Speaker 1: Wind Down with Janet Kramer and I've Heeart Radio podcast.
Speaker 2: This week's episode, we have Michael Gallian coming on. He
Speaker 2: is a certified professional coach mindfulness teacher on a mission
Speaker 2: to create a calmer, kinder, and more connected world. BIB
Speaker 2: do you so you've introduced me to meditation? Why what
Speaker 2: is it for you? Like when do you find yourself
Speaker 2: going to meditation and where did you find it?
Speaker 3: And when probably four years ago after from a traumatic experience,
Speaker 3: and I thought, you know what I really need to
Speaker 3: I really need to think about looking after my breathing
Speaker 3: and being able to control my emotions and my feelings.
Speaker 3: But also the psychologist that England at the time was
Speaker 3: introducing a lot of breathing exercises to the playoffs. So
Speaker 3: I've kind of been introduced to it by like nasal
Speaker 3: breathing and different types of breathing, like the four seconds in,
Speaker 3: four seconds out and what it does to you psychologically.
Speaker 3: So I knew a little bit about it, but never
Speaker 3: really used it. And then it got to a point
Speaker 3: where I thought, I'm going to really purpose purposely take
Speaker 3: a period in the day where I focus on this
Speaker 3: because it's good for your long term health. Isn't it so?
Speaker 3: But it never ever became a rock solid habit in
Speaker 3: my life even now, Like I think people go wrong
Speaker 3: because you use meditation as a reaction to something or
Speaker 3: the reactive around it, like, oh, I feel stressed, I
Speaker 3: need to meditate. Well, your chances are feeling a losing
Speaker 3: stress continuously come from meditating continuously. So yeah, it was
Speaker 3: probably four years ago, and it was I was consistent
Speaker 3: with it for months and it really helped me, but
Speaker 3: then life took over. I didn't prioritize it. But I
Speaker 3: think as a couple in the world that we and
Speaker 3: then the chaos that we live in not bad chaos,
Speaker 3: good chaos. I think when we go in and we
Speaker 3: use the ten minutes twenty minutes to reach out, then
Speaker 3: we use it to be present with each other and
Speaker 3: hold each other, which we do anyway, but use it
Speaker 3: to tax some edity. And because at the moment I
Speaker 3: use it, we chat for five minutes and then I'm snoring.
Speaker 4: So I should rephrase.
Speaker 3: It, let's go and let's just go for the sleep,
Speaker 3: because that's what I do.
Speaker 1: It's not a reach out, it's just a sleep.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a question for you, and you don't
Speaker 2: have to answer it now because I don't know if
Speaker 2: now's the time. But do you think you'll ever Do
Speaker 2: you think you'll get to a place where you'll want
Speaker 2: to revisit maybe on an episode what you went through
Speaker 2: four five years ago that was traumatic. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: which piece makes you want? Sure curious because I think
Speaker 2: it would help a lot of people when piece we
Speaker 2: all go through moments that shape us, change us, and
Speaker 2: move the compass. I guess so, I'm just I was
Speaker 2: just curious if one day you'll you'll want to kind
Speaker 2: of touch on it, because it's been the piece that
Speaker 2: you kind of go back to and in areas of
Speaker 2: your life that may hold.
Speaker 4: That may hold weight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure i'd want to go back to
Speaker 3: the actual experience and discuss that, but how it affected
Speaker 3: things after that then, and how it affected my life
Speaker 3: after that and enjoy season decisions and how it affected
Speaker 3: my career and things, then maybe I would, yeah, be
Speaker 3: open to discussing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll stay tuned wind down listeners, not now, not today,
Speaker 2: but maybe one day. Yeah maybe, I don't know if
Speaker 2: we're gonna have listeners in ten years. We got to
Speaker 2: get some really exciting content to keep that because full
Speaker 2: it for ten more years. But let's take a break
Speaker 2: and let's get Michael on and get us all to
Speaker 2: a place of a centered, calmness.
Speaker 1: Hi, how are you.
Speaker 3: I'm Michael.
Speaker 2: So good, I'm Jana. This is my husband Alan.
Speaker 1: Hi, guys, it's nice to meet you.
