move on, it's still there. That if that wasn't resolved and not resolved even with the other person, it resolved within yourself. We're going to carry that with us into the next day. And then what happens that next day? Maybe something happens at work that piles up on top of what happened the night before.

52:35 And so we just start piling all of these experiences up inside of ourselves. And we need to find the ways to release that. And avoidance is a big piece. And avoidance is really big when it comes to, you know, addiction as well. And there's a big association with with trauma and addiction. And it's a way, you know, to avoid those emotions, those feelings, you know, that we've been carrying with us for a long period of time and yet we must face it. We must recognize it.

53:03 We must acknowledge it, build that awareness. And again, getting to that really hard piece, this is the hardest piece, is the piece of acceptance, The piece of acceptance, what is there inside of us, what has been happening?

53:16 And I will. I'll speak from, you know, my own perspective here in I was one who ignored, ignored, ignored, avoided, avoided throughout, you know, my younger ages and I. Had a lot of stomach issues, a lot of digestive issues growing up and I would just, I'm fine and move on, move forward, move forward, move forward until you know I was eventually diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in my early 20s and that was the wake up call for me.

53:45 That was that first wake up call and and I'll kind of relate it back to a work. Situation that I was in where I was a childcare worker in my early 20s and I did not have the tools for myself. Even enter into that profession, I'm recognizing that now as I look back and learning how to keep myself regulated as I enter into situations where there's a lot of dysregulation happening. And I am also kind of a porous person when it comes to energy. And through yoga, through

54:17 meditation, through Panyama, through a lot of these practices I've I've learned how to regulate myself and and keep myself more regulated through the stressors. And you know there is something called secondary trauma, you know where it's this relationary trauma where you know you can even take on what other people are going through.

54:35 And so any yoga teachers out there that are thinking about getting into working in trauma informed in the trauma informed world or somatics is to be aware of that that we must first really learn to regulate our own selves in order to then Co regulate with somebody else safely and appropriately.

54:51 So even within ourselves and speaking to yoga teachers out there learning to look inside even more and even looking at are we avoiding something. Are there those little whispers that the body is trying to communicate with us in ways we need to really look into that and take that deeper look and just be with it. And you know, go through some of these practices that are again are quite simple and towards the end we can even do, you know some practices if we want.

55:18 But learning to not avoid. I mean there's that saying what what we resist persist, right. You know, we have these sayings for a reason that there's truth behind a lot of this and but it's in finding the ways to do it safely.

55:29 You know, and that's a really big piece of this as well is when we're looking to, you know, work deeper within our own trauma or our own stress responses is to do it in a way that feels safe for our body, that feels safe for our nervous system and that feels safe for our brain.

55:45 Because if not then we can push ourselves either into re traumatization or avoidance or disassociation, some other aspects there. So it's learning how to do. This in a slow and steady pace. That's so beautiful. I get so enthralled in what you're saying that I'm just like, I want to keep talking for another hour, but it's almost been an hour. And I think I actually want to bring you back. Yeah.

56:14 And I think people that are listening are probably be like, don't end the episode, not bring your back. I want more. You talk to the day about this. I'm very, very passionate about it. Yeah, cool. So I would love to have you back. But at the same time, I think I want to wrap it up a little bit. And you said something.

56:28 Maybe there's something we can do to the end, towards the end exercises or something like that. So maybe we can move into that and kind of wrap up the episode and then, you know, leave people in suspense, myself included.

56:39 Yeah, for more again, in the future. Absolutely. So you know, as I had discussed, it's, these practices can be very personal and very customizable as well as well. So depending on where we're at, if we're feeling more anxiety, if we're feeling more depression, two very different situations and two very different practices that we may enter into with that.

56:58 And that's a whole other subject that I could chat for hours about. But to move into practice, we can move into a very simple practice, you know, very simple breathing practice. I actually, I'm going to make this two-part. So I will introduce some awareness in terms of extra reception with neuroception and what we see outside of ourselves because for some people going inside too quickly can can create.

57:26 Yeah pink yeah can create some overwhelm there. So we're going to start off there and anybody who's listening just wants to stop there, then they can do that. Then we'll start to shift our attention internally to our our this, this practice called introception.

