Irene: All right, so, we're recording. It is ... Gosh, what day is it today? Friday, July 6th, 2018. It's our seventh round of Smart Body Smart minds, and this is our final Q&A wrap-up call. Here's how the agenda is going to work. I'm going to cover some basic housekeeping pieces, which we will keep reminding you of, as time goes forward, over the next month. Seth is going to do a guided visualization, and that he will tell you about. Then we'll do some Q&A.
Irene: There were lots of questions submitted, like that last week of school, isn't it? Just knowing that we may not get to all of them, and that we will let you know, and we'll send you an email. Then you can post it in our Facebook group, and we'll be in there until Sunday, Pacific Time, answering questions. And so, for the Australians, and those a day ahead, that'll obviously be your Monday. It will feel like you have an extra day. Yeah, let's get started.
Irene: First things first, we're not technically done yet. Because, as you know, we had to postpone Ilya's call, right? Because, poor guy, they turned off the internet in his building. So, there you go, got a roll of these things. We're going to, probably, scheduling that mid July. We're looking at, perhaps, the 19th, the 18th, or the 20th, it just depends on timing. And we'll try to make it most likely afternoon, which is one of the better times for all time zones. It's not the best, but it's one of the better ones.
Irene: We will be sending you some information on how to practice and integrate this work. All that's going to go up onto the program website. That'll be like your little home, your little place to go and find things. Just familiarize yourself with a little tab that we're going to put up, that isn't there yet, that says Post-SBSM, I think that's what we'll probably call it.
Irene: Then, under there will be guidelines for practicing, finding a practitioner. You all have access to the 21 Day Nervous System Tune-up. I know some of you came into the program that way, but if you ever want to restart it, right? If you ever want to get drip
fed a little reminder every day in email, Crystal McLeod can ... I think Crystal might be here right now with us, actually. She can restart that sequence, and it's just like a click of a button.
Irene: What else? The site stays up, the Facebook group stays live. The moderators are no longer in there, after Sunday, nor are myself and Seth. So, we're on break, but you guys will be in there to support each other, ask questions, answer questions. Don't forget that there is a lot of info in there. If you go into those past lesson threads, you can read other people's questions. So, if you haven't gotten to, say, Lab Seven, you can go back to the lesson threads from Lab Seven, from this round and last round. And even the last round, and see various questions and answers. There's so much information in there.
Irene: Then, of course, knowing that you can redo the training calls, re-listen to the Q&A calls, maybe listen to the Q&As for the first time. If you look at how many there are, that will keep you busy for probably close to eight months. Just know that there's a lot there. Pace yourself, titrate your experiences, and just see, day to day, how you can bring pieces into your life, from the work.
Irene: Then, finally, we will be sending you a survey, not the funnest thing to talk about, I know. I had a little sarcasm in my last email. But feedback from you guys is really important. Obviously, feedback that we can use, that's constructive. That gives us like, "I always, I got stuck at these lessons." Little bits of explanations. For those who've been here since the beginning, you know that each round, we tweak, we change, we add things. And so, we do improve things, I think. It takes time to change some of these improvements, so, be patient with us as we shift things around, in good ways.
Irene: That's about it. Practice, stay active in this learning, right? Know that this work is constant, and will continue, and it's a lifestyle. So, I will let Seth take it over. And I think you will have to unmute yourself, Seth.
Seth: Yeah, yeah. All right. Yeah, so, here we are, and it is like graduation time. I mean, this is particularly poignant for me, because my son just graduated high school, like two weeks ago. And here we are all now, graduating from this program. I think it's
really important, in anything like this, where we're moving forward into the next stage, to pay attention to ways that we can all keep integrating, keep learning, keep up the process. I know that it can be tempting to just put everything on hold, and then, "I'll come back the next time we run the program."
Seth: That's fine, if you want to do that, but the most successful results come from remembering to apply these things in our day to day life. It really is a lifestyle shift, right? Even just the basics, following your impulses about when you need to pee, and when you want to eat, right? Just orienting, stopping for a moment, in the store, or in a park, or in your home to just really check in with your body and your environment for a few moments. Even if you just keep the real basics things going, and then maybe delve into a lesson here and there, that's beautiful.
Seth: I want to lead us on something here that is a little thing that you can do to help yourself feel supported. Because, I mean, obviously, Irene, and I, and the moderators, we won't be in the group answering questions. That is a big source of support, but we want to encourage you guys to take yourself into the world, and with your own sense of agency, and the ability to support yourself and each other. That's what this very short little exercise is for.
Seth: I'll just ask you all to start by taking a moment and just feeling into yourself, for a moment. You can do this with your eyes open or closed, whatever is easiest for you, just to check in with yourself. Check in with your seat, and your feet, and your body. Okay. And start to think about people who have been there for you. This can be real people, these can be mentors, teachers, friends, parents, for some of us, grandparents, a good uncle, a good teacher in grade school. It can be people we've never met, who we admire. Historical figures, great leaders, spiritual teachers. It can be the energy of our ancestors, and those that have gone before.
Seth: Take a moment to feel into that. Feel into the energy of helpful people, the energy of supportive people, and see that as a light. Visualize that as a light. Now, visualize, feel how those people, those helpful energies, they themselves had teachers, and mentors, and supportive people that radiate out from them, right? Start seeing how this is a net. This is a net of light, of support, of
helpful energy that stretches way back through time. Start to imagine how you can rest in that. You can rest for a moment, in this energy of helpful people, the helpful people matrix. Notice how that feels.
Seth: Then one more step, take a moment and think about each one of you. All your classmates, all your people who are right here, right now, doing this. And how all of you are connected, all of your networks are connected, and see that net grow. We're all across the world here, all across the world, this net connecting us, connecting each other. Connecting to our resource, to our ancestors, to the energy of helpful people. And we all can rest in that together, for a moment. Great. And that's it, that's all it is. Just three minutes, and taking this with you as a way to remind yourselves of your resource, of your internal resource, and how you are connected to each other.
Seth: We're all sharing a vibration here, in our intention of doing this work, right? The more that we drop into that, and feel it, and see it, the stronger it gets. That is, of course, including myself, and including Irene, and all the moderators, put us right in there with you. Even though we're not in the Facebook group, we are in the world, we are thinking of you, we are holding this vibration all the time, of deepening into nervous system healing regulation, right? Take that with you, into your work, and into the world. All right. Thanks, all.
Irene: Thanks.
Seth: Okay. How's everyone doing? All right. Okay. We're going to start now with answering some questions. I'll go first. Just seen a note here. Yeah, that's a great idea Barbara, I'll see if I can record that, and we can put it up in the Post-SBSM material, as a helpful resource, just so it can remind. Yeah. All right. Okay. "Whoa, big feelings." Yeah, me too. Whoa. All right, so, here we go.
Seth: I'm going to start with a question from Denise Belk, and she says, "How does one return to intimacy after being shut down in freeze for so long? I've only recently realized that I've been in freeze most of my life, and I've always reached out for those emotionally unavailable, or attract those that are shut down themselves. So, little or no intimacy, or even physical touch. I crave the intimacy,
though, so, I don't understand why I attract those that don't, which often, that ..." Sorry, a little weird word here. "I don't understand why I attract those which don't, right? Which don't crave intimacy, which often leads to me ending the relationship." Okay.
