As part of our Holistic Mental Health Approaches series, this episode dives into the practice of mindfulness and how it can enrich your mental well-being. Mindfulness has become a buzzword over the past two decades, but what does it really mean? Together, we explore its true definition and discuss practical ways to bring mindfulness into daily life so you can experience greater clarity, peace, and balance.
In this conversation, we break down the foundations of mindfulness and highlight how practices like yoga asana, meditation, and breathwork can positively impact your mental health and overall well-being. These tools not only reduce stress and anxiety but also support emotional regulation, focus, and resilience—making mindfulness a powerful pathway to long-term wellness.
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Shervon Laurice opens this episode of The Expansion Room by exploring holistic approaches to mental health, focusing on integrating mindfulness, yoga, meditation, and breathwork as tools for healing and balance. Drawing from her journey as both a psychotherapist and certified yoga teacher, she shares how somatic practices go beyond talk therapy by addressing trauma stored in the body, helping clients manage anxiety, PTSD, and depression. With both personal stories and evidence-based insights, she invites listeners—whether professionals or seekers on their own healing path—to discover how mindfulness can ground the spirit, calm the mind, and restore harmony to daily life.
In this segment of The Expansion Room, Shervon Laurice shares how she integrates yoga practices with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) at her practice, Restore Tranquility, to help clients struggling with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma. She explains that mindfulness and CBT together guide people back into the present moment, easing rumination on the past or worries about the future, while yoga asana supports the body in releasing stored stress and tension. Through gentle movements, grounding postures, and awareness of breath, she emphasizes how yoga can unlock emotions held within the body, restore nervous system balance, and create lasting pathways for healing.
In this part of The Expansion Room, Shervon Laurice turns the focus to meditation as a powerful tool for mental health and self-awareness, clarifying that it is not about silencing the mind but about cultivating focused attention. She highlights different approaches, from breath awareness to mantras, yantras, open awareness, and loving-kindness meditation, each offering unique ways to observe thoughts with compassion and presence. Shervon emphasizes Yoga Nidra as her favorite practice—a deeply restorative, guided meditation that activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helps release trauma and stress, supports sleep, and even eases conditions like anxiety, PTSD, and autoimmune challenges, making it an accessible path to healing.
In this closing segment of The Expansion Room, Shervon Laurice highlights the power of conscious breathwork as a direct bridge between our emotions and nervous system. She introduces calming, balancing, and energizing techniques—such as the 4-4 breath, extended exhales, box breathing, alternate nostril breathing, and breath of fire—that can reduce stress, ease anxiety, release trauma, and restore balance. Shervon encourages listeners to begin with just a few minutes a day, reminding us that healing comes not from doing everything at once, but from consistent, small practices that bring harmony, peace, and resilience into everyday life.
00:00:52.930 --> 00:00:58.579 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Hello, and welcome back to the Expansion Room. I'm your host, Siobhan Larisse.
00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:15.790 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And this week, we continue our discussion about mental health approaches, holistic mental health approaches that we can weave into our daily lives, and help to balance our mental health.
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:32.320 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: as well as bring about more well-being into our lives. And so today, we are going to be talking about a topic that's near and dear to my heart, integrating, mindfulness practices, and specifically, yoga.
00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:36.779 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Meditation practices, as well as breathwork.
00:01:37.150 --> 00:01:46.680 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And the reason I wanted to bring this in is that I've been a certified yoga, certified yoga teacher since 2012.
00:01:46.880 --> 00:01:55.680 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And early in my training as a psychotherapist, and early in the days of
00:01:55.710 --> 00:02:08.539 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: me starting to work with clients in private practice, as well as in community mental health spaces, I realized that talk therapy, in and of itself.
00:02:08.539 --> 00:02:16.830 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Was not always going to be enough for people who were living with or dealing with Trauma.
00:02:16.990 --> 00:02:35.870 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: traumatic experiences that they had had in their lives, and some who were exhibiting PTSD, right? And it could… you could do all the talking in the world, but as we've already talked about in at least a couple of episodes before.
00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:51.789 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Trauma resides not only in our minds, but also in our bodies, and so we have to find ways in order to release that energy so that we can move forward in our lives successfully.
00:02:52.310 --> 00:03:00.639 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So I started looking for somatic practices that would pair well with psychotherapy.
00:03:00.760 --> 00:03:07.230 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… I had already been practicing yoga off and on in my life.
00:03:07.300 --> 00:03:09.479 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: My first yoga class.
00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:27.459 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: was as a teenager, and I believe it was junior year, my school, Forest Hills High School in Queens, shout out to Forest Hills, offered yoga in place of gym. And I kind of hated gym, so I was like, I'll take that class.
00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:35.989 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: They sent me home with a little notice to give to my mom to sign, she signed it, and I took a semester, of yoga.
00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:47.629 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And I didn't know what yoga was all about, but I did walk away from that class realizing I liked it, but didn't know why.
00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:56.859 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Fast forward some years later, past college, or in college, rather, I was introduced to meditation.
00:03:57.670 --> 00:04:05.000 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… didn't really understand it fully at that time, but I realized I liked it.
00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:11.489 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? And so, I get into my 20s, and I step back into…
00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:26.299 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: yoga, I think at a gym or somewhere, because yoga studios were not plentiful yet, and I enjoyed taking yoga, but I noticed every time I moved, as you do in your 20s, you move a lot.
00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:31.059 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I would lose my connection to wherever I was taking yoga.
00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:46.430 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And this went on into my 30s, and I moved to DC some years later, and made a deal with myself that the yoga studio that I stepped into, if I liked it there, and was consistent for a year.
00:04:46.570 --> 00:04:50.720 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I would take the yoga teacher training that was being offered there.
