15. Christine Wushke and Lisa Elliot - Nervous System Resources During Pandemic Times
Release Date: 10/05/2020
15. Christine Wushke and Lisa Elliot - Nervous System Resources During Pandemic Times
Embodiment Time
In this talk we met with Christine and Lisa to discuss and share some trauma-informed and body-oriented nervous system resources during the COVID 19 pandemic. This talk was recorded during the beginning of the pandemic in April, but still feels pertinent in it’s launch on air in October. Some of the topics covered: - The importance of orienting towards resources during challenging times. - From hyper-productivity to stop, and how much that reveals our cultural rushing. - Sheltering at home as a holding container. - Seeing how society is revealing where people are in terms of nervous system...
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14. kaila June - The Body Always Shows Us the Way
Embodiment Time
In this talk, Kaila June begins sharing her story, how she grew up in her mom’s dance studio and how much influence that environment had in her life and career choices. She talks about her experience traveling with “La Caravana Arcoiris para la Paz” through South America, we talk about folklore dances and their relevance.. She shares her explorations of trauma via dance and art and how movement and embodiment affect the way we learn, behave, our memory, the intergenerational effects, etc. She goes through her bio revealing the progression that brought her towards developing the...
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13. Matthew Remski - Modern Yoga, From Cult Dynamics to Accountability, Discernment and Healing
Embodiment Time
In this talk, and I discuss many of the multilayered abuse issues in the modern postural yoga scene, as well as in other high demand groups that he covers in his book “Practice and All Is Coming”. We talk about the inheritance of intergenerational trauma, trauma bonding, corporal punishment, somatic dominance, and the slippery subject of cult dinamics that leads to disorganized attachment, dissociation and to physical and sexual abuse. We spend some time at the end looking at some sulutions to all these problems, like the model of PRISM, and concepts like personal agency, scope of...
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12. Mark Walsh - Moving Beyond Mindfulness
Embodiment Time
In this talk, Mark talks about the failures of the modern postural yoga and how he used the opportunity to turn criticism into action by creating the Embodied Yoga Principles. We talked about guru abuse, cultural differences, trauma, and how these themes can be explored via multidisciplinary somatic practices. We talk about the issue of living in a visual culture, in terms of pursuing posture as the end goal, about relationships in terms of attachment, Mark shares his approach in the Embodied Facilitator Course, expanding the skills set and also we discuss the subject of technology, social...
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11. Abby Corriveau - Inclusivity, Accessibility and Sustainability in Movement
Embodiment Time
In this talk, Abby takes us in the fascinating evolution of her personal movement journey, from external and structured, towards her current approach. In the telling of her own story and how she went through Personal Training, Ashtanga Yoga, Body Competitions, Kettlebell Competition, MovNat and Nutritious Movement, the integration of all the pieces of her Sustainable Movement approach start to build up and make a clear picture. We talked about the way kids move vs the structured movement of the gym, about the obsession with the series in the Ashtanga practice, about Body and KB Competitions...
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10. Carrie Owerko - To Play is To Be Human
Embodiment Time
In this conversation, we go with Carrie in a journey through her cultivation of resiliency and synthesis, how she became fascinated with experimental movement, movement analisis and Iyengar Yoga, and the way her work evolved from there. We discussed her relationship with the Iyengar Yoga system, the assessment process in Iyengar Yoga, the vast complexities of the guru-based lineage, the intense, abusive and traumatic experiences that people went through studying in Pune with the Iyengar family, and how they were handled and digested by her and other people in the Iyengar community. We talked...
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9. Nityda Gessel - Dismantling the Systems of Opression Through Trauma-Conscious Yoga
Embodiment Time
In this talk Nityda discusses the importance of movement for healing and her integration process of Yoga and Social Work. She talks about Yoga philosophy, the influence of African spirituality, and the need to develop skills in action for social justice. We discuss some of the ways in which patriarchy and white supremacy have influenced us and what can we do individually and collectively to heal what is unconscious, with one of the main issues being the lack of inclusivity in the yoga world, with language as a big barrier, and how to minimize the teacher’s position of power in the classroom....
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8. Yasmin Lambat - PART 2. Somatic Exploration in Action
Embodiment Time
Here is part 2 of my talk with Yasmin Lambat. Some of the topics we covered in this talk: Working with our physiology. Somatic Exploration to tap into the inner wisdom. Patterns in the body and the folding of our fascial fabric. How Yoga & Pilates experiences led her to pandiculation. Moving from the heart, intuitive movements focused on self-nurturing to calm the nervous system with “Body Yawn” Therapy. Nervous system regulation. Going beyond SNS/PNS and the effects of hyper-arousal on the body. Discovering the "calm state". How...
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7. Yasmin Lambat - PART 1. From Fitness to Wholeness, Discovering the Inner Wisdom of Embodiment
Embodiment Time
Some of the topics we covered in this talk: Yasmin's journey of discovery of the Body, from her transition from the Fitness Industry to her development of Interoception and Somatic Movement via Polestar Pilates and Elizabeth Bussey. Her encounter with Tom Myers, the influence of the work of Dr Ian Weinberg and Robert Schleip. The core and the diaphragm, mecanoreceptors and fascia. The Insula, empathy and how to use motion to heal emotion. Distress interoception, Vagal tone and the Polyvagal theory of Stephen Porges. Pandiculation, tension vs intensity and the model of Biotensegrity. The Calm...
