Category Archives: Cultivating Awareness

LISTENING is one of the great acts of LOVE

Posted on January 29, 2011 | 1 comment

As a facilitator of developing listening skills, I was pleased to hear these two quotes in the following video Dialogue at Washington High:

“Listening is one of the great acts of LOVE.”
“An enemy is someone whose story you have not heard.” Gene Knudsen-Hoffman

An exercise of listening the students take part in, after the guest speakers in this video, is similar to one I urge in my groups. To witness the connection in the students,who are from different backgrounds and to hear their surprise at the outcome, verifies to me our need to begin to develop the, ” art of listening. ”

In the tools for learning I encourage, what I call three parts of the dialogue;

the inner story we tell ourselves (that no hears but us)
expressing to another
receiving expression from another

In this clip I enjoyed hearing their interpretation for dialogue, as they refer to it. They mention it is not the following:

it is not discussion or ideas back and forth, as this isn’t listening
it is not social conversation
it is not debate with a winner or loser

What they suggest is that it is a win/win for each person and from this comes new ideas, new ways of thinking where everyone benefits. The practice is simply listening. The exercise is to listen to each other without interruption for 15 minutes and then switch and listen to the other.

This is the basic skill I focus upon in my sessions and we work towards learning how to build upon this so that we can develop it into our everyday experience of interaction. Witnessing and hearing the sharing of the students experiences confirms the value of this technique.

Empathy from cultivating awareness from the inside out

The intent of this article is in the context of how communication and movement can support the decrease of anxiety, stress & fear.

InTouch Communication: Values & Empathy integration in communication for transforming disconnection into connection
Feldenkrais Movement: calming one’s nervous system.

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Natural World Empathy Support

Natures Love plant essences blended by Renee: support body, and minds feelings that block emotions and self-confidence

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Eating Coloured Foods: Metal, Emotional and Physical Support

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Find out more on how integrating the arts of movement, communication and space compliment your experience and encompasses a holistic approach to wellness.

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Renee Lindstrom, GCFP,

Feldenkrais® Practitioner since 2007, Value-Based Communication & Empathy Coach since 2004, Art of Placement since 2000, Founder of Greater Victoria Peace & Intercultural Celebrations since 2010 & Greater Victoria Labyrinths since 2012, #yyj Peace Week Calendar Founder – 2014 & 2015

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Posted in Awareness through Communication

Tagged #yyjKidspeacelanguage, #yyjNonviolent Communication, Chrildren's Value Education, Dialogue, Listening, Nonviolence

Intouch with Empathy and the Brain: Amygdale, Hippocampus, Prefrontal Cortex

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 1 comment

Amygdalus – Implicit Memory:

present at birth
includes emotional, behavioral, perceptual and possibly body memory
no sense of recollection (time) present when memories recalled
conscious attention is not required for encoding
does not involve the hippo-campus

Hippo-campus – Explicit Memory:

requires conscious attention
includes semantic(factual) and episodic(autobiographical) memory
develops during the second year of life and beyond
sense of recollection present when recalled
if autobiographical, a sense of self and time and present
if autobiographical, also involves the prefrontal cortex

Prefrontal Cortex

regulation of body systems
attuning to others
balancing emotions
modulating fear
responding flexibly
exhibiting insight and empathy
paying attention to the body’s wisdom
morality

When we are triggered beyond our window of tolerance our pre-frontal cortex function stops and we are left in responses of fight or flight. If our reactions shifts into freeze, our brain response has moved from the area of the amygdala and into the hippo-campus with no sense of time and into helplessness.

I have come to understand empathy is an effective tool to balance out the responses of hippo-campus and amygdala. Empathy allows one to recover and calms ones prefrontal cortex. As empathy develops it increases connections back and forth between our right and left brains therefore increasing ones windows of tolerance. I have also heard that empathy may have a direct link in the amygdala’s ability to accelerate the vagus nerve.

This goes beyond simply a reaction and includes the activation of our parasympathetic system through the vagus nerve. See diagram below to get an idea of the areas that become aroused as when we are stimulated.

These reactions includes our motor control. As we surpass our window of tolerance we begin to lose our fine motor control. We begin to lose our ability for tracking, to focus and mind-fully integrate. This involves our ability for self connection, to feel safe, grounded and to be present in the now.

There are theories to suggest the Amygdala is the accelerator through the 3 channels of the vagus nerve that controls our fight, flight and freeze experience and the quickest tool to connect to the Amygdala is through empathy.

Find out more on how integrating the arts of movement, communication and space compliment your experience and encompasses a holistic approach to wellness.

