Heather

Welcome back my friends.

Heather

If this is your first time here, I am delighted you found Just Breathe.

Heather

We talk all things loving, raising and empowering LGBTQ people, but at the core it is a space for you to take a breath, quiet all of the noise around you and just be before we get into today's episode, I want to encourage you to sign up for my inaugural Parenting with Pride Book Club.

Heather

Starting next Tuesday, July 9th, we will meet on Zoom for one hour a week for four weeks to discuss each of the four pillars.

Heather

Embrace, educate and unlearn bias, Empower and love.

Heather

Bring your thoughts and questions or just sit quietly and know you're surrounded by affirming people.

Heather

The link to register is in the show notes.

Heather

You can also sign up via my website chrysalismama.com this may be the best $97 you spend all year.

Heather

Today's guest is someone I have worked with one on one, who has helped me with a ton of internal work and healing and who I now consider a dear friend.

Heather

Kelly Luback is passionate about changing the world for the better through individual, group and community level healing programs that inspire health, embodied leadership and heightened capacity for change.

Heather

Kelly helps women leaders stay grounded and centered in their change making so they can deliver and lead impactful work, enjoy meaningful relationships and deep connection with their purpose without sacrificing body, mind and spirit to their mission.

Heather

Kelly's work happens at the intersection of deep and soulful coaching, science of the nervous system, shamanic healing, yoga, mindfulness and 25 years of experience leading service based programs around the world.

Heather

Today's conversation is the first of several that Kelly and I will have and I am so happy she is here to share her wisdom with us.

Kelly

Welcome Kelly.

Kelly

I am so happy that you are here today and I'm really, really excited to have this conversation about the nervous system which I think when we first hear those words we're not really sure what that means to take care of our nervous system, to pay attention to what our nervous system is telling us.

Kelly

And you, through so much experience and study have become, I mean the most brilliant expert on this subject that I have ever encountered.

Kelly

So I have, you know, like I said earlier in the introduction, I have worked with Kelly one on one for almost a year and she is also a very dear friend of mine.

Kelly

So I am delighted, delighted for you all to learn a little bit from Kelly today.

Kelly

So thank you for being here, thank.

Kelly Luback

You so much for having me and I'm so excited to have this conversation with you and I really appreciate the shout out on being a brilliant expert.

Kelly Luback

And I come very humbly.

Kelly Luback

But yes, being a complete nervous system nerd and excited to just dive in deeper, Both through my own experience and experience, Working with clients and students and just exploring the study of it.

Kelly Luback

Cause it is so foundational to everything that we live and experience.

Kelly

It's amazing.

Kelly

So I wonder if you would take just like 60 seconds and give a quick overview of how you.

Kelly

Because we often when things are going on in our lives and we're struggling for whatever reason, we're like trying to figure it out, and we're like picking and just grasping at different things.

Kelly

And it took a lot of that for you, for you to finally realize, oh my gosh, this is my nervous system.

Kelly

Can you talk just a little bit about that?

Kelly Luback

Yeah.

Kelly Luback

One of my favorite ways to explain the work that we do around the nervous system is to understand that we have a system within our bodies.

Kelly Luback

Our brain, our spinal cord, the peripheral system, our autonomic nervous system, which is all the automatic functions.

Kelly Luback

Like our nervous system is responsible for everything.

Kelly Luback

Our, our breathing, our digestion, our heart rate, our hormonal production or lack of production, our like, all of the different basic functions that we don't have to think about.

Kelly Luback

Wound healing, healing hormones, anti aging hormones, all of these things are influenced by the nervous system.

Kelly Luback

The way that I really like to think about it though, is it's basically the.

Kelly Luback

The tracker of all of our lived experience.

Kelly Luback

So whatever it is that we've lived from early childhood into adulthood and an older age is recorded in this system.

Kelly Luback

And so we begin to very early on track patterns that speak to us of what is safe and what is not safe.

Kelly Luback

And so with these patterns that are learned through our lived experience, what we observe, what we walk through, what we live, how we relate, we learn the rules in the system for what is safe and not safe.

Kelly Luback

And that basically creates patterns within us that then determine the ways that we engage in the world or the ways that we disengage from the world.

Kelly Luback

And so it's so foundational.

Kelly Luback

And I'm happy to go into this more as we speak.

Kelly Luback

But for me, that's like really the most essential piece is our systems are out looking at how do we stay in survival and how do we advance the species within the human that we are by keeping us safe.

Kelly Luback

And we have the threat response and the threat detection up all the time.

Kelly Luback

And we can learn to work with that in really effective ways that can help us learn to be in the world and thrive in the world in ways that are different than we might have experienced through our own lived experience, if that makes sense.

