In this second episode in the Somatics series, we explore Polyvagal Theory as a tool for raising awareness and befriending your body. Exploring the three central states in Polyvagal Theory (safety/connection, fight or flight, and shutdown), as well as the freeze state that most humans get stuck in, we name practices for getting your body unstuck and moving forward towards flourishing.

In this episode—the first in a new series about befriending our bodies—we explore how awareness of our body’s feelings, experience, and sensation is the engine of sustained change. In a society in which we are encouraged, implicitly if not explicitly, to disembody—to dissociate from embodied awareness—we begin to lay out a path towards fully inhabiting our bodies and, thus, our lives. This, as this series bears out, is the crucial foundation for building a life of abundance and flourishing, for our sake and for the sake of the world around us.

In this final conversation with Celtic thinker and author John Philip Newell about his book ‘The Great Search,’ we explore themes of returning to the wisdom of childhood and learning to encounter the light of the world in the midst of darkness. What emerges is a map for navigating the challenging landscape of our contemporary culture, with its emphasis on external power over inner wisdom. As we reflect on the wisdom of three twentieth century luminaries, an invitation for transcending the darkness emerges. Come for his brogue, stay for his mind and heart: this final conversation with John Phillip Newell will leave you re-discovering wisdom, hope, and courage.