InTouch on the Brain – ‘Reactions to Stress’

Posted on October 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

Left Hemisphere Reactions

distancing, moral superiority, logic, sarcasm, denying, educating, judgments, blame, comparison, addictions, compulsions, mild derogatory self-talk, withholding privileges or resources, letting go of agreements, fantasizing about other partners, other lives, rigidity

Right Hemisphere Reactions

fight or flight

gossip, criticism of others behind their back, clinging, retelling our story, mild confusion, medium levels of derogatory self-talk, verbal attacks, asking for reassurance, chaos

freeze

shock, paralyzed

Find out more on how integrating the arts of movement, communication and space compliment your experience and encompasses a holistic approach to wellness.

‘Empathy and our Brain’

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 2 comments

by Renee Lindstrom, founder, Inside Awareness Center for Integrative Somatic Learning

Empathy can transform reactions at the core conception that forms a cognitive perspective. An example of a shift is a change in feelings of shame, anxiety, or irritation into feelings of understanding, patience and regret.

Responses to outside stimulus are based upon left- brain or right-brain dominance

When the brain is triggered beyond windows of tolerance, the response is fight, flight and freeze

Some of the physical, mental and emotional experiences when going beyond our windows of tolerance could be:

discomfort, distraction, confusion

Some cognitive reactions when we’ve gone beyond our limits of tolerance could be:

denying responsibility, advising, diagnosing, educating, making demands and moral judgments, blaming and comparing

Some short-term emotions could be:

anger, fear, yelling, violence, slamming doors, hanging up, leaving

Some long-term reactions:

overwhelmed, mortification, terror, dissociation, numbing, going into a trance, leaving your body, going deeply into confusion, being unable to feel your body, shame, not caring what happens to you

Read more on: Physical reactions and the reactions of the left and right hemispheres, to the stimulus of gossiping, sniping, criticizing, moral superiority and logic.

Cultivating effective empathic responses can be learned and experienced mentally, emotionally and physically

Ways of learning and integrating empathetic responses are:

Awareness through Communication
- Values & Empathy integration in communication transforms disconnection into connection
Awareness through Movement
- Learned posture responses mimic tolerance or lack of tolerance, translating into unconscious behaviours
Awareness through Environment
- Cultural patterns create habitual or, lack of tolerance behaviours
Awareness through Eating
- Brain, body, emotional and cognitive function response to food and drink consumed

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Feldenkrais®, Feldenkrais Method®, Awareness Through Movement®, and Functional Integration®, are registered service marks of the Feldenkrais Guild® of North

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Posted in Brain, Function

Tagged advising, Amygdala, Anger, being unable to feel your body, blame, Body & Brain Function, Brain, Brain Activity, comparison, confusion, demands, denying, diagnosing, discomfort, dissociation, distracting, diverting, Education, Empathy, Fear, Fight, Flight and freeze, Function, going deeply into confusion, going into a trance, hanging up, Hippocampus, judgments, leaving, leaving your body, mortification, not caring what happens to you, numbing, overwhelmed, Physical Reactions, Prefrontal Cortex, Reactions, shame, slamming doors, Social Engagement, Stress, terror, Tolerence, Violence, yelling

InTouch with the Brain – Right and Left Hemispheres

Posted on October 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

by Renee LIndstrom, Founder of Inside Awareness Center of Integrative Somatic Learning

Qualities of Left and Right Hemispheres

Universally accepted qualities of the right and left Brain Hemispheres

The theory of the mind’s function suggests that the two different sides of the brain control two different “modes” of thinking. It also suggests that each of us prefers one mode over the other.

Left Hemisphere	Right Hemisphere
_{Awareness through Communication}	_{@insideawareness.com}
Logical	Visual
Linear	Attunement
Literal	Voice quality
Practical language	Eye gaze
Making sense	Touch and gesture
Social self	Circuits of attachment
Spoken/lived narrative	Integrated map of body
Detail monitoring	Effective experience
Analytic problem-solving	Experience of self
Fact accumulation	Beginning of regulation
Chalkboard of the mind	Empathetic resonance
Working memory	Implicit memory
Adding to regulation	I felt autobiographical narrative
Handling familiar	Intuition
moderate levels of stress	Morality
More defined neocortical columns	Metaphorical language
	Rapid processing of novelty
	Severe levels of stress
	Integrated neocortical columns

Have you read The Brains Way of Healing by Dr. Norman Doidge?

_{Listen to Dr. Doidge’s short introduction to the Brain’s plasticity. He shares the value of the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education in supporting shifting the brain’s behaviour for enhancing functional abilities, physically, mentally and emotionally.}

Find out more on how integrating the arts of movement, communication and space compliment your experience and encompasses a holistic approach to wellness.

Book a personalized Coaching session for self, work, group or create a retreat – 250-361-7508