57:40 You know, really learning to be with the sensations that we're feeling in the body. And we can do that by way of the breath, you know, that's a really nice way to do it. Or by way of body scans, just to recognize what's happening inside. And so it's a really, again, it's about building this knowledge base of our own personal, you know, reactions, responses and we work from there. Yeah.

58:02 So we start okay. All right. So for us here in this room and for those of you listening, just make sure that you're in a seated position. If you're seated in a chair, just rest both of your feet down on the ground. So not having the legs crossed in any way, but just really grounding your feet down.

58:19 And if you are sitting on the floor, you can have the legs crossed, but just really feeling the sense of the lower part of the body connecting to the ground or the earth and then just starting to notice your posture. So just sitting up, nice and tall and we're going to begin with our. Eyes opened for this practice, so we're going to start off by just scanning the room that you were sitting in. So just take a moment here and just really look around the room and notice.

58:46 What you see. So we take our time. With this, you will most likely start to notice things that maybe you haven't even noticed ever. Or haven't seen in a while. Notice the walls, the ceiling, the floor, Any items on the walls, Any items in the room.

59:08 I want you to continue scanning the room until you find one object that you would like to rest your eyes on. Just notice what that is. So for me, I'm looking at a carving in the wall over here in Bali. And I want you with whatever you are.

59:31 Looking at to notice the shape of it. Even scanning that item, seeing the. Shape the colors, the texture. Even imagining if it's an item, the weight of the item, even scanning that item in even greater detail throughout the edges of the item, marking your way towards the center. Now as you are looking at this item I. Want you to hold?

1:00:08 Your attention there, but now start to just bring a little bit of awareness into your breath. Notice if you're holding the breath, which can often happen as we're focusing a little too intently at times. So as you continue to look at this item, can you just slow down the breath?

1:00:26 Just feel that breath. Moving through the body. And we'll take one more breath and we'll continue to scan the room once again. So looking around high or low. Hold and then resting your eyes once again on another item, notice what that is, The shape of it, the color, the weight, the texture, maybe the use of that item if it has a specific use, and then again as you gaze at this item.

1:01:13 And you also recognize your breath. Give me full awareness into this moment right here without any judgment of that item that you are gazing at or any judgment on the breath that you may be feeling. And then we'll do this one more time gazing around the.

1:01:39 Room noticing what you see. Bringing your awareness really fully into this moment with that intention being present in your environment. And then we'll rest or gaze on one last item and working through that same process, What is that item that have a specific use?

1:02:07 What is the shape? The color? The texture? The weight? I'm really scanning that item in deeper detail and taking a few more breaths as you continue to look at this item, bringing your mind fully into this moment, fully into that prefrontal cortex, and then you can begin to gaze down towards the ground.

1:02:46 You can just notice. What you see out in front of you, resting your eyes on one spot. Now for this next part of our practice, you can keep the eyes opened. If that feels better for you, if that feels safer for you in this moment, and if you feel comfortable closing the eyes, you can close the eyes.

1:03:13 Right away, as we close the eyes, we take away one of our senses. Some of our other senses may feel a little more heightened. Anything you hear, you smell, you taste, you feel. And we're bringing our awareness from the outside world into our inner world.

1:03:37 Just take a moment to notice what you observe. Whether it's the posture of your body, any tightness you may be feeling, any softness you may be feeling you've been connecting to the sensation of your breath gliding into the body.

1:03:57 Where you feel that breath inside of the body once you exhale, how it feels for that breath to leave the body. Without forcing any changes to anything that you were feeling, let's try to be with a. I'll give you the choice right now to either rest your attention on a specific part of your body or resting your attention on the feeling of your breath. The rest of your attention there, can you really be there, fully recognizing what you feel on the inside and if possible, if you can bring in a little.

1:05:00 More spaciousness, either into that area of the body or into your breath. Maybe you're feeling a combination of the two? Once you inhale deeply, you may feel the belly you soften and expand, or you may feel the lungs expand inside of the chest as you exhale, either through the nose or even sighing it out of the mouth.

1:05:24 Can you feel that release? Noticing what's there? Now these two practices have brought us into this deeper state of mindfulness and into that prefrontal cortex. Now we will begin to really bring some more attention into the nervous system by way of the breath.