Speaker 2: We are so excited to have you on because when
Speaker 2: we were looking at the rundown, you know, we obviously
Speaker 2: are going to do some research on the you know
Speaker 2: who we're having on and so last night we were
Speaker 2: what laying in bed and he pulls up Instagram and
Speaker 2: and you know, we pull up your videos and I'm
Speaker 2: just like, man, this is like he's he's great, because
Speaker 2: like your voice is so calming.
Speaker 4: I'm like, this is just so on brand.
Speaker 2: Like with with what you do and you know what
Speaker 2: we're here to talk about today, because I'm just like,
Speaker 2: I'm I'm in like, I'm I'm relaxed, i am calm,
Speaker 2: and it's just from the sound of your voice like
Speaker 2: a gift.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, thank you so much. I'm glad it
Speaker 1: was helpful.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was so. How were you based, by the.
Speaker 1: Way, I'm in New York and Brooklyn.
Speaker 4: Wow, in a very loud place you were that you
Speaker 4: found a con.
Speaker 1: I think that's why I'm this way. You know, I
Speaker 1: grew up in Colorado, which is very zen, but then
Speaker 1: I moved to New York and I had like severe
Speaker 1: panic attacks when I moved here, and so I just
Speaker 1: had to figure out, in the midst of all of
Speaker 1: the craziness, in the chaos, how do you find that
Speaker 1: space of center.
Speaker 3: So are you self taught or did you go in
Speaker 3: lound from someone? Do you have a mentor or did
Speaker 3: you just because some of the best people that we
Speaker 3: interview in some of the best people that I come
Speaker 3: across in professional sport are almost like self taught.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Interesting, Yeah, I mean originally I was. It came
Speaker 1: from a yoga studio in Queens, New York, when I
Speaker 1: was having pretty severe anxiety attacks that were making it
Speaker 1: so I couldn't do my job anymore. I really couldn't function,
Speaker 1: and so I started just trying anything, and so I
Speaker 1: went to yoga and started. You know, our teacher was
Speaker 1: a mindfulness instructor, and she would do these many meditations
Speaker 1: before and after our yoga sessions, and it was the
Speaker 1: first time that I felt that sense of relief, and
Speaker 1: so I was just using it for my own benefit
Speaker 1: and then eventually I was like, oh, this is really
Speaker 1: powerful stuff, and so I did go and I got
Speaker 1: my teaching certification to be a mindfulness instructor. But the
Speaker 1: majority of kind of what I know and what I
Speaker 1: teach is just kind of all self taught and self
Speaker 1: learned because I needed it.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 2: Well, that's interesting piece that you bring up, because you know,
Speaker 2: you say it's self taught. It's it's self taught because
Speaker 2: it's I think that for me, why I would connect
Speaker 2: with someone like you is because you got to that
Speaker 2: place because you needed it to help you, right, So
Speaker 2: I would like, so I've also had I struggle with
Speaker 2: anxiety and for many years and it's gotten to a
Speaker 2: place now where it's better manageable, but it be hard
Speaker 2: for me to lean on someone that has never felt that,
Speaker 2: you know, So like that's I think that's like I
Speaker 2: would trust someone that has gone through it to help
Speaker 2: me walk through it too, you know. And I even
Speaker 2: said last night, like, man, when I'm on a plane
Speaker 2: and have an anxiety attack or something, I'm just pulling
Speaker 2: up your Instagram because I'm like that that's like straight
Speaker 2: up calm. But I think that's interesting the self top
Speaker 2: piece of it, because I wouldn't have never thought of
Speaker 2: it that way.