00:04:51.070 --> 00:04:54.450 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And that was back in 2011.
00:04:55.200 --> 00:04:57.060 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And, lo and behold…
00:04:57.190 --> 00:05:08.899 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I did that for a year, and they offered, almost as if they heard me make this deal with the universe, right on time, a yoga teacher training.
00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:22.049 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So I signed up, I took the training, and that was my first entree into the teaching of this practice that I had come to love off and on in my lifetime.
00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:28.790 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I still had not made the connection yet to mental health.
00:05:29.390 --> 00:05:32.419 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And so I finished the training.
00:05:33.010 --> 00:05:40.930 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: started teaching at that studio in one or two other places, and it was while I was at work one day.
00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.090 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I was working for the federal government in law enforcement.
00:05:46.540 --> 00:05:51.309 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And realized one day that I was holding my breath.
00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:58.329 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: like… There was a level of anxiety within me that caused me to hold my breath.
00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:01.540 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I took a deep inhale in.
00:06:01.740 --> 00:06:04.990 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And a really long, slow exhale out.
00:06:05.510 --> 00:06:07.960 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Allowed my shoulders to relax.
00:06:08.430 --> 00:06:15.299 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it shifted something within me, and therefore shifted the rest of my day.
00:06:16.090 --> 00:06:28.349 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And in that moment, it dawned on me that I could bring these practices into my work with my talk therapy clients. So by that time, I had a part-time
00:06:28.430 --> 00:06:38.069 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: psychotherapy practice that I was doing. Two or three nights a week, I would see some clients when I left my full-time government job.
00:06:38.600 --> 00:06:42.890 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And so I started incorporating the breathwork.
00:06:43.390 --> 00:06:52.720 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… I started offering that to my clients who exhibited mostly anxious tendencies.
00:06:52.890 --> 00:06:57.200 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And found… they found relief, just like I did.
00:06:57.350 --> 00:07:09.800 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And so I started looking for a yoga therapy program, knowing that I would need to go deeper than my original yoga teacher training.
00:07:09.820 --> 00:07:20.239 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So it took me a while, and I found a program, that really resonated with me, and it was based in upstate New York, Breathing Deeply Yoga.
00:07:20.350 --> 00:07:26.210 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And moved through that program and learned some beautiful things.
00:07:26.210 --> 00:07:40.739 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That I could be able to apply in a therapeutic way in working with anyone, but my main interest was to work with people who had depression, anxiety, PTSD, you name it.
00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.229 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: In the mental health field.
00:07:43.390 --> 00:07:44.600 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And…
00:07:44.780 --> 00:07:56.540 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I completed that training, back in 2018 or 19. And since then, I have been working with people using breathwork.
00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:12.239 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Yoga nidra, meditation, and what we consider in the United States as yoga, but in the larger yoga world, we call it asana. It's the movement of your body on a mat, on a yoga mat.
00:08:12.520 --> 00:08:21.339 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And so, I've really enjoyed being able to bring that somatic work in, because it has helped…
00:08:21.560 --> 00:08:27.059 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: people with, managing trauma, managing PTSD,
00:08:27.060 --> 00:08:41.829 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I worked with a client who had a flashback in the middle of working with her, just doing psychotherapy. She had a flashback one day, at home, and we switched from doing just talk therapy
00:08:41.909 --> 00:08:48.640 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: and added one of these mindfulness practices called Yoga Nidra, and I'll talk a little bit more about that.
00:08:48.970 --> 00:09:01.460 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And in doing so, was able to effectively help her to get back to a place of balance over a few weeks without her having to
00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:18.429 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: change her medication dose, which she did not want to do, right? And so that really… having that experience early on in my certification really sealed the deal for me. That somatic work is so important
00:09:18.430 --> 00:09:24.480 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: To our mental well-being, our mental harmony, our mental balance.
00:09:25.160 --> 00:09:35.119 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So today, we will explore things like yoga, meditation, breathwork, that can help us transform our minds and bodies.
00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:44.750 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And these are not just quote-unquote spiritual practices, but they are also evidence-based, powerful tools that help us to manage stress.
00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:51.350 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Anxiety, calm our nervous system, help us to manage depression.
00:09:51.930 --> 00:09:58.360 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And help us to move trauma out of our bodies, through our bodies. …
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.229 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Whether or not you're a mental health professional.
00:10:04.390 --> 00:10:17.179 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Or whether or not you're on your own healing journey, whether or not you even have your own therapist, or you're just curious about these practical ways that you can ground
00:10:17.280 --> 00:10:23.369 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And, enliven your body. This is the episode for you.
00:10:23.960 --> 00:10:39.400 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So, let's dive into the definition itself of mindfulness. We've… so many of us have heard this word, kind of bantered about for the longest time. Probably the better…
00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:55.810 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: 15 or 20 years, and we don't always talk about what the definition of that is. And so mindfulness in the basic definition is present moment awareness without judgment.
00:10:56.950 --> 00:11:02.570 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's your ability to come back to the present moment.
00:11:03.420 --> 00:11:08.159 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And, without judgment, the aware, or the observer.
00:11:09.570 --> 00:11:12.840 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's the ability to watch your thoughts.
00:11:13.310 --> 00:11:21.220 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Or tune into your emotions, or the feeling, sense, or tensions within your body.
00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:29.010 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: without… cringing, contracting, without judging, but being
00:11:29.330 --> 00:11:33.240 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: A curious witness, or a curious observer.
00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:38.510 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Because that… helps you then to… you're taking kind of a…
00:11:39.020 --> 00:11:45.279 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: A broader look at yourself, almost from the outside in, and it gives you information.
00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:51.329 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it eventually helps you make the shifts you need in your body.
00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:56.049 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So, when we practice Yoga asana on the mat.
00:11:56.880 --> 00:12:02.529 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Teachers will often cue people to come back to their breath.
00:12:03.250 --> 00:12:08.770 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: as they move through the poses. Why? Because coming back to the breath.
00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:12.000 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Brings you back to the present moment.
00:12:12.890 --> 00:12:22.399 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: When we sit for meditation, one of the most popular styles of meditation is focusing in on the breath.
00:12:23.290 --> 00:12:28.349 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Because it drops us out of our head, into our bodies.
00:12:29.070 --> 00:12:31.799 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And you're paying attention to the present moment.
00:12:33.010 --> 00:12:41.269 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: When we do things like, Yoga Nidra, it enables you to…
00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:47.509 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Come out of your thought process, down into the body, and relax.
00:12:48.280 --> 00:13:00.549 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So that you come to the space of healing between, say, wakefulness and sleep. So all of these practices together enable us to come to the present moment.
00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.340 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So now, our yoga…
00:13:03.650 --> 00:13:15.009 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And, meditation and breathwork, the only mindfulness practices out there? Absolutely not. There are so many things that we can do
00:13:15.710 --> 00:13:22.119 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: With that same idea of dropping into the present-centered moment.
00:13:22.850 --> 00:13:27.549 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I know people who are avid runners who get into that space.
00:13:27.780 --> 00:13:34.679 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: other kind of athletic activity that allow them to get into that space. …
00:13:34.910 --> 00:13:48.419 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: there are other traditions that allow people to get or invite people to get into that space, but I know yoga, and so this is what we'll be talking about today.
00:13:48.670 --> 00:13:57.909 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Some of the benefits of mindfulness practices is that it helps to reduce stress, Anxiety and depression.
00:13:58.290 --> 00:14:03.679 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It helps to improve your emotional regulation and your resilience.
00:14:04.110 --> 00:14:10.280 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It enhances clarity, focus, and your own self-compassion.
00:14:11.160 --> 00:14:19.420 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's interesting how, if you tune into the thoughts moving through your mind, And you pay attention to
00:14:19.760 --> 00:14:27.440 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: The thoughts about yourself in particular, how often people notice that they're not being kind to themselves.
00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:34.030 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That they're not being as kind to themselves as they might be to a friend or a child.
00:14:34.160 --> 00:14:37.150 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So, self-compassion is part of this.
00:14:37.260 --> 00:14:44.480 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Mindfulness in therapy is… being integrated into
00:14:44.630 --> 00:14:48.769 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Therapy styles like cognitive behavioral therapy.
00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:55.130 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Dialectical behavioral therapy, and acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
00:14:55.270 --> 00:15:02.570 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And all of those, incorporating mindfulness practices are really great for people working through trauma.
00:15:03.010 --> 00:15:08.860 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So, in my practice, I'm usually using a combination of
00:15:09.390 --> 00:15:15.530 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: CBT, which is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness practices.
00:15:16.300 --> 00:15:18.220 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So when we come back.
00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:30.839 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: We're going… after the break, we're going to talk a little bit more about mindfulness, and then step into the benefits of yoga asana, moving your body on the mat.
00:15:31.580 --> 00:15:33.820 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And then we'll go from there.
00:15:34.780 --> 00:15:36.100 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Come back after the break.
00:17:48.390 --> 00:17:56.339 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Welcome back! Today, we are talking about integrating mindfulness into our mental health care, and…
00:17:56.520 --> 00:18:07.240 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: One of the things that I do is integrate yoga practices and yoga techniques into the work that I do in my psychotherapy practice.
00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:09.400 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: at Restore Tranquility.
00:18:09.400 --> 00:18:30.840 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And I primarily use cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to work with clients, primarily around depression, anxiety, PTSD. That is one of the most researched and effective approaches of therapy for the conditions that I just mentioned.
00:18:30.840 --> 00:18:38.340 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it often helps people to identify and challenge their negative thoughts.
00:18:38.530 --> 00:18:57.310 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: their negative thought patterns, and also to drop in to understand how those thoughts then affect their emotions and their actions. And then we work together to replace those thoughts with healthier thought patterns.
00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:04.589 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So in combining those two, you have deeper benefits to your healing work.
00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:13.140 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Mindfulness teaches us to notice our thoughts, our emotions, and our body sensations without judgment.
00:19:13.760 --> 00:19:22.720 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So you can see where bringing the two of those things together can be an ultimate benefit for someone who's in therapy.
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:33.130 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: … When we think about depression and anxiety, we often think about
00:19:33.340 --> 00:19:49.319 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: the ways that people can worry and ruminate on something. There's this old saying that depression is oftentimes something that we're ruminating… in some ways, ruminating on things from the past, and anxiety is ruminating on things
00:19:49.320 --> 00:20:01.439 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: yet to come in our future. And so, mindfulness work and CBT work together helps to bring someone back to the present moment.
00:20:02.840 --> 00:20:05.950 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: In the present moment, we find relief.
00:20:06.300 --> 00:20:08.560 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: From that kind of worry.
00:20:08.830 --> 00:20:12.810 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: From those kinds of unhelpful thoughts, right?
00:20:13.220 --> 00:20:25.289 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: The integration supports both The mind and our central nervous system, making healing much more embodied and resilient.
00:20:25.690 --> 00:20:27.259 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: and lasting.
00:20:27.970 --> 00:20:34.020 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And this is the kind of therapy that I love to do. This is the kind of therapy I love to offer people.
00:20:35.330 --> 00:20:52.130 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Now, yoga asana movement, right? In our very first episode of the expansion room, we talked about the benefits of movement for our bodies, and it can be 10 minutes at a time, right? So it's the same with yoga.
00:20:52.590 --> 00:21:02.630 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Traditionally, yoga in a yoga studio or at a gym is usually about a 45-minute to 60-minute class.
00:21:03.430 --> 00:21:06.889 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: When I got into yoga as an adult.
00:21:07.360 --> 00:21:11.289 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It was way longer than that. Classes used to be an hour and a half.
00:21:11.990 --> 00:21:28.989 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it was not uncommon to connect with a yoga studio that did a series. So you would sign up for, like, a semester, and you knew how many classes you were going to take in that time frame. There were no such things of drop-in classes like there are now.
00:21:28.990 --> 00:21:37.770 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And I do hear some of the older folks in the yoga community complain about that, because it feels like people are not committed to their yoga practice.
00:21:37.770 --> 00:21:40.230 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: But even a shorter.
00:21:40.540 --> 00:21:49.290 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: you know, drop-in class can be of benefit. And nowadays, you can do yoga at home using YouTube for free.
00:21:49.730 --> 00:22:08.139 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And you can add any type of yoga practice into your life, and you just have to choose, alright? So some of the benefits of yoga asana for mental health are it helps you to release stored tension and trauma in the body.
00:22:08.410 --> 00:22:14.229 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Think about what we talked about a couple episodes ago. The body keeps the score.
00:22:14.430 --> 00:22:25.940 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? And how our central nervous system makes more of the neurotransmitters that we call our feel-good transmitters
00:22:26.840 --> 00:22:30.669 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: In our digestive system, rather than in the brain.
00:22:30.930 --> 00:22:44.389 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And so, in moving in these conscious, presence-centered ways, we give our bodies permission To release tension. Trauma.
00:22:44.950 --> 00:22:49.250 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It helps us to build self-awareness, an embodiment.
00:22:49.600 --> 00:22:55.390 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Regulates the vagus nerve and reduces symptoms of anxiety.
00:22:55.840 --> 00:22:59.350 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And a practical application is.
00:23:00.250 --> 00:23:15.969 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: gentle grounding postures, right? It doesn't have to be a lot. One of the things I tell people when they're super stressed, and there are a lot of stressed-out people right now, especially where I live. I live just outside of Washington, D.C.
00:23:16.350 --> 00:23:25.609 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And people are stressed. And one of the things I tell people, yoga doesn't have to be a long practice. You can literally get on the mat.
00:23:26.060 --> 00:23:28.220 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: into Child's Pose.
00:23:28.840 --> 00:23:32.539 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And then flip over and go right into Savasana.
00:23:32.690 --> 00:23:37.870 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's the conscious awareness that you bring to the practice.
00:23:38.340 --> 00:23:41.840 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's the tuning into your body and breath.
00:23:42.250 --> 00:23:47.019 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: While you're there, so that it helps to calm your central nervous system.
00:23:47.420 --> 00:23:55.940 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? So… A gentle grounding posture can be Child's pose. It can be any forward fold.
00:23:56.470 --> 00:24:15.039 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: An energizing practice, if you tend to be more on the chronic fatigued side, or depressed expression, is sun salutations. Sun salutations wake up the body. Any kind of a heart opener.
00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:19.200 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Or a backbend can help energize the body.
00:24:19.950 --> 00:24:27.710 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Yoga therapy in the clinical contents, supports PTSD.
00:24:28.360 --> 00:24:30.620 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Trauma, in particular.
00:24:30.890 --> 00:24:37.000 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And, chronic stress, depression, and ongoing anxiety.
00:24:38.600 --> 00:24:40.780 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: one of the things that I think
00:24:41.380 --> 00:24:55.050 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I mean, we talk about this in yoga class, oftentimes, older teachers and those who do offer yoga teacher trainings, we have this saying, their issues are in the tissues.
00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:59.580 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Our bodies hold on to things.
00:24:59.910 --> 00:25:07.639 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And when we move in conscious ways, we invite our bodies to release.
00:25:07.860 --> 00:25:10.910 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: We allow our bodies to release.
00:25:11.560 --> 00:25:14.149 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: One of the things I remember…
00:25:16.510 --> 00:25:21.059 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Oh, I don't remember which year it was, but it was September.
00:25:21.840 --> 00:25:28.399 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… the acknowledgement… of 9-11 had come around.
00:25:29.550 --> 00:25:36.439 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… you know, I grew up in New York City. I still have family in New York City.
00:25:36.750 --> 00:25:41.389 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… I was sitting in a yoga class.
00:25:41.520 --> 00:25:48.400 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And we were moving through whatever flow that the teacher was teaching, and we got to…
00:25:48.580 --> 00:25:56.239 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: a, pose that… invited a hip opening practice. I think it was pigeon.
00:25:56.980 --> 00:26:00.670 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And for the first time, I experienced
00:26:01.290 --> 00:26:07.620 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: what that… that statement meant. The issues are in the tissues, because we were at least…
00:26:08.260 --> 00:26:12.920 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: This had to be 2013, maybe 14?
00:26:13.450 --> 00:26:16.169 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: and… I started crying.
00:26:16.820 --> 00:26:25.460 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And I hadn't really been thinking that much about the approaching date for 9-11.
00:26:25.790 --> 00:26:29.699 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: But my body was keenly aware.
00:26:30.360 --> 00:26:33.009 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Of that date approaching.
00:26:33.160 --> 00:26:44.679 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And I have seen that happen over and over again in my teaching with people, when they get to certain poses, how it can release emotion.
00:26:45.340 --> 00:26:53.320 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And sometimes people are apologetic, and I always say, no, no, no, that was obviously something that needed to come up.
00:26:54.040 --> 00:26:56.810 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? Our symptoms…
00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:05.220 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: are just halfway out when we notice them. And we, as the individual, just need to be in the space
00:27:05.390 --> 00:27:06.760 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: of allowing.
