# Embody Your Power Podcast - Episode 4 Feel At Home In Your Body
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[00:00:02] hi I'm Danielle Karen and in this podcast I'm going to share with you knowledge and tools that I believe should be accessible to everyone their fundamental and essential to Being Human embody your power is an integrative model that Bridges science spirituality and ancient wisdom to give you the resources needed to live your fullest potential as a psychotherapist for over 16 years and now as a coach I help people know reclaim and embody their power on all levels it's my mission to help you connect to your unshakable resilience to know true power and freedom to be Sovereign and to remember your divine nature if you're wanting to learn tools to release layers of conditioning heal from trauma feel at home in your body have inner peace expand your capacity for Joy connect spiritually and take a journey

[00:01:07] with me to embody your power then this podcast is for you thank you for joining me together let's raise our Consciousness to help evolve Humanity in this episode I'll guide you to feel at home in your body our body is our vessel or vehicle for our spirit in this life so let's look at how we can feel at home in it has anyone taught you how to regulate your internal state so that you can shift gears between feeling too revved up and too sluggish to cruising at a good Pace where life feels manageable I'd venture to say most people haven't been taught how to use their awareness to regulate their nervous system so let's look at the nervous system like the gas and the brake on your car the sympathetic nervous system is like the gas on your car which gives you the

[00:02:10] energy the drive the go this is the system that's in charge of your fight and flight responses as well in the parasympathetic nervous system as the break on your car which allows you to slow down rest digest and relax a regulated nervous system looks like driving your car in an easeful way where you're easily pressing on the gas and easily pressing on the brake the ride is smooth you feel comfortable in the car there's no stress it's a relaxed enjoyable ride that's the experience we want to have in our body when you have too much gas and not enough break you can feel like you're speeding out of control what does it feel like in your body when you're pressing on the gas too much you can feel overwhelm anxiety Panic insomnia rage hyper vigilance Mania you can also feel an increased heart rate cold sweats difficulty breathing or muscle tension

[00:03:14] an example could look like being at a demanding job where you're constantly feeling stressed and you have very short if any breaks you're eating lunch at your computer and you're basically pressing on the gas until you log out of work or even until your head touches the pillow at night another example of someone pressing on the gas too much is an anxious person someone who has trouble relaxing who can't sit still they're always doing something and their mind isn't able to relax either they're often preoccupied with the past or the future when you have too much break and not enough gas you can feel like you're not going anywhere right what's going to happen if you're driving a car and stepping on the brake more than the gas so let's look at what it feels like in your body when you're pressing on the brake too much overwhelm depression stuck apathetic fatigue lack of motivation lack of energy

[00:04:17] disconnection you can also feel low muscle tone poor digestion decreased immune system low heart rate or low blood pressure examples could look like someone who sleeps a lot struggles with motivation and is stuck in areas of their life they might feel disconnected from their body others and their life when we're regulated we feel calm energized balanced embodied empowered playful we have an overall sense of well-being we have options intact boundaries and life feels manageable you can think of this as the Goldilocks just rate zone we all have a sense that we want to be in the zone and feel an internal homeostasis right because if we wake up and we're feeling sluggish we're going to reach for something stimulating and if we're trying to go to sleep and we're feeling too amped up we'll reach for something that helps us calm down and relax

[00:05:20] we're always trying to regulate this internal state so that we can come back into a homeostasis when we're no longer in the Goldilocks zone where life feels manageable and we're feeling overwhelmed we're not in touch with our innate resources to handle life to respond to challenges to help others and have healthy relationships when we're in the overwhelmed Zone our nervous system is disregulated I've met with many people who didn't know what it felt like to be in the Goldilocks just right Zone they're oscillating between overwhelm with too much gas and overwhelm with too much break and this can be incredibly uncomfortable to experience and at this point we can start to hate our body and disconnect from it what do you think happens if you have the gas and break on Full Throttle the car isn't going to move but the engine is going to Rev in humans this is one way to describe