Seth: So, this is a basic conundrum that comes along a lot, when there's been relational trauma. Is that, yeah, we crave intimacy and there is a part of us that's deathly terrified of it, because relationship is where we got hurt. If we weren't ever open in the first place, we wouldn't have been hurt. There's this deep knowing that, "Yeah, I really need it, and I'm really scared of it," at the same time. That is why, most likely, you are attracting these people. Because here's the thing about the law of attraction, what is unconscious is often more powerful than that which is conscious. May I say that again? The stuff that's unconscious, when it comes to trauma, is often more powerful than that which is conscious.
Seth: As we do the work and we do come into the body, and we excavate this stuff, we tip the scales. Slowly, what happens is, our consciousness becomes more powerful, because we're rooting up and we're healing this unconscious stuff. For a lot of us, for most of our life, that unconscious material has been calling the shots, in terms of what we draw towards us. It's not like we deserve it, it's just physics, it's just how it works, in the law of attraction.
Seth: What we can do is this work, and we can start by building the intimacy with ourself, right? That's really what this work is. This is getting intimate with our self, with our touch, with our sensing into our body, with feeling into the various survival responses we've learned, and to develop resource. All the work we've been doing through this course is about building intimacy with ourself. That is a beautiful way to start, because it's addressing the root stuff that's the problem, in the first place.
Seth: Now, a good second step to that is to start to notice, if you can, sooner, if say you are ... there's a potential relationship coming in, like, does it feel familiar? Does this energy feel like something you've felt many times before, perhaps, right? Maybe to say no to that. To seek out intimacy with creatures and beings that are
unconditional. Develop intimacy with a tree, develop intimacy with the grass, right? What's it like to lay on the earth and feel that warm earth, under you? Or to hug a tree and to really feel that. To have a pet, to have a dog or a cat that is just going to love you unconditionally, and be there for you. Develop that intimacy with them. Those are all ways in which you can start to cultivate intimacy with others in very safe ways.
Seth: Another might be to deepen a relationship that already exists, that is safe. Like, say, you have a friend that's not an intimate like a lover relationship, or just a friend. What might be like to take a risk and tell them more about yourselves, to see what happens if you try deepening human relationships that already are safe. Those are all a bunch of ideas I have for that. So, thank you for asking, and I will turn this over to Irene.
Irene: Okay. There's a string of questions that revolve around practicing for ourselves, but also for practitioners. There's a few others, but I'm going to answer one, Seth, and then you can head to the next one. This is from Elizabeth. She says she'll be here to lives, so, hello Elizabeth, if you're here. You say, "When I'm studying and practicing ..." The other thing to you guys, remember, when we're reading these questions and you're hearing them, see in yourself how you would answer them, right?
Irene: See how this might apply to you, or if there's a question that's more technical, see if you can remember ... How would you answer, if that makes sense. That's another important part of learning, is when we can start to teach the stuff to other people. It doesn't have to be in a professional setting, but if you're walking outside and you're like, "Oh, I think I'm going to pretend what it's like to do a lecture on stress chemistry," how would you do it, right? Just to put that in there, as we wrap up these questions today. And you'll see why I'm saying that, as I finish this question.
Irene: Back to this. So, "When I'm studying and practicing, there's a part of me that carries students and clients, and how I would teach this information and how it could help that. Something in me feels I'm missing out for myself. My question is, how is your experience when you learn material you are excited about, and how do you integrate it and pay it forward?" I think, Elizabeth, and correct me
here if I'm wrong, if you are here, if I use my own personal life as an example, this is what I've done. I've learned a lot, I've been integrated materials and I have chosen to create this program. Before that, I've created my private practice, before that, I used to teach lots of workshops.
Irene: I get excited about learning new things that integrate and relate. There's something to be said about being careful about getting stale in our learning. This is where, I think, it's important to reach out and put the radar out for other teachers, other books, other practices that might influence and help support your current learning. I know when I'm excited about something, when I'm up really late studying it. I know when I'm excited about something if it's all that I'm thinking about, right? That's how I know that I'm excited about something. Then how I integrate it, then, of course, how I pay it forward is through my work. Through, obviously, my business here, and helping you guys, helping, obviously, the moderators. Mentoring with them, talking with them, getting together with them.
Irene: Then, just to come back to the first part, you said, "When I'm studying and practicing, there's a part of me that carries students and clients, and how I would teach this information and help them." Then, you ask, "Something in me feels like I'm missing out for myself." When we're in practice ... I'm going to make an assumption that you're working with folks, Elizabeth, it's really important to stay connected to ourselves. This is maybe one of the hallmarks that I have seen in somatic experience. Especially, if I think about when I was in my trainings, often, the psychotherapists and the more counselor, and the more talk-based therapy folks, what set up in their training to feel their own bodies while working with other humans. Does that make sense? Right.
Irene: Because it's all heady, it's all trying to figure out what's wrong, what the problem is. Most of those colleagues of mine who became somatic experiencing practitioners would come back like a year later, or two years later, and say, "Wow, I'm no longer tired at the end of the day in the same way that I was when I was doing my practice, just with the thinking cap on and not feeling." There's something really powerful when we're working with our students and clients. And giving them this information and
working with this information to still be working with our own bodies. And so, usually, even when I'm working with you guys here, in more of a teaching setting, I don't script my examples, right?
Irene: I don't script what I'm going to say or how I'm going to say it. I let what my body is telling me, I listen to it. That's what informs what comes out of my mouth. When I am with a client, a private client, again, we go in with the intention, very similar to Seth's exercise, of a healing matrix. We're here to help, we're here to work with their nervous system and feel what's going on. In that, just simple knowing, we then let our biology lead the way. With practice and time, Elizabeth, and everyone, you just become more masterful at knowing what to share and knowing how to stay connected with yourself. This is why it's called the practice, right? It takes practice to do this work.
Irene: And so, I just think it's super important to know that when we're working in this field, we have to stay connected to ourselves. If we don't, our best teacher and compass, which is ourselves, is not in the building. We want it to be there. Just like we, again, said with this meditation with Seth, sometimes, if I'm stumped with something, I will say to myself, "What would my mentor, Kathy, do? Or what would Peter do? Or what would someone else do? Right? It isn't that I don't necessarily know, or maybe I do and that's not even the important part. The point is, we're reaching into our resource banks and imagining, "What would that person do right now?" Often, what they would do is quite simple, we try to complicate things.
Irene: Bottom line is, just stay connected to yourself when you're doing work with people. This is true for parenting, for school teaching, all sorts of things. Then to watch and see, in terms of paying it forward, and what you get excited about, really, is what it comes down to. And what really energizes you, there's power and feeling into that. Thanks for the question, Elizabeth. Hopefully, that if you're here, just pop into the chat, and let me know if that clarifies some pieces.
Seth: You didn't lose me, I'm here. I'm just in the basement, that's all. All right. This one is from Karen Robinson, and she asks ... Oh, well, she's had a lot of energy and doesn't know what to do with it. Sounds great. She says, "I'd like to know how to handle this extra energy. I'm delighted I have extra energy, and not sure what to do with it. There are so many things I want to do, I get excited about it being there and then get more sympathetic nervous system activation. The last few days, I've realized that I need to contain as opposed to blocking it, which I used to do," Which is, yeah, great distinction there, "and maybe focus it to do something, is this right? In my excitement, I find it really hard to decide on what to do though. There are so many things I could do now, but where to start?"