1:06:02 So we will move into a breath technique where we simply extend the length of our exhale. That will help to activate and stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. I will walk you through it. For a few rounds. We'll inhale to account of four. We'll begin by exhaling to account of four for a few rounds just to warm up the body.

1:06:24 And we'll work into an exhale of account to six and eventually an exhale to account of eight. Let's begin by breathing in TO1234. Exhale, 4321. Inhale 1234. Exhale, 4321. Inhale 1234. Exhale, 4321. Inhale 1234. Lengthening it out, Exhale 6543.

1:07:13 21 Inhale 1234 Exhale 654321 Inhale 1234 Exhale 654321 Adding a little more now Inhale 1234. Exhale 87654321 inhale 1. 234 Exhale. 87654321 Continue on your own for female rounds, and you choose the length of your exhale.

1:08:25 Probably be with each inhale filling you up and feel the exhale softening you down and in. A few more rounds. The. Take one more round of this breath on your own, this feeling into the entire length of your breath as you exhale that air completely and return to a natural flow of breath. To notice what you feel now inside, if you feel any shifting that has taken place anywhere in the body, a nervous system or the mind to.

1:09:55 Complete this practice. We'll take one more inhale together. Big breath in through the nose Now. This time, open the mouth and sigh that breath out, and as you're ready, begin to blink the eyes open, keeping your gaze on the ground for a moment and still recognizing how you feel inside of your body as you now bring about your attention to your environment once again.

1:10:27 OK, so that was a brief practice there of a few different techniques sort of brought in together and gives a little introduction as to. A few tools that anybody here listening can turn to during their day, but it's really, as you can see about first that recognition, that observation of what is what is happening here without changing anything, and then we work into that choice of starting to down regulate the nervous system if that is what was needed.

1:10:56 Again, there's some other techniques to help us. Sort of play with that nervous system in different ways as well. Which? Can be a whole other conversation at a later date. I feel very relaxed. So my regular system, my nervous system can't even talk now. My nervous system feels.

1:11:13 Yeah, balanced. That's probably a good way of describing it. Amazing. Thank you so much Katie for that. Plus everything else prior to. Yeah, I think we'll end on that note. Love to have you back. And. You know, if someone wants to reach out or connect with you, what would be the best way to do that? But before we get into that real quick, if anybody is feeling super relaxed right now, but you now know that you need to, you know, reenter back into life and

1:11:43 with a little bit more energy, then then you can get up and gently shake out the body, move it around, you know, get back into that spaciousness. And that will help us come back into. That more balanced state actually activating a bit of the sympathetic nervous system in a really nice way. So then we find more of that balance energy. So just just a little tip there.

1:12:03 So again, what we work on with how we are feeling in the body and if we want to stay there or some tips and tools to help us balance out even more for what we need to, you know, enter into next. Yeah. So on that note, so if you would like to reach out, I love supporting people. Right now I'm in Bali.

1:12:23 I will be returning back to the US for a bit, but if anybody wants to reach out to me, you can find me there on my website, which is just katienesbit.com. You can find me on Instagram as well. Katie Nesbit, dot Yoga you can reach out to me. I'm here to support.

1:12:39 If you have any questions, whether you are a yogurt teacher or if you're looking for your own personal practices, then don't hesitate to reach out. I'd love to stay in contact and be able to continue sharing this really important information that really can helped us shift our internal state, which can also help to shift our external world as well.

1:12:57 I feel so. Perfect. Thank you so much, so much for your time, your energy, your. Knowledge, your presence, your love. And thank you, all of you listening. Sorry, I got someone calling me. Thank you for all of you listening. And we'll catch you next time and we'll definitely have Katie back.

1:13:17 So have a beautiful day, everyone. Thank you so much, Michael. Bye now. All right. Before you go, let me just tell you about the Goingpro yoga.com platform. So right now you can go to goingproyoga.com and check it out for free for seven days, where you can actually learn more about yoga. In the ways of alignment, queueing, sequencing, yoga, anatomy.

1:13:37 So that if you've done a 200 hour teacher training and you want to continue to learn, practice and grow, this platform is definitely for you. So I definitely suggest checking it out. Going pro yoga Comm right now. You can try it out for free for seven days.