[00:06:23] the freeze state someone could look calm on the outside but have a lot of energy revving on the inside it's important to note that freezing comes with a lot of activation in the nervous system despite it looking calm on the outside so how do we regulate our nervous system many of us never learn to do this using our awareness so then we've resorted to using external things such as food TV media the internet sex drugs alcohol shopping obsessive compulsive behaviors and this is where addictions can form I will guide you to learn how to use mindfulness to regulate your nervous system by bringing your awareness to your body as your body is your window into your nervous system your body is giving you direct feedback about what's happening in your nervous system meaning when you're more aware of your body you're more aware of what's

[00:07:26] happening in your nervous system and are able to shift it some of the signs your body might give you that you're stepping on the gas too much include feeling or experiencing anxiety jittery restless legs nail biting insomnia excessive sweating muscle tension headaches fight or flight tendencies you might feel easily triggered or you might experience feeling overreactive in your life some of the signs your body might give you that you're stepping on the brake too much include feeling or experiencing fatigue sleepy Spacey foggy heavy heavy eyelids dissociation lack of focus or lack of motivation I want to introduce you to two exercises to regulate your nervous system in the first exercise scan your body from head to toe

[00:08:31] to see what Sensations are present you might notice Pleasant Sensations unpleasant Sensations painful Sensations and in this exercise what we're looking to do is to find where in your body you feel the most calm relaxed or at peace now at first you might say I don't feel it anywhere but I want you to take some time to really look and see where you feel that calm sensation and it can be a really small area like the tip of your toe or finger now bring your awareness to that place in your body that you feel calm or relaxed and focus on that sensation for about one to two minutes you're not trying to make anything happen you want to be curious and see what naturally happens as you do this so there's no right or wrong you're just exploring and being curious about what happens when you do this

[00:09:34] if your awareness drifts off that sensation and you're starting to think about other things that's okay just come back to that place in your body when you're able to catch that you've went somewhere else after one or two minutes take a moment to reflect on what do you notice in your body now did anything shift or change did things stay the same just take note of what your experience was in the second exercise imagine or remember a time when you felt calm or relaxed bring yourself back to a memory maybe where you were on vacation or a time when you felt at peace or didn't have any responsibilities it could be that you felt like this for a minute it doesn't have to be the whole day or really long time now bring yourself back to that memory with all of your senses for a minute so if you're at the beach maybe you hear the waves and the birds

[00:10:37] you feel the Sun or the breeze on your skin you can feel the sand beneath your feet maybe you taste the salt water or something you're drinking you smell the different smells in the air and you can see the Horizon where the ocean meets the sky notice what happens in your body as you bring yourself back to the relaxing memory again you're not trying to make anything happen you're just noticing and being curious about what happens as you do the exercise and by the way if you can't think of a relaxing memory you can make one up in your mind and go there Some people prefer one of these exercises over the other so try them both and see what one you like best when you practice this exercise then you'll get better and faster at regulating your nervous system and you'll be able to utilize this exercise when you're in a very stressful situation let's say you know you're going to have

[00:11:40] a stressful meeting with your boss you can be in a meeting and engaging with others while simultaneously focusing on the relaxed part of your body or the relaxing memory to regulate yourself what generally happens with this exercise is that by focusing on the relaxed sensation or memory the calming sensation spreads in our body if you notice that more of your body is getting relaxed then continue to keep your awareness on the body until it's relaxed as much as it can something that's really important to know is that when you have your awareness connected to your body feelings emotions and Sensations move when you disconnect your awareness from your body the movement stops and things stay stuck so your awareness connected to your body is vital to help the body's innate wisdom to move things toward health and completion it's important to keep your awareness connected to your body until your body gives you a signal that it's complete

[00:12:45] now let's say you did this exercise and your body didn't feel more relaxed as a result that's okay what this usually means is that you have a protector part that's afraid of relaxing for some reason this is actually very common the part can be trying to protect you from relaxing because it believes that if you did you might be caught off guard or get hurt in some way so in this case we would want to work with that part so that it can let you relax the same type of part can cause trouble around sleep for some people and make it really difficult to fall asleep for similar reasons another possibility of what can happen is that you do this exercise and most of your body relaxes but there's one area let's say in your chest for example that doesn't relax and instead feels pain burning tension or some type of discomfort what you can try is to ask your body not your brain

