Latest / Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul / Ep 15 | Your Body’s Unique Response System | Highly Sensitive Series

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Ep 15 | Your Body’s Unique Response System | Highly Sensitive Series · Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul

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Welcome to Rise and Realign, conversations for
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the sensitive soul. I'm Melissa, and this space
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is for those of us who feel deeply, love fiercely,
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and sense the world in ways that are hard to
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explain, but impossible to ignore. Here, we honor
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your sensitivity as a strength. not something
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to fix. Well, this week, I am revisiting that
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highly sensitive series, nine -part blog. The
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last three episodes, I touched on the first three
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parts which were on the mind series and today
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we start with part four the beginning of the
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body series and this is the blog is called your
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body's unique response system and i i definitely
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wanted to share that you know my own personal
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journey as a highly sensitive woman You know,
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I didn't become aware of this trait that my body
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has, right, this sensory processing sensitivity.
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I didn't know about it. I didn't understand it.
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And in my early years, right, like, I certainly
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was aware of my own. inner experiences. Again,
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just not knowing it under that umbrella understanding
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of having this sensory processing sensitivity
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where I feel things more deeply and take in,
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you know, more stimuli than those who are not
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born with this innate survival strategy. And,
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you know, at 19, working in again a locked psychiatric
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hospital you know i was um learning how to you
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know read a pulse right how to check someone's
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pulse how to how to understand you know what
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might be what we call you know a normal or healthy
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range um you know, checking blood pressure, right?
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Again, ensuring that the individuals who were
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hospitalized, that their body, right, was handling
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either what medication they were taking or what,
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just what they were navigating in their own.
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world, right? And I certainly got a glimpse of
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so many different things, right? From, well,
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I won't go into it. There's just a lot, you know,
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that we can learn by seeing other people's journeys,
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right? Because, you know, when we stay in our
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own world, our family, right? Our culture, you
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know, you see a lot of similarities, right? But
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at 19, I certainly was learning how vast and
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how different people's experiences were from
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a mental health perspective, but also from a
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physical health perspective. And, you know, my
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life always had health challenges in it. That,
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again, was due to this level of sensitivity that
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I have that made medications more problematic
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than therapeutic for me. You know, removing organs
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was certainly not something that I can see now
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is an ideal approach. But that's just my journey,
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you know, my perspective. And I definitely learned
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a lot. through, again, training in biological
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decoding, right? Understanding psychoneuroimmunology.
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And there's just, there's so many layers to our
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physical experiences, right? Our bodies and how
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they interact, how they interact with sunlight
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and nature and our environments, right? But as
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far as a highly sensitive individual, I just
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really want to, again, remind you that there's
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this depth of processing, right? And I will continue
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to speak about that because that is the really
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core essential element of a highly sensitive
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individual. It's this depth of processing. Like
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I said, in the mind series, you know, we talked
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about thoughts, you know, emotions, and how,
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like, often, we can feel, right, when we think
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of thoughts, emotions, how it flows through every
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cell of our body, right? Like, so you may feel
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tension in your chest, right? Like, very common
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for women to feel tightness in the neck and in
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the shoulders, right? Especially because, you
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know, you carry more sense of responsibility
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because of your, again, very strategic thinking
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and ability to navigate. But what I really, really
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want to touch on today is about you know again
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your nervous system the way it responds to the
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environment right the way it responds to your
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internal dialogue is something that's really
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important to to really be with and understand
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um because in our culture we're often taught
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you know to dismiss you know physical um sensations
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messages right um Because you feel them sooner
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than somebody who doesn't have this trait. Again,
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because of that high sensitivity, you are sensing
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things before others. So it's just really important
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that you keep coming back to your sensitivity
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heightens your awareness of subtle signals, right?
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Sensing subtleties, that is part of being a highly
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sensitive woman. So really tending to what this
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may be like, you know, in your experience. And
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some of the things that show up, you know, the
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common ones I mentioned, right, that muscle tension.
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Maybe you notice that your breathing patterns
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change. Again, these are subtle signs that you
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can tune into. more easily and therefore notice
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things sooner. So I really encourage you to tune
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inward more to your body's sensations and communications,
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right? Your digestive system shifts, right? Your
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energy fluctuates. Your sleep patterns may be
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disrupted, right? I mean, a lot of times I know
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for me, before I understood a lot of this, you
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know, if I felt muscle tension, I would totally
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relate it to, well, what did I do? What did I
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do, right? Like, did I lift something heavy?
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Did I, did something fall, right? Like, go to
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the physical reason for something happening,
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right? Or digestion. Well, what did I eat, right?