Speaker 3: But yeah, there's also like, I'm very big on what's
Speaker 3: people's reference? So how can you reference and teach someone
Speaker 3: if you've not been through it or being part of
Speaker 3: it yourself? And there's two things that There's two things
Speaker 3: that I think about when I come across your videos
Speaker 3: on Instagram, Micah. And the first thing is the calming nature, right,
Speaker 3: So that's a that's just such a strong super power
Speaker 3: to have and it got so calming that I was
Speaker 3: I trained professional footballers and I was actually showing them
Speaker 3: your Instagram today on how can your voice was? But
Speaker 3: also the second the second thing that I like is
Speaker 3: you know people who are very good at what they do,
Speaker 3: but they're not exactly natural on Instagram when it comes
Speaker 3: to videos. What I like about your videos is you
Speaker 3: wave and say hi, and then you go straight into
Speaker 3: what the objective is. You don't say hi, guys, how's
Speaker 3: your deby and I hope you're well, it's just literally hi,
Speaker 3: think about this or today, let's do this, and you
Speaker 3: go straight into what you're trying to achieve. And I
Speaker 3: like that as well. Because it's there's no messing around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, social media is such a chaotic space,
Speaker 1: and it really is. It's just you're scrolling NonStop and
Speaker 1: people are trying to grab your attention and trying to
Speaker 1: sell you something and trying to make you feel a
Speaker 1: certain way. And my entire intention has always been just
Speaker 1: to be that space where I can check in with people,
Speaker 1: to give them this calm, gentle space where they can
Speaker 1: still be in the chaos of that world, but experience
Speaker 1: that sense of calm in just a second. And so
Speaker 1: it's never about me selling anything. If you have, if
Speaker 1: you scroll through all of my videos, you know, I've
Speaker 1: never never sold a coaching package. I've never you know,
Speaker 1: been pitching anything. It's just about.
Speaker 2: You know. But I get your piece though, Like I
Speaker 2: get I get I get why you don't because everyone
Speaker 2: is trying to And then so like though you probably
Speaker 2: like you're capitalizing on the how don't I say this, Like,
Speaker 2: I mean, I appreciate you not, but also like we'd
Speaker 2: understand obviously if you didn't, because like we capitalize off
Speaker 2: our Instagram and you know, and.
Speaker 1: That's the great thing is people have found you know,
Speaker 1: people have found me. There are links that they can
Speaker 1: go to, they can find my podcast, they can find
Speaker 1: you know, if they want to have a coaching session.
Speaker 1: But it's not at the forefront, you know. Most importantly
Speaker 1: for me is to allow for people to just have
Speaker 1: the experience of what it is to feel calm, because
Speaker 1: we all need that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and especially on that platform too, because it's a
Speaker 2: very and I was just talking to someone about that
Speaker 2: where it's it's such.
Speaker 4: A this it holds.
Speaker 2: The most chaos, right, you know, and the loudest noises,
Speaker 2: especially from other people that you have never met in
Speaker 2: your entire life, but that it holds such a I mean,
Speaker 2: it's the amount of time even yesterday, like when you
Speaker 2: were in the show, I'm like, why am I sitting
Speaker 2: here just scrolling and just like like just burning my
Speaker 2: brain cells of just like scrolling on Instagram. And it's
Speaker 2: not all great stuff, you know, and there's a lot
Speaker 2: that comes with it.
Speaker 1: It's an emotional regulation tool, that's really what it is.
Speaker 1: It's our bodies are you know, there's chaos in the
Speaker 1: world where you live in a very over stimulated world,
Speaker 1: and scrolling has become a way for us to actually
Speaker 1: start to regulate the nervous system because it gives us
Speaker 1: that conscious thing to be doing constantly, and it's drawing
Speaker 1: our attention in. And so when I work with parents
Speaker 1: a lot, it's talking about like your kids are addicted
Speaker 1: to the phone because instead of meditating, instead of going
Speaker 1: on a walk, instead of doing the things that might
Speaker 1: be a healthier way to regulate their nervous system, they're
Speaker 1: using that And so pulling it away from them immediately,
Speaker 1: or thinking that we can pull it away from ourselves
Speaker 1: immediately is actually just it's taking away the blanky too
Speaker 1: soon from us. We need it, but it's how can
Speaker 1: we use it in a healthy way. How can we
Speaker 1: use it to actually be something that can connect us,
Speaker 1: can allow for us to have that momentary release so
Speaker 1: that we can go on with our life.
Speaker 2: It's just I always want to speak to a small
Speaker 2: piece of that, because you know, we're raising little humans.
Speaker 2: Do you say not to take because I I technology,
Speaker 2: like it is a very big and I don't know
Speaker 2: if I but yet they see me on my phone,
Speaker 2: which I try so hard to like put the phone down,
Speaker 2: and you know we have but that's a piece where
Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't want them to always you know,
Speaker 2: they don't have phones. They're too little now, but when
Speaker 2: it comes to iPads, and you know, I don't want
Speaker 2: them always on the phones. And I have a we
Speaker 2: have a monitor phone for our for our baby boy,
Speaker 2: where you know, my my daughter loves to like do
Speaker 2: little dance videos on with jas. But I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is now a piece that they're like loving another
Speaker 2: piece of technology. So it's like, did you say not
Speaker 2: to take or to like, how do you like kind
Speaker 2: of do the healthy boundaries around that.
