Ep.65 The Rhythm of Wellness: The Key to Healing, Connection and Well-Being - Solo Episode

Exploring Coherence: The Key to Somatic Healing and Presence

Lisa Dawn explores the concept of coherence and its importance for healing and well-being. She talks about how coherence involves noticing what is working within us, the harmony between different systems in the body, and how these observations contribute to our overall health. 

Lisa also shares her personal journey of moving from being overstimulated and fearful in social situations to finding balance and capacity through somatic work. 

The episode includes practical exercises for listeners to check in with their bodies and cultivate coherence, along with thoughtful reflections on the impact of kindness and presence in our lives.

Work 1:1 with Lisa 

00:00 Introduction to Healed, Now What?

04:41 Understanding Coherence and Its Importance

07:56 Practical Coherence Check-In

11:18 Personal Journey with Coherence

13:08 Guided Coherence Practices

18:02 Final Thoughts and Reflections

19:41 Closing Remarks and Upcoming Episodes

Transcript

Lisa: 0:01

Greetings, my friends, and welcome to another episode of Healed, Now What?, a podcast where we discuss life, relationships, connection, and trauma through the lens of somatic and attachment psychology, nervous system health, relationships, and self discovery. I'm Lisa Dawn, and I'm on a mission to teach people how to transform their deepest wounds into their greatest strengths by first transforming the relationship they have with themselves. So whether you've had trauma, years of failed partnerships, or just want a better relationship with your body, I've got you covered. I am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Educator, Relationship Mentor, and Trauma Survivor. With a lifetime of experience helping not only myself, but countless others transform their lives by learning how to become the fullest versions of themselves. We do this through self awareness, connecting with their bodies and changing the way they perceive themselves and others. I have coached innumerous people how to heal their wounds and create lasting change so they can live a more joyous, passionate and fulfilling life. Thank you so much for tuning in and enjoy the show. Hi friends, Lisa Dawn here. Welcome back to this week's episode. So I just returned from a week long somatic training, and it occurred to me that the last time I was on a flight was back on February 8th, 2020. We were returning from Indonesia and we arrived, I believe it was, A day before the airports were shut down and flights were canceled going from Hong Kong to Vancouver. Wild. It's so wild how time passes, sometimes feeling shorter than it actually is. And there I was again, boarding a plane on my way to the West Coast on February 8th, 2025. And I will also say that this was my first in person training in a, in a long time. I've done plenty of trainings online, but there's something completely different about being physically present with other humans, immersed in a field of learning together. Now, for those of you who are waiting for an episode to drop last week, I thought I'd be able to record one, but my body had other plans like rest, more rest, and time in the sauna. It's funny because Alberta has been freezing. So, for my people who live here, you know what I'm talking about. It's been anywhere between minus 20 and like minus 40 Celsius. I don't even know what that is in Fahrenheit, but I was excited to escape to the west coast for some milder weather. But, of course, there was a plot twist. They were having their coldest winter since, like, 1937. I kid you not because I looked it up and because it was coastal and damp, minus 8 or 10 degrees felt more like minus 30. I just could not stay warm. Thankfully, we found a gym with a finish dry sauna, which became my saving grace. and the place that we were staying so lovingly provided us with some heating pads, those microwavable ones, which was also my saving grace. So the week was both beautiful and challenging. I had to step into beginner's mindset again, taking it day by day. And somatic work is fascinating because you're not just learning intellectually, you're also experiencing it in your body. I often joke that these trainings feel like letting people play with my nervous system. It's like receiving therapy every single day for a week, wild, totally wild. And yet, It was beautiful to witness how far I've come, how much more capacity I now have to show up without old triggers, dysregulation, and fear holding me back. So leading into this, this week I want to speak about coherence, as it was a huge theme throughout the week. And I also want to speak to how it informs our true nature and well being. So for context, we're defining coherence as the ability to notice what is working within you. So your presence, your capacity to connect, the parts of you that are available to meet other human beings. Coherence is about noticing what supports you. And within that, what is already present within you at this moment, and this is huge in healing. When we're overwhelmed, burnt out, depressed, anxious, or dealing with a health crisis, our ability to recognize what is working becomes paramount to our healing journey. Coherence can also be described as multiple systems working together in a way that is harmonized and responsive to the present moment. So there's some different ways that we can observe it. We can observe it in ourselves by how well rested we are, the quality of our sleep, our digestion, our ability to recognize hunger or fatigue, setting and maintaining boundaries. Our ability to respond to stress while still having access to safety. Our ability to move in and out of connection. How our organs communicate with each other. And subtle quiet signals like breath, heart rate, and muscle tone. Coherence is also about having clarity. And as we moved through the training, there was a noticeable coherence in the room. It felt to me like working together consistently towards a shared goal. It feels like a pulse moving in the same direction. Ever been to a concert where everything just felt electric, held together, and understandable to your body without having to say anything? That, to me, is also coherence. It's this quality of being unified or connected. Body coherence is a state of harmony between the brain, heart, and the body. And it occurs when the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together. So coherence provides us with a safety and wellness map, an essential tool, especially in times of trauma, relationship stress, or a generally overwhelming world. And the great thing about coherence is the more that we notice and attend to it, the more it grows. So that's something to get really stoked about. So let's just take a moment to do a little coherence check in. So I'll start by just getting you to notice