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Or, or is there some kind of germ, you know,
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bug type thing going around, right? Or energy,
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again, thinking like, or wondering, why am I
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feeling this way? And, and, and of course, sleep
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has just a whole slew of reasons why. But I really
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want to raise awareness to how approaching something
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from a physical only level is really missing.
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a big chunk of, again, what it means to be a
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highly sensitive individual. There are so many
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factors at play that often go unnoticed. And
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again, reminding you that even though roughly
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20 to 30 % of this human population has this
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high sensitivity trait, right? And again, equal
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between males and females, which means that the
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professionals that we turn to for guidance and
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understanding. if they're not highly sensitive,
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then their curiosity may not be as deep, right?
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As seeing a professional who is highly sensitive.
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And yet there's still those of us who, we don't
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know anything about this high sensitivity trait,
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right? And maybe other people, I'm sure, I know
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it's true. They approach it from different angles,
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right? And there's different things that can
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be similar right in somebody's makeup in a sense
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um as being highly sensitive but again the real
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core of it is that you have this depth of processing
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because you can take in more stimuli right you
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can take in um again and this is through all
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of your senses more than roughly 80, 70 to 80
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% of the population. So this is why it's really
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important from my perspective that you tune in
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to you on a regular consistent basis and trust
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your felt sense because you're the one receiving
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the communication. And, and again, we, we also
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are raised you know, differently, right? Like
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some people have already a very holistic approach
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to their body and any communication, right? Any
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disruption that they may be experiencing. And
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certainly nature, right? Naturopathic physicians
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very much supporting that. that connection to
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what's natural and supportive and helpful to
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restoring balance into the body, right? Bringing
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harmony back. And not everyone has access to
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a naturopathic physician or even really knows
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and understands what they do. I know for me,
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I didn't encounter a naturopathic physician until...
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I was an adult, definitely after I realized that
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pharmaceuticals and medical interventions were
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harming more than helping. And I went through
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my own, you know, detoxing to, again, just clear
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out what wasn't supporting me. And then I did,
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I started to work with a naturopathic physician
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and, you know, they're all so unique in their
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training. There's, there's so many varieties,
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right. Um, that, that they can utilize to support
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your body. Um, but it's just truly, it's truly
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something that I feel if I were to have a second
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career, you know, uh, it would definitely be
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as a naturopathic physician because I really.
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it just resonates with me it aligns with me which
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probably you know very much speaks to why um
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i came into contact with dr catherine clinton
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who's a naturopathic physician um and as soon
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as i took her first course quantum biology for
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trauma i was just like yes this is exactly you
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know she's speaking my language she's she's you
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know, she's giving me the research that backs
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what my own intuition has been guiding me towards.
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So I definitely am an advocate for, you know,
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finding the right naturopathic physician who
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can work with you as you discover your body and
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its messages, right? And, and I must say that
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when I was writing this highly sensitive series
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blog, I think I was, I was just in the full quantum
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biology health training with Dr. Catherine Clinton.
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And I probably would have written this blog very
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different, you know, after I got through all
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of her training, because it's, it's deep. And
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of course, that's what I love being a highly
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sensitive individual. I definitely like. deep
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dive. Like I really want to understand it at
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its core. Um, and I really felt like, again,
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Dr. Catherine Clinton just brings all of this
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information together in such a beautiful way.
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Um, so back to your unique response system, right?
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As having a more finely tuned nervous system,
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right? Like it's really important that you are
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being attentive to your body's needs, right?
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Because many have been conditioned away, right?
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Conditioned to ignore the signals, you know,
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just maybe... throwing some over the counter
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medication at it. You know, some people, you
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know, turn to other substances. And some people
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are just kind of brushing it off, like, I'll
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just work through it, right? And they're not
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really sitting with what is your body telling
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you, right? It is about that unique communication
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that you can have. So Really want to pause and
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let's just breathe together. You know, let's
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put one hand on your heart and one hand on your
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belly and just breathe in. Nice, deep inhale
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through your nose. Nice, slow exhale out your
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mouth. And again, just honoring your body. Honoring
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your breath and just being with yourself in this
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moment. And just allow that breath to continue
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for as long as you need. I often say, you know,
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connecting with one breath is better than none.
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I'm a big fan of at least three. you know, and
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more as long as it feels comfortable to you,
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right? Because not everyone feels comfortable
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taking slower, deeper, longer breaths. Oftentimes
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that's because of the nervous system and the
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bracing patterns that develop as highly sensitive
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women. You know, again, because if we've been
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accustomed to ignoring the messages from our
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body, pushing aside, you know, going to what's
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quickest, right? A medication prescribed or not,
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right? Like that, that's a way to disconnect
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from our body. And again, There's no blame because
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a lot of us were raised that that's the way you
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treat the body, right? That you treat it like
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it's a machine and, you know, you just keep pushing
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through. But I really invite you to connect with
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your body in a new way and really understand
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that it's communicating and it wants to be heard.
