As a Focusing Companion holding space for myself or others, I am connecting with what is trying to be understood. I help "this" feel seen and acknowledged. The ingenuity of our body parts in finding ways to be understood is fascinating.  Over time, we understand how much environment and hidden assumptions limited us at various times in our life. This builds our compassion. I've found more and more, I love my routines that got me this far and I love updating them. 

I appreciate science, especially relational neuroscience, which I use in my books, Smartview Stories. Having a good relationship with my body is part of what attracted me to Focusing. Bodies are fascinatingly complex. Learning how my body works has deepened my ability to use Focusing with physical health issues. 

In my experience, if I am going to do something new here, it's easier for my body to be clear if I understand something about body science. As an example of how I use , I listened to an Andrew Huberman video last week that addresses dopamine, a key aspect involved in the science of several common Focusing topics: addiction, motivation and procrastination. I do find his videos helpful. You may prefer another source to pick up new ideas.

A few things that have stuck with me: 

1. Intrinsic motivation is driven by dopamine combined with our belief system. The dopamine they can measure, the other aspect, falls more under Focusing. 

2. What goes up must come down. A dopamine peak will be followed by a trough. The peak is above our baseline, the trough, below our baseline. We should expect this after any peak experience. 

3. Being rewarded for something we are intrinsically motivated to do will increase our dopamine peak. If that reward is later removed, our motivation is dulled, we may lose interest. Over time, our interest can return. Interesting to apply to schools, workplaces, home life and how we reward ourselves. 

4. Typical meditation does not restore dopamine levels (meditate for other reasons). Both NSDR - non-sleep deep rest and Yoga Nidra have been shown to restore dopamine levels. Useful if you feel your energy drop during the day. 

5. To maintain a healthy baseline dopamine level, Andrew mentioned his self-care tools. I think he highlighted four of them for dopamine. I have all six with his video explaining them on my website with a page dedicated to Healthy Brain Tools. 

6. Last but not least. Developing a growth mindset of showing up to help yourself do hard things is priceless in building a sense of inner teamwork. If you'd like support for this, I recommend my books, Smartview Stories. 

Where these will take me is not yet clear and I will say that I feel myself lean in for a deeper understanding of how I am currently leveraging dopamine in my life. 

As I listen to something like a podcast, I use our Focusing skill of checking back, resonating new information with my own process or crossing with my experience of Focusing. I am actively listening within myself as I listen outside of myself. I am holding space for myself, the other and the space between us and sensing for where there is aliveness. Sometimes what I resonate with helps me understand myself more. Sometimes I hear requests from my body to try this 'new thing'. Almost always that is followed by something that agrees and something that disagrees. Both are here. Moving forward will require me to help the resistance feel seen and safe enough for action to feel easeful. 

A challenge is being aware that my left hemisphere will prefer what it already knows. This aspect of our neuroscience is embodied by Sleuthin, the patchwork human-like companion in my stories. Sleuthin says, "I have a body." When we are cultivating a relationship with our body, we are listening to Hummah, the octopus companion in my stories. Hummah says, "I am a body". Of course who are we? We are like Ashamaya, the owl, creating a welcoming space and being with the other two. 

One of the hard things I now do that I learned from neuroscience is cold water exposure. If you've been in my courses the past 5 years, you may have heard me mention this. I generally avoided cold water in the past. Growing up in Wisconsin, I was raised to wear plenty of layers and keep myself warm to avoid catching colds. I developed Raynaud's syndrome by age 20.

If you have not heard of it, Raynaud syndrome, is a medical condition in which the spasm of small arteries creates reduced blood flow to end arterioles. It is painful and scary as fingers and toes turn white and can take a while to return to normal. I did a lot of research and consulted various doctors over the years trying to fix it. I noticed I was sometimes triggering it myself via some kind of inner stress. Doctors would nod, yea, so don't do that or their favorite suggestion: avoid cold, move south. I did move south, it improved slightly and was still an issue.

In this case, the aliveness I felt came from both of my hemispheres. Sleuthin loves to fix problems and was the one listing all of the ways he had tried already to solve this problem. Hummah, my temperature regulator, had previously been mostly embarrassed that it was not working well. Connecting with my temperature regulator saying oh yes, I could do much better if we exercised was priceless. I also understood from my body to move forward gradually. I started with cold rinses at the end of showers. I began taking my morning walks without layers, finding that I was chilly at first; however, I felt more invigorated overall. Gradually, I began enjoying cold showers seasonally May - September. 

Well, lo and behold! What happened when I embraced cold?

No more hands and feet losing circulation. Raynaud's is now a distant memory. This makes Sleuthin happy, the 'problem' is fixed. The improvement in my relationship with Hummah, my body, is immeasurable. I have gained qualities like strong, flexible, adaptable, and compassionate. Compassionate because every single time I first enter the cold water, I am being with something that is nervous, pulling back a bit. Reaching out to expand our edges as a team, requires me to be with Hummah and Sleuthin. Within 30-60 seconds they relax. 

Let's remember my life forward movement may not be what is right for you at this time and that is just as it should be. My husband is a total hot bath geek and despite my joy, he keeps his cold water exposure to summertime swims in the pond. Likewise, despite his joy and all of the benefits of hot baths, I keep mine to an occasional one in the winter. I get my summer heat and sweat playing in our gardens (followed by one of those yummy cold showers!). The ways forward are unique for each of us. 

There are numerous ways to improve your body communication other than bringing more science education into your environment. Almost any kind of mindful activity involves in the moment being with your body. This could be mindful eating, various movement activities, sports and much more.

I'd love to hear your stories! Share them below. I will read and comment on each.