[00:13:47] if it can have anything real or imaginary in relationship to this sensation what would it want let's say your body says I would want a hug or a bath or to pause the rest of the world then take some time to imagine having or receiving this with all of your senses so if for example you want to pause the World Imagine doing this by including what you can see feel smell taste or hear in this case it might be the lack of what you see in here because everything stopped for some time maybe you tune into a sense of silence and peace again try to stay connected to the sensations in your body as you're imagining giving your body what it wants exercise may seem simple however I would invite you to not discount the power it can have in your life in my work I introduce everyone to these exercises for a few reasons

[00:14:50] one it helps people learn how to regulate their own internal State and in the process they're becoming more aware of what Sensations are present in their body as we're more aware of our body we can catch the signals quicker so that we can prevent ourselves from becoming overwhelmed or reactive increased body awareness also helps us navigate scary or traumatic events better assisting Us in asserting our boundaries it can help us prevent traumatic symptoms from developing and it can help us heal from past trauma two for me it's an assessment and I can know more about someone and how to help them when I understand how they're responding to the exercise three it helps me learn about their nervous system and how it does with attempting to regulate it into more resilient present and relaxed States is there a tendency to step too much on the gas or break are they able to access the Goldilocks just right Zone

[00:15:54] I can see how they're doing with the Mind Body Connection and if there's anything including any parts that get in their way of doing this exercise four I will recommend this for homework so that they can strengthen the skill because it's a skill that we will build upon in our work together and assist in Optimal Health and healing try to find ways to integrate this exercise into your daily routine a few times a day it only takes one to two minutes and you can feel a big shift in your body and it can really impact the whole day I recommend that people do this during the day when they have transitions for example before driving your car or before getting out of your car when you sit down at your desk before you leave your desk this may sound a little funny to some of you all but another idea is to take an extra minute each time you're in the bathroom the bathroom is a great place because you're in a space by yourself with a door no one's bothering you

[00:16:56] so try putting a sticky note there to remind you to take an extra minute for this exercise I started doing this exercise when I started to see clients in my internship in 2007 when I was 27. my body was very dysregulated because for the first time I was sitting across from people who were looking to me for help with their most vulnerable painful and traumatic events in their lives not to mention at that point in my life I never had people talk about various types of trauma and horrific neglect and look to me for help I didn't know how prevalent sexual abuse was for example nor could I wrap my mind around how a child could be abused by their own family members it was a steep learning curve I literally brought a couple of shirts to my internship each day because I would sweat like crazy while trying to look calm and confident however I learned how to focus on my client as well as focus on the relaxed part of my body or a relaxing memory I'm

[00:18:01] very grateful for my feet because no matter what was happening in the rest of my body my feet or the bottom of my feet would always feel so relaxed so I'd Focus my awareness there and notice the relaxed sensation start to spread I would also track when my clients were starting to get overwhelmed and would teach them to do this exercise to prevent them from getting overwhelmed anytime I would encourage my client to take time to focus on a relaxing sensation or memory I would also do so when helping people heal from trauma it's essential that they learn how to regulate their nervous system trauma and ongoing stress can easily dysregulate the nervous system by forcing people into an overwhelmed State and unfortunately we aren't taught how to come back into regulation the benefits of knowing how to regulate your body being aware of Sensations in your body and feeling a sense of ease in your body include

[00:19:03] feeling at home in your body if your nervous system is dysregulated and you don't know how to regulate it it makes sense that you would turn against your body hate your body and try to numb or disconnect from your body feeling at home in your body feels wonderful I heard someone say your body is like the rental car you pick up when you go visit somewhere you the driver of the car will continue on your journey when you drop off the car so while you're driving around in this body during this lifetime it would be great to feel good in the car reducing stress stress is the number one cause of illness and disease understanding how to regulate your body can help you manage stress more effectively when you're in tune with your body's signals you can identify and address stressors before they escalate resulting in overall improved health and well-being emotional regulation

