Cosmic Rays: Recent Episodes
Sara D.E.
Welcome to Cosmic Rays, a space for free learning where I give you insights into the mind, the body, movement, behaviour and more. Each episode aims to stimulate your perception and to give you a greater understanding of your self, others, and the world we live in. Thanks for listening and enjoy the podcast! Love, S.
I've put together ย 3 breathing exercises I like to teach/do.ย
-
RECENTERING BREATH (4 x 4). To use anytime you feel stressed, anxious or out of balance.
-
RELAXING BREATH (4 x 8 ). To fall asleep. Engages Parasympathetic Nervous System aka Rest & Digest System.
-
AWAKENING BREATH (rapid)- To wake up and get into workout mode naturally. Engaging Sympathethic Nervous System aka Fight or Flight.
Just like everything else, they take practice and consistency. Ideally if you can start by doing a few minutes of either 1&2 and 2/3 rounds of the last one!ย
Whilst researching about the neuroscientific explanation behind the ๐ด๐ฐ๐ต๐ซ-๐ฉ๐ถ๐ซ๐ ๐ช๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ฌ๐ช๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต I came across one of the best theories ever proposed: The ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ย According to the theory, we have three different pathways of response to a dangerous stimuli, interconnecting what happens on a neurocognitive and physical level, and each working is service of survival. Have a listen to find out more...
Sometimes the only thing standing between us and a happier life is ourselves. Many psychologists call this ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐-๐ฌ๐๐๐จ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ. In this episode we will uncover attachment styles which often lead to this pattern of behaviour as well as explaining what the term "cherophobia" means!ย
Looking at the 3rd organising principle of the Polyvagal Theory: Hierarchy. No matter what state we're in, our nervous system is always ON, enacting a response to ensure our survival. There are 3 pathways each working in service of our safety, easily placed in a timeline starting from 500 million years ago: The Ventral Vegal (VVPS) Parasympathetic System, the Sympathetic System (SS) and the Dorsal Vagal Parasympathetic System (DVPS). The VVPS is a system of safety and connection where we have access to health growth and restoration (our HOME). The SS is our mobilisation response stata aka "fight or flight", where ย protection is through action. Lastly, the DVPS is all about immobilisation, where we protect ourselves through disappearing and disconnecting. We can work through these states so that we can always find our way back home!
The way weโre built as humans makes it so that we are more receptive to danger than we are to safety. Meaning we often miss cues of safety. The 2nd organising principles of the Polyvagal Theory, Neuroception can be described as detection without awareness. It is how our nervous system takes in information without us being aware of it, so without involving the thinking parts of the brain.ย
We are wired for connection, from the very first moment we come into existence. In this episode we start to explore the Polyvagal Theory (PVT). As explained by Deb Dana and following the theory of Stephen Porges, the PVT has 3 organising principles: 1. Co-regulation- Biological imperative. We donโt survive as human without another human to coregulate it. 2. Neuroception- Detection without awareness. How our nervous system takes information without the brain being involved. 3. Hieriary- 3 Predictable pathways of response: ventral vagal, sympathetic nervous sytem and dorsal vagal. Today we look at what Co-regulation is!ย
Recording of our IG Live Session with Lucia, sharing stories about: Martial Arts, Boxing, Winning Championships, Psychology of Fighting, Pushing Our Body to Extremes, Overcoming Limits, Athletes Mental Health & more...
Recording of our IG Live Session sharing stories about Martial Arts, Disabilities, Meditation, Athletes Mental Health & more...
Recording of our IG Live Session with JANA, sharing stories about: Martial Arts, Judo, Winning Championships, Psychology behind Fighting, Pushing Our Body to Extremes, Overcoming Limits, Athletes Mental Health, Space Awareness & more...
Recording of our IG Live Session with Jess, sharing stories about: Yoga, Transformational Experiences, Travelling, Grounding, Martial Arts, Meditation, Making Dreams come True & more...