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6. Laurel Beversdorf - Pedagogy, Critical Thinking and Yoga Evolution
Embodiment Time
Some of the topics covered in this talk with Laurel: The story behind her pedagogic skills, growing up surrounded by teachers and conversations around pedagogy, and her teaching experience previous to yoga. Her critical thinking process and her yoga training journey through Yoga Works and Yoga Tune Up®. The difference in between Yoga Works and the guru-based model of Iyengar Yoga, and about the horizontal vs the vertical model of apprenticeship. The challenges of training new yoga teachers and the culture of yoga in India, in the West, and how to honor yoga while using it in a way that feels...
info_outlineIn this talk we met with Christine and Lisa to discuss and share some trauma-informed and body-oriented nervous system resources during the COVID 19 pandemic. This talk was recorded during the beginning of the pandemic in April, but still feels pertinent in it’s launch on air in October.
Some of the topics covered:
- The importance of orienting towards resources during challenging times.
- From hyper-productivity to stop, and how much that reveals our cultural rushing.
- Sheltering at home as a holding container.
- Seeing how society is revealing where people are in terms of nervous system states: fight, flight, freeze and appease.
- The raising of responses to these events: conspiracy theories, feelings of being at loss, overwhelm, not knowing how to deal with this “invisible” emergency.
- What is it to function in a world that doesn’t support a healthy nervous system? The body is having a “neuroceptive” response and the way back to regulation is in the body.
- Polyvagal Theory and the difference in the state adaptations across cultures.
- Epigenetics, Family Systems and Stress. Stress, trauma and the body, Saj Razvi YouTube video.
- Mobilization before safety and connection. What are we adapting to in the environment? I’m not messed up, I have a nervous system.
- The loss of pleasure during trauma, allowing tuning into savoring and directing the attention back to pleasure sensations. The Hakomi Method and self-soothing gestures to bring more awareness of pleasure.
- Ways in which people attempt self-regulation and functionality via external resources that are substitute forms of resources that are destructive. The concept of “vitality” as a resource that arises from within vs resources that are external. Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma: Lifting the Burdens of the Past 1st Edition, by Sharon Stanley
- The Threshold Theory of Change, by Lisa Elliot. The reductionist idea of our culture, in terms of finding the reductionist “one” solution. Accessing greater health from a social justice response.
- The midbrain, effort and control area.
- Orienting to the small moments of safety, regulation and pleasure. The small steps towards pleasure and regulation. One step at the time, one dish at the time, one breath at the time.
- Tracking and getting to know your own system. What’s your vitality enjoy?
- Orienting to safety and threat through vision. Doing a task until completion, and avoiding chronic stress. The concept of simultaneous visual awareness via panoramic vision. Z-Health Neurofundamentals free of charge
Other Resources:
- Finding the gravel at the bottom of the river to stop being swept away.
- Parts of the self, a part of you experiencing something, and me as the observer and care taker of this part. Turning kindness and compassion towards ourselves. My body and mind have done so much to keep me safe. Understanding the intelligence of the nervous system responses.
- Start small, build up from there. Locate one part of your body that feels ok.
- Using a therapy ball or lacrosse ball to map (feel) places of the body that feel pleasant, using language that feels inviting.
- Accumulate those things you have access to; postive self regulating inputs, like a basket of resources with written things, objects. Ekeko god (Peru-Bolivia) as an example.
- The crucial role of compassion in this connection with resources. Turning attention with compasion.
CHRISTINE WUSHKE
Christine Wushke is a long time Yoga Teacher, Meditation Instructor, Myofascial Release Therapist, and Certified Hakomi Practitioner, Christine decided to merge her specialties, she began to incorporate the principles of Myofascial Release, trauma awareness and mindfulness into all her yoga classes and, noticing the amazing results and effectiveness, she designed her own system of Myofascial Yoga.
Christine Wushke is also the author of Freedom is Your Nature: A Practical Guide to Transformation and creator of the “Easy Yoga for Beginners” DVD. For more information of Christine please check out her website at freelyhuman.com
Lisa Elliott comes to this conversation as the founder of the Vagus Study Group, a large, online collaborative learning project with a mission of exploring the embodiment of experience via diverse ways of knowing. Her work and that of the study group navigates between the methods of western science, philosophy, activism, art, and the transformative interconnectedness found in many spiritual orientations. Lisa is a counselor-in-training at Antioch University Seattle, completing a rich internship with Dr. Sharon Stanley of Somatic Transformation before beginning private practice in December of 2020.
Lisa comes to counseling as a returning student from earlier careers in photography, community organizing, arts non-profit management, construction project management, and aerial acrobatics performance and coaching. Her work with her own life-long chronic illness has led to a holistic and eco-systemic philosophy of healing and personal growth, and to a deep study of our embodiment of stress, trauma, and factors of resilience.
Email us your reflections, comments and questions at embodimenttime@gmail.com