Seth: So, classic, this is lovely. What we have, this is like when we've done a lot of work and the life energy returns. There's this lovely model that Peter uses, called the Energy Well model. It's like this series of concentric nesting wells. When we start this work, usually, all of our stuff is bound up right here, in this tiny little ball. Then we get some energy moving, rocking, and, croomph, and it spills down into this next well, this container, and it's a little bit bigger, right? And there's more room, more room for more energy, right? But it's disorganized, because we've never been in that container, or we haven't been in that container since we were very young. We haven't had that kind of energy.
Seth: As we get more and more energy, and we drop deeper into these bigger energy wells, it's more higher energy each time. And each time, we have to let it organize. This is the big thing that I'm hearing in this question, is that the energy is there, it's abundantly, yay, and it's disorganized. There's the sense of like, "Well, I've got all this stuff, and what do I do?" That's actually not really a problem, you just need to help it organize. You're spot on here, when you say contain, yeah, containment, rather than blocking. Blocking is what keeps it locked up, now it's free, and we need to be aware of our container, yeah.
Seth: So, doing the containment work, feeling your edges, feeling how you have this beautiful vessel. Feeling the potential for action, right? That's where this really is right now, you're feeling all this potential for energy to move, and we just want to help it organize. So, helping contain. Then maybe just pick one thing.
Just pick one thing. Physical activity would be really good, I sense. Something simple like jumping rope, or going for just a very fast walk, or a slow jog, if you can manage that, or balancing on a rebounder, is very good. Some simple, moderately intense physical exercise is going to help this energy organize in the body.
Seth: If you have smovey rings, those are these ... I think, I don't know if we've ever demonstrated them here, where these ... You can look them up online, S-M-O-O-V-E-U-Y, I believe. Those are really good, they're these things that you swing with the arms, that have these bearings inside that give you feedback. They can be very helpful for organizing this kind of high energy, when we don't really know what to do with it. Anything like that, some simple, physical, moderately intense, not so much that you're going to totally crash, right? Some simple things. Irene, could you grab one, actually, and we can show them what they look like? That's really it, I think.
Seth: Another thing to do is, not do too much. Like, don't go run a marathon, don't sign up to do the IML, right? Don't now go shopping and do all the errands you need to do in one day. If you don't want to overspend, we want to contain it and we want to organize it. I think that that's ... if you just do those things, you'll be fine. You just need to help this integrate to that. All right.
Seth: Then, Irene, you want to show them the ... Okay, just a second. I'll re-mute myself, and I'll pass this ball back over to Irene.
Irene: Both of them, they're green. I think they're always green, and they have ball bearings, do you hear that? They were developed, I don't know the exact history, but they're an European product. A lot of the toys that Peter Levine finds are manufactured and invented in Europe. They're an interesting tool to have, because they're not too heavy. They're soft, and when you move them, they offer this vibration through your arms. Actually, there was a question in our healthy nervous system revolution group, the other day, about how you can use smovey rings to calm the nervous system.
Irene: Technically, they're not really a tool for calming the nervous system, they're a tool for stimulating energy and feeling the body. They're not cheap, but they're also not technically expensive, if
you think about how you'll have them probably forever, right? They're a tool you can travel with and play with. They come with a CD, and all that stuff, to learn how to use them, but they're lovely to have. All right. Okay.
Seth: Can I jump in for one moment?
Irene: Sure.
Seth: Because there's a question that applies here. Also, if you all look in the chat, there's a link to smoveynorthamerica.com, where you can get them. Jesse asked, "For those of us who have a lot of physical pain and yet we're having energy returning, what can we do if exercising is too painful?" This is like one of those, this is where this falls end. The smovey rings are perfect for that. Because, it's moderately intense to do the stuff, but it's not usually going to hurt you at all.
Seth: Also, you can do some simple bouncing. Like, if you just stand and just let the legs, you know what I mean? And just bounce a little bit. You're not getting any impact that way, but you're moving the energy, or organizing it. Yeah, I just wanted to address that, since we had the ratings up. Okay.
Irene: Cool. All right. There's two questions, one is from Kristen McCarthy, and one is from Tamara. They are about the same, that it has to do with using this work in your practice and also further steps for learning more with me. I've mentioned this before, but I'm going to ... This falls into really legal stuff, fun talking, I know. So, IP, intellectual property. I always use the example of a book. If you think about a book, let's say, one of Peter's books, the course that you've done here, Smart Body Smart Mind, is like the book, right? It's my book that I've written, and it happens to have audios and videos.
Irene: You've taken that material in for personal use, right? This is really a personal exploration, transformation, self study with our support 12 week program. And so, you take that information and you want to use it in your own body, and then see how that relates to your practice, right? Makes sense? If you think of a book, you may read something cool in a book. I wish I had a book next to me, I don't. You might say to your client, "Hey, I read this
great passage in this book by Peter Levine, I'm going to read it to you, right? And just give you a little bit of something here."
Irene: But you're not going to sit and read the whole chapter. Well, you might, but we would probably think you wouldn't. Then, if the person gets really interested, we would suggest they buy the book so they can refer to it themselves. This program is a little different in that there are so many materials. And because you're learning through my voice and hearing me, it becomes very second nature what you might say to your clients. You might find yourself saying things that I say, and that's okay, I think.
Irene: I say things that Kathy says, but I'm always, if it's a real quoted word from her, or Peter, let's say, I will often say, "This is something that Kathy always says, et cetera, et cetera." So, referencing how you ... When you're speaking to your clients and you find yourself almost verbatim saying something that I might have said, that's where you really want to reference myself with the program, just a little bit. If you find yourself guiding your clients through, let's say a kidney adrenal or a joints lesson, but you're using your own words, that's fine. That's fine, because you're taking that work and molding it into your own practice.
Irene: What's not fine, though, is to take any of the materials from the site and give it to people. In other words, print out a lesson or a transcript, or share those audios or play those audios for people, because that is within the IP of my business, of the program. Again, this is where ... This actually goes beautifully with Elizabeth's question, a second ago. Which is, if you're finding cult to create some of your own movement lessons or meditations for your clients, then do that. Get a little recording device on your computer and guide your clients through a guided awareness lesson in your own style. We will call it, in the Feldenkrais work, your own handwriting.
Irene: From there, you start to build resource bases. In many ways, Smart Body Smart Mind, and the 21 Day Tune-up, that started with me recording lessons for my clients, my private clients. Because, I was saying the same thing over and over again, right? I was guiding them through the same thing over and over again, and it became very clear to me, "Well, what if I just recorded this, and then it saves my time, it gives them something that they can
have?" If you're working with people, definitely, play with that. I know, based on my experience, our clients love it when we create these little things for them, right? These little homework pieces.
Irene: In terms of the recordings, we don't want to give them to our clients, we don't want to copy and paste, but we can shift in our own language and our own teaching for them. The next piece that Tamara had, was on future trainings with me, for practitioners. This is something that, a few years ago, I thought would happen a lot sooner, I'll be honest. But, just like anything, if you've ever built a house, it always takes twice as long and twice as much money, right? And that's just the way it goes.
Irene: I would love to say that by 2020, there will be a practitioner teacher training. I won't really know more clearly, until 2019, if that will happen. But here's what I do know, is that if I borrow Peter, as one example, and Kathy as one example, so now I'm bringing in my helpful people matrix. When they discovered their work, it took a long time before their professional training was a certified thing. It probably took Peter close to 20 years, before he went from his discoveries, in the '70s, to running his first training in the '90s. Which, from what I heard, was a disaster. Because there was no structure, there was no curriculum, there had been no testing, right? Now, in 2018, it's a certifiable program.
