Learning Outcomes
- Embodied understanding of interoception
- Scenarios where we get stuck in reactivity?
- Practice >> use A.P.E. in an everyday context
- Connecting with other students
👋 GROUNDING // Guided A.P.E Practice
Let’s try an example I think we can all relate to.
Take out your phone, and open up a social media app ~ maybe it’s twitter or instagram or a news website. We’re going to spend the next 30 seconds just scrolling. If you don’t have it nearby, you can just imagine… I’m going to do this with you.
‘Embodied Scrolling’
- How is your breath right now? (is it in the belly or upper lungs? is it expansive? are you sighing?)
- What do you notice in your shoulders (hunched? subtle tension?)
- What is the quality of your mind and thoughts?
- How does your belly feel (soft or tense?)
- How is your eye gaze? (narrowed or open and receptive)
- How would you describe your awareness? (open and soft or narrow and focused?)
- What is the quality of your thoughts? What thought loops might be arising?
- What else? (track sense + feel)
Okay now put your phone down. Stand up. Hold your arms to your side palms facing up. Bring your awareness to the space behind you. Receive three breaths. And we’re going to repeat the body scan.
Body Scan #2
- How is your breath right now? (do you feel your belly expanding slightly on inhale?)
- How do your shoulders feel?
- What is the quality of your mind and thoughts?
- How does your belly feel (soft or tense?) If you don’t feel much then notice that.
- How is your eye gaze? (narrowed or open and receptive)
- How would you describe your awareness? (open and soft or narrow and focused?)
- What is the quality of your thoughts? What thought loops might be arising?
- What else? (track sense + feel)
This is a deceptively deep practice. There are many very expensive and very effective somatic therapists ~ trained in Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing and other modalities who will very simply ask you questions and then guide you to into your body and ask you to describe your experience. In the beginning we might feel bored, but the more we can sit with this and come back to listening ~ the more this inner landscape opens up.
TAKE-AWAY ~ the purpose of this if you haven’t figured out already is to repeatedly bring awareness to your body and physical sensations ~ no matter what you’re doing during the day ~ try scanning your body during or after stretching or perhaps when you’re cuddling a pet or partner to notice how the co-regulation feels in your body.
🙏 CHECK-IN // Pairs Reflections
In Pairs, share what you noticed in pairs during the A.P.E. check-in or during your interoceptive practices this week??
🧱 Groups: Feather, Brick, Dump Truck
Break-out Groups — exploring Feather – Brick – Dump Truck moments
Context >> I like to think of these as Feather – Brick – Dump truck moments.
Early on, our body will give us feedback in the form of feathers ~ perhaps it’s not feeling rested when we wake up in the mornings.
If we don’t listen, then the knocks become louder ~ perhaps we double down our caffeine intake to over-compensate ~ and then finally, if these signs are still ignored then there will be a ‘dump-truck’ moment or ‘burnout’ in which the dorsal vagal fuse blows and we’re forced to stop and listen.
>> In break-out rooms of three: can you recall a feather, brick or dump truck moment?
Feather, Brick, Dump Truck // Journal Prompt
Can you recall a feather, brick or dump-truck moment in your life? Perhaps when your body was giving you signs which you didn’t pay attention to until the intensity increased? Journal prompt to explore how a less-than-optimal nervous system control impacting your life.
Radical Self-Enquiry // The Costs of Reactivity
Radical self-enquiry on how decisions made from reactivity or high stress that are negatively impacting your life.
Do you have any regrets from moments that you acted out of reactivity which negatively impacted yourself or others?
🤼 GAME? // Role-Playing or Game
❓ Q&A // Final Questions
🙏 WRAP-UP // Key Take-aways
Notes for this Session
Something we’re going to play with today is noticing the more subtle somatic responses…
I’m going to show a series of images on the slides that could well appear in your social media feeds – as each one appears – I want you to pay exquisite attention to inhabit as much radical curiosity as you can muster – to how your body (not your mind) responds in subtle ways – so for example:
- Do you move a little towards or a little away?
- Do you feel a slight contraction or opening?
- What happens to your toes – do they curl slightly? Is there a slight holding at the top of the breath?
- On the call yesterday, Conni mentioned that panic attacks don’t just come out of nowhere – and if we can learn to notice the subtle feedback from our body – we can respond and adapt in real time and catch ourselves before something escalates.
- I’ll display each image for about 15 seconds – I want you to write in the chat – beginning with “I’m noticing… […..]”
BONUS EXERCISE
- Think of an experiencing that’s a 2 or 3 out of 10 in terms of intensity, so low intensity – and come up with a word that describes that.
In breakout rooms – say this word in a neutral voice.
- choose something that’s a 3/10 — (give an example of a 10/10) >> or a food that you hate >> what is the least amount of stimulus that you need in order to notice a contraction?
- Use slides with // chocolate // sexy people >> create evocative –– notice what you’ve
- Mark Walsh — and coming from ‘Paul Lindon’ — (link)