Practice Before The Performance
If Something is Challenging, It doesn’t hurt to practice!
The holiday season is upon us. Calendars might be getting crowded with get togethers and celebrations. Cookie recipes are being pulled out and menus are being pulled together. There’s also probably plenty of Halloween candy still lingering!
What does this mean for folks who traditionally struggle with disembodied eating?
It means you might be getting anxious about the traditional experiences you have with all of the food and eating situations you are about to encounter.
This is the time of year when we are bombarded by food experiences that may feel overwhelming, disorienting, and frustrating.
But I have GOOD NEWS! You can practice BEFORE the “performance”!
When we know we are about to step into a situation that has high activation potential we can prepare. I recorded a Michelle’s Musings a few months ago about how I was noticing that I was becoming disembodied just THINKING about an upcoming vacation that had traditionally been a time of relentless “disappearing” into eating. In this 5 minute recording I talk about how I was able to do a navigate Return before I was even in the situation! And it helped! Not only did it help become more embodied in the moment but when I was on vacation I was able to STAY EMBODIED!
So, if the holiday’s are a time when you are just float from one disembodied overeating experience to the next… I suggest you begin to practice embodiment before you are in the thick of it!
Audio Transcription:
Hello, Michelle's musings. I actually recorded this last night on my way home, but unfortunately it was pretty windy and most of it was not audible. So here we go. While I was walking home, I started thinking about my vacation that is quickly approaching and I cannot wait to be with my family and to take some time off. And it's a traditional vacation. We do this every year, and I started to think about the logistics and whatnot. And what happened was I began to think about my traditional experiences with food on this particular vacation, and I could feel myself begin to become a bit disembodied. And it was very subtle and be, I do a lot, I do a lot of nervous system navigation, and I've been doing it for a bit, so I can feel it happening pretty subtle, pretty quickly. And I got a little nervous actually, because it's not a good feeling.
I, I don't like the feeling of being disembodied for a week. I don't, I didn't, I really was like, I don't want this. I don't want it to be this way. So I started to do the navigation tools while I was walking home, and I have a few that work really well for me. And while I was doing the navigation tools, thinking about the future, I could feel myself begin to start to return to embodiment. And it was practice, it was practice for the future. And I wanted to say that we can use nervous system navigation in a preparatory fashion. We can practice in the same way you practice before you go on stage. So singing in the shower by yourself <laugh> is not the same and is a lot easier than singing in front of 20,000 people. It's, you know, singing in front of 20,000 people is a lot more activating in the same way.
You know, being on vacation with my family and with the traditional food circumstances is going to be a lot more activating than me walking home in the middle of the night. Well, I wasn't the middle of the night <laugh>. I don't, I don't, I mean, I work a lot, but I was not walking home. It was like nine 30. Um, but uh, anyway, I was, um, it's easier, you know, while you're walking home. But it's important 'cause God, every time I've gotten in front of God to get up and sing in front of 20,000 people, I was really, really happy. I practiced whether in the shower or not, or anywhere else the practice mattered. Practicing before the performance matters. So you can build neurological pathways and work
On navigation tools and work on locating where you are in your nervous, in your nervous system before you're in very disembodied situations or situations that tend to cause disembodiment, or situations where you find yourself automatically becoming disembodied. Um, also, I am not suggesting that you do this to maintain rigidity or rules or restriction. Orm really emphasizing that embodiment just feels better. I and will want to eat whatever I decide to eat, but I wanna be there to make the decision. I wanna be there. I want my body to be a relevant part of the conversation, quote unquote. I want to feel and experience myself, my surroundings, my, the whole thing. And that's the goal of learning how to find the shift of learning how to use nervous system navigation. Okay. So that's it. I just wanted to say that. Thanks for listening.
Remember you exist. Thank you. See you soon.