Be Here Now With Jen

A great article discussing the framework of fawning. A relatively new and popular term popping up amongst #polyvagal theorists and #traumatherapists This article gives helpful pragmatic skills drills on what you can do today. People Forever! It also has more available links if you’d like to dig a little deeper. Fawning has resonated with many of my clients helping them discover greater understanding of self along with self-compassion. ... Link to read full article: (IG will not allow hyperlinks in post, so please copy and paste link or go to my LI or FB to click article directly). It’s worth the extra step to read it. https://letsqueerthingsup.com//01/fawning-trauma-response/

Good news. We are not going to hell in a handbasket. Bergman brings to light our harrowing tales of survival and shows again and again how we are amongst compassionate humankind. He overlays the research and science which portrays we are innately and essentially good beings who care for one another. We have heard this story before in Steven Pinker’s novel The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Read by my husband who now says, We are safer now then ever.... A constant reminder that battles my anxious underpinnings for our children’s future. I also have read this same theme in Altruism by Matthieu Ricard. The entire mid-section is devoted to how violence has declined. A simple thought back to the 13th century when Genghis Khan was single-handedly building a greedy empire and killed 40 million people who got in his way, can create pause to say, yeah, we’re doing ok. So as the rubber meets the road in this upcoming week, use this post to inspire us that we can continue to evolve and go forward with our innate compassion. If you’d like to learn more about compassion, please check out my upcoming online 4-week course starting Jan. 2021. Make compassion part of your everyday life. Link in bio.

Over a decade ago my meditation teacher said to me, OK after you fight tooth and nail to be right, then what? Uhh...then I fight to be right again...and again...duh. At what cost? There will always be something to fight for, but proving to be right often times never ceases the destructive anger we brace ourselves with constantly. So at what cost am I willing to armor myself with anger....just to be right? Learning this valuable lesson has allowed my adult self to learn t...o be in charge without being overcome by anger...usually from a much younger self vying for control. This is true. When you are angry and full of fists to be right, ask, how old do I feel in this moment! You might also recall the classic Dr. Phil phrase, Do you want to be right, or do you want to be married? Same idea, but not mutually exclusive to marital relationships. If you HAVE to be right, I feel ya. I did too. And sometimes catch myself still, but now have tools to unhook fast before anger locks me up. I learned there is this graceful ocean wave of surrender on the other side of HAVE TO BE RIGHT. A sense of allowing. A freedom of fluid emotions. A letting go. My body appreciates it, I am certain. And so does my mind. Phew! Being right all the time is exhausting. You can still accomplish goals and gain respect and remain confident. In fact in my experience even more so. It is one of the most adult things we can do at times. #healthyattachment #secureattachment #embodiedpsychotherapy #embodiedwoman #somatictherapy #somatichealing #meditation #lessonlearned

https://link.medium.com/ysy7ibInVab A keen observation by @thebreathenetwork of what I am readily seeing in my clients. How COVID is possibly cake-layering on C-PTSD. A great article examining all the parts of SE (Somatic Experimecing )therapy. ... #somaticexperiencing #traumainformed #traumatherapy #recovery #healing #selfcompassion #somatictherapy #embodiment #integratedapproach

Meditation has been a strong path for me to course correct my life. I was barreling down a life as a Lone Ranger and middle fingering it almost the whole way. Slowly and abrasively corroding my ability to open back up to the world. People are just too hard. And I will get hurt too many more times. Slowly, over time, meditation has softened my edges of egotism and peaked my edges of compassion and confidence. I must keep loving no matter what. I must keep caring and keep open...ing. #sufferingislife and can be a gift. But we have to allow the pain and not hold the pain. It is for us to experience not to own. Meditation got me there. #thisistheway I have been working with @patharadalinfoot 59 #lojongmindtraining phrases and today we were informed that meditation (or journaling would work to) is a way to train yourself to look and listen. You slow down and translate a big, confusing world, like a prayer. I can’t quite explain the mystical process of how sitting down and putting yourself on trial transforms to an #openheart Don’t take my word for it. It is merely one boat of many to take. If you feel inspired please check out my next Compassion Meditation 4-week online course (CBCT) beginning Jan. 4, 2021. It teaches this whole process. #meditation #mindfulness #transformation #wellbeing #healthcareworkers #mentalhealth #selfcompassion

Get a head start on your New Year’s Resolution. Register for the upcoming CBCTCompassion & Resiliency Training. Increase #Resiliency, #embodied compassion and Decrease #Stress and tension in 2021! If you have the calling of a #healthcareworkers or #mentalhealthcaregiver ... #yogainstructor #firstlineresponders #changeagent #professionalcoach etc... this class will set you up with pragmatic tools to decrease the deleterious effects of #burnout #empathicdistress and #compassionfatigue so you can keep giving to others in the way you were intended to. It is a researched and structured #lojong meditation based program created at #emoryuniversity by Dr. Negi. It is being taught around the globe and proving to help those on the frontlines of caregiving. Limited spaces so early enrollment is encouraged. All details and testimonials can be found at www,beherenowmindfulness.com Or click link in bio. Please be in touch with your questions.

