Sarah 0:01
Hi there. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, depending on what time it is when you're listening to this. I want to start today with a time sensitive announcement, so I have a class that I am teaching later today when this episode drops. So it's Thursday, and episodes here drop on Thursday, and I have a class that I am teaching that is come together really spontaneously, to teach and share and just come together and be with everything that has been up for us, collectively, inside of what we have been living through here in February 2026 I have been who I've been. You know, like you, I imagine many of us have been bearing witness to the all of the intensity going on in the world, the ice Raine in Minneapolis, and the, oh My gosh, the Epstein file release, partial release, and such disturbing information there, even if it's not surprising, but the lack of accountability is very intense to witness, and that's alongside So many other world tragedies that we've been witness to in recent years too. I mean, it just, you know, it's a lot and the intensity of being with all of this, I feel like this is like the skills that we need to be building inside of these times, because there is the potential direction we can our nervous systems can go when we're exposed to information like this is just to, like, get really hooked by it and pulled in and, like, feel like you need more and more and more in order, like, to try to understand what's going on so you can, like, make sense of it and then feel safe again. Or people flip and do the opposite and just like, look like, of like, look away and just try not to engage because it's too intense. Neither of those approaches is actually an embodied way of being with the information and giving our bodies space to be able to metabolize the intensity that we're being exposed to and experiencing inside our own bodies as we relate to it. So that's what I want to do with this class. I you know, this is the next step in this iterative process I've been in in come like playing with different ways to share the somatic work in different formats and ways that can help people lean on them during these times. For sure, for me, they have been critical. I kind of don't know how, how I would be navigating things if I didn't have them on board right now. So I'm looking forward to sharing them with you in this way. If you can make it today, it's at four o'clock Alaska time, which is eight o'clock pm Eastern. I'm calling it tend and defend because we'll be landing in a co regulation space and coming together, bringing in support and grounding our bodies so that they feel at like there's some access to some support and safety before going into The the heat, the anger and rage and grief and overwhelm and the the intensity of this moment. I want to access that type of energy in a, let's see, in a titrated and embodied way. By that, I mean I want to do it in a way that gives our bodies the ability to be present with the experience they're having, in contrast to catharsis, which is a model that other like that's more common. What I see inside of people like learning how to work with Raine. It's like the breaking the plates, or like going to the Raine room or going out to scream. You know, those strategies might have some sometimes when they're useful, I. Yeah, and the way I see it from a nervous system lens, is that when we go into catharsis, what we're doing is we are, like, accessing a ton of energy and trying to just get it all out. And then you might feel better on the backside because you're exhausted and you've spent it all, but typically, because of the intensity of those waves, they're too much for the nervous system to be with, so we end up being partially disassociated from the experience we're having and feeling better on the backside, just because it's like we've gotten it all out. But the body isn't actually given a chance to come into relationship with what it's experiencing. I uh, so we're not actually shifting our body's ability to ride these waves and to be able to break out of the those extreme responses of either like deep diving or avoiding where my goal here with this work is to help us come into a an embodied relationship with these experiences that we that we have, and build access to our protective responses so that we can feel them and use them well. So I'm going to do that through coming in through embodying what I call Mama Bear energy, which is the energy of protection and fierceness and love. In essence, it's love. It's like, what are we protecting? What is it that we care about so much? And why does this hurt us when we see it not being able, like we see the systems falling apart and these protections falling apart, and maybe they weren't actually there to begin with in the way that we might have thought. So there's it's love that is creating. It's the root of it, and that Mama Bear knows how to like, stand up and protect her cubs, and we have that inside ourselves too that we can practice coming into contact with. So I have kept this pretty quiet. I've only shared about this class on my people who are on my email list, and now it's here on the podcast. I want it to be a kind of an inner circle experience, so if you are interested, don't delay. I'll put the link in the show notes. It's a sliding fee scale. We'd love to have you after we do the the mama bear part of the class will let the wave settle and be in practice of riding the backside of the wave. And for those of you that have been feeling like you have a hard time coming out of activation these days, this is where we'll play with like having, having metabolized and moved some of that energy, you might be have a better chance of actually being able to ride the backside of the wave and come out of activation into a down regulated settled rest and digest place after you've contacted the protective response inside of you and let some of that energy move so yeah, and then I expect the, you know, some often on the backside of the wave. The other thing that is available is some spacious Ness that allows for intuition to come through. And from here, I want to spend some time in conversation and dreaming and ideating and and and feeling into what it is that we want to see for our world, what we're going to be building, what is ours to do?