Speaker 1: Take it, but recognize why they're using it to the
Speaker 1: degree that they're using it, and if it's if it
Speaker 1: is that emotional regulation tool, if it is that's thing
Speaker 1: that is taking them away from the stress and the
Speaker 1: pressures that they're experiencing. You still have to deal with
Speaker 1: the stress and the pressures that they're experiencing and so
Speaker 1: helping them to find those healthier habits of one of
Speaker 1: the ways, what are you actually feeling, Why are you
Speaker 1: going to your phone so much? And having that discussion
Speaker 1: with them so that they can start to build those
Speaker 1: healthier habits.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they use it just to video little
Speaker 3: dances and stuff. So I don't think it's I don't
Speaker 3: think it's a distraction from stress or pressure at this point,
Speaker 3: but it is good to regulate it. The issue I
Speaker 3: have with social media is, and this is what I
Speaker 3: like to you, Michael, because people proclaim to be camming,
Speaker 3: and they could proclaim to be this, and unfortunately the
Speaker 3: social media is full of false experts. It really isn't
Speaker 3: that send the wrong message, claim to be something, but
Speaker 3: send the wrong message and the wrong expertise to people.
Speaker 3: Whereas you claim to be calming and you are instantly camming.
Speaker 3: So therefore just simple things that people are what they
Speaker 3: say they are, and that's unfortunately not the case, and
Speaker 3: that's what I think needs to be regulated people following
Speaker 3: the false experts online.
Speaker 4: Can we back up to.
Speaker 2: Your anxiety because there's a lot of people listen to
Speaker 2: wind Down that you know, that's always one of their
Speaker 2: questions when I say podcasts and today, whoul we talk about?
Speaker 2: And you know, anxiety is at the top and the forefront,
Speaker 2: and again in this day and age, in the world
Speaker 2: that we live in, you know, anxiety is always the
Speaker 2: fear of the unknown. Well, there's a lot of unknowns
Speaker 2: in this world and there's a lot of fears and
Speaker 2: for you do do you know what caused your first
Speaker 2: anxiety attack? Yeah, are you cool to talk about it?
Speaker 1: Or no? Or totally yeah, I'm totally open about this.
Speaker 1: And so I moved to New York actually to pursue
Speaker 1: musical theater. So I have a degree in music and
Speaker 1: came here and was performing professionally for about ten years
Speaker 1: after I moved to New York, and there was a
Speaker 1: moment when I started getting what I thought was just
Speaker 1: stage fright, like I would just be really nervous before
Speaker 1: I went on stage, and it started escalating to the
Speaker 1: point where I would be having full blown panic attacks
Speaker 1: every time that I left the stage, and it was
Speaker 1: like my body was just kind of like collapsing from
Speaker 1: what I was experiencing, and it got so bad that
Speaker 1: I couldn't audition anymore. So it was, you know, this
Speaker 1: thing that I had been so passionate about and loved
Speaker 1: so much since I was a little kid was all
Speaker 1: of a sudden no longer a reality for me. And
Speaker 1: so it was that fear of being in front of people.
Speaker 1: It was the fear of being seen. It was the
Speaker 1: fear of having my dreams be realized. That was just
Speaker 1: causing so much stress and anxiety for me.
Speaker 2: And then how did you So then that's when you
Speaker 2: went to your yoga class.
Speaker 1: I'd tried anything. I mean it was it was anything
Speaker 1: that I could could find. That was just what really
Speaker 1: stuck for me. It was the simplicity of really mindfulness,
Speaker 1: of being able to stop my mind from wandering. My
Speaker 1: anxiety was really based in my mind either catastrophizing and
Speaker 1: thinking about future or revisiting paserast moments, and for that
Speaker 1: moment to be able to ground into the present moment
Speaker 1: and really take stock of what is here. I can
Speaker 1: concentrate on my breath, I can concentrate on my body,
Speaker 1: and those are going to ground me into the present
Speaker 1: moment so that I can actually have an understanding of
Speaker 1: what's going on in the world. Everything else was make
Speaker 1: believe in my head and my body was responding to that.