Kelly

It does.

Kelly

It's a lot.

Kelly

I think one of the most fascinating things for me as I started this work with you and I.

Kelly

My guess is that this is true for so many people is that at some point, all of the messaging that we've just been collecting our whole lives and our nervous system at.

Kelly

At a certain point, we start to not pay attention anymore to the messaging, to the information that our nervous system is giving us for various reasons.

Kelly

It's too overwhelming, it's too painful, it's too.

Kelly

We don't understand it and we disengage, we disconnect from that.

Kelly

And I know that I came to you at a point where I was like, I have no idea.

Kelly

Like, I could say, I think my nervous system is fried.

Kelly

I feel this way, but I couldn't tell you why and what was going on and where and where that came from.

Kelly

And so I'm wondering if you could just talk a little bit first, validate that for everybody.

Kelly

Because that is such, I think, a very common experience for so many of us.

Kelly

So when you're saying like, these things are automatic, these things are.

Kelly

This over here on an intellectual level, we understand that.

Kelly Luback

Yeah.

Kelly

But if we just.

Kelly

Are you ask us right now to sit here and feel that.

Kelly

I would think that a lot of people are like, I can't.

Kelly Luback

Yes, yes, totally.

Kelly Luback

Okay.

Kelly Luback

There's so many pieces in here to unpack.

Kelly

12 questions there for you.

Kelly Luback

That's so great.

Kelly Luback

And I think, and what I do want to acknowledge too, is that I.

Kelly Luback

I feel like in the world now, especially post Covid, and this surge during COVID is just this, this sort of more popularized knowing of the nervous system or speaking about the nervous system and really normalizing anxiety, mood disorders, you know, depression, the ups and downs, feeling, the fight or flight is one that people use all the time.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

I feel like the references to the nervous system became much more widely understood.

Kelly Luback

And so there's a lot more that's being spoken about it in the world.

Kelly Luback

And with that, I think there's a lot of disinformation as.

Kelly Luback

Or misinformation and confusion around it.

Kelly Luback

And so what.

Kelly Luback

What I think is really important to understand is we can have feelings of heightened sensation, which might feel like anxiety or nervousness or, you know, if I'm going to go give a talk or you're going to go speak on your amazing new.

Kelly Luback

You know, you go out there, you're going to engage a part of the nervous system which is very activating.

Kelly Luback

So you are on.

Kelly Luback

And that is normal for your nervous system to be activated and on.

Kelly Luback

And it can get a little extra activated and that can look like anxiety.

Kelly Luback

And then we can have the de escalating part of the nervous system.

Kelly Luback

We call it the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the slowing things down.

Kelly Luback

And it's the rest and digest part.

Kelly Luback

It's the part that allows you to get to sleep at night or to digest your food well, or to slow down and be able to snuggle up with your kid and connect with them or have a deep and meaningful conversation with someone you care about.

Kelly Luback

That's also the nervous system.

Kelly Luback

And then there are times when, with the patterns that have been established.

Kelly Luback

So let's just say for example, that, you know, you grew up in a household where things were high intensity or high pressure and there was always like you had to be on, you had to perform, you had to say yes and you had to do good.

Kelly Luback

And all the things so many of us have lived this experience.

Kelly Luback

And so if that's the case, you might tend towards a more activated nervous system that leans more towards what looks like what we know as anxiety.

Kelly Luback

And so it's like this always being on, always being maybe a little on the verge of agitation or always needing to go, go, go and do, do, do.

Kelly Luback

So that's, that's nervous system.

Kelly Luback

And then sometimes what happens is when people have been going and sort of stuck in a pattern for so long that it's like the switch gets stuck so the on switch is on and you can't turn it off.

Kelly Luback

So if you're in a more activated state, that could look like, oh, I can't wind down, I can't get to sleep, or something's going on with my kid and I'm really worried and I can't turn off the mind.

Kelly Luback

It just feels like those wheels are turning all the time.

Kelly Luback

And, and that is, that's because this pattern has just gotten in, in a, in a stuck way.

Kelly Luback

And what.

Kelly Luback

And then let's just take the flip of that, which is we also have the slowing down nervous system, which can be, you know, the.

Kelly Luback

I'm holding my newborn baby and we're so connected and it's beautiful.

Kelly Luback

Or I've, you know, hugging my partner or my teen and we're feeling really connected.

Kelly Luback

That's, that's like the slowing down nervous system.

Kelly Luback

The other part of that, like further along the continuum is the freeze part where we get frozen or we get stuck in a place of slowed Down, So it might look like I can't get off the couch.

