Chunk 2: What’s the “Mental” Part of Mental Illness?
Class Description
Bo introduces our “hidden cost center” or the Default Mode Network – how it works and its role in anxiety and depression. We learn that living in default-mode creates an inflammatory response in the body-mind, and begin to ponder the notion of a collective default mode and its impact on the collective body. Rather than looking to fix or get rid of the default mode, we wonder about how to notice and work with it.
Supplementary Material & Practice Toolkit
- Try out the #DefaultMode exercise.
- Embodied Belly Meditation: take a comfortable seat or lie down, do a YPL check in, and bring hands to the body. Try this before your typical movement practice or when you catch yourself in #DefaultMode
Lifework
Stretch and Hydrate:
- Try a movement or contemplative practice that’s new or outside your comfort zone.
- Notice and hashtag what your default mode narrative has to say about it.
- Shake up the “selfing” to “othering” binary by volunteering or connecting with another in a way you wouldn’t normally
- How do you feel as a result of this practice?
- Try “Maybe.” Experiment with the practice Kimberly offered as a means of working with moments of default mode activation. What does offering yourself “Maybe” do to the connective tissue of your narrative?
Post to the Forum:
- Please share which Lifework experiment you tried and reflect on your experience.