Our reaction to the world follows an evolutionary patter in which the newest circuit is a circuit of social interaction linked to a uniquely mammalian pathway. We're animals after all. If weโre safe we will make friends easier, whereas if weโre in a more dangerous situation, like a novel environment, we will go in a physiological state which will support the fight or flight mobilisation behaviours. If we escape the threat weโre simply negotiating with the danger. However If weโre unable to escape there is a possibility that we could trigger another type of neurological circuit which shuts us down and makes us go into a more dissociative state. Our conscious mind isnโt always aware of everything and we don't always react in the way we hope to. Our system can sometimes react and we feel the bodily response but we donโt know what weโre reacting to. This is important to understanding how our mind works and how our body responds, remembering that everything is connected!
The first step to addressing any emotion is to become aware. In the moment that we become aware of an emotion we immediately start turning whatโs passively happening inside into something we are an agent of, something that is ours. This is a crucial aspect as most of the time we just donโt know what weโre feeling. Whenโs the last time you asked yourself : What am I feeling right now?ย
What is the difference between emotions and feelings? Even though we use these two words daily, we hardly pay enough attention to the real meanings behind them. They're not meant to express the same thing. In this brief episode I explain this concept in further depth, with the intention of spreading awareness and sharing knowledge.
Is the smoke you smell a result that your house is on fire and you need to get out fast, or is it coming from the food you forgot on the hobs? That fundemental primal part of our reptilian brain also called amygdala doesn't make such judgements, but it just gets us ready to fight back or escape, even before the frontal lobes get a chance to weigh in with their assessment. As long as we are not too upset, our frontal lobes can restore our balance by helping us realise that we are responding to a false alarm and abort the stress response. As we've covered before, our frontal lobes are part of the Neocortex, the newest sections of our brain also defined as the Rational Brain.
The emotional brain jumps to conclusions based on rough similarities of what happens to us, whereas our rational brain sorts everything through in a much more thought out and organised manner. Has your breath ever got faster even before your conscious mind was aware of a threat? This is because our brain and body communicate at lightening speed and they know before WE know! How incredible is that?
Letโs think about the brain as being built from the bottom up. Imagine you're on an elevator going up in floors. Each floor has corridors and rooms on its own, yet they all make up for the entire building. In the same way our brain is built in levels. In this episode we will start by looking at the most primitive part, the one thatโs already online when weโre born, the so called Reptilian Brain. Right above the Reptilian Brain we have the Limbic System, also known as the Mammalian Brain. We can call this The Emotional Brain. In this episode we dig in a little deeper, starting to explore what happens inside our brain when we detect a threat or feel pleasure.
Would you like to know whether someone's interested in you? Just observe how they move and listen to what they don't say! Body language is a great way to gain insights into how others think and feel, as well improve our everyday communication with others. In this episode I'm giving you a few tips and tricks on body language so that you can start to read people's nonverbal behaviour and improve your own.
How do you respond when someone projects their feelings for someone else onto you? Are you able to avoid colluding with such emotions? Both of these concepts originate with Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory, and they are both about redirecting emotions. Transference is when "the client" redirects emotions for another person onto the therapist, whereas countertransference is when the therapist redirects the emotions back onto their client as a result of the initial transfer.
Does being Intelligent mean having a high Intelligent Quotient (IQ)? The higher the IQ, the smarted we are? Intelligence is often defined as our intellectual potential; something we are born with, that can be measured and that is difficult to change. Do you agree?
The traditional views are too limited and we need to differentiate human intelligence into more modalities. To support this, In Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983), Harvard Psychologist Howard Gardner proposed eight abilities that manifest multiple intelligences. In this episode we explore more.
What does being empathic mean? How does empathy differ from sympathy? What is the role of compassion in this triad?ย
From the etymology (from Greek meaning "sense of truth") of these three words, to a simple yet inquisitive way of underlying differences amongst them.