Speaker 2: What is your favorite breath work that you've done around anxiety,
Speaker 2: because there's so many ones out there, so I'm just
Speaker 2: curious which one works the best for you.
Speaker 1: So I'm a big fan of being aware of the
Speaker 1: breath when it enters in and out through the nostrils.
Speaker 1: One thing that I like to do is be aware
Speaker 1: of the temperature of the air as it enters in
Speaker 1: and exits, So it's just those things that you can
Speaker 1: you can actually start to become curious about the breath
Speaker 1: with So if you're breathing in and thinking what is
Speaker 1: the temperature of the air when I breathe in, and
Speaker 1: what's the difference in the temperature in the air when
Speaker 1: I breathe out, and then just following the rise and
Speaker 1: the fall of the chest and feeling what it feels
Speaker 1: like to have the chest rise and fall, and then
Speaker 1: dropping it down into the belly, exploring what does it
Speaker 1: feel like when the belly expands and when it contracts,
Speaker 1: and then becoming aware of the space around you, and
Speaker 1: as you breathe in, imagine the entire body going into
Speaker 1: the openness of space. So it's playing with that sense
Speaker 1: of expansion and contraction, which just allows for the body
Speaker 1: to really settle into ground, back into what's right here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that works, So I've got a question. Yeah, So
Speaker 3: the anxiety started to come after you had been performing
Speaker 3: for ten years, which is just a little bit strange
Speaker 3: because you would think that after ten years of experience
Speaker 3: it would become easier for you to handle those emotions
Speaker 3: and those situations and the pressure of performing. You know
Speaker 3: why it started to happen after.
Speaker 1: It's when I started finding success. Okay, when I started
Speaker 1: getting to the point where it was everything that I
Speaker 1: had kind of dreamed of. It was I was on
Speaker 1: an international tour and I was in China, and I
Speaker 1: remember being on stage there and there's thousands of people
Speaker 1: in Shanghai. And that's when the pressure started to really build.
Speaker 1: And I think it was just getting to that level
Speaker 1: and feeling like I had to perform or I had
Speaker 1: to live up to something, and it just really messed
Speaker 1: with my head.
Speaker 2: Interesting is interesting because you almost think by that point,
Speaker 2: you're like, you'd have been not happy and I made it, and.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it wasn't so much so that I had
Speaker 1: to completely change careers and I went and I started
Speaker 1: teaching preschool after that.
Speaker 3: Did you try and fight it for a period of
Speaker 3: time with using yoga and using other things to try
Speaker 3: and save it, or did you just because a lot
Speaker 3: of people just like football as they know when the
Speaker 3: time is up and they have to quit because they
Speaker 3: can't perform how they used to perform. Yeah, did you
Speaker 3: fight it for a while or did you just know
Speaker 3: that you had to move on to something else?
Speaker 1: I fought it for a while, and I fought it
Speaker 1: with anything that I could could find. You know, I
Speaker 1: think alcohol drugs became part of it. You know, in
Speaker 1: the performing world, that's something that people do, and that
Speaker 1: just made it worse. And yeah, but I think the
Speaker 1: reality of this situation was I think it was an
Speaker 1: indicator that it actually wasn't where I wanted to be,
Speaker 1: Like even though I was, I think it was that
Speaker 1: pinnacle of success or not that it was like the
Speaker 1: biggest thing ever, but where I was was leading down
Speaker 1: a road that I felt like I wasn't going to
Speaker 1: be able to turn back from. And I think it
Speaker 1: was this indicator internally that I needed to change positions.
Speaker 1: I needed to be in somewhere that was more fulfilling,
Speaker 1: where it wasn't dependent on me having to be out
Speaker 1: in front of people all the time, because that was
Speaker 1: just too much pressure for me. Now I speak to
Speaker 1: millions of people online and so it's a you know, funny.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you're doing the calling of where you're of
Speaker 2: what you know you I imagine you're you know, maybe
Speaker 2: do you still have the anxiety or where.
Speaker 1: Does that Yeah, it still comes in. I just have
Speaker 1: the tools now I have the tools to be able
Speaker 1: to in the face of that anxiety be like oh
Speaker 1: I know exactly what I need to do right now,
Speaker 1: or there it is. Again, it's not this all encompassing
Speaker 1: like fear Right.