Sarah 8:55
Yeah, so I'm thinking of these three phases of class, the building, the bridging phase, where we're coming into CO regulation together. And then the burn phase, where we're mobilizing and moving some of this energy. This is a movement based class, so I'll have you, like, up on your feet, if you're available for it. And we'll be actually, like, getting into some of this energy together. And then the building phase at the ends, like, what is it that we're going to grow together? What is the world that we want to see? So that is the class that's happening today. I would love to see you there, if you can make it. I'm not planning to record it. It's planning. It's this is in, this is in more of like a ritual format, where the idea is like, we're we're here together in real time and and in it together, I might at some point, if I keep playing with this class and it feels like at some point, it has more solidity to it. It might be something that's I feel comfortable recording right now. I want to do it just live with the people that can make it. It's on Zoom, and yeah, I'm looking forward to sharing it with those of you that can make it, and if you can't, but this idea is still alive for you. I want to just share here a few thoughts about why it feels important right now to come into relationship with this part of ourselves, this protective part who has deep love and deep care for ourselves, for our loved ones, for the world that we're living in. Why we want to be doing that from a place of embodiment, feeling the sensations of the experience that we're having, and also being present in the moment that we're in, so our bodies can actually come into relationship with that experience, rather than feeling like it's automatically overwhelming and we need to disassociate from it. It is like it really is tricky right now to feel safe, because we're also we're seeing through the media, and some of us are living it on the ground that it the world is not actually safe. I mean, and we, I mean, in some ways, we know that the outdoor recreation things we talk about here, we know are always have risk inherent in them, and none of us get out of this life alive. So safety, what I mean? What is pure safety? They don't know that it actually exists. Safe enough, this concept that I talked about in past episodes, that is more what we're looking for, and the skill of being able to come out of activation is and deactivate is more accessible if we can also practice coming into the relationship with the Protect, the parts of ourselves that these impulses for protection, like if we if we know the world has threats inside of it that are very real, the body is kind of always asking this existential question of, can I keep myself safe if something goes wrong. And one of the ways it gages that is if it knows that these self protective responses that it has inherent, the fight response, the flea response, the freeze the fawn, even if it has access to all of those.
Sarah 13:06
And I found that for women and people who are often down power in interpersonal dynamics, people of color, queer folks like people who have less systemic power, this ability to access our embodied healthy aggression, Mama Bear energy is one of the ways that we can help our bodies recognize safety through accessing that response. It's the same response that we use to set boundaries, to say no, to say it's been enough, it's not okay to stand up for ourselves and each other. So we will be playing with that today. I'm really looking forward to it. For those of you that can make it, if you can't, maybe just feeling into the idea of what a mama bear would do as She's protecting her cubs is a way to get into a little bit of that sense. Okay, that's where I'm going to leave it for. Now, I want to keep this one short and sweet. So if those of you who can like jump into the class have the option to do it, maybe I'll see you there. And if not, I will see you in another episode, and we'll keep discussing all of these concepts, please send some questions over if you have them. If you want me to dive deeper into any of these aspects, we'll link up the question. I think it's a like a Google Sheet kind of thing. So anyways, we have a link for you to submit questions, send them over that will help me know where to go with more conversations on this topic. And thank you for being here. Have a great day. Take great care of your. Self and each other. I'll see you next time you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
