Tag: practices

Pay attention, to what?

by Jody, posted in pain, painscience

Let’s look at a couple more practices you might consider to use in the evening. And why.

If you’re ever in a class or a private session with me you will hear me speak about the brain and the nervous system. Which might be unusual, when thinking about pain. Normally people will talk about tissue, bones, structure. Research over the last 10-20 years tells us pain is much more complex than the state of these ‘pieces of your body’.

Your brain, which kinda runs the show in terms of keeping you alive, is all about your survival. Which is a good thing. The problem is, it tells us something is up but it doesn’t always provide specifics or what we might do about sensation or messages we receive.

Whether physical health or mental health, however, your brain is looking out for your best interests. Which is why when you can’t seem to take your attention away from your pain, suffering, concerning thoughts or stressors, it makes sense when you think about it. It is drawing your attention, purposely to these things. It wants you to act in some way. To do something.

Sometimes, you might know what to do and choose to take action. It’s obvious. If you pick up a hot pan without gloves, your brain is saying you should have put potholders on prior to doing so. If you have a broken ankle, it is telling you to seek treatment and take some time to allow for healing. If you need to have a difficult conversation with someone, your brain – and subsequently your physiology – will send some kind of signal. You might feel motivated, mobilized, prepared and confident. Or you might feel anxious, butterflies in the stomach, strain in your jaw, neck or shoulders. In each, you receive information about your state of being concerning what is about to happen or what has occurred.

The number one thing pain or any other sensation you might feel in your body is trying to do, is to get you to listen. To get you to pay attention.

Usually working in the background without any of your awareness at all, the brain is constantly monitoring your physiology and making adjustments accordingly as required. It’s releasing hormones, sending messages to move certain muscles, signals that tell you when to eat, or sleep. It adjusts your blood pressure, regulates your temperature. Creates enzymes to digest your food. Tells you when to poop. Well, it does right?

The thing about pain, however, is it’s sending a message but often you can’t figure out what’s up. What you’re supposed to do. It’s hard, it takes time to figure it out. To explore what’s needed or right for you.

But back to this paying attention. What can you do when you’re in the thick of it? Particularly when you’re trying to sleep at night (and let me just add that the correlation between sleep and pain is huge).

How might you distract your brain, how might you shift your focus onto something else? At least for the time being. Well, there is a longer explanation that involves the Homunculus Man (above picture) but I won’t delve into it too much here. Rather, offer a couple practices you might like to try.

This, using the sounds SaTaNaMa was taught to me a couple years ago and it combines the rhythmic movement of your breath with the rhythmic movements of your jaw and fingers and rhythmic sounds. You can check it out here. I’ve had clients tell me it can be quite helpful when they are really in the thick of a painful experience/episode, flare-up. Or if you wake up in the night and immediately feel pain.

You might practice something like nadi shodhana, or alternate nostril breathing, for 5-10 minutes before bed. You can practice it sitting up if preferred but you might also do so when laying in bed (or if you wake in the night), using your fingers to close the nostrils. This practice also engages the hands, breath, the face (nose).

All these areas send a lot of sensory information to the brain. Your senses are used to take in information, that helps with your survival. Think about noxious toxins you might smell, seeing danger, touching something dangerous, your sense of taste in terms of toxins or allergens particular to you, hearing a predator in the distance. The brain pays particular attention to these areas so if you can engage the brain, have it pay attention to a ‘safe’ activity it might, just might, change your pain. Allow for some calming, easier breathing. Switch from a danger, or mobilized state in your nervous system to a more safe, restful place.

Or maybe you use one of the Apps available like Calm or Insight Timer that grabs your brain’s attention. Listen to some calming, soothing music. Or perhaps use the smell of an essential oil that for you, might trigger a response that it’s time to sleep and safe to do so.

Let me know if you give any of these a try and how it goes. I hope you find them useful in some way.

Balancing Act

by Jody, posted in mindfulness, tools - rest

In preparation for sleep at the end of your day, it might be another time to check in with how you’re feeling.

You might feel fully exhausted, in which case you may have an easier time falling asleep. Yet, even if you’re physically exhausted there is also a possibility of being in a mobilized, or upregulated state in your nervous system.

  • You may have been going full speed ahead with what feels like a million things required of you on any given day. Trying to balance what seems like never-ending demands.
  • Maybe you’ve just had an emotional or stress-filled conversation with someone.
  • You might be feeling some of the long-term stress from these strange times of Covid-19.
  • Maybe you ate a big meal late in the evening as you didn’t had time to do so, earlier.

Your body, your physiology, automatically changes and/or responds to what is going on, what is required in a given moment of time. First of all it takes some awareness to even notice what the state of being, or the state of your nervous system, is. If you’re in fight, flight or freeze (a more sympathetic nervous system response) sleep might not come so easily. However, if you can learn to shift into a more parasympathetic type response (the rest and digest response) it might make the transition to sleep more easeful.

The first step is in the noticing.

Perhaps you can do a body scan to notice what you feel. Bringing your awareness slowly to each part of your body, noticing any sensation you feel or any thoughts or feelings that arise as you do this. Or you may come to know through noticing the quality of your breath. Or perhaps noticing your thoughts and emotions.

People often have difficult going to sleep. More so these days, I find. You might want to look at it, approach it, in a way that requires some preparation. We need both types of nervous systems responses. We have stresses in our life, we need to mobilize. Yet, how might we find some balance and what practices might be helpful in the evening to downregulate our system. To allow for rest and build capacity to meet the challenges of our days. What might make the transition, more easeful? We’ll dig into a few this week.

Sense Making

by Jody, posted in mindfulness, movement, tools - breath, tools - movement, tools - stillness
ballpen blank desk journal
Photo by Jessica Lewis on Pexels.com

How do you make sense of your days? Of what’s happening in and around you.

You might be someone who writes in a journal.

Either early morning, or late at night. I’ve recently heard of a thing called Morning Pages which I understand are meant to clear your mind, “provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand.”  Or perhaps, as the creator says, they “could be called mourning pages as they are really a farewell to life as you knew it and an introduction to life as it’s going to be.”

I’m not a journal writer but I do write a lot of notes. I learn best when reading and writing on paper. I (attempt to) figure things out that way. Most often it’s not in the morning when I write. Sometimes, it is in the middle of the night (more on that later). Regardless, it does seem helpful to empty out or (try to) make sense of what is occupying the mind.

Might a sitting or meditation practice, be useful?

I sit for a few minutes each morning, and well, whatever happens, happens. Most often, for about 5 to 10 minutes. I notice my breath, find a place to focus and just sit with that for a bit. I feel into my body. Notice how I might find support in gravity. Allow myself to be comfortable. Some days that may appear to be very still. Other days I shift quite a bit. I subtly move my spine, my legs, whatever.

This short little practice seems to make some sense for me at the moment. Helps me find some ground, stability and space to navigate through the uncertainty of these days.

You may appreciate the practice of prayer.

It might be the way you prefer to begin (and/or end) the day.

Practices and rituals allow us time and space to consider, wonder, be curious. Make sense of things, or perhaps support us in a world that doesn’t always make sense.

When much seems beyond our control it might be helpful to consider, make sense of what we value most. What matters most?

I think this can be useful practice. What’s most important. The world around us will surely change and challenge us constantly, but maybe focusing on the simple things we might value like care, communication, community, and connecting with others might make the most sense, for now. Maybe for you it is being outside. Truth-finding. Helping others. Maybe it’s just this getting up each day… and putting one foot in front of the other no matter what.

What is it, really, that matters to you most? How do you know that?

#morningpractie #mornings #journaling #selfstudy #meditation #prayer #practices #values