Meet @herewithyouparenting Sam Cuming, Founder and Owner of @herewithyouparenting has created a fresh new perspective on #polyvagaltheory Many of you who follow my work and discoveries might be familiar with the ladder visual of our nervous system and @debdana #polyvagalladder Sam’s fresh approach examines #stephenporges approach using a spiral.... How do y’all like the spiral? Sam explains here: The further we get in the stress response (the spiral outwards), the further away we become from feeling connected to our body and our authentic self. We can become so mobilized that we are out of control, or so immobilized that we dissociate or collapse. You can learn more about Sam and the spiral version of #PVT by checking out this link: https://herewithyouparenting.com//a-graphic-to-illustrate/ #traumainformed #traumarecovery #traumahealing #neevoussystemregulation #healingjourney #polyvagalparenting #polyvagalinformed #therapy #somaticexperiencing #somatictherapy

Well my #Polyvagal chart by @debdana finally arrived. It’s been in my Amazon cart since early summer. I am not that impressed with the chart feature as you can see in the video it already broke apart. But I think I can fix it with some closed loop clasps. In my client sessions I often draw out the principles of this theory, and since being online the drawings are often chicken scratch and pathetic and hard for my clients to see. Lined paper and cheap pen ink held up to my ...computer camera I look forward to this week to test out these new colorful stock card images in real-time. I’m hoping they will be helpful for my clients to get the broad brush strokes of #polyvagaltheory Adding the #psychoeducation of #Polyvagal into my sessions has truly made a huge impact. The feedback from my clients is greatly positive. When they can understand their personal profile mapping of their #nervoussystem they can begin to understand how to #regulate it. #empowerment #empowermentinunderstanding #cognitivedevelopment #embodiment #somaticexperiencing #somatichealing #somatictherapy #somatic

https://link.medium.com/rwS1y4CMEab Low vagal tone is a ‘silent epidemic’ that affects the majority of the population in industrialized countries. A great informative and encouraging read. ... @traumageek_janaeelisabeth we appreciate your continued insights. See more

A few good points to remember from Dr. Nadja Benchop’s presentation this morning #embodimentconference2020 The breath is so important and we often forget about it. Many of us have an uncomfortable or love/hate relationship with it. Many of my clients struggle with finding or attuning to the breath. Yet we need to breathe to live. So we can’t push away something we absolutely need and the more we push against actually the more we are going to struggle with it. So...... We need to get a new perspective. Be curious. #breathe #breath #breathwork #traumarecovery #traumahealing #traumainformed #traumaandbreathtraining

@Stephen Porges calls our @socialengagementsystem the smart vagus because of the myelination around the nerve. Myelination refers to an increase in the fatty sheath surrounding neuronal processes and fibers that increases the efficiency of electrical transmission.(Think coaxial cable) Our myelinated pathways on our vagus nerve are newer evolutionarily and have evolved with this efficient coating. ... That smart vagus affects the muscles in the larynx and the pharynx, the throat muscles; it affects the muscles in the middle ear that tune the frequency range that's going to be focused on what needs to be amplified; and it also, through a series of nuclei, called the nucleus ambiguus, meaning it goes to nerve fibers that go to the muscles of the face. Particularly the muscles in the top part of the face, like around the striated muscles of the eyes. So why would it do that? Why would it be doing those seemingly disparate things together? There must be a reason for that because as you know, nature doesn't just do things randomly. Well it may randomly assign things, but they don't stay around very long if they don't really belong functioning together. So what is the function of that? What do they all have in common? Yep. The social engagement system. When you feel like you want to connect, are connecting or excited about connecting these parts of your body are tuned in. We talk, we look into each other’s eyes and we listen. And the world goes round and round and we feel better. Fascinating, the body is.

Nothing like spending a rainy weekend in a Master Class with @drpeteralevine Learning about the complexities of #chronicpain and #syndromes working with clients with #complexptsd #whoa