Irene: I don't think it'll take me 20 years to get to that point, because I've risen from the shoulders of these great people that have showed the way. I've seen where things can improve, and et cetera. My sense, though, is that if there is a workshop that I'm teaching, that is maybe just for the public, when Ilya and I are teaching, if I do anything online that's outside the Smart Body Smart Mind, join me for those things. Yes, it will be an extra investment, but you will grow the knowledge and understand how I am evolving, how my evolution is working, as I figure out the next step.
Irene: I wish I had a straight answer for you, Tamara, but I don't. I'm learning to be a bit more clear on my boundaries, and not putting too much of myself on the line, and not being able to promise something that I can't promise. But what I do know is that we will be doing some deeper dive workshops, probably as soon as December, here in Vancouver, where I teach with Ilya. It'll be just
for practitioners, but it will also be a continuation from our up down work. What we think we're going to do is, before we do an actual teacher training, we're just going to go deeper into personal mastery, for those who are in the practitioner boat, or the people that help people boat, or the teachers, that kind of thing.
Irene: How many years the program will be, that's a great question. My sense is, it would be somewhere around two years. Then, of course, I did my three year [inaudible 00:38:23], four year Feldenkrais Training, three years SE, it just never ends. Know that there is basic level trainings, this really is. Smart Body Smart Mind is the base level training. Anybody that goes into my future programs will need to have taken Smart Body Smart Mind, and probably the next level that we're going to dabble with, in winter. Canadian winter. Okay, I hope that answers that.
Irene: I'm curious to see what happens too, right? This is a similar thing with your learning here, is that we never know what's actually going to come out. And so, I want to not be so tight, would be the word, or contracted on knowing it has to get done by X year. My sense, and I'm going to be sharing with you guys some of the things I've been studying and learning, over the last six months, that have been quiet. I'm going to start sharing more of that, over the next few months. Just stay tuned for that, and stay connected, and we'll be all one big happy family of practitioners, understanding this deeper level. Yeah, I'm excited for it.
Irene: Oh, so, Ingrid writes, "What's being dabbled with, in the winter?" We'll probably do, Ilya and I, my movement friend, some more mastermind, master body workshops. For practitioners who are wanting to go a bit deeper into studying Feldenkrais and movement, group work, that kind of thing. So, that's what'll happen. It will be in person, it will not be online. Yeah. All right. This far-
Seth: Aye, aye. Aye, aye. All right. I've got a couple questions here, that basically go together. So, I'm going to refer to both of them. The first one is from Sara, and she says, "I continue to struggle with lack of self-acceptance, self-worth, and frequent downward spirals of negative thoughts and self-criticisms. These thoughts and emotions usually arise when I'm getting ready for work in the
morning, during the workday, or during conversations with family. So, going into the healthy aggression and voo ah exercises is usually not possible." I'm assuming because you're around people. "How can I continue to heal these emotional patterns, that I know are so damaging to myself and everyone I interact with?" Then, Johnny Lew says, "I am angry with myself, can I voo ah at myself?
Seth: Both of these go together. No, I don't recommend voo ahing at yourself, sorry. I'll explain why. These are both the same thing. When we are angry at ourselves, if we have self-hatred, if we have self-criticism, if we have lack of self-worth, all of that is internalized anger. It's something that we took from somebody telling us, at some point, basically, that we sucked in some way. Then we internalized that, because it wasn't safe to defend ourselves, right? It wasn't safe to form a boundary to fight back, to say, "No, I'm not that way." Then we've held onto it, and it is what is underneath those thoughts, those emotional spirals that go down into self-hatred.
Seth: All of that has, at the root of it ... and you're spot on here, what needs to happen is the healthy aggression work, specifically the annihilation work is really what needs to happen in these cases. Where we need to be supported to really destroy this internalized energy, and the face that it wears. We need to understand that that's not us, right? That's the first thing to really get. It really is not us. It may sound like us, but if you listen closely, I think you might hear the tone of somebody else from the past. Even though it's our internal voice, it often will have the tone or the words or the feeling of another, who actually was the source of this stuff. Nobody comes into the world hating themselves, that is not a natural emotional state. It is only something that happens as a result of abuse and trauma, okay?
Seth: So, we really need to understand that in order to deal with these things that sound like our own self-hatred, we need to get to the root of it. Remember where it came from, and then turn that around. And let that forwarded self-protective energy come out, and work with destroying those introjections. Now, that's tricky work to do, okay? I have the article that I wrote on it, and you can totally use that as a way to do this. But it's tricky, and I support you in maybe finding a practitioner to support you with this. Now, here is another thing, most SEPs, Somatic Experiencing
Practitioners, don't know about the annihilation work. Because it's not from SE, it's from something else I got from my mentor, the work of Yvonne Agazarian, on hatred.
Seth: I think that you could take my article, so you have a good practitioner who you feel safe with, who you can communicate with. Even if they don't know this material about annihilation and healthy aggression, you could share my articles with them and say, "Hey, I want to do this, can you help support me?" Any good trauma practitioner will be able to read that and say, "Oh, yeah, I see where this is coming from, and, yeah, I can help." Because the reason we want assistance for those, is we just want someone who to be able to watch us and noticed if we're starting to get dissociated in the process. Because the key with annihilation work is to stay associated with the body, to stay with the felt sense, to stay with the emotions, to stay with the images.
Seth: Sometimes, it'll be, I'll ... I mean, I've done this in the past, my practitioner who supported me, he'll say like, "Okay, stay with the image, stay with the image, stay with the image." Someone who can sense how to support us being engaged with ourself and not checking out. That's my best suggestion for that. Sara, it's not work you can go into if you're surrounded by your family. You really need to have a safe container that's dedicated to that work, like in someone's office, or in your own safe place. All right. I hope that, for Johnny, that makes sense, right? Yeah, you don't want to voo ah at yourself. Remember where you took that info from, that's making you be angry at yourself, and turn it back towards that, right?
Seth: There is one more thing here. Sometimes, we really did something ... we did do something that was not the best, we screwed up. Or we did something that made us suffer, or made another person suffer. But even then, it's appropriate to feel shame, maybe, to feel a sense of biological oops, you know? If it goes into self-hatred, and I'm a terrible person like that, that's tied in with the trauma stuff, okay? It's really important to understand that. Like, even if we screw up, we still don't want to hate ourselves, we still don't want to be angry at ourselves, okay?
Irene: Just, another point, the annihilation work. Peter Levine is familiar with all of this, it's just that it's not ... there just isn't time in most basic SE trainings to get into that. So, it's often something that gets worked with in his master classes, and if you work with a practitioner who's done the work. And so, we've been lucky that our practitioner here in Vancouver, who is a wise old man of almost 80 years old, studied, and is close with Peter. They've grown that work together.
Irene: I think, and Seth might agree with this, and most of the moderators, that there is a future somewhere where this work will be taught a little more grand scale. It's going to take some time for that to happen, because everything in our conditioning is about not being violent. About being kind and compassionate, and yet there is this animal, biological side that is real and exists in human species. And so, we really need to move forward and know that that work will eventually happen, but it's going to take global containment before that can become something that we're going to do in a workshop.