[00:20:06] being present and knowing how to regulate your body helps you to better regulate your emotions which also helps your relationships you can recognize emotions as they arise allowing you to respond thoughtfully rather than reacting impulsively enhanced physical health knowing how to regulate your body involves recognizing the importance of pacing yourself resting taking breaks good nutrition and hydration and regular exercise this leads to better physical health increased energy levels and improved immune function better sleep not getting a good night's sleep can really impact everything else in our lives being in tune with your body can help you identify and address factors that disrupt sleep with greater awareness you can adopt healthier sleep routines and improve the quality of your sleep self-awareness

[00:21:10] by bringing your awareness to your body and regulating your nervous system you increase your self-awareness you become more attuned to your thoughts feelings and bodily Sensations which helps you make more conscious choices and equips you to respond most effectively to Life's challenges enhanced relationships relationships can really be impacted by impulsive actions and responses feeling stressed exhausted or drained being distracted or trying to numb your body to feelings and emotions when you're present and at ease in your body you're more likely to be present in your interactions with others we all crave and especially children our loved ones presence and attention this deepens our connections improves communication and allows for greater empathy being aware of our body also helps us to know how to create safety for others

[00:22:13] which results in Greater vulnerability and intimacy pain management understanding how to regulate your body can help you cope with physical pain better what we resist persist when we bring our awareness to our body the body's intelligence is to try to move things toward health or through to completion being present allows you to be present with the pain and see if there's any impulses to move it through and out I've seen this with people when they use their awareness to get into a very peaceful and calm State their pain actually subsides resilience you are resilient by Divine Design when you're accessing your regulated state you are also accessing your resilience you are better equipped to handle any of life's challenges you increase your capacity to face difficulties with more confidence flexibility Grace and adaptability

[00:23:18] Mind Body Connection being in tune with your body strengthens Your Mind Body Connection you have more control of what you're experiencing in your body you're no longer sitting in the back seat of your car this connection has been associated with improved well-being in many areas of your life including a positive impact on your mental health you can have increased inner peace calmer mind when you feel at ease in your body you are less likely to be overwhelmed by constant thoughts and worries if you can relax your body you can help relax your mind if you can relax your mind you can help relax your body when you're present in your body you're more likely to stay focused on the task at hand a sense of ease helps you let go of distractions and maintain better concentration knowing how to regulate your body can really enhance your meditation practice joy and fulfillment

[00:24:23] embracing a sense of ease in your body can bring about a deeper appreciation for Life a loving relationship with your body and a greater sense of joy and fulfillment in everyday experiences intuition your intuition is a major inner guidance system that can save your life I know this from personal experience where I almost died from overriding my intuition and from working with many people I will often ask them if they had a sense or a feeling that something was off before something bad happened in their lives many people did receive a sign however if we're not in touch with our body we can easily ignore the signals and messages our intuition is trying to give us strengthening the mind-body connection allows us greater access to this built-in guidance system spiritual connection when we can regulate our nervous system we can access greater spiritual connection and expansive States we have an easier time accessing the

[00:25:25] quantum field elevated brainwave States and experiencing ourselves beyond our body connecting to Source God the Divine the universe the quantum field or the Creator whatever word you like to use for that we can explore more of the power and potential we have in this life we can raise our Consciousness and we can help evolve Humanity in summary knowing how to regulate your body and cultivating presence and ease within it can significantly improve your quality of life and contribute to your overall happiness and well-being putting in the time and effort is well worth it as it can have a profound and positive impact on all aspects of your life at the end of this episode I would like to leave you with some exercises to try scan your body and notice what Sensations are present bring your awareness to the sensation in your body that feels the most relaxed or calm you're not trying to make anything

[00:26:27] happen you're trying to be curious to see what naturally happens you can also recall a time when you felt most relaxed bring yourself back to that time to that memory and include all of your senses what you can feel taste touch smell and hear notice what happens in your body as you do these exercises and lastly find a Time throughout the day to do this for a minute or two to prevent your nervous system from getting overwhelmed and to feel more at home in your body thanks for listening to this podcast if you found this episode helpful please consider assisting me in reaching more people by sharing it with others or writing a review together let's raise our Consciousness to help evolve Humanity

[00:27:29] for more information please visit my website daniellecarron.com that's d-a-n-i-e-l-l-e-c-a-r-r-o-n.com [Music] foreign