Kelly Luback

My, my brain isn't just processing thoughts well, or I really need to, I need to get my book out in the world, or I need to help my kid do X, Y and Z thing.

Kelly Luback

But I'm actually just stuck.

Kelly Luback

Like I'm frozen.

Kelly Luback

I can't, I can't move forward.

Kelly Luback

And in many cases that can look like, you know, sitting on the couch, chilling out with Netflix and a bowl of ice cream or chips.

Kelly Luback

And it's, it's more of the kind of numbing behavior and it's very decelerated.

Kelly Luback

Either one of those.

Kelly Luback

To be stuck in them is problematic because one, we're not meant to be stuck in them.

Kelly Luback

And we have a biology that's built to be able to move between the more activated and the more slowed down parts of the nervous system.

Kelly Luback

So I want, I want to share an analogy that I find to be really helpful, but I just want to ask, does that make sense or do you have questions or do you want to offer any clarification?

Kelly Luback

I'm trying to.

Kelly

No, I think that makes a ton of sense and I think is a really, really great overview.

Kelly

And I do want to hear your analogy.

Kelly

And then I have one question that, or a couple questions after that because I'd like to touch on the freeze and also just kind of specific examples of, you know, where people might be and what that might look like.

Kelly

So it like relates back so we.

Kelly Luback

Can connect these totally to connect the dots to real life experience, which is the most important reason to learn this.

Kelly Luback

Okay, so what I.

Kelly Luback

One analogy I'd love to offer is the river analogy.

Kelly Luback

And so if we think of a flowing river as our nervous system and our body and our resilience, and then if we think of rocks in the river, the, you know, the rocks that might jut up in a river or where you have rapids, those are like the traumas, those are triggers.

Kelly Luback

They are stressors.

Kelly Luback

They're the.

Kelly Luback

All the weights that we're carrying, they change the flow of the river, right?

Kelly Luback

So the more rocks we have, the rougher the river is going to be.

Kelly Luback

It's just going to flow more rapidly and it's going to be a rougher ride.

Kelly Luback

The fewer rocks we have, the easier the water can flow.

Kelly Luback

And so what, what we're aiming for is flow.

Kelly Luback

What we want is to be able to move between.

Kelly Luback

And I, I touched on just some really basic parts of the nervous system.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

Like, we can nerd out on this for hours, but for the Basics, we want to move between the more accelerated state and the more sort of modified decelerated state.

Kelly Luback

And then, you know, being able to, like, really close down for the day and, you know, sleep, digest, do the healing repair that happens during sleep time.

Kelly Luback

And then there's freeze, which is.

Kelly Luback

Has its own function as well.

Kelly Luback

But we want to be able to move easefully between these states.

Kelly Luback

So when I think of the river analogy, it's like we want flow, and that flow is showing us we can move between those states.

Kelly Luback

So there's two ways that we can create more flow.

Kelly Luback

We can expand the river so we can, like, you know, dig deeper and dig out to the edges so there's more flow in the.

Kelly Luback

In the water, or dig deeper in the water and, you know, pull up the ground there.

Kelly Luback

Or we can take out the rocks.

Kelly Luback

So there's different ways to approach this.

Kelly Luback

So taking out the rocks looks like reducing stressors, doing deeper healing on some of the old, you know, trauma pieces.

Kelly Luback

And it doesn't have to be what I think of as big T trauma.

Kelly Luback

These can be little T traumas that result in freeze, which we're going to talk about in a moment.

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

And just these old patterns.

Kelly Luback

So clearing of these old ways, but the widening and deepening of the river is creating more spaciousness by doing things that grow our resilience.

Kelly Luback

So those are different tools and ways that we can work with our bodies and our nervous systems to create more flow by building more resilience to whatever the rocks are, right, Whatever rocks show up and impact the flow of the river.

Kelly Luback

Does that make sense?

Kelly

It does.

Kelly

I love that.

Kelly

What might a couple examples of tools be?

Kelly Luback

Okay, so there's so many beautiful tools for working with the nervous system, and one of them is my favorite.

Kelly Luback

Now, we're not on video, but I'm going to describe this, and it's one that I love to give to people.

Kelly Luback

It's the.

Kelly Luback

It's the most effective, easiest, simplest thing that we can do.

Kelly Luback

So let's just say, like, you're feeling really stressed out, and we've all had this experience.

Kelly Luback

I know we've talked through this one before.

Kelly

This is one of my favorites, y'all.

Kelly

I love this so much.

Kelly

So listen carefully.

Kelly

It works.

Kelly Luback

So you're gonna take your right hand, put it to your left shoulder, left hand to your right shoulder.

Kelly Luback

So you're just crisscrossing.

Kelly Luback

And then you are stroking from your shoulders down to your elbows.

Kelly Luback

We're doing this with you.

Kelly Luback

So just go ahead, reach your arms across, crossing over your arms Opposite hand to the shoulder, opposite shoulder.

Kelly Luback

And then you're just stroking down shoulder to elbow, gentle stroking.

Kelly Luback

We're going to keep doing this while I talk and explain what's happening here.

Kelly Luback

Now this is an evidence based tool which is scientifically proven to engage your parasympathetic nervous system that slowing down, rest and digest nervous system.

Kelly Luback

Keep stroking down your arms.

Kelly Luback

Please stay with us.

Kelly Luback

So I want you to keep doing this and just notice what starts to happen in your body.

Kelly Luback

So this is, this is one tool that literally you could do this for 30 seconds, 60 seconds, it will change your state.

Kelly Luback

It's a really beautiful one to do with kids as well.

Kelly Luback

It's such.

Kelly Luback

It's like giving yourself this warm hug.

Kelly Luback

We're doing lots of good things with the brain and the body here.

Kelly Luback

But what's most important to know is it helps to bring on calm.

Kelly Luback

It just helps to raise the capacity of your parasympathetic nervous system.

Kelly Luback

So keep on doing that as long as you like.

Kelly Luback

But what I really want, what's really important here, is for you to notice what changes as you do it.

Kelly Luback

So this is one.

Kelly Luback

I give this tool all the time on the street, with clients, with family, with myself, with my kiddo.

Kelly Luback

It's such a good and beautiful soothing tool.

Kelly Luback

And of course for your audience, Heather, when there's like big stressors or things going down in the family, or you're worrying about your kid or just confused about what's happening with your kid, this can be such a great one.

Kelly Luback

It's so simple.

Kelly Luback

It costs Nothing.

Kelly Luback

It takes 30 seconds and it can completely shift how you feel.

Kelly Luback

And if you want to offer it to your kid as well, can totally shift how they feel.

Kelly

Yes.

Kelly Luback

All right, so how do you feel with that one?

Kelly

You know, this is one of my favorites.

Kelly

I mean, I wish I would have had this tool seven years ago.

Kelly

I mean, I wish I would have had this tool 50 years ago.

Kelly

But I, it is, it works so well and so fast.

Kelly Luback

Yes.

Kelly

I mean, the first time you told me that, I was like, oh, come on.

Kelly Luback

I know it sounds so cheesy and silly, right?

Kelly

And then I did it.

Kelly

I was like, oh my gosh.

Kelly

Yes.

Kelly

I mean, you could do it while sitting at a stoplight.

Kelly

You can do it, you know, excuse yourself for 60 seconds.

Kelly

If you're in the middle of something and you just need a minute, need a minute.

Kelly

I mean, this plays into the whole, take a breath, right?

Kelly

Take a pause, take those things and do this.

Kelly

And you are in a completely different state.

Kelly

And not only does it calm your physical body?

Kelly

But also, of course, here's.

Kelly

I mean, this, I think, is probably for our next conversation that we have, but the fact that our brain is attached to our body, and I know that sounds like such a silly statement, but just so many of us disconnect those things.

Kelly Luback

So we Heads.

Kelly

Because it's easier to intellectualize everything and not feel it.

Kelly Luback

Yes.

Kelly

Too hard to feel it.

Kelly

And this helps reconnect.

Kelly

I think for me, this was one of the biggest tools of, like, reconnecting and starting to feel that, like, not only was my body calm, my brain was calm, and I could, like, think and I could make a decision or.

Kelly

Or have a conversation with clarity.

Kelly

And I mean, truly, truly such a game changer.

Kelly Luback

It is such a game changer.

Kelly Luback

And I think what you just said about us living disconnected from our bodies is really essential, Heather, because it is like we have.

Kelly Luback

We have been taught to disconnect from our bodies and to access wisdom only from the neck up.

Kelly Luback

But the truth is we have this whole.

Kelly Luback

They speak of bodies of wisdom.

Kelly Luback

Like, we have a body of wisdom that we can connect to, that can support us.

Kelly Luback

There's.

Kelly Luback

I mean, this is a whole other conversation, but we, you know, we have these bodies that we can check into for information, to access our intuition, to access, access, you know, next best steps to help us make decisions that are.

Kelly Luback

That are more in, you know, in service to us or our families or kiddos.

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

And we have been taught to disengage the body.

Kelly Luback

So much of what I teach, I mean, the reason I'm in love with teaching the nervous system, which is not the only piece I teach, but it's a huge foundational piece, is that when we learn to get in connection with our bodies and our nervous systems, everything can change.

Kelly Luback

And when I say everything, I mean your love, relationships, your relationship with your kids, the way that you express in the world, the way you use your voice for change for good, you know, if you have a mission to write a book, you've just.

Kelly Luback

I'm just bringing up your book again, shamelessly promoting you.

Kelly Luback

You have.

Kelly Luback

You have a mission to put out in the world, then to be able to bring your voice to that in a way that really supports change is essential.

Kelly Luback

Or to.

Kelly Luback

Even if it's just, you know, standing up for your kid and working with a medical system or with the school system or, you know, navigating relationships, there's so many different ways that we express and engage in the world.

Kelly Luback

And when we are connected with our bodies and nervous systems, we can do that in a whole different level.

Kelly Luback

It's really, really powerful.

Kelly Luback

It is, it's.

Kelly

It is really extraordinary.

Kelly Luback

I know you said that you want to talk some examples.

Kelly

Yes, I was just going to say, you know, thinking about everybody who's listening, and a lot of, A lot of people are somewhere on the journey of their kiddo coming out, and that can bring up lots of nervous system dysregulation and feelings and disconnection and all of these things, even for those who are completely affirming, it can still bring up feelings of uncertainty and fear.

Kelly

And so I'm wondering if.

Kelly

And so I think a lot of that points to freeze, which is what I kind of brought up before, because that's an easy.

Kelly

For multiple reason that.

Kelly

That's an easy place to get to.

Kelly

So I'm wondering if you could talk about that a little bit just in relation to, you know, kind of specifically where our listeners are.

Kelly Luback

Absolutely.

Kelly Luback

So, so I, I know we love the freeze.

Kelly Luback

The freeze work, and I think we should go deeper in another.

Kelly Luback

Another moment on it, but I do want to speak to how it might show up for your listeners, for all of us as parents, but especially for those who are navigating, you know, new terrain with their kiddos.

Kelly Luback

I think, you know, one piece that comes up just to, you know, speak to the really hard part is how do we keep our kids safe?

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

I think that's a huge piece for parents is how do we keep our kids safe in a, in a world that's so biased and so, so harshly oriented towards our kids who are in the LGBTQ world?

Kelly Luback

And so that can be really activating.

Kelly Luback

And actually, I want to speak to both frees, but also the other end of it, because it can lead us into freeze, where we're just, you know, shut down or feeling really low about it, or we can't take action or, you know, we're holding, even holding our kid back because we're worried for them.

Kelly Luback

And it can look really activating on the other end of the spectrum as well, right?

Kelly Luback

Where just the anxiety and, like, can't turn the mind off and so worried about my kid and, and, and how am I going to keep them safe?

Kelly Luback

And all the things that, you know, we may have had raising my hand here may have had very early on in their, in their lives and, and then it just gets activated again, you know, as they, as they come out and we want to, we want to keep them safe again, but it's like a whole, in a whole different way.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

So I think you know, that's one way that this can come out.

Kelly Luback

I think sometimes what can happen, too, is.

Kelly Luback

And this, you know, even for people who consider themselves allies or feel really woke or, you know, maybe are LGBTQ themselves or have, you know, been in that world, it can.

Kelly Luback

It can still bring up things.

Kelly Luback

I.

Kelly Luback

I have a dear, dear friend with kids who have come out recently, and she was just saying, like, my politics are one thing, but then when it's in my kids, it's like it's another.

Kelly Luback

And it's.

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

And she's struggling.

Kelly Luback

She's like, I just want to keep them safe.

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

And sometimes what that can look like is actually not so much the flight or anxiety or the freeze, but actually the fight.

Kelly Luback

And so it can also look like going, you know, going into battle with your kid.

Kelly Luback

Okay.

Kelly Luback

And let's also say the teen years are their own special.

Kelly Luback

Their own special.

Kelly

They are not for the faint of heart.

Kelly Luback

No, they are not.

Kelly Luback

And we are, like, called to resilience.

Kelly Luback

This is, like, where you really want to work on widening and deepening your river.

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

And with that, sometimes even in our desire to be protective or to be supportive, it can look like, you know, we engage in the fight whether the fight is coming to us or we're bringing the fight.

Kelly Luback

And so it can look like, you know, really sparked emotion or getting angry or.

Kelly Luback

Or even kind of.

Kelly Luback

Let's.

Kelly Luback

I'm trying to think, like, you know, exploding on.

Kelly Luback

On things that seem like nothing things, but what's actually happening is you're feeling upset and scared, so you're picking a fight around something that is actually insignificant, but it's the safe place to pick a fight, right?

Kelly Luback

And it might look like it's with your kids, it might look like it's with your partner.

Kelly Luback

Might look like, you know, with your mother.

