ALCHEMY EDITION 127

 

Hi everyone! Welcome to 2023! Full disclosure, I have not made a single resolution. Per last week, I will not be making a single resolution and the only intention I have for 2023 is to let it unfold. 

 

I’ve been doing quite a bit of work on myself these past few months. I’m always exploring, experimenting and trying new techniques. Not only for me, but also for my clients. I am a firm believer in walking the walk and talking the talk. Everything I recommend, I’ve personally done, whether it is a method, process, or technique. This stems from my days as an adolescent psychotherapist. Kids want to know that things are safe. What better way to make a referral to a particular type of therapy or modality than to be able to inform what it actually feels like. It's important. 

 

Some of the things I’ve been doing my own deep dives on are nervous system regulation, guided imagery, hypnotherapy, and manifestation work. Footnote, I’m learning that all the work, ALL the work whatever you choose comes down to the health of the nervous system and the communication between our sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system. There is so much to say here, and I will follow up with more details about what I’ve learned in my own work and trainings soon as the pieces fall into place, but so far this makes a lot of sense. I’m beginning to conceptualize that the breakthroughs we have in talk therapy are actually in sync with when our nervous system can be calm enough to not experience the new information or insight as a threat. This is why as therapists we may struggle with essentially saying the same thing in several different ways and it isn't until an almost mysterious moment that the patient is able to hear it or integrate it. This readiness is actually the patient’s nervous system being in a relaxed enough state that this new information can be integrated. And this relies upon not being in fight or flight. 

 

This is a really new way for me to think about the effectiveness of talk therapy along with my own experience as a patient. Long story short, I’m learning that if you want to get the most out of any introspective work, coaching included, even manifestation work, spending time taking care of your nervous system is an essential first step. 

 

Beyond this new found perspective, a part of my own work that surfaced this week was a new appreciation for roller coasters. I’m sure I’ve written here before that I LOVE rollercoasters. They are pretty much my favorite thing. And if I am being truly honest, I’d rather go to a theme park like Disney than visit a far off destination. It sounds bananas as I type it out, but it’s the truth. There is something about the experience of being on a roller coaster that runs deep for me. 

 

When I began to break down what exactly I love about it, I realized that it is really kind of magical.The first truly incredible thing about roller coasters is that you are truly a passive passenger. There is a lot of talk in Human Design about the ultimate goal being to understand and live as a passive passenger. In Human Design, this means to lead with the body and keep logic and the mind out of decisions. To let things unfold. It sounds easier than it actually is, and the idea is that it takes about 7 years of living your design to really begin to understand what this means. After a few years of study, I can say this is probably true. We are so conditioned to rely on our minds that I myself had completely turned off any cues from my body. I had been living in the attic, as my good friend Emily McDowell refers to it. Human Design really helped change this.

 

Roller coasters provide an easy opportunity to experience this idea of passive passenger without doing any of the work. Cool right?!  From the moment we sit inside the car of a roller coaster, our job is simply to experience it. Sit back, and enjoy. A park worker pulls down the safety bar and away we go. We are free. Up and down, round and round, upside down. The path, speed, and excitement are not determined by us. It’s a ride in the truest sense of the word. 

 

I’ve heard surfers and skateboarders refer to their prospective sports in a similar way and as a skateboarder, yeah I get it. I feel it too. But with both surf and skate, the athlete is the action. In surfing there are two actions. The surfer and the wave. And in even small ways being the action keeps us out of this pure passive passenger experience. Things can happen so quickly in both sports that I do believe there have been times where my body is responding and my mind just is not quick enough to allow logic to enter into a decision. And this gets us close, but not in the same way as a roller coaster. 

 

I know roller coasters are not for everyone. Many attic dwellers tend to hate the loss of control. But if you like roller coasters, go get on one as soon as you can and revel in the abandonment as practice for loosening your grip. As we work on letting go, moving to a place where our nervous systems communicate better, allowing our full selves to fully experience it in real time lets us know this letting go is possible and can even be fun. Roller coasters remind us what it feels like to trust, let things unfold, not rush and let go. 

 

And for me that feels amazing. 

 

xxx

-LAS