The process of healing, growing, learning, and unlearning the conditions that separate us from our truest expression, is a bit like witnessing my pupper Lola during tubby time. She loathes the water but loves being clean. Her sad, wet eyes and heavy demeanor requires all the slow, tender touches, soothing energies, songs, and support to hold her through the process. After a few seconds of being out of the water and receiving her favourite “rub dubs” (massaging her with the towel to dry off while singing to her), she’s ecstatic and wild with joy! Her smile expands from ear to ear, her eyes light up, and she becomes super charged with joy, playfulness, and the zoomies!
As I witness her process, the reflection reminds me of my own healing process and the process I’ve witnessed in others. Making the conscious decision to commit to the actions of healing, whether physically, energetically, emotionally, mentally, or Spiritually, is the most challenging and nuanced experience of the human condition. Many Elders, Philosophers, Yogi’s, Wisdom Traditions, etc. can attest to this. It’s easier to stay attached to what we know, even if it doesn’t serve us, than to heal the wounds, expand perspectives, and alchemize the challenges into love.
What I’ve learned, and continue to learn in different layers, from PLY teachers, mentors, deep diving into brain and nervous system stuff (neural biology), and acoustic sciences (frequency/sound), is the vast majority of the reasons why we unconsciously choose to stay in the mud, is because our brain is patterned to do so and doesn’t want to change. It takes up a lot of Qi to heal, adapt, and integrate new patterns (think of rehabbing from surgery or a major injury). So if you’ve found yourself in the New Year’s resolution cycle (check out our other blog here that talks about the Resolution Falloff Schedule), here’s your permission slip to ditch the shame, fill up your cup with grace, and start fresh with the rising of each sun.
As we explored the approach to our inaugural Sadhana, what settled the deepest was the desire for a refresh. A new perspective to balance, so we may feel more ease, play, spaciousness, connectedness, joy, and radiance in creating habits that support our humanness. Even though the brain benefits tremendously from an all in, immersive approach to new habit forming actions (like immersing ourselves to learn a new language), we also have our nervous system to consider. Most, if not all, humans have experienced some very large nervous system reflections over the past few years and it’s exposed where we have adequate coping tools or holes in our life raft.
So, how do we deal with our immersion loving brain and sensitive nervous systems? Here are some suggestions to support you in creating new patterns in a sustainable way.
Step 1: Let’s get the dopamine flowin’
Dopamine is the hormone responsible for the feelings of motivation, drive, play, pleasure, satisfaction, excitement, etc. High levels of dopamine in the brain are also responsible for solidifying new patterns with more ease.
How do we do this? Set an intention/goal that is achievable and CELEBRATE yourself as you pass GO. Then stack your next achievable intention/goal and celebrate again. Celebrating yourself is key. This sparks the secretion of dopamine.
Step 2: Prioritize your resting state
Set intentions/goals that align with how you want to feel in your heart and energetic field. This typically translates into starting slow, choosing experiences that spark your curiosity and help you feel grounded and present, while being surrounded with a community of humans we feel connected to, accountable to, and supported by. This creates patterns of trust with our nervous system. Coming hOMe to ourselves, and feeling a sense of belonging with others, is key to leaning into our bravery when committing to something new.
Step 3: Be flexible and kind – it’s a mindset
Life happens. Balls will drop. Mistakes will be made. Try again. This is part of growing, healing, and experiencing joy and peace. When the sun sets, we are offered a chance to release, relax, and let go. When the sun rises each day, we are offered a new opportunity to start again.
Step 4: Hard things are made easier when shared with family/soul family
Whether you have a readily available accountability buddy, or are in a space where you’re refreshing your circle of hOMies, feeling connected to a community is a vitamin in and of itself. It’s often easier to celebrate and show compassion and grace to others over ourselves. If you find yourself in need of a friend, we can help you meet some pretty rad humans to support your journey.
This year we are aligning between the calendar New Year and Lunar New Year to settle into our personal Sadhana on February 1st. If your intentions and goals align with the practice of yoga, mindful movement, and connecting in friendship, we look forward to meeting you on the mat in the coming days. Let’s rise and thrive soul fam!
With so much love, see you on the mat!
Xoxo - Bren