Speaker 2: You have your book that's available to pre order now,
Speaker 2: but it's available on September twenty fourth. It's called Let
Speaker 2: It Settle. Daily Habits to move you from chaos to Calm.
Speaker 2: What are some of the tips in that book for
Speaker 2: people to have that calm habits in the chaos of
Speaker 2: the world.
Speaker 1: Yeah, in their life. So the book takes us through
Speaker 1: three different sections of our life. The first is just
Speaker 1: when we're dealing with stress and overwhelm, and so I
Speaker 1: deal with some somatic tips and tools that are going
Speaker 1: to be able to allow for us in the face
Speaker 1: of fear, to be able to recenter ourselves. So it's
Speaker 1: all about coming back to center, finding that space to settle.
Speaker 1: So there's a part of your calm kit, is what
Speaker 1: I call it. And so it's building that one being
Speaker 1: the butterfly hug or a body scan or any of
Speaker 1: the traditional mindfulness exercises, and it's building there and it's
Speaker 1: giving you practical application for it and telling you, this
Speaker 1: is the tool, and this is when it would be
Speaker 1: appropriate to use that tool, and it's set through storytelling,
Speaker 1: through either my own experience or experience that I've had
Speaker 1: with clients. So the goal is for people to be
Speaker 1: able to kind of put themselves in the seat and
Speaker 1: be able to experience what it would feel like and
Speaker 1: then actively start to implement that tool into their lives.
Speaker 4: Okay, and then what's the other the other pieces?
Speaker 1: So we have that the finding calm, and then it's
Speaker 1: all about once you've found that centered space, then what
Speaker 1: are the things that typically take us away from living
Speaker 1: the life that we want to be living, which is
Speaker 1: being able to come home to ourselves, have that space
Speaker 1: of self acceptance, and how do we use mindfulness based
Speaker 1: tools and able to get us to a space of
Speaker 1: self acceptance. And then once we found that way home
Speaker 1: to ourselves, how do we start to look at our
Speaker 1: relationships with people and how do we start to honor
Speaker 1: connection and recognize how do we build towards the empathy
Speaker 1: and understanding that we need, the forgiveness that we might need.
Speaker 1: All of this kind of leading to the space where
Speaker 1: we can finally let everything settle and just be content
Speaker 1: with our lives.
Speaker 2: Where do you think people like, what's the number one
Speaker 2: thing that you hear being a mindfulness coach, like, what
Speaker 2: is what's the one thing that people struggle with the most.
Speaker 1: Most people say that they cannot meditate and that their
Speaker 1: brain never stops working. Yeah, And I always say, yeah,
Speaker 1: your mind's not going to stop. And meditate is not
Speaker 1: about the absence of thought. Thought is always going to
Speaker 1: be there. It's always going to come. But it's about
Speaker 1: the conscious awareness of thought. So becoming aware of when
Speaker 1: you are thinking, when you are distracted, and then the
Speaker 1: ability to make the conscious choice to redirect to a
Speaker 1: present moment experience the breath, the body, the sensations that exist,
Speaker 1: and that's really what it is. And if we can
Speaker 1: just have those moments where oh, I can note that
Speaker 1: I'm distracted right now, and here's a tool that's going
Speaker 1: to allow for me to come back to center, we
Speaker 1: start to make conscious choices for our life that aren't
Speaker 1: contingent on being based in fear, but being based in
Speaker 1: reality and what it is that we truly want in
Speaker 1: our lives.
Speaker 3: I've got a question, YEA, how do I stop myself
Speaker 3: from falling asleep? When I made the thing.
Speaker 2: I thought you were going to ask, Katti, you get
Speaker 2: your wife to chill out and not go to like
Speaker 2: reactive all the time.
Speaker 1: We can deal with both of those.
Speaker 3: Okay, Yeah, I always like I want to take myself.
Speaker 3: We call it we reacharge, don't we We have a
Speaker 3: period in the day where we reach out.
Speaker 2: Were like recharge and it's we got this nice little
Speaker 2: sofa bed in our room and we just lay there.