Irene: I'm in an annihilation workshop this weekend, and it's like, "What? What's that? Because it just won't make sense for people that you're going to this workshop to imagine killing people, right? Because it isn't about actually killing people, it's about feeling the sadistic desire to kill someone, and feeling good about it. That's a high level of work that, from our experience at least, is essential in our society. But it's going to take some time before we can teach that in that way. That just popped into my head, as it does. So, now that it-
Seth: And will probably be part of the training that eventually you create, right?
Irene: Definitely.
Seth: Yeah. Because we'll be bringing it all together.
Irene: Yup. All right. I saw a comment that ... There was a question, Seth, from Mary Ellen, about nonviolent communication. So, you could either answer that in chat, or you can answer, and then I can read it out, so people listening to the recording can hear it. Because-
Seth: Where she just says, "Nonviolent communications starts with the conversations you're having with yourselves."?
Irene: Definitely.
Seth: Yeah. Well, it's not really a question, I mean, I don't know much about nonviolent communication. But, yeah, it's very important to be aware of the conversations you're having with yourself. Nonviolent communication, like I said, I don't know a ton about it, but everything that I have experienced about it, there's a few problems there, at least when it comes to working with trauma. Because like we're just saying, there is violent energy that we have to do something. And just forgiving and being kind ain't going to cut it.
Irene: Don't work.
Seth: We need to be forgiving and kind to our self, by allowing ourself to destroy the appropriate thing, I guess is the best way that I can put it. That doesn't mean actually destroying anything in reality, this is all in the imagination, and in the visceral, in the physiology that this happens. But it's super important to be free of this stuff. It is very important, yeah.
Irene: Cool. Thank you. Just to make a connection, which I think most of you get. The reason we see so much violence in the world, and people hurting people, is because that survival energy is trapped inside of them. And nobody has ever taught them how to move and work with that energy without harming themselves, or other people. We're at this interesting time, where we're seeing all these horrific things occurring, but that's been happening for a long time. Now, we're realizing, "Oh, it isn't because that person is necessarily a bad person. Heck no, they've been hurt somewhere along their lines, and they're trying to get that annihilation out but it's being done in a very harmful way." Right?
Irene: When we see these things occur in our lovely news cycles, if you can, I would really suggest to feel empathy for the person perpetrating. Because they are stuck in their trauma and they were never given the opportunity to feel their aggression and anger in a healthy way. We can get very, very wrapped up in the fear and the hate. Then that just fuels it, I hope that makes
sense. So, very important to see that this is global, it isn't just individual. All right.
Irene: Next question is from Decca, and you ask, "Is it ..." This is assessed to do with when we do the lessons where we're touching. Where we're doing self touch, where we're connecting with our own skin, our tissues. You've asked, "Is it manipulation of my body when I use touch on myself? There's a quick reaction from my body, and my therapist told me to talk to that body part and say something, like, 'We're looking for flow now, not activation.' Would that not be forcing something on to my body?'"
Irene: This comes down to the I word. Who knows what the I word is? It's not Irene. Intension. Intension. I can take my hand with goodness and intention and touch, and I can pull and push and knead with really good loving attention, and that's not manipulation, right? And I'm feeling my activations, like, "Oh, there's a tight knot in there, I'm just going to work in. This is really good body work, right? Really good body work for some very strong intention of healing, and I'm here for you, and we're supporting and safe."
Irene: But if I was to take my head and be mean to it, with that intention of that self-hate ... This goes beautifully into those last questions ... that won't be productive, that makes sense? The intention is very clear, and it isn't so much how much we push and manipulate, it's that focused intention. When you said, Decca, "There's a quick reaction from my body," that's like juice. That's the nectar to listen to, it's like, "Oh, okay." When you do that, first of all, see, when you go to do the touch ... And this is for everyone, if the intention is of goodness, if it's to bring flow, if it's self-love, if it's that, you know, if we use the term nonviolence, it's not violent, it's caring, right? So, first of all, that's step one, we could say. Is to have that pure intention.
Irene: Then, step two would be, feeling that reaction but not reacting to it. This is the exact same principle of feeling the fear but not fearing it, feeling the anxiety, which we're trying to train you guys to say sympathetic activation. It's sympathetic activation, it's like, "Oh, there's sympathetic activation, let's feel that stuff and see what it needs from me, what it has to say." But intention is super powerful and very important. I have to tell the story, Seth. So, there was a day, I don't know when, quite a while ago, where I
was playing with my powers, so to speak. We were, I think, lying down somewhere. Nonsexual, it was just lying down, chilling out.
Irene: I put my hand on his forehead, and I had the intention of giving him a lobotomy. I do this with him. Maybe I was a bit mad at him, I don't know. But I was-
Seth: Yeah, you were just irritated. See, I don't even think your intention was that specific, it was just more like ...
Irene: No, I was thinking lobotomy.
Seth: Oh, you were actually looking at that, yeah.
Irene: I was thinking lobotomy, and instantly had a visceral-
Seth: I was probably being stupid about something.
Irene: He had a visceral reaction, and he could feel his brain getting scrambled. He's like, "Stop that." If I was to take that hand, but with the intention of ease, and, "I'm here," it would have felt very differently. But from the outside, it's just someone touching someone's skin. So, our intention, as Kathy Kain would say, is a powerful instrument. This goes back to the world, right? Is, our intention for what we see and feel in the world is really going to shift how others feel and sense themselves. That was, to me, a little dabbling of black magic. Where I was like, "Oh, wow, that really works." Right? So, don't do that at home. Because, yeah, he was my guinea pig. There you go. To the next question-
Seth: I wasn't harmed in any lasting way, just so you know. It was just a momentary discomfort.
Irene: Oh, I will add something. When we're working and learning this works ... This, again, is for all our practitioners here. But also anybody here who works with people, or was a parent, which is all of us, is we would do these lessons with Kathy, or we would set aside someone and we would imagine hate towards them. We would imagine what it would be like that they're worthless, that they're no good, and not saying anything. Just that quality, and the person feels it, the body has a response. Then we'd switch it,
and then we're like, "Now, feel the other thing," and it's instantly different, right?
Irene: When we're with people, just how we sense goodness and kindness and care and safety, goes a long way, right? If you can't calm that tantrum down, that your toddler is having, just sit back, let them do their thing and ooze that energy. But if there's a frantic energy, and mom or dad trying to fix it, and getting all freaked out, that's going to make it worse, right? It's like, it's very much the energy of, "It's okay, it's safe. We'll be fine." Makes sense? Okay.
Seth: All right. I have one follow up on that, because as you were talking, I thought of something. Because, what Decca was saying was like, "Well, if I'm experiencing jumpiness and reaction, and yet I'm imagining flow, is that not like trying to impose something that's not?" In a way, yeah. But the thing is, what's happening isn't what we really want. We're providing another option, right? We're not overriding, we're feeling what's happening, and we're having a different intention. I can see how that can get confusing. You want to be authentic, and yes, sometimes, what is authentic is based in reaction. Like, it's only authentic because it's habitual, it's not actually authentic from an integrated holistic place. Sometimes, we need to use our attention to change those things.
Seth: Okay. I'm not going to read this whole question, because it's quite long, but I'm going to summarize. This is from Mariah [Redostinos 00:59:19], I hope I pronounced that right. Basically, she says, since doing the healthy aggression work, her digestion has been wonky. A lot of discomfort, and it seems like foods are being really inflammatory. She's going in to do tests, just to rule out stuff, but she feels it's related to the work, since it kicked in after the healthy aggression. And she says, "All of my trauma is stored in the gut. I've had parasites inflammation, Barrett's esophagus, a host of other got issues over the last years, along with a lot of stress at meal times, with kids. Even though I'm quite thin, I also habitually pull in my stomach, something I now realize relates to keeping up an image."
