Defenses are up!

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Wow, what a week.

In the midst of current events, the virus, and handling our state of affairs, it is totally and completely natural for our individual and collective nervous systems to be on the defense. When we’re on defense for too long, there’s a shutdown.

Your nervous system is your #1 protector and it’s working to assess your safety even before your logical, cognitive brain. When there is an actual threat or a perceived threat, your defenses go up. They will even go up if you know in your head that what’s happening is safe but the situation reminds your body of something unsafe in your past. This is built into your body and thank goodness it’s there. We need this threat detector to work for us so we can literally stay alive.

Living with your defenses up is very taxing for your body system. It can cause many health problems (including but not limited to headaches, anxiety, heart palpitations, lethargy, depression, autoimmune diseases, allergies) and also prevents you from experiencing joy, creativity, connection, love, and fulfillment in your life. So many of us live this way and it just feels normal. So, if you’re struggling to recover from feeling triggered, feeling numb or have chronic health problems, it’s a sign that your defensive patterns are doing more than they need to and probably have been for some time. The good news is neuroplasticity is real! We CAN change our brain and nervous system patterns.

So, when it feels safe to do so, let’s practice letting down our guard, a little bit at a time so that you can finish those trigger moments and experience more ease, joy, and connection.

How?

Let’s go deeper into it.

Here are some options:

~ Email me to set up a free 30 min consult for private work. Want to read about a client’s experience working with me? Her testimonial is here.

~ Join a somatic movement class at doriesilverman.com/classes. Each class includes nervous system regulation so you’ll get the benefits of finding a sense of ease and calm in your body home.

~Come to the next Settle Your Sh*t - Introductory Online Workshop to learn about your nervous system and how to move through anxiety, stress, and overwhelm. January 16th, 2021 2-4 pm CST. Register Here

Carve out space to develop a connection to your nervous system this week.

With Love and Regulation
~Dorie

Hitting a wall - Anxiety, anger, irritability, stuckness...

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About this time of the year + the pandemic, clients and I are experiencing hitting the wall. Those moments where you’re full up, you’ve had enough and can’t take any more. There may be a voice in your mind that tries to rationalize, “You’re home all day, why are you overwhelmed. Shit, you’re not doing anything”. You may notice that when you’re at your limit your energy crashes, your mind feels like scrambled eggs and everything takes so much effort to get done, even normal everyday stuff. If you’re like me, on top of it you may feel that your emotions are right there on the surface and anything could unleash irritability, anger, lashing out, or crying a lot. For others, it may feel like anxiety or stuckness in your chest. It is totally natural that you’re feeling this way. Accumulated stress in captivity will do that to a nervous system. 

Our numbers are high and we don’t know how much longer this is going to go on. So, what the F do we do about it?

Think about your nervous system as a cup. When the cup is totally full (those moments of stuckness), and you try to pour more into it (pushing yourself to do more, paying attention to the mean voice in your head, or denying your actual feelings), it's going to overflow (unleashed emotion).

Making space in your cup is #1. Once there’s space, emotions become able to move through you and finish. Since we’re all handling a lot, we want to do that slow and steady. Regulated, baby.

Unfortunately, our parents didn’t model this for us or even know how to do it. Unfortunately, our go go, work more, do more culture doesn’t support this work. This inner work, to change your nervous system patterns on how you handle stress is no joke. It's counter-cultural and it is a very deep form of advocacy for claiming humanness and wholeness.

If this is resonating with you, reply to this email for private one on one work. Want to read about a client’s experience working with me? Her testimonial is below.

Or

Begin by joining a somatic movement class at doriesilverman.com/classes. Each class includes nervous system regulation so you’ll get the benefits of finding a sense of ease and calm in your body home.

Or

Purchase gift certificates for the people you love for online classes here

Carve out space to develop a connection to your nervous system this week.
Join us for Somatic Movement classes.

Monday 6-7 pm CST (YOGA)
Wednesday 9:30-10:30 am CST (BOWSPRING)
Friday 12-1 pm CST (YOGA)
Saturday 10-11:15 am CST (YOGA)

Register at www.doriesilverman.com/classes

Can’t make a live class?
All classes are now recorded. To receive a recording of a class, register for the class and then send me an email or text letting me know you’d like the recording link. It will be available for 24 hours.

Resources:

I'll see you on the mat!

With Love and Regulation

~Dorie

P.S. It’s not normal to feel anxiety, depression, and overwhelm just because everyone else does too. Let’s clear what’s bogging you down so you can enjoy your life and thrive. Reply to this email to have a chat. And read what a client has to say about Somatic Experiencing below.

The referral of your friends and family is the greatest compliment you can give me. Thank you for your trust.

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One BIG Way to Handle Anxiety and Stress - An Election Story

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On Saturday, November 7th 2020, at 10:40AM, when Biden’s win was announced, I was in the middle of teaching yoga. One of the gals in the class wrote a message in the zoom chat, “PA called it, we have a new president.” At about the same moment, there were screams from my neighbors and notifications were streaming in on my computer. Immediately I felt the impulse to celebrate. I wanted to raise my arms and jump up and down. I wanted to high five someone and share the news. I wanted to look into another person’s eyes and share the win.

But I couldn’t, I was teaching a class. And I know that if I announced it, class would be over. I had to keep going.

So, there I am, full of heart, hope and impulses. I needed to focus on you guys and what I was teaching. But, inside, things were brewing.

I said to myself, “Ok Dorie, this is a great opportunity to hold excitement and celebration inside your nervous system. You’ve been training for this.”

When it comes to rewiring your nervous system, one of the most important skills is building capacity to experience and finish emotions. When it comes to feeling like shit, it is a little easier to access these experiences and sometimes get stuck in them (not you, just me ;). On the other hand, when it comes to feeling good, celebrating and enjoying things, we tend to quickly move past them and onto the next task, plan or worry.

So, back to the class. After finding out that Biden was our president, I spent the next 40 minutes practicing staying present (ie. regulated), teaching and holding this excitement. It was hard, but a great opportunity to marinate in the sensations of a yummy moment without rushing to the next thing.

We have a lot more work to do to heal this country.

AND

You can stretch out the enjoyment of things. Not to be complacent, but to create more space for healing and connection which will affect the people around you.

Opportunities for you to stretch out enjoyment and transition stress, anxiety and overwhelm into being focused and productive:

  1. Join a somatic movement class this week.

  2. Click here to chat about working 1 on 1

  3. Come to the next Settle Your Sh*t - Thanksgiving Edition workshop (coming in 2 weeks so keep your eyes peeled for deets)

Each somatic yoga movement class includes:

~nervous system regulation exercises (creates a feeling of safety)

~tracking your own nervous system

~yoga poses and breathing

~alignment that is functional and can be used in all areas of your life

~deep rest

Carve out space to develop a connection to your nervous system this week. Let’s keep letting the body know we’re safe.

Join us for Somatic Movement classes this week.

Monday 6-7 pm CST (YOGA)
Wednesday 9:30-10:30 am CST (BOWSPRING)
Friday 12-1 pm CST (YOGA)
Saturday 10-11:15 am CST (YOGA)

Register here

Can’t make a live class?

All classes are now recorded. To receive a recording of a class, register for the class and then send me an email or text letting me know you’d like the recording link. It will be available for 24 hours.

And check out the resources and testimonials below.

Where were you when the presidency was announced? I’d love to hear your stories.

With Love and Regulation

~Dorie

P.S. Are you looking for more individualized one-on-one support for anxiety, depression or overwhelm? Let’s Chat

Photo: Alyce Henson Photography