60. The Sky is Not the Limit -- The Capacity of your Nervous System Is with Samantha Johnson
The Vital Side Podcast
The Importance of Emotion Processing and Listening to Intuition
This chapter explores the societal conditioning to suppress emotions, the impact of trauma on instincts and intuition, and provides insights on differentiating fear from intuition.
Is there something in your life that you feel like is holding you back from reaching your full potential? Lindsay and Cait are joined by trauma-informed somatic coach and mentor, Samantha Johnson, to discuss the practice of Somatics, how to identify ways of being by uncovering who we have been, and how you can learn to take a step back & take a look at how your body experiences life.
Samantha Johnson is the founder of The Alchemy of Truth coaching company where she works as a trauma-informed somatic coach and mentor. She also created the Alchemy of Healing Book Club where people from all over the world come together monthly to heal in connection and dip their toes into somatic practice. She is an immensely gifted leader and coach with the ability to hold space and create safety for those in her presence to come back into contact with the fullness of their being.
Show Notes:
-Sam’s 10-year journey entering and being in the work of nervous system regulation
-Recognizing the patterns of her life, being the child of an alcoholic and addict - how this showed up in her relationships
-Learning to be connected with all the parts of ourselves – not just the parts that feel “good”
-“With awareness comes choice” – Eckart Tolle
-Somatic processing vs. brain retraining and other nervous system regulation processes
-“Soma” – to be with the wholeness of our being
-Somatics is the practice of being with all that is - we can cultivate safety through somatic practices
-Trauma can be a huge lens for why we can’t move forward - being present with life is the ultimate goal in Sam’s work
-“Am I honoring myself, my body, and my needs when I am forced to do a rigid routine?” Getting rid of any stigma around what you SHOULD do
-Living somatically is about doing less. Come back to the question, “Is this what I need or does my nervous system just really need a break right now?”
-“The sky isn’t the limit - the nervous system is.” Sam’s perspective on how our collective and individual nervous systems limit us
-Sam’s journey working through a “wounded space” of the high achiever after owning a hair salon for 16 years
-“Fixing” via mindset work vs. deep root-cause healing
-Burnout can happen a lot quicker when we are further and deeper into our personal growth journeys – our nervous systems can be quicker to attune what isn’t aligned, what doesn’t feel good or what isn’t sustainable
-“Butterflies” in your belly is an example of a red flag in a relationship - when we pay attention to these signs, we can learn that we have the ability to make choices in our external environments
-We can create a distinction of what’s happening inside of us vs what’s happening in our environments
-Learning to sit still and understand how emotions show up in your body can help you to process & reconnect with yourself
-There is a fine line between a coping mechanism & using a tool that allows us to connect with what nurtures us
-Sam’s experience having gone through a recent breakup. In knowing herself better and not being so hung up on the story, she was able to be with the emotion rather than give in to it
-90 seconds is the lifespan of the emotion - allowing ourselves to be with the emotion for a period of time without letting it dictate the rest of our lives
-When we can be with what is – it can move through us
-Neuroception – how we respond to our environment (i.e. the subconscious process that happens all the time by our brains and bodies to determine what is safe vs. unsafe – and is based on our past experiences)
-Instinct vs intuition - it can be difficult to delineate the two, but we can tap into what that full body “yes” looks like (intuition)
-Fear can be coupled with intuition and instinct… we can start paying attention to our own experiences to understand this for ourselves
-Let’s remember that our bodies are smart instead of shaming ourselves for not initially listening to our bodies
Resources:
-Subscribe to the Monthly Somatic Book Club here
-Visit the Vital-Side Homepage here
-Samantha’s Instagram: @alchemicallysam
-Dr. Becky Kennedy’s Instagram: @drbeckyatgoodinside
-Sign up for the Rewire: The Vital-Side Membership
-Lindsay’s Instagram: @myvitalside
-Visit Lindsay’s Website
-Cait’s Instagram: @caitrossco
-Visit Cait’s Website
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