00:27:07.390 --> 00:27:13.740 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: The space of present moment awareness, to just let it move through.
00:27:14.390 --> 00:27:24.379 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And so, that is part of what yoga can do for us. It can allow us to let those emotions that we store within us
00:27:25.070 --> 00:27:26.500 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: to move through.
00:27:27.150 --> 00:27:39.729 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Sometimes we experience traumas, either little traumas or big traumas, and we don't allow our bodies to fully experience
00:27:39.850 --> 00:27:44.650 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: and pass… pass through The emotions that come up.
00:27:45.930 --> 00:27:52.079 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: There's something interesting in science that they did some… some years ago, where they…
00:27:52.310 --> 00:28:01.929 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Researched animals and how they… if they've been chased, like a deer or a fawn, has been chased by a bigger animal that wanted to eat them.
00:28:02.370 --> 00:28:10.920 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: When they get to safety, They stand for a minute and literally shake their entire bodies.
00:28:11.360 --> 00:28:13.869 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: As if they're shaking it off.
00:28:14.390 --> 00:28:17.409 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And then they walk away and go on about their business.
00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:36.040 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: something in how we've evolved as humans, we have forgotten how to do that, and so we oftentimes hold on to the experience… the negative experiences that we've had in our lives, instead of letting them move through us. So movement helps us to be able to release
00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:40.870 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And allow those things to let go.
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:44.820 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Alright, so we're about to take our next break.
00:28:45.530 --> 00:28:53.390 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And when we come back, we'll be talking about meditation, and my favorite practice, Yoga Nidra.
00:28:53.780 --> 00:28:54.970 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So come on back.
00:31:00.760 --> 00:31:09.090 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Welcome back to the Expansion Room, where today we're talking about integrating mindfulness practices such as yoga.
00:31:09.470 --> 00:31:18.080 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: meditation, and breathwork into our mental health care. And so, right now, we're focused on meditation.
00:31:18.330 --> 00:31:30.440 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And meditation is something that… I stepped into and started to really understand myself through it.
00:31:31.590 --> 00:31:50.759 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I began to understand how my mind works, and I think that is so helpful for everyone, is to understand how your mind works, so that you can make whatever adjustments you need for your own mental health. And so, for some people, I hear who…
00:31:50.940 --> 00:32:05.399 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: maybe have tried a little bit of meditation and found that it was quote-unquote hard. They say, oh, I can't calm my brain or quiet my brain down in order to meditate. And meditation is not about
00:32:05.870 --> 00:32:10.530 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Not thinking, or calming your brain down.
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:15.810 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It is really about focused, Attention.
00:32:16.140 --> 00:32:18.050 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That's all it is.
00:32:18.220 --> 00:32:32.979 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: our brains are going to do what they do. They are designed to do what they do. And so, for many of us in these modern times, is we're all experiencing some level of ADD.
00:32:33.210 --> 00:32:38.180 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: We are struggling to keep our attention.
00:32:38.360 --> 00:32:48.889 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: at all turns, right? Because of the internet, social media, the news, all the different aspects of our lives that are tugging at us that need our attention.
00:32:49.130 --> 00:33:01.180 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So it's not… and I want to encourage you, as I encourage so many clients, it is not about the quieting of your mind. It's more about paying attention.
00:33:01.610 --> 00:33:04.310 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: To what your mind is doing.
00:33:04.560 --> 00:33:07.500 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: What are the themes that you notice?
00:33:08.050 --> 00:33:08.740 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That…
00:33:09.380 --> 00:33:23.370 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: permeate your thoughts, right? So when I sit for meditation, and this has always been, right? It's a little better now that I've gotten older, but it has always been there. I am a lean into the future type person.
00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:31.950 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I have lists running in my head, the things to do running in my head. If I'm sitting for meditation.
00:33:32.130 --> 00:33:44.640 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: inevitably, my mind will go, when I get up from this, I'm going to do… Oh, yeah, I gotta remember to call so-and-so for this, I gotta remember to do that. I am one of those people.
00:33:45.150 --> 00:33:52.619 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? And then I have to… I usually chuckle, because this has been going on for years, and then I take a breath.
00:33:53.820 --> 00:33:59.280 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: and come back down, right? So it's… Having focused attention.
00:34:00.030 --> 00:34:07.320 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And usually, having focused attention on something can help, right, so that you don't get lost
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:16.040 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: in the stream of thoughts, right? You've just become the observer of those thoughts. So if you have focused attention on the breath.
00:34:16.400 --> 00:34:25.759 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: When you realize the thoughts have risen up, and you are paying attention to them, you can bring your attention back to your breath.
00:34:27.909 --> 00:34:30.740 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: For some people, they like to…
00:34:30.850 --> 00:34:34.379 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Have, a picture that they focus on.
00:34:34.730 --> 00:34:51.090 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: or a, a chant that they focus on. So chants are usually called mantras, and they are sounds or words that are put together to help our brains focus on something.
00:34:51.770 --> 00:34:55.130 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Pictures, certain kinds of pictures are called Yantras.
00:34:55.850 --> 00:35:06.570 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it helps you to visually focus on something. But it could be as simple as you have a beautiful plant in your house, and that's what you focus on.
00:35:07.420 --> 00:35:19.619 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Some people do more of a broader spatial awareness for their meditation, and they tune in to maybe the hum of their HVAC system in their home.
00:35:19.970 --> 00:35:26.590 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Or space, wherever they are. Or the sounds they hear just outside their window.
00:35:27.200 --> 00:35:28.120 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right?
00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:32.920 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Either way, whatever you choose, It's…
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:38.650 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: focused attention. It's allowing yourself to
00:35:38.820 --> 00:35:48.739 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Step back from the stream of thoughts and allow them to move through you, kind of like cartoon bubbles or clouds.
00:35:50.990 --> 00:35:54.569 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Open awareness is broader.
00:35:54.730 --> 00:36:06.149 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And then closed or more focused awareness is more either in your space, what you're looking at, what you're listening to, or what you're experiencing inwardly.
00:36:07.070 --> 00:36:10.420 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And all of those forms of meditation are valid.
00:36:11.920 --> 00:36:18.879 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Loving-kindness meditation, and other compassionate practices.
00:36:19.720 --> 00:36:26.979 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: are very… still very interesting to me. So, for years, even after I did my first yoga teacher training.
00:36:27.270 --> 00:36:31.139 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: … and studied a little bit about Buddhism.
00:36:31.390 --> 00:36:41.310 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Which actually helped me better understand the faith that I grew up in, which is Christianity, but that's for a whole nother episode.
00:36:41.510 --> 00:36:46.070 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I kept coming across this thing called loving-kindness Meditation.
00:36:46.270 --> 00:36:49.679 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… I was just like, seriously?
00:36:49.830 --> 00:36:51.090 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And I avoided it.
00:36:51.450 --> 00:37:01.910 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: For the longest, until I started my yoga therapy training, and it was a whole module with homework.
00:37:03.070 --> 00:37:08.279 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And… I then had to sit down and do this practice.
00:37:08.580 --> 00:37:16.850 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Because I already knew that I didn't always speak kindly to myself in my head.
00:37:17.410 --> 00:37:22.680 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: But… I didn't… I didn't feel like that was a big deal.
00:37:23.520 --> 00:37:25.980 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Learning that practice.
00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:33.059 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And being able to hold space And compassion within myself.
00:37:33.090 --> 00:37:52.110 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: not only for the people I love in my life, but also for myself, was a game changer. It really shifted even how I take care of myself. So that's a wonderful practice that I invite anyone to step into, and there are, …
00:37:52.820 --> 00:38:11.860 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: details about how to do that practice. One of my favorite people who teaches loving-kindness meditation is Sharon Salzberg, who is a Buddhist teacher, and I think she's either from New York or lived in New York, something of that nature, so check her out.
00:38:12.010 --> 00:38:27.879 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Some of the mental health benefits of meditation are changes in your brain structure, neuroplasticity, which we've talked about in past episodes, it increases your emotional resilience and your inner calm.
00:38:28.420 --> 00:38:37.600 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Meditation can help calm or reduce the sense of rumination and the experience of trauma triggers.
00:38:38.350 --> 00:38:46.660 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Now… Yoga Nidra is my favorite, favorite form of, meditation.
00:38:46.780 --> 00:38:52.990 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It is… … What we also have nicknamed Yogic Sleep.
00:38:53.150 --> 00:39:00.219 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Because you do it lying down, you don't have to sit up for this, you can literally lay down on your yoga mat.
00:39:00.790 --> 00:39:05.360 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: You can lay down on a bed, lay down on the floor, caught.
00:39:06.090 --> 00:39:16.460 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: But it is reclined. I get a chance to teach this practice every Sunday evening in my yin yoga class. We end with 20 to 25 minutes of…
00:39:16.700 --> 00:39:18.010 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Yoga Nidra.
00:39:18.260 --> 00:39:20.010 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it is…
00:39:20.180 --> 00:39:31.379 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: An invitation to allow your parasympathetic nervous system to rise, and your sympathetic nervous system to relax.
00:39:32.230 --> 00:39:40.789 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: When you're doing Yoga Nidra, you're in the space of… space between wakefulness and sleep.
00:39:41.750 --> 00:39:47.520 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Your mind is still alert, but your body is super relaxed.
00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:56.159 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it is usually a guided meditation. Someone talks you through that practice.
00:39:56.480 --> 00:40:03.150 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it allows you to relax the body, Relax the mind.
00:40:03.270 --> 00:40:05.839 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Relax your inner energy.
00:40:06.470 --> 00:40:09.209 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? Calm your thoughts.
00:40:09.900 --> 00:40:19.240 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And in that space… When your parasympathetic nervous system arises, That's the space of healing.
00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:25.280 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That's the space where our bodies can release trauma.
00:40:27.850 --> 00:40:39.270 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Our central nervous system is complex, but there are two main parts of it that we experience. The sympathetic, which is our fight, fight, flight, or freeze.
00:40:39.440 --> 00:40:48.310 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And that is action-oriented. When we leave the house, when we're doing things, when we're taking the train, or we're at work, we're engaging with other people.
00:40:48.680 --> 00:40:51.670 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That's the side of our nervous system that's activating.
00:40:51.800 --> 00:41:00.989 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It is also the side of our nervous system that's always on guard if you have PTSD, or if you have a high level of anxiety.
00:41:01.320 --> 00:41:02.120 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right?
00:41:02.670 --> 00:41:06.979 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Then we have the other side, which is our parasympathetic nervous system.
00:41:07.240 --> 00:41:13.410 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's our rest, relax, and digest part of our nervous system.
00:41:13.620 --> 00:41:16.389 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it doesn't get activated enough.
00:41:17.140 --> 00:41:26.950 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So, in Yoga Nidra, There is an invitation, just by doing the practice, just by laying there and listening.
00:41:27.790 --> 00:41:33.630 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That allows the body To relax in this space.
00:41:33.950 --> 00:41:37.370 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And to let go. And in the letting go.
00:41:37.750 --> 00:41:44.969 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Healing happens. Trauma is released, anxiety is decreased, Right? …
00:41:45.730 --> 00:41:58.819 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Also, one of the things that I have done for myself with Yoga Nidra, and have been able to offer to other people who have autoimmune issues, because autoimmune diseases, autoimmune diagnoses.
00:41:58.970 --> 00:42:06.050 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Are oftentimes rooted, or at least exacerbated, by stress.
00:42:07.070 --> 00:42:26.480 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And when you do a regular yoga nidra practice, and you lower the experience of stress in your body by stepping into the parasympathetic nervous system, you experience less symptoms of that autoimmune disease.
00:42:26.850 --> 00:42:28.940 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: That has been my experience.
00:42:29.220 --> 00:42:42.879 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I have also had that experience with clients. So, Yoga Nidra is powerful and really one… the main reason why I find it to be my favorite mindfulness practice.
00:42:43.800 --> 00:42:49.580 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's a guided relaxation, bringing the body into deep rest.
00:42:50.300 --> 00:43:02.569 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Which is why people call it yogic sleep. It is not uncommon for people to fall asleep in Yoga Nidra. It's okay if it happens, they probably needed the sleep anyway.
00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:08.060 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: There is also evidence that it helps to improve people's sleep.
00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:14.159 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Besides helping them to improve mental health states.
00:43:14.720 --> 00:43:18.390 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: … Also, it is accessible.
00:43:18.660 --> 00:43:24.850 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: As a meditation practice where other traditions of meditation may not be.
00:43:26.060 --> 00:43:27.240 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So…
00:43:27.830 --> 00:43:37.559 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: If you feel like you want to give that a try, there are tons of yoga nidra practices that are on meditation apps.
00:43:38.550 --> 00:43:40.130 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: and YouTube.
00:43:41.170 --> 00:43:54.369 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: But specifically for trauma, PTSD, anxiety, even depression, there are several that are really specific. And if you work with a yoga therapist.
00:43:54.840 --> 00:43:56.389 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: They will offer that.
00:43:57.500 --> 00:43:59.830 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So we're about to take our final break.
00:43:59.950 --> 00:44:05.000 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And when we come back, we will talk about breathwork, which is…
00:44:05.510 --> 00:44:10.840 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: powerful tool that we're starting to hear more and more about. So come on back.
00:46:08.960 --> 00:46:14.859 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And the importance of integrating breathwork into our mental health care.
00:46:15.100 --> 00:46:21.949 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And so, when people think about breathwork, they're like, well, we breathe naturally, right? But…
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:32.950 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: When we bring conscious awareness, or present moment awareness to our breath, It changes things.
00:46:33.480 --> 00:46:36.320 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Our breath is our link.
00:46:38.090 --> 00:46:44.669 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Checking in with your breathing can give you so much information about
00:46:44.820 --> 00:46:48.389 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: How you might be feeling in any given moment.
00:46:49.070 --> 00:46:53.119 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So, I gave that example as the beginning
00:46:53.480 --> 00:47:01.160 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: of this episode, where I was sitting at my desk in my previous government job.
00:47:01.610 --> 00:47:07.019 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And I realized I was not breathing. Like, I was literally holding my breath.
00:47:07.510 --> 00:47:09.350 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And felt anxious.
00:47:10.030 --> 00:47:16.220 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And when I let that breath go, When I exhaled.
00:47:17.370 --> 00:47:21.120 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I could feel the energy shift within me.
00:47:21.730 --> 00:47:32.150 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? And so that is part of the work that I do, and that was the first thing I started to incorporate in my psychotherapy practice, was breathwork.
00:47:32.410 --> 00:47:47.220 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And now we're hearing more and more about breathwork, and some of that is, like, there's science behind it now. One of the most famous people on YouTube in reference to breathwork is Wim Hof and the work that he does.
00:47:47.220 --> 00:48:01.599 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: But the work that I do around breathwork with my clients is not as extreme as that, okay? So we're going to talk a little bit about some of the types of breathwork that can be helpful in your day-to-day management of mental health.
00:48:02.060 --> 00:48:14.940 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Alright, so the breath is our direct link between our nervous system and our emotional state. So always remember that, that checking in with your breathing is going to give you information.
00:48:15.580 --> 00:48:26.170 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Types of breathwork, calming ones. So, usually the first breath practice I teach is the 4 to 4 ratio. Inhaling to the count of 4,
00:48:26.630 --> 00:48:29.070 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Exhaling to the count of 4.
00:48:29.740 --> 00:48:33.609 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's just a very balanced way of breathing.
00:48:35.060 --> 00:48:39.959 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: The other way is inhaling to the count of 4.
00:48:40.110 --> 00:48:43.990 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Exhaling to the count of 6, or 8.
00:48:45.610 --> 00:48:52.060 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Always remember, the longer your exhales, the…
00:48:52.660 --> 00:48:58.030 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: More ability you have to calm your stress response.
00:48:58.480 --> 00:49:00.960 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: to calm anxiety.
00:49:01.830 --> 00:49:06.210 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And to activate The parasympathetic nervous system.
00:49:06.780 --> 00:49:21.949 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So, there's some truth to this idea that when we inhale, we activate our sympathetic nervous system, and when we exhale, we activate our parasympathetic nervous system. It's not quite as simple as that, but…
00:49:22.130 --> 00:49:32.069 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: For this, we'll talk about it in that way. We spend so much time in our sympathetic nervous system. One of the simplest things we can do is to
00:49:32.190 --> 00:49:36.660 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Activate the parasympathetic side by Exhaling.
00:49:36.830 --> 00:49:37.830 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Longer.
00:49:38.390 --> 00:49:42.599 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? When I teach that practice to people.
00:49:43.170 --> 00:49:55.429 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: usually around third or fourth, maybe fifth time that they exhale that long, they start to yawn. And yawning is a sign that they
00:49:55.620 --> 00:49:57.910 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Parasympathetic nervous system.