Seth: I relate to that one directly, because I used to do that as well, and I still catch myself doing it sometimes. Of trying to make my tummy look smaller by pulling in. That alone wreaks havoc. Just
that, will be like, "Whoa ..." The fascia is getting this message of constant alertness to stress, lack of self-worth that it's rooted in, right? Like, "I'm not okay the way I am, I have to look a certain way." All of that is just is in that one thing. It's not a huge surprise, that if you got the sympathetic energy moving with the healthy aggression work, that if you know that all your trauma is in your gut, then the gut is going to go nuts for a bit. Like, "Yeah ..." That's just what happens, unfortunately, sometimes.
Seth: What I would recommend is that you just take time to ... There's a couple of things that you say you can eat, that are fine. So, just have those. Just give the stomach time to settle down by not putting demanding foods in there. Maybe don't do any healthy aggression work for a while, and just focus on soothing the containment, the orientation. Do the Explore the Gut brain lessons. Those are great lessons for feeling, and to hear, and soothing, and noticing where there is tension.
Seth: Whenever you notice yourself holding and doing that thing with your tummy, stop. That's one of those things that's like, "Well, just stop doing that." Like, "Well, yeah, duh." It sounds easy, but really, that's just what you have to do. Every time you notice, stop, don't do that, because that's just going to keep this going. I think that's probably would be the best thing. I think it's great, and if you want to go to the doctor and rule out stuff, that's all totally fine too, just so you can have that peace of mind.
Seth: Anything else in here? Yeah, I think that's it. Gut work, containment, soothing. East easy foods, don't do the healthy aggression work for a bit, let things settle. Lots of gentle nourishing and attention to the belly. And don't pull it in and try to make it look smaller. Yeah.
Seth: Then, I'm just looking in the chat here for a moment. Nikki asks, "Could you say more about how long ballet training, from three to 16 years, the tummy and butt being permanently tucked in may affect things?" Well, I mean ... And I'm not a ballet person. Buy, I mean, yeah, if you're spending all your time with your tummy tucked, and your butt tucked, in a way that isn't really how your body wants to be, in the service of performance to meet some ideal, that'd be tough. I don't know, Irene, if you want to say some more about that. Because-
Irene: Yeah, Nikki, so, some of my colleagues, actually, who came to this work, originally came to see me because of their pain, their body pain. What it was, was it was a lifetime of their sports injuries, and having to suck things in, and train, and fall, and not feel. Ilya, he'd be a good one, actually, to ... I know he'd have a lot to say about this, because he was classically trained, and then he said, "Screw it." Because it just felt so bad. Ballet training is one of the hardest ones. Because our bodies, as humans, aren't meant to do that work in the way that it is, even though we love it. Well, some people love to watch it and do it.
Irene: It really is defying what the human organism is meant to do, movement wise. Right, we're meant to be more on all fours, we're meant to crouch and bend. The abdominal cavity is not meant to be contracted, unless we are doing a sit up. If we're lying down in bed and we want to sit up, then, yes, we need to use our muscles, our flexor muscles, our abdominal muscles. But when we're standing up, it's our spinal muscles and our leg muscles and our stabilizers that are supposed to be on, but not the front muscles. This is very much something that we would learn and say, Feldenkrais Training, is that, "The gut is not meant to be tonified when we're just sitting here, or when we're standing." Because it actually pulls against body dynamics, really.
Irene: Yes, it would affect things. In terms of working with that, it really is exactly what we've been doing, just connecting with the body, feeling what it wants. I'm noticing that habitual patterning of holding in, shoulders back. That energetic posture that we see in a lot of ballerinas. To just loosen that up a little bit, and think of movement in a way that's very unstructured and very unorganized in many ways. Yeah, definitely-
Seth: Being more monkey like.
Irene: Be more monkey like. I was a figure skater for years, and it's still something that I'm working with, to this day, right? All those falls on my pelvis, and arm breaks, and whiplashes. We put kids through a lot, and then, usually, children don't ever question it,
because they don't know how to question, and it's just what you do after school, right? It just becomes what you do. But activity is super important, we're meant to be active a lot. Hopefully, that helps a little bit, or gives you a little bit of a light. Okay. So, that's a-
Seth: Oh, to fix your plug real quickly, another thing to do is come to the workshops. If you're one of these people who was a ballerina, and you want to explore different kind of movement, come to our Up and Down, in August, and experience that, you know?
Irene: Yeah. Yup. It's very liberating to know that you can move like an animal, and play with it, and have fun with that. All right. So, the next question is from Jennifer, and she'll be here afterwards. She says, "I'd love to hear about the best ways to continue to live my life." She says, have in quotes, "Well, in the midst of healing work, the last two years of my focus healing therapy work have been so challenging in many ways. Many weeks, I'm just getting through the days until the next appointment with a practitioner. Any suggestions of how to feel like I'm engaging in life at the same time? Thank you."
Irene: When I read this question, Jennifer, the first thing that came to my mind, for sure, is you are engaging in your life. This is life right now, and it's different. It's not what you might see other people doing, but it's actually really important work, even though it might feel like it isn't. Just see if you can flip the script a little bit, that these appointments are really important and they're really nurturing, and they're a part of your life right now. It does not mean that in the future, they will ... it does not mean that it will continue to be this way, but right now it is. And so, in some ways, focusing your world around this important part of healing, I think, is really important. And to really love it, and accept it, and go with it. It's like you're in an interesting study environment, you're studying yourself.
Irene: I'll never forget the first thing that my Feldenkrais trainer, Jeff Heller, actually said to me, and I know some of you here worked with him. It was our first week of training, it's a four-year training, and the segments are often two to three to four weeks long. It's a long time to go somewhere and just work on yourself. He said, at one point, "Isn't it a luxury that we can sit here, or lay
here for two to three weeks, and just be with our bodies?" Not many people ever experience that. It really, I get a little shiver when I think of this, but it's like, take real joy even though there might be lots of pain and challenge. See if there can be some sense of, "This is really important, and this is a very small chunk of my life, this two years is, even another two years would be small. By doing this now, and doing it really well, it's going to inform me as I move forward."
Irene: I've been there. I was, for a few years, pretty much unable to do a lot of anything. I just looked forward to the times when I could have that session or relax or rest. If you can give into it a little bit, do it. That's my two cents on that one. All right, thanks for the question, Jennifer. That, I hope is going to resonate with some others here, my hunch. Take that in and know that this is a real ... this is a luxury for us, to do this work and to really studying, and study it. It's a good thing we're doing it, and we have the time, and resource, and capacity, and technology to study this work. It's cool, I think.
Irene: All right, Seth?
Seth: Totally cool.
Irene: It's totally cool.
Seth: Totally cool, yes. Also, yeah, sometimes, not fun, but, yeah, it really is like, "Well, what else is there, that's important to do?" There's all sorts of stuff we could create, and tell we're coming from a place of being whole and healthy with ourselves. It's like, "Well, this is what's important. This is the priority here, so that we can genuinely show up." Right?