how you notice wellness. So how do you notice your health? See if you can locate what is working. So right now in this moment, is it that you notice that you are still breathing? Maybe your attention just goes there. And how is it to notice that spirit is moving through you with your breath? Maybe you notice your feet and how they support you in getting around. How about your heart and it's beat just noticing. Yep. It's still there pounding away. Are you able to move your body? Each day, even if that's just a dance, maybe to a single song or going for a walk, a run. Maybe you hit up the gym a few times a week. Do you notice when you're hungry or when you're tired and just see how it is to check in with those things right now in this moment. Coherence is about creating conditions for ourselves to have more access to wellness, to health, to those parts of ourselves that reflect the essence of who we are, that reflect the kind of person we want to be, the way that we want and hope to feel. If you've been tuning in for a while, we've talked a lot about building capacity. And coherence is one of the ways that we do that. So we build this so we can stay present to life in all of its ups and downs and in betweens. We do this so we can handle all of the stimulation that happens on the day to day. Stuff just being thrown on our plates unexpectedly. When we can connect into and tap into our own coherence. We become shaman to our own experience, and it's such an empowering journey. When we tend to ourselves first, we can show up differently in all of our relations. It's really about being able to notice our inner selves, our somatic selves, and expanding our awareness. So as I usually do, I wanted to share my personal journey, one of the elements of my personal journey with coherence. So for much of my life, I considered myself an introvert and I still do, but there was a time when I was actually afraid of people. Socializing fear for a few hours could leave me needing days, if not a full week to recover. And then I'd replay conversations, second guess myself and feel incredibly insecure. And I didn't realize at the time that I was overstimulated, functioning with very little nervous system capacity. This wasn't a reflection of intelligence or a willingness to heal. I had just experienced multiple overwhelming events that left my system disorganized and dysregulated. So everything felt hard. It took heroic efforts just to participate in life. Now fast forward through a few years of somatic and trauma informed work, and I no longer feel like I'm expending massive energy just to exist in the world. I can now attend a week long training with 90 people without feeling completely drained. That's the power of coherence. That's the power of working with our somatic bodies. That's the power of building and expanding our capacity. So I just wanted to take a pause for those of you listening who might be struggling, or for those of you who are just feeling at your capacity, I see you, I feel you. So let's try something together in this moment. If you can maybe just directing your attention towards your feet. So you're just, Taking all of your awareness, and you're drawing it down to your feet. And just let your awareness be there, you're paying attention. To your feet on the ground. Now just moving up to your ankles. Just spending a little bit of time there, noticing your ankles. Now going up to your calves. And moving up to your thighs. And hips. Just following that train up your body as you listen to my voice. And what do you notice about your lower body? Just anything that stands out. For me, I notice tingles. I notice, like, a weightedness. I notice gravity pulling on me in a pleasant and kind of settling way. Just spend a few more moments there. Just getting in touch with this, this lower half of your body. Now I invite you to do just another short practice. So I invite you to think about a time, and this could be just a fleeting moment in the recent past, when you felt more like the way you want to feel. So a time when you felt more like you. So just give you a moment to, to call that up this time where you just felt more like the way that you want to feel. And this could be anything. It could feel like more ease, increased presence, more access to joy, a willingness and availability to connect with others. Maybe this time is where you just felt less anxious, less tight. So thinking of a recent time when you felt more like yourself, or more like you want to feel. Now just see if there's an image that comes along with that time. And if not, that's okay. It could just be more of a feeling. And just spend a bit of time there with this feeling or this image of a time where you just felt more like the way you want to feel when you felt more like you. What do you notice happening within you as you pay attention? If you had your eyes closed, I invite you to gently open them, maybe even have a peek around and notice what you notice around your environment. How is it to notice that coherence within yourself? And just do a check in. How do you feel after listening today? Perhaps it's a feeling of being more present, calm, or a feeling of safety. Or maybe it's the opposite. Or maybe in this moment, it's just showing up as an unfamiliar feeling. Like something is different, but you don't really know what. So coherence is a cadence, it's a rhythm. And when the body is in a coherent state, this results in a broader, more expansive focus. So it enables us to be a little bit more present to what is. Coherence is about expanding our awareness, connecting with our inner self, and tending to our well being so that we can show up fully in life and in our relationships. So I just wanted to end with some words from Young Pueblo. You have no idea how much impact your kindness has. Without even knowing. You have turned bad days into great ones. You have reconnected people with their power. And you have helped many realize that there is still some good in the world. Listening supports understanding. Calmness supports mental clarity. Letting go supports inner peace. Kindness supports abundance. Intuition supports purpose, acceptance supports joy. Alright my friends, that's all I have for you today. Until next time, take care, stay warm, and keep noticing what's working within you. Bye for now. As always, thank you so much for listening. Life is busy. So it means even more that you're carving out time in your day to be here. Listen, we've got so many great episodes coming up, so please make sure you subscribe to follow along on Apple podcasts or Spotify. And for those of you who like to watch your podcasts, we are now uploading them to YouTube. And if you appreciate these episodes, please do us a favor and leave a rating or a review and share it with anyone you think could benefit. See you again next Wednesday.

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