Kelly Luback

So there's all sorts of ways that this can show up.

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

And then there's the part, I think, too.

Kelly Luback

I mean, there's so many layers for this community, right?

Kelly Luback

It's like navigating your own family relationships where you're wanting to keep your kids safe and emotion, including emotionally, like, emotionally safe, physically safe, all the things.

Kelly Luback

But if your family isn't exactly a family of allies yet, I'm always holding out hope for change.

Kelly Luback

If it feels like a place where you have to defend and your kid isn't emotionally safe, that can look also like fight, flight, or freeze.

Kelly Luback

And so it might look like picking fights with the family or finding ways to not be with them because it sucks to be around them.

Kelly Luback

When you feel like you, your kid isn't safe or, or just, you know, shutting down or having health things show up that are, you know, apparently random health things that are, you know, showing your body.

Kelly Luback

This is a whole other.

Kelly Luback

We need, we need another interview for this one.

Kelly Luback

Like how our bodies give us the signals to say no when we're having a hard time saying no.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

So I don't mean to go off there, but those are some of the examples.

Kelly Luback

Are there others that you can think of either from your own experience or just from, you know, engaging with your.

Kelly

I think those are, those are really, really good.

Kelly

And, and I think too late and you made the point very, very well that freeze can show up anywhere.

Kelly

So it's not just in a heightened state of anxiety, really activated.

Kelly

It can show up anywhere on, along the line of your, you know, the spectrum of your nervous system and how it works.

Kelly

And so I think that's a really great thing for people just to know, to understand that.

Kelly

And the way it shows up is different for everyone.

Kelly

Everyone has their own special flavor of freeze.

Kelly Luback

Well, let me just clarify on that because the freeze is actually a piece of it.

Kelly Luback

It is the parasympathetic nervous system, but the shutdown part of it.

Kelly Luback

So it may be that some people go into freeze, but what I was wanting to communicate was that that's a real common place to go to and there's lots of freeze.

Kelly Luback

And I think we need a whole other se.

Kelly

I think so, yes.

Kelly Luback

But there's, there's also the more activated place which is the fight or the flight as well.

Kelly Luback

So it just can look different ways.

Kelly Luback

But all of these are different ways that our nervous systems get activated or in some.

Kelly Luback

I'm not a fan of the word trigger, but that they get triggered as well.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

So those are.

Kelly Luback

So just to clarify.

Kelly

Thank you for clarifying that.

Kelly

Yes, I think that's fair and it's interesting to see.

Kelly

I will just share.

Kelly

It's an example of something that happened very recently because I was watching it, it wasn't happening to me, but we had a graduation party for my daughter and we had lots of people here and a lot of family were here and there.

Kelly

You know, as everyone listening knows that I have a number of non affirming family members.

Kelly

And so this was kind of the first time in, in a while that we were all together and it was a little bit of an experiment.

Kelly

And so it was interesting to watch how each of us handled it and approached different conversations and just the general, their presence in our house and all six of us were here, and all six of us approached it differently.

Kelly

And Connor approached it with fight.

Kelly

And it was so interesting.

Kelly

And at the same time, like, you know, I was actually super proud of him because he.

Kelly

He stayed in his lane, he stood up for himself, and he said things that maybe he wouldn't have said in a other, you know, another situation.

Kelly

But I know in his brain that this was very activating for him.

Kelly

And so this is how he was handling it, was taking on a person and really, like, standing his ground for who he was.

Kelly

And I thought I kind of watched the whole thing happen.

Kelly

I was like, that was actually a really effective use of fighting.

Kelly

And then was able to kind of, you know, the next day we did a whole debrief on everybody's different ways.

Kelly Luback

That they handled a family debrief, that.

Kelly

They were activated and how they felt it, you know, But I think talking about, like, where you.

Kelly

Where did you feel it in your body?

Kelly

Like, how did this affect you?

Kelly

Or how did this affect you?

Kelly

And even if it, you know, wasn't a perfect way of handling something, it was acknowledging it and talking about it and talking about, like, gosh, I'd really like to feel this way when this person is around.

Kelly

And, gosh, it was such a powerful conversation.

Kelly Luback

That is amazing.

Kelly Luback

Heather, can.

Kelly Luback

Okay, I just want to pull out a few different things, and hopefully I'm going to remember them all.

Kelly Luback

So one, I just want to say fight is a healthy response.

Kelly Luback

We, again, the flow of the nervous system, like the river flowing.

Kelly Luback

A healthy nervous system is able to move between these different places, right?

Kelly Luback

We have built into our animal bodies our capacity to fight, our capacity to flee in, our capacity to freeze.

Kelly Luback

And we, again, I don't mean to keep, like, putting it off for another conversation.

Kelly Luback

I just don't want to go down rabbit holes.

Kelly Luback

But.

Kelly Luback

But having each of these different things show up in our nervous system is actually really important.

Kelly Luback

And the fact that Connor has fight in him, and especially after the experience, he has walked.

Kelly Luback

His initial story, as you tell it in the book, is one of flight.

Kelly Luback

He.

Kelly Luback

He runs away, literally.

Kelly Luback

He flees in terror, right?

Kelly Luback

And so now he has this, like, vibrant fight response.

Kelly Luback

What an amazing thing.

Kelly Luback

Now, that doesn't mean go out and beat the shit out of somebody, right?

Kelly Luback

But having a healthy response where you're like, hold the phone.

Kelly Luback

We're going to talk through this.

Kelly Luback

Not right.

Kelly Luback

Like, that's actually really powerful.

Kelly

And this was verbal.

Kelly

I mean, this was not a physical fight.

Kelly

Like, I just want to make that clear.

Kelly

For me, this Was like he was having a well articulated verbal discussion, highly animated discussion with somebody that he did not freeze, he did not flee from.

Kelly

He stood his ground.

Kelly

And I was like, yes, totally.

Kelly

Yeah.

Kelly Luback

And just, just to be clear, I heard that.

Kelly Luback

I just want to make sure it doesn't sound like I'm saying, you know, go beat somebody up.

Kelly

No, I want to make sure everybody was on the same page there.

Kelly Luback

Being able to have like being in his own center and having the capacity to make a, you know, well founded argument and back, like that's really powerful.

Kelly Luback

And then what I also want to say is each of you having your own experience.

Kelly Luback

Like, what a beautiful thing for you to observe.

Kelly Luback

And again, I want to normalize.

Kelly Luback

We all have different ways that we respond and we all also have different ways that we kind of default.

Kelly Luback

Some of us are more afraid, some of us are more fleece, some of us are more freeze.

Kelly Luback

And as we heal and work with the nervous system, we expand our capacity to engage all of those.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

So I just, I love that you were able to take a step back and really observe, which to me speaks so much to how much you have grown your capacity.

Kelly Luback

Like how wide and deep your river is.

Kelly Luback

Heather.

Kelly Luback

Because if you imagine how many years ago was like seven years, eight years ago.

Kelly Luback

So when he came out, if you imagine like state of your nervous system then and state of your nervous system now, like you were so deep in it and having your own experience and like very much a survival, survival mode, which is again really important.

Kelly Luback

But it's much harder to see.

Kelly Luback

Yes.

Kelly Luback

When you are in a state where you have a healthy and resilient nervous system, you can see the patterns differently.

Kelly Luback

And so you're noticing in your family, oh wow, we all have these different patterns.

Kelly Luback

So I just want to acknowledge that really speaks to a wide and deep river and how much you have grown that which is amazing.

Kelly Luback

And then I think the other here is just to say with all of this, it's really important to normalize these relationships.

Kelly Luback

It's so easy to pathologize people for the experience that they're having.

Kelly Luback

This is one of my favorite things that I teach everything from like deep, you know, de pathologizing.

Kelly Luback

Is that the right word?

Kelly

Sure, I think, I think we're going to make that a word.

Kelly Luback

Yes, I like it for destigmatizing and I like de pathologizing.

Kelly Luback

Like the pathology of anxiety, of low mood, of panic, of.

Kelly Luback

Of the fight.

Kelly Luback

Like when we actually break it down to the biology, there's.

Kelly Luback

It's not.

Kelly Luback

It's not pathological.

Kelly Luback

It's actually just a.

Kelly Luback

It's a learned pattern, a learned response that has happened that can be healed.

Kelly Luback

And so this isn't something to stigmatize.

Kelly Luback

It's actually something to kind of.

Kelly Luback

I always think of it as, you know, if you're with your screaming toddler and you, like, try to shake them or scare them or shove them in a room, like, it actually doesn't.

Kelly Luback

Like, it doesn't work.

Kelly Luback

They don't learn the things they need to learn.

Kelly Luback

If you scoop them up and you say, hey, baby, this is really hard, I see you're really upset, and you have a right to be upset, and this is the way it's gonna go.

Kelly Luback

Like, they'll learn, right?

Kelly Luback

And.

Kelly Luback

But none of us can be.

Kelly Luback

You know, I say the toddler example, but all of us have this.

Kelly Luback

All of us have, like, the unheard toddler in us where, you know, I know as an adult, there have been plenty of times where I'm like, I'm having a denture, like, inner tantrum, and I just want someone to hear me.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

Don't we all have those?

