Dharmapunx NYC The Holidays: From Sometimes Just Surviving to Thriving
Dec 5, 2025
Explore the dissonance between holiday expectations and the reality of loneliness. Discover how childhood experiences shape adult connections and emotional responses. Learn about the brain's mechanisms for memory and emotion, including the impact of early caregiver interactions. Josh shares techniques to shift anxiety and reframe painful memories through mindfulness and breathing practices. He emphasizes the shared experience of holiday loneliness and invites listeners into body-centered meditations to cultivate safety and connection.
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Holiday Imagery Distorts Reality
- Holiday media creates a harsh contrast between marketed joy and many people's lived loneliness.
- Josh Korda explains this contrast triggers feelings of personal deficiency rather than reality.
Three Core Nervous-System Modes
- Our nervous system develops three survival settings: freeze, fight/flight, and homeostasis.
- Josh Korda links these early patterns to how we respond socially as adults during holidays.
Early Cues Shape Lifelong Models
- Early caregiver nonverbal cues build working models of safety that shape adult emotional responses.
- Josh Korda notes roughly 75% of these attachment models persist across the lifespan.