START HERE: Download the Week 3 Workbook

SUMMARY of actions this week:

  • Download the workbook

  • Start at number 1 (below) and move through each exercise (referring to the workbook throughout as noted)

  • Continue with your Morning Routine (text the group what 1 morning habit you’ll be faithfully sticking to each morning this week for accountability)

  • Continue with your Evening Routine (text the group what 1 evening habit you’ll be faithfully sticking to each morning this week for accountability)

  • Do this Body Scanning Meditation 2 times this week to integrate more mindfulness into your day

  1. The Mind

What is the mind? In order to explore the nature of reality we need to explore consciousness and the mind. There are profound relational aspects to the mind (beliefs, desires, intentions, consciousness, subjective experiences, etc.). The question we first ask is, is this a function of the brain? The short answer is no, however if you want to geek out, watch the video below by Dr. Dan Siegel for a deeper dive into what the mind really is.

3. Shadow Work

This is where we go deep. There are thoughts, emotions, intentions, etc. that we have learned to suppress as a way to keep us safe. If there was an ‘unacceptable’ part of ourselves that harnesses a reaction from others in your life. And this is just where it begins. These shadows of self may hold a key to integrating all parts of ourselves, bringing them into the light and allowing one to accept your whole self, flaws and all. Self love and self-acceptance starts here. Allowing deeply felt emotions such as shame and guilt to surface and be resolved. With all shadows exposed and self-acceptance prevalent we can find our dynamic power through healing and integration leading to a brighter path ahead.

3. The Emotional Body

When we speak about regulating the body and mind, a large part of this work happens in our central nervous system. In times of danger or stress, our sympathetic nervous system protects us by carrying signals that activate bodily processes to increase our arousal and alertness. The parasympathetic nervous system carries signals to deactivate these processes once the danger has passed, resulting in a state of calmness (McEwen, 2007). A stimuli interpreted consciously or not sets off a physiological response from which an emotional state is derived. With this understanding, becoming more aware of our emotional states given a stimuli we can gain a better understanding of what drives us into certain behaviours. This coupled with calming and training our nervous system through mindfulness and meditation, one can build capacity to pause and choose a response versus be thrown into a automatically, learned reactive state.

4. Mind/Body Connection

Physical conditions affect mental health and mental conditions affect physical health. Unlike desires or dreams, our thoughts and emotions don’t only exist in the mind. Feelings are, well, actual and physical feelings. Practices like mindfulness meditation can ‘train the mind’ and change the neural pathways, changing the function and structure of the brain (thickening regulatory areas of the brain that help control emotional regulation), which can shape how the body responds and vice versa.

5. Resiliency & resourcing

Building safety in the body and Polyvagal Theory.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227/full

REMEMBER:

Healing is the process of reestablishing the integration between body, mind and spirit, creating opportunities for the return of the memory of wholeness
— David Simon

Additional Resources: