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April Newsletter
Living beyond survival, with nervous system agility
Kat Whipple
April 22, 2024
Spring is when we bloom and expand while “spring cleaning” what no longer serves us; creating space for new intentions, new changes, and new ways of living beyond fear and flooding…beyond just surviving.
So how do we live beyond survival?
How do we know when our nervous system is activated or flooded…when we are in survival mode? How do you know the difference between facing the fear created by our minds and facing real fear? How do we tend to the wobble fear creates inside of us…whether it’s a racing heart, catastrophizing thoughts, limiting beliefs, mental freezing, doubting ourselves or drowning in all the worries?
I’ve had a lot of experience with this - not just as a practitioner and coach, but through my personal experiences and with climbing. Check out my new climbing website to learn more about how this sport supported me in developing nervous system agility.
To move beyond survival we have to build new pathways - by responding to fear in new ways to create new habits and belief systems. First we need the tools to calm our nervous system by landing in the moment and becoming embodied and then we need the tools that support our nervous system for new possibilities.
BE CURIOUS AND STUDY YOURSELF
Learn your physiological tells for an active nervous system. What happens when you start flooding? (Examples: heart racing, shortness of breath, itchy skin)
Learn your emotional tells for an active nervous system. What happens when you start flooding? (Examples: irritable, defensive, critical, withdrawn, disconnected)
Learn your thoughts pattern tells for an active nervous system. What happens when you are flooding? (Examples: self-defeating: saying I can’t or don’t know how or overly self-boosting: acting like you know or can do anything, when you don’t yet have the capacity)
FIND CALM - GET EMBODIED
Get into your body and the moment. Use breath. Physical Activity. Nature. Connect with a trusted loved one. Feel your feelings. Use visualization or meditation.
MOVE BEYOND SURVIVAL, move beyond the cycle of calm and activation. (This initially, requires support to see your blindspots.)
Get support to find a new perspective and widen the the tunnel vision to move past autopilot. Get support to create more options or possibilities so you can step outside familiar cycles.
Develop new strategies to stretch outside your comfort zone, learning to move through your fears or habits consciously. Get support to expose the blindspots that keep you in familiar cycles, so you have the opportunity to change the ways you adapted to things as a child when they no longer serve you as an adult.
Receive. Celebrate each inch you achieve. Surround yourself with a community of support.
CHANGE YOUR BASELINE
Disrupt your established habits and patterns consistently to create new pathways and adapt old belief systems, so you can respond in NEW ways. And, live in NEW ways with nervous system agility.
When I started climbing over 20 years ago, I was more afraid than courageous. I had more fear than everyone I climbed with. Fear of heights. Fear of falling. Fear of something not working right or someone messing up. Fear of everything.
When friends comment on my climbing now, they often say “I could never do that I am scared of…(fill in the blank).” I quietly think to myself, “I am scared too.” Being scared isn’t what changed…
I never stopped being afraid, instead I used climbing to teach myself how to be afraid and still do it. I learned how to get scared with more grace, by tracking my nervous system, by studying the physical and emotional signs, by testing my limits to know my true limits.
I have had a very activated nervous system for as long as I can remember. It was a long journey, but I was determined to learn how to tend to my nervous system - allowing me to play, live, work and connect with those around me differently. I still work on it every day.
Climbing was one way I taught myself to dance with fear; to discern what actually needed my attention and what my brain was making up. I learned how to take little risks and then big risks…without being controlled by fear. I learned to trust others, myself and something bigger. I learned when to stop. I learned when to push my edges to reach new heights.
Climbing let me face real fear - fear of injury or death. It allowed me to get curious about my responses and learn to change how I responded. This didn’t make me less fearful, instead it made me more discerning. With new awareness and discipline, I had new ways to respond that consistently disrupted outdated habits, patterns and belief systems. I transformed how I navigated fear in all parts of my life with more nervous system agility.
Imagine…
I am 30 feet off the ground. I am exhausted. My elbows and knees are already raw from squeezing inside sandstone cracks. There is a twinge of pain starting to scream at me from between my shoulder blades…the result of dragging 20lbs of gear, while it hangs across my shoulder on a sling that is digging into my neck. I reach the first moment when a tiny rest becomes a possibility, a rock feature where I can curl the curves of my body inside just enough to unweight most of my body..ending up in a fetal position. I look up from the small bit of safety I have established, and all I can see is the bulge of the cliff sticking out above me. My heart starts to race. My thoughts start to tell me I can’t do this. But I’ve been here before and I know what to do.
I take a breath…
(Go to my blog to continue reading and check out my climbing website)
OFFERINGS
NEW Climbing Website: Climb with me, Conspire with me, Get coached by me
Check out my new climbing website. (Created by Soraya McMahon)
If you are interested in the climbing I do or coaching, reach out. I am the woman who has developed the most Climbs in Indian Creek, Utah, with over 175+ climbs established with multiple partners. I am a highlighted first ascensionist in the guide book (Creek Freak).
I am the only queer identified first ascensionist in the area, and one of few globally. I want there to be more. My dream is to diversify the climbing world, for new climbers to have a supportive community that reflects them, supports their growth and that new climbers face less adversity than I did.
Reach out if you would like to climb with me, scheme with me on how to be a catalyst for change in the climbing world or if you would like to add climbing to your life coaching with me. Link Here
NEW GROUP: Moving Beyond Survival through Nervous System Agility and Community.
This group is for you if you…
if you are ready to navigate your fears in new ways.
if you are interested in learning the tools to move Beyond Survival, to learn the tools to have more nervous system agility between the high and low cycle of calm embodiment and flooded activation to create new possibilities that change how you play, live, connect and work.
if you want to support the agility of the nervous systems of those around you - your kids, community or loved one.
The group starts the week of June 3rd. This includes weekly remote meetings and weekly exercises over 3 months June through August: including one individual session with me per month. One group meeting per month and 2 accountability meetings with group members. Timing of group meetings will be established by the best times for those who sign up by May 1st. If you are in the bay area, and would like to meet in person for the group meetings, specify this. All group meetings will be recorded, and both individual and accountability meetings will be set up to work within personal schedules.
(If you are in a position where you need some creative assistance to participate in this group, please reach out.)
A minimum of 20% of all payments made towards participating in the Move Beyond Survival Group will go towards a grant offering trainings and seed funding support to social entrepreneurs from underrepresented or underestimated communities, with a special focus on young social impact entrepreneurs.
 BUSINESS CORNERStarting a business is all about taking risks. And, our threshold for risks depends on the agility of our nervous system. If we move beyond survival, our business can too. What risks are you avoiding taking? What support do you need internally and in your community support systems to take those risks? We all need a network for our business, especially if we are part of underrepresented and underestimated communities. I am looking for like minded social entrepreneurs, whose businesses are having a direct impact, by solving a problem that will transform lives through their business or business owners who want to give back to their community. If you’re interested in co-creating a network with me reach out. |  FAMILY CORNERIn childhood, we learn how to respond to fear or threat, either through direct experiences or through the activation or calm of a caregiver’s nervous system. Our kids can learn how to navigate their nervous system activation with adaptability and resilience, but they need their parent’s and trusted adults’ help. Our nervous systems are designed to perceive threat and safety together. We can support our kids nervous systems by learning their tells and teaching them tools that help them regulate as well as by being accountable for the activation of our own nervous systems. How is your family’s nervous system? Where could there me more nervous system agility? If your family needs support to move out of nervous system activation, as a whole or in support of individual nervous systems reach out. |
