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Being brave by being soft
“Be brave by being soft” (c) Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen Soft doesn’t mean “weak”. We are conditioned to harden ourselves when entering a situation associated with discomfort… Hard, however, doesn’t protect us, as much as numbs us and limits our choices. We can do the “turtle” by shrinking ourselves and waiting till the danger is over.. We can tense up our muscles trying to appear bigger than we are – intimidating the enemy… even attack and bite them first. It is however not a grounded state. In order to avoid pain or danger, we leave ourselves behind. This is the pathway toward dissociation. Also, we are highly reactive and very likely to go…
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Good Pain vs. Bad Pain
Three Questions strategy to navigate your rope experience and stay safe Pain naturally belongs to the experience of going out of comfort zone. When playing with physical restriction and gravity, compression, extension and torsion and all possible ways of bringing the body in stressful positions, chances are at some point you will interact with pain. The common understanding is that pain exists there to keep you safe. Here is what happens on a physiological level: special sensory neurons called nociceptors respond on damaging or potentially damaging stimuli by sending signals to the spinal cord and the brain. If the brain perceives the threat as credible, it creates the sensation of…