Seth: This ties in a little bit with the next question. This is from Hari Nama, who is here. I believe, yes, hello? She says, "I'm dealing with 10 days of in and out of freeze. Body shuts down, hard to breathe, walk, function on any level. Been here before, know some of the scene, but there's more. I go through bouts of raging grief, triggered by daily tasks, sometimes. This work has made a big difference. I listen to the replay describing, from Irene, how one unpacks and invent, paying attention to the body's reactions
to details. I'm doing a lot on my own, so it's okay. Is it a matter of patience and being present as the body does the needful?" Yup.
Seth: This is why I'm saying it relates. Yeah, it takes time, and even if it may seem ... Or it is a territory that you know very well, you've been in before, what sounds different is the way that you're engaging with it. That is really powerful and important, even if it seems like, "Oh, this is just the same thing." Even if you have little changes in the ways that you can engage with it and understand it, it's starting to resolve it in the system. It does take time, and it does take patience, and knowing that this is a real opportunity, because it sounds like some deep stuff is up, right?
Seth: You've said that your appetite is less, and you need to rest more, because the brain can't handle much. "I'm looking to support the system, and coming out of the freeze. I've tried rebounding and pranayama testing, if I can activate things a bit, but it keeps shutting down. Working on the rage, allowing the body to complete movements, and all of it helps. But it continues to shut down." It sounds like you're really at this place where like, "Here's this big shutdown to response that just wants to keep asserting itself, and you're working with something. Then it tips it a bit, and then it comes back, right? Then tips." You're going back and forth, and it's a bit of a tug of war, right?
Seth: What that's doing is getting ... Remember I was talking about the energy wells, right? That's what you are rocking the energy in the well. You are getting it moving and you are through this territory, as you continue to be in this cushion pole. Even though it's not fun, keep up with it, allow yourself to rest. Allow yourself, really give yourself permission to rest when you need to, to not eat when you don't want to. Follow all those impulses and keep showing up, exploring the rage, exploring the incomplete movement patterns, when they arise. Then resting, right? Pranayama might be a little overstimulating, or maybe if you just do a little bit. Maybe just try a little bit. I know it's very easy to get into a zone, with pranayama, where you get into this energy flow, that that may, perhaps, be a little overstimulating.
Seth: Really, honestly, it sounds like you're doing everything right, and it's just going to take some time. Let me just unmute you for a moment. Yeah, it looks like you have a call alert. Hey?
Hari Nama: I was trying to figured out how to get closer, and to see if you can hear me.
Seth: I can hear you.
Hari Nama: Can you hear me properly?
Seth: Yeah.
Hari Nama: Perfect. Yeah, so, one question I have is, I have a really hard time with the resting part, super hard. Okay, it is a huge deal. Resting is a huge deal. The problem, however it is, that when it's in that shutdown place, it doesn't feel like rest. Because it's almost like a drugged place that feels so non-inviting and not comfortable. It's like, "I'm probably going to do something, I really like this place."
Seth: Okay, let me pause you there, that's really important.
Hari Nama: Okay.
Seth: When that happens, if you can just stay conscious with it, rather than, right away, going and doing something to come out of it. Because it is by just staying present, and conscious, and feeling with that state, that we start to be able to truly lift it in a global deep way. I'm talking about a full body lifting, of that freeze response. Usually, what that requires is staying with it, in the knowledge that you're safe, right?
Seth: It's that paradox of, it feels like a very unsafe place and, yet, if you're just alone in your apartment, then it is safe, right? It's tricky, but if you can stay with it and allow yourself just to be there until it changes on its own, you might be looking at a big shift there. Does that make sense?
Hari Nama: It makes sense, right now, theoretically.
Seth: Okay.
Hari Nama: Because, yeah, it's super uncomfortable. Then the idea about staying conscious and working it into your body. Yes, it makes sense from the perspective of this work, it will definitely be a different paradigm, it would. Because I can see that some flight
energy is there, of, "I'm getting there, I know I have applied it, I must be able to do something." It's actually overwhelming the body, which is really asking for rest. And it's the big part of what I'm going to do for a lot of years.
Seth: That's right.
Hari Nama: And so, the light is all ... Yeah, the-
Seth: Right. Because, and it wasn't safe to rest until you let down, I'm imagining.
Hari Nama: Not the very second.
Seth: Right.
Hari Nama: Yeah, it was all [inaudible 01:16:58].
Seth: That's actually what needs to happen, is my strong answer.
Hari Nama: The one thing, if they can't do anything else we're asking-
Seth: Just-
Hari Nama: ... really, really fast.
Seth: That's why it's like, "Just embrace it. Just luxuriate in it." It's the thing that you've never been able to do, right?
Hari Nama: That is very true.
Seth: That's usually what holds the key to changing these really deep things.
Irene: I want to just put a little extra piece there. Because this might be something that folks have already felt. You have as well, Hari Nama, and some of the more powerful sessions I witnessed with my private clients have been where I've ... As this happened just a little while ago, with someone I'm mentoring, is, I went to do some touch work, and instantly, the response was absolutely horror, terrible, it felt awful. The way that I responded, as a practitioner, was, "Yup, no big deal, we're just going to feel this intense stuff."
Irene: And so, it's like that. When we are feeling something that's intense and horrible, to have this outer observer witness that can be like, "Wow, this is really shitty, and we're just going to hang with it." Then that's where you divert your intention to, "Here's the ground. Yes, my kidneys are getting a bit freaked out, and that's okay. I've got to clenching, okay, how can I unclench it?" So, all these pieces.
Irene: The other thing, again, some of the more powerful shifts occur when I ask a client to stop breathing. They'll often go into that. I say this, because of the mention of the breath exercises and breathing, which can be a very important resource. If we need it, we should use it, and not stop breathing, but wait for the breath to come. Because, there'll often be, when we're feeling lots of activation ... I'll explain it, I'll describe. it's like this ... It's like we're trying to ventilate ourselves, it's like being on a ventilator. Actually, if we don't have the capacity to be with those big waves, it will help contain us. We need to use these breath strategies when we need them.
Irene: If I sense that the person I'm working with, or if you sense, like, "No," the green comes up, "let's feel this." It might mean that you let the breath not be contained, not be in a very modeled pattern, and you just let it stop and wait. That is, in a sense,
dipping into that freeze. It's dipping into that survival response of, "I think we need to shut down, but shut down in a sense of being present." Then when we can do that, and stay with it, and ride that wave, as I often say, we then can come out the other side. But if we're constantly trying to manage the activation ... And like I said, sometimes we have to manage it.
Irene: But if we have the knowledge, and the feeling, and the gut sense, like, "I want to ride this wave of activation and this wave of freeze, and let's see what happens," that's where the breath might actually pause or get really shallow. Very rarely you would see Peter or Kathy say, "Take a deep breath." Usually, it's, "Can you make your breath more shallow?" Right?
Seth: Yeah.
Irene: Which seemed so counterproductive, or so counter-intuitive to what we have been taught.
Seth: That's because, yeah, that's how they do that when it's like they sense this freeze response is rising and it's ready to be engaged with so we can lift. The breath becoming very shallow or even stopping is part of that. If we can stay conscious with that, and associated, and then notices the breath comes in. It's almost like the body takes that breath for the first time ever, is what it feels like, when in those sessions.
Seth: I also want to just say, all this stuff we're talking about is really hard. This is like a heroic work that you're undertaking, this is not easy to do this with yourself, okay? Really honoring and cultivating your inner witness that has the ability to hold space for yourself, like Irene or I would do for a client, right? Because, it's not easy. Just keep it up, and you're doing great. Yeah.
