In this uncertain time, when there seems to be threat lurking and polarization everywhere, I offer this.

May all beings feel safe. May all beings have their needs met. May all beings be awake.

Late springtime backyard bouquet

For myself and for the collective

༄ I call in resilience.

༄ I call in the capacity to act when needed, to rest before depleted, and the discernment to know which is appropriate at any given time.

༄ I humbly request that there be wisdom infusing all decision making, that there be the capacity to listen to intuition and measured information, and use them in synergy.

༄ May all needs be met, even those needs that we don’t know we have.

I’ve been dizzy. Feeling weird in my head, like my brain is a bit dislocated. Having a hard time connecting with my quarantine pod, my husband and two nearly adult kiddos. Tired. But, I can’t necessarily sleep, just feel tired. COVID-19 has changed our lives, and not much feels familiar.

I’ve been studying the Polyvagal Theory, research mainly associated with Stephen Porges, in my training with the META Institute. If you’ve studied the Polyvagal Theory, you can probably skim through the next 4 or 5 paragraphs, they’re a pretty basic explanation of that.

The Ventral portion of the Vagal nervous system is mainly located in the face, throat and neck. We are at ease when we’re in Ventral Vagal response, when we’re connected with people we feel safe with, when we can co-regulate our nervous systems together and find a feeling of security. This is the most complex part of our nervous system, the most recent to develop in evolution. It’s what gets activated, I’m convinced, when we’re at temple or church or on retreat with our spiritual communities. Our nervous systems need community to function properly, to be “happy”.

Many of us are used to hearing about fight, flight, and freeze as part of the Sympathetic nervous system response when we feel threatened, but in actuality how that works is a little more complicated.
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