00:49:58.040 --> 00:50:03.829 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: has been activated, or is starting to be activated. So those are two calming breaths.
00:50:03.980 --> 00:50:06.970 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: They help with anxiety and stress.
00:50:07.270 --> 00:50:18.250 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: There's another breath practice that was, I believe, made popular by Dr. Andrew Weil, the 4-7-8
00:50:18.510 --> 00:50:26.820 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Breath practice. Inhaling to the count of 4, holding for the count of 7, exhaling to the count of 8.
00:50:27.310 --> 00:50:37.650 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: There's also what they call the box breath, which is more about balancing or harmonizing the breath, which is you inhale.
00:50:37.760 --> 00:50:41.940 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: To the count of 4, hold… To the count of 4.
00:50:42.410 --> 00:50:44.679 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Exhale to the count of 4.
00:50:44.990 --> 00:50:50.470 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And then hold the breath out to the count of 4. So you create, basically, a box.
00:50:50.850 --> 00:50:55.180 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: with that, right? And so those are, …
00:50:55.210 --> 00:51:08.790 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: some examples of calming and balancing breath practice. Another, balancing breath practice that I learned early on in my yoga teacher training was, Nadi Shodhana.
00:51:08.790 --> 00:51:16.619 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it's… you're using… you usually use other fingers, but I'll just use the thumb and the index.
00:51:16.850 --> 00:51:20.160 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Closing one nostril, and you breathe out.
00:51:20.280 --> 00:51:30.499 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And then you inhale through that nostril, you close that nostril, and you breathe out the other side, you breathe in, you breathe out, you breathe in, you breathe out.
00:51:31.100 --> 00:51:35.610 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It is a balancing breath, for sure. You do feel…
00:51:35.940 --> 00:51:40.270 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: very balanced once you're done, but I also know that
00:51:40.860 --> 00:51:55.929 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: There's no other way that you can be lost in thought trying to do that breath practice, because you're trying to make sure that you're moving the breath through the nostrils in a way that gets you right out of your head, right?
00:51:55.970 --> 00:52:05.919 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: There's also a number of energizing breath practices, right? And one that we talk about in yoga is called Kabbalah Bhati.
00:52:05.920 --> 00:52:16.240 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And it is the breath of fire. And it's great for when you have low energy, or you're feeling, more depression symptoms than not.
00:52:17.450 --> 00:52:24.630 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So the mental health benefits to breath practices and bringing them into your life
00:52:24.870 --> 00:52:37.689 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: On a regular, if not daily, basis, is that it helps to shift you from fight, flight, or freeze into your relaxed rest and digest.
00:52:38.220 --> 00:52:50.060 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It improves your mental focus and emotional stability, and it can help you release suppressed emotions and move through trauma in a safe way.
00:52:51.180 --> 00:52:57.329 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: One way to integrate this is just 3 minutes a day of conscious breathing.
00:52:58.120 --> 00:53:02.340 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Even if it's just sitting down and tuning into your breath.
00:53:03.640 --> 00:53:09.470 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It helps to train or retrain your central nervous system for more balance.
00:53:09.780 --> 00:53:15.730 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It can shift mood, it can shift mindset, Definitely shift your energy.
00:53:16.720 --> 00:53:30.189 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So there you have it. These are the ways in which I bring mindfulness practices into my life, and into the work that I do with clients.
00:53:32.440 --> 00:53:40.760 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I think that… One way to bring these practices into your life is to just choose one.
00:53:41.200 --> 00:53:44.179 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Choose one thing that you will explore.
00:53:44.620 --> 00:53:47.910 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And explore it for only 10 minutes a day.
00:53:48.040 --> 00:53:50.670 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: And see what it brings to your life.
00:53:51.220 --> 00:53:53.690 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: See what it adds to your life.
00:53:54.140 --> 00:54:09.569 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Maybe during the time in the evening when you're doomscrolling or, watching, going into that second hour or third hour of television, we're all guilty, you can pause and do one of these practices.
00:54:10.300 --> 00:54:14.219 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Right? You can start your day in the morning.
00:54:14.600 --> 00:54:17.350 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: With a little bit of yoga stretching on a mat.
00:54:17.990 --> 00:54:32.010 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Or coming to a seated position, and taking a few rounds of breath practice, and then 5 minutes of meditation before you get your day going. And see how it feels.
00:54:32.610 --> 00:54:34.110 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Really simple.
00:54:35.020 --> 00:54:47.949 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: So I want to thank you very much for watching this episode and joining me for this particular topic, which is one of the favorite things to talk about. And…
00:54:48.630 --> 00:54:50.880 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I hope… that…
00:54:51.610 --> 00:55:00.589 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: something that I talked about today will help you to make a shift in your life, in your mental health practice, right?
00:55:01.110 --> 00:55:08.030 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Healing is not about doing everything all at once. It is about consistency.
00:55:08.100 --> 00:55:23.360 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: It's about bringing in the small things, the small steps, letting go of something so that you can bring in something else to help you return to a space of balance, equilibrium, harmony, or peace.
00:55:23.760 --> 00:55:35.859 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: If you found today's episode helpful, I would encourage you to pass it on to a friend or loved one that you think might be, benefiting from it.
00:55:36.390 --> 00:55:42.239 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: I hope that you enjoy me in the future for more episodes of the Expansion Room.
00:55:42.350 --> 00:55:57.230 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: If you'd like to get in touch and learn more about ways to incorporate these practices into your life, you can reach out. Restore Tranquility is where you can find me, either at my website or on social media.
00:55:57.520 --> 00:55:59.480 Shervon Laurice | The Expansion Room: Thanks, I'll see you next week.
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