Kelly

Oh, my gosh, yes.

Kelly Luback

So in that it's like the most potent thing is to actually have someone hear you and witness you.

Kelly Luback

Right.

Kelly Luback

I mean, I think it's part of the success of your podcast.

Kelly Luback

It's like people feel seen and feel heard.

Kelly Luback

Like, all of us need.

Kelly Luback

That is a very.

Kelly Luback

Actually nervous system.

Kelly Luback

It is the love and connection part of our nervous system that needs that, because being feeling seen and heard and accepted is part of.

Kelly Luback

I just.

Kelly Luback

I just got another one we're supposed to do.

Kelly Luback

But, like, feeling seen and heard and accepted, like, that is the work of our nervous system that developed with us living in.

Kelly Luback

In community and collective in tribes.

Kelly

Right.

Kelly Luback

And to be cast out of the tribe is a very, very dysregulating thing.

Kelly Luback

And so if we just bring that full circle back to who our people are that we're talking to here, like, we need more than ever to make sure that our kids feel seen and heard and accepted, and that includes the parents feeling seen and heard and accepted.

Kelly Luback

And that, again, back to the nervous system is actually part of what allows us to walk in the world in a healthy and whole and complete filling way.

Kelly Luback

Yes.

Kelly

And I think just to kind of to wrap this up today, because there are so many different directions we can go.

Kelly

And I think we have, like, four more episodes.

Kelly

But just that acknowledging and naming that you are not broken, this is not something that's, you know, you need to fix There, it's just.

Kelly

It's something that can be healed.

Kelly

It is something that each one of us have our own version of nervous system work and healing that we can do.

Kelly

And so I think there's so much.

Kelly

It's so empowering to know.

Kelly

Oh, gosh, this is something I can actually do, something I can actually actively do something about this so I can feel better and I can be a better me.

Kelly

Which then allows you to be a better you out in the world, right?

Kelly Luback

Yeah.

Kelly Luback

Better parent, better activity, all the things.

Kelly

So, yes.

Kelly

Thank you.

Kelly

Oh, my goodness.

Kelly

So good.

Kelly

So y'all got a taste of the nervous system today.

Kelly

Kelly will be back.

Kelly

We will be having several more conversations over the next few months, so I can't wait for you to hear more.

Kelly

This is where we're going to end for today.

Kelly

Is there anything that you would like to share such as where people can find you if they would like to get in touch with you directly?

Kelly Luback

Sure.

Kelly Luback

So two things.

Kelly Luback

One, I just want to share my favorite expression that I put in all of my love notes and newsletters and what have you, and that is that the world needs you.

Kelly Luback

Well, and that term came to me years ago and I realized as I was writing it, every single newsletter, that it just was the truth of it was just becoming more and more true in my body.

Kelly Luback

And what's held in those words of the world needs you.

Kelly Luback

Well, is the better that the more regulated, the healthier our nervous systems, the more capacity we have.

Kelly Luback

The wider and deeper our rivers are, the better we can show up for our loved ones, for our kids, our partners, our colleagues, our clients, our.

Kelly Luback

Our patients.

Kelly Luback

If you're a healthcare person, our.

Kelly Luback

Our community members and the world, the stronger, the better we are.

Kelly Luback

And the more resilient we are, the better we can show up in the world.

Kelly Luback

And the world right now really needs us.

Kelly Luback

Well, and so I.

Kelly Luback

That's the one piece I want to leave with.

Kelly Luback

And then you can find me@kellylubeck.com and that's K E L L Y L U B E C K dot com.

Kelly Luback

I sure thought.

Kelly Luback

I'm sure that'll be in the show notes and.

Kelly Luback

And yeah, I would love to welcome you into my community and sign up for my love notes and to hear different stories and experiences and tips and tidbits and you'll be invited to different programs or retreats that I'm leading.

Kelly Luback

And I just want to say thank you, Heather.

Kelly Luback

This has been so fun.

Kelly Luback

It's so wonderful to connect with you.

Kelly Luback

And yes, we got lots to talk about.

Kelly

I know.

Kelly

Always.

Kelly

Thank you so so much.

Kelly

I'm glad we made this happen and I can't wait to continue it.

Kelly Luback

Thank you.

Heather

I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did.

Heather

A quick reminder that my brand new book, Parenting with Pride is now available wherever books are sold.

Heather

It is also available in E reader and audiobook format.

Heather

Click on the link in the show notes to buy it right this second or to send it to a friend.

Heather

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Heather

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Heather

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Heather

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Heather

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Heather

I appreciate you being part of the Just Breathe community.

Heather

Big hugs to you all.

Heather

Until next time.