Irene: Sarah asked, "This shallowing of the breath, the stopping, would that reset the heart rhythm?" Yes. Technically, yes. If you can remember, way back when, in the cultivating the inhale and exhale exercises, there was a lesson, this is where the content is super important, where I had to follow the breath and then wait for the physiology to breathe. Because, I can bet you everything in the world, that it will happen. You will breathe again, because the brain will not stop a human being from breathing. You see
kids play with that's, it's like, "Okay, I'm going to hold my breath forever." It's like, "No, it won't work that way." Because our unconscious survival mechanisms are too potent, and they want to keep us alive.
Irene: In those instances, where it feels like the world is ending, know that deep down, there is a piece of your physiology, a very, very big piece, that wants you to be alive, and wants you to survive, and wants you to have regulation. We have to get out of the way, we have to bring our trauma history to the side, to let that really flourish. That's part of the conscious knowing of our system does want to heal, it doesn't want to be regulated. Dysregulation is not what our DNA wants. It wants to have that ease, but we've been so programmed for it to be a different way, right? We're really shifting these deep, deep cellular patterns.
Irene: On that note, we're past our time. Seth, did you want to add anything final, before I dive into some closure here?
Seth: I just want to let you know, there's a couple of questions from alumni, that we didn't get to. We'll, again, ask you to please just post those in the group, so we can respond there. I think we got to all the questions from you, folks. Yup. Yeah, what to say? I mean, I just, I really want to encourage you all to remember that this work is about to keeping it going, right? It's not just about the course and the program, it's about what you internalize, and how you make sense of that for yourself, and how you implement it in your every day world. How you go forward into your life, from here. Staying connected to each other, right? And to the material.
Seth: The work itself is a living organism. The work itself is an energy field that binds us. I really think that the more we can just keep coming back to that, coming back to the lessons, if we need to, following our impulses to what we feel drawn to explore, sharing this with our friends or people who are open to it, are all ways that we can just keep this going. Keep this going, you know? Keep showing up for yourselves. All right.
Irene: Thank you. Just a shout out to, I know some of the moderators were able to make it here. I see Jen below me. I seen Nicole with her Pop, Reo. I think I saw Mara, a moment ago. Crystal is here as well. So, there are a few people who could make it. Janice
couldn't, she couldn't change her sessions, so she sends her wishes. And the Australians are either asleep or somewhere else. I know some Aussies are here.
Irene: What I'd like to do, is, first of all, just follow your impulse. I'm going to suggest, if you can, to not necessarily look at your screen, or you could turn it off, just so that you're not being distracted by too many things. Up to you, though, if you want to keep your screen on, that's totally fine. But just so that you can really dip into what you need to do, to sense and feel.
Irene: Like I said, for those that might have missed the beginning, we're still going to be in contact. We've got some communications to send to you, around wrapping up and practice. We still got to do the session with Ilya. So, it's like we're teasing you, we're ending but we're not ending. We're not ending, right? The program lives on, in your worlds, and in how you practice. We'll be back in spring of 2019, with the next round, the eighth round, which is crazy.
Irene: Take a second to just really sense how much you've learned. What you know now compared to, say, what you knew a year ago. So, the past. All of us have learned something in the last year, myself included, my team. You guys, if you've got kids, grandkids, friends. So, to just have an overview of the past ... Not just the past two weeks, but the past year, and how you see things differently maybe now, right? How do you see things differently? Just see if there's one or two things that comes to mind. How do you sense yourself differently, those around you?
Irene: Then come back to you, let's be selfish for a bit. Come back to you, feel your own system. Your system against whatever it is you're resting against: chair, bed, the ground, the floor. Just say, you could say out loud, you could say in your mind's eye, "This is me. I'm here. This is me, I'm here, I'm alive, and I'm learning a lot, and it's all goodness. It's all progress, it's all learning, and it's all healing." Even when you sometimes might not think it.
Irene: Know that the little blips are important too, our mistakes are important. First thing Peter Levine says, when he starts any master class, "The most important thing is you do three things wrong today. Because if you don't do something wrong, you can't
get it corrected and you can't learn." By mistake, I mean things that don't necessarily, obviously, harm you or others, but just little blips, like, "Oops, didn't know that." Or, "Oops, I'm a little too far today." "Oops, I got pissed when I dropped the avocado on my cutlery today." For those on the last call, you know what I'm talking about, right?
Irene: These little oopses, and how we might react what we might consider negatively. See those reactions as not necessarily negative, but your stress physiology playing a familiar dance. It's its familiar dance, it knows how to do these, some things very well, because it's been ingrained in our system to protect, to survive. And those are there for a reason. In many ways, cherish your survival responses, because they have kept you alive, and that is the truth. Now, we're learning something different, and I say that with a smile.
Irene: We're learning something different, and it's good. Notice your individual nature, where you are, how you're learning. Then think of one person that you have shared this work with. Whether you share it consciously, or unconsciously. It could be your kids, it could be your grandkids. It could be how you now talk to the person that serves you coffee in the morning. It can be anything. So, how have you shared this work with one person? It could be how you treat your surroundings differently, right? How you might take care of things in your life a bit better. How you take care of your plants in a different way, your garden.
Irene: Then, bring that out to two people, or two things. Don't worry if there isn't anything immediate that pops up. Just know that somewhere in your world, you have impacted, in a positive way, through this work, at least two beings, or two qualities of energy. Then think of those two things. Of course, we could go to more, but we'd be here for a long time. So, think how those people, or those things, or those energies have potentially shifted and changed how they interact with something else, because of you.
Irene: So, you, the individual, is impacting something or someone. Then that someone or something is now ... I'm using my hands here, but it's like this ricochet, it's this pulse that's moving out, and out, and out. Then those individuals or things are going to influence something else, and something else, and something else. Then,
again, come back to just you. Just you, where you are. And, again, the learning, the goodness, the healing. Then see the actual planet of earth in the way that most of us have seen from that classic picture, from outer space of our blue water-filled planet. And that we have got fluid in us, lots of fluid.
Irene: The earth's got lots of fluid, it's got lots of raging rivers, and lakes, and the oceans, and streams, and bathtubs, and hot springs. Just connect with that blueness, and that fluid. This goes way back to training call number one, Fluid Flow. And feel that fluid in yourself, but also within our world, our planet. Noticing your breath, noticing any tensions. Noticing what you notice. Just having an internal smirk. By smirk, I mean a little positive smile. This knowing that, "I know something really important, and I have lots of this knowledge. And no matter how I share it, it's going to get shared in the way it's supposed to be shared, and that's good."
Irene: Then focus, again, on that globe on our planet, where we all are. Where we all are, because we are. And just know that that goodness has the potential to go to every single person. Every single plant, ant, species. Just to really know that this knowledge of goodness, and healing, and being connected is really our evolution and our future. And it starts with the individual, and the individual influences the collective, and that collective influences us, and vice versa.
Irene: Just come back to you. Come back to where you are. If your eyes have been opened, keep them open, if they've been closed, if it feels okay, let them open. Just see those that you might be seeing on the screen. Give yourselves a very important pat on the back, for all the work you've done. Showing up, being here in all ways, big and small.
Irene: One last time, for our official calls, for Smart Body Smart Mind, 2018, I will unmute us all. I can't do that, Seth has to do that, because he has controls.
Seth: Okay. All right. I'm going to unmute us all. Thank you all, for being here, and we'll say goodbye one last time.