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It wants to bring harmony. And, you know, it's
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always working to find that homeostasis, right?
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But there are reasons that we get recurring messages.
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And the medication does not give us the understanding
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of what the message is, right? So... I'm just
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inviting you to consider. Consider your body
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your best friend. Consider your body as the one
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person that you are always with. Always. It is
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your best friend for this lifetime. And the better
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care that you give, right? the better care you
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receive. And who else deserves the amount of
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love and kindness and compassion and care that
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you have as a sensitive woman? But you, you deserve
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it. I encourage you to breathe if that feels
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uneasy. I encourage you to allow any emotions
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that may be arising. Because that's not the easiest
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for us to hear if we've been in a pattern of
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pushing through. Right? And that's what I'm finding
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with highly sensitive women, right? Like, we
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have... become so conditioned in a hypervigilant
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state almost, right? For different parts of our
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lives, right? There may have been more going
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on than our body could handle, our nervous system
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capacity, right? And so then it gets felt again
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in the tension. right? In the constricting, in
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the shallow breathing. And really, I mean, what
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this whole podcast is about is inviting you to
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rise up out of those old patterns, those old
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conditions that do not support you. You deserve
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to realign with your gifts, your beautiful sensitivity.
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This depth of processing gives you this depth
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of caring, right? This capacity to love. It's
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the most beautiful thing I have experienced.
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Love is, it's so hard to explain, right? And
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a lot of us take that for granted as well. So
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I guess today I'm talking about both, right?
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Like, allow yourself more moments to pause. And
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again, put one hand on your heart and the other
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on your belly. And breathe, right? Take a break
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and breathe love. Because that's who you are.
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The heart of who you are is love. And the more
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often you pause, connect with your breath, breathe
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in love, right? Breathe in love. And exhale tension.
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Just letting it go. And just continue to allow
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yourself to breathe in love. Receive that. You
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deserve that. all the love within you that you
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so naturally give out to others, to your family
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members, to your friends, to your jobs, your
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careers, vocation, you know, whatever word most
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aligns for what you are living through, you know,
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like you want to be feeling it, receiving it.
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tapping into it yourself. Allow yourself to be
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connected with the love within you, with the
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amazing body that you have. I mean, the body
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is so incredible. I mean, I remember the first
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time I learned that. my body was comprised of
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trillions of cells with individual consciousness
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and that they are always working on my behalf
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to again right bring homeostasis to bring fluidity
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right and You know, that certainly came after
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a period where I did not understand my relationship
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with my body and was very angry that my body
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was uncooperative with my plans. So I certainly
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honor wherever you are on your path. And I just
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invite you to soften, even just for a moment,
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to really breathe in. Because there is love within
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you. There is an innate intelligence within your
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body that knows exactly what to do. And the more
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we listen, right? The more we start hearing the
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messages and communication from our body. And
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the more new possibilities open up for how we
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might approach. body and feeling more vitality
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right more energy to do the things that light
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you up so I'm just a reminder that honoring your
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sensitivity It might look different from cultural
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expectations of productivity and constant availability.
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I know it did when I started doing it. And that
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can feel a little disorienting, right? If others
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don't understand. And sometimes that can bring
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up our own inner questioning, right? Like, is
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this really okay? Is this really smart? Right?
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But when you trust, and respond to your body's
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needs, you're not just caring for yourself. You
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are modeling an important form of self -respect
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for others, other women, other sensitive souls
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around you, right? It's a form of a permission
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slip, right? When we get the example that someone
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else is doing it, it's a reassuring feeling,
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right? Like, oh, right, I do deserve this. I
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can't do this. So oftentimes, we're moving out
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of old conditioning and realigning with the truth
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of who we are. As a reminder, we are here together
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to rise, reclaim, remember. Where the heart leads,
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the body remembers, and the soul awakens. What
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I'm sharing resonates with you and you're not
27:05
already receiving my weekly Rise and Realign
27:09
Lunar Letter. I invite you to visit realignwithmelissa
27:14
.com slash links and you'll see everything there
27:19
that you could sign up for. I do offer a biannual,
27:29
every equinox, the realigned journey, which is
27:33
an immersive and intimate gathering. And so the
27:36
next one is beginning in March for the spring
27:40
equinox. You are invited to join me for a moment
27:43
to pause, a space to inquire. That will be on
27:49
February 19th at 5 p .m. Pacific and again on
27:56
March 5th. 5 p .m pacific and yeah just continue
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you know tune in return to your breath every
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day to your body to what feels true for you there's
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nothing you need to fix so take good care of
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you Much love and light.