Speaker 2: And he's actually the first I've My therapist would tell
Speaker 2: me all the time, like meditate, meditate, you know, do yoga,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, eh no, I just I can't. I
Speaker 2: get I don't have time, and you know whatever, I
Speaker 2: make up every excuse. And so when I met Alan,
Speaker 2: he was the one who helped me. I think it
Speaker 2: was about the time when I was we were pregnant
Speaker 2: and you were. There was a lot kind of just
Speaker 2: going on, and I sat in on some of his
Speaker 2: meditations on his phone and I loved every second of it.
Speaker 2: And so we've we haven't done it in a minute,
Speaker 2: but you do fall asleep. So that's a greatquot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I would say start to lean into that
Speaker 1: sense of curiosity about what's what you're experiencing. So if
Speaker 1: you're doing a body scan and you're moving through the body,
Speaker 1: it's really just okay, how does my head feel right now?
Speaker 1: What about my shoulders right now? That's an interesting sensation.
Speaker 1: And so it's it's just using you know, the mind
Speaker 1: that's going to wander, and just bringing into that sense
Speaker 1: of curiosity, which is going to keep you present and
Speaker 1: aware of what's going on, not just drifting off into
Speaker 1: your subconscious Thank you.
Speaker 4: Do you think that would that work?
Speaker 3: You think, yeah, because you're you're remaining focused on different things. Okay,
Speaker 3: and now I'm moved to my shoulders. Now I'm moved
Speaker 3: to my stomach. In your you're almost having to sweat
Speaker 3: your focus, which means I'll stay awake. Isn't having to concentrate? Okay?
Speaker 3: And now I focus on what I can feel here
Speaker 3: and feel here, whereas normally I've okay, what I feel
Speaker 3: in my head. And then I get to my ears
Speaker 3: and I'm asleep, and.
Speaker 2: Then your snoring and then it kind of breaks my
Speaker 2: meditation and I'm like, all right, I just leave out
Speaker 2: of the room.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1: That's good advice, of course, Yeah, that.
Speaker 4: Is good advice.
Speaker 2: Uh So, okay, so that was Alan's and so for me,
Speaker 2: I go, I do go quick to worst case only
Speaker 2: because it's a little bit of like a trauma response
Speaker 2: where I feel like I'm gonna lose everything because of
Speaker 2: you know, lost certain things that were hard. And so
Speaker 2: it's I go into that like can't breathe, having anxiety
Speaker 2: short shortness of breath, and I I'm very quick to
Speaker 2: react and in that moment, what's like a good tip
Speaker 2: or tool for calming my nervous system down because I go,
Speaker 2: I go really, I mean I go where it's like
Speaker 2: things like my ears get like it's hard to hear,
Speaker 2: like I get really and it's not like a slow build.
Speaker 2: It's like zero to one hundred within like a less
Speaker 2: than a minute.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So in that moment, I would not suggest concentrating
Speaker 1: on the breath because your breath is labored at that
Speaker 1: point and it's going to allow for you to just
Speaker 1: be concentrating on trying to get that down. So you know,
Speaker 1: there's the five senses calming technique for anxiety would be
Speaker 1: a good one for you. And so this is you
Speaker 1: might have heard it before, but it's just getting you
Speaker 1: back to be able to be truly aware of what
Speaker 1: is present, And so it's just looking around the room
Speaker 1: and seeing, Okay, what are five things that I can see,
Speaker 1: and saying them out loud. What are four things that
Speaker 1: I can touch, What are three things that I can
Speaker 1: actually hear, What are two things that I can smell?
Speaker 1: And what is one thing that I can taste? And
Speaker 1: so it just allows for you to be fully present
Speaker 1: to this moment. And then from there, what I like
Speaker 1: to do with clients is to have them start to
Speaker 1: look in the room and find four things in the
Speaker 1: room that represents something that feels safe. So maybe it's
Speaker 1: the safety of a blanket. Maybe it's a picture of
Speaker 1: your kids. Maybe it's the door that you know that
Speaker 1: you can leave through. It's anything that you can find
Speaker 1: that just represents a sense of safety for you to
Speaker 1: remind yourself that safety does exist in the world, because
Speaker 1: your mind in that moment is telling you there is
Speaker 1: no safety and I am in immediate danger.
Speaker 4: I like that. YEA, that's good.
Speaker 2: You'll get that, and you're you'll like thebe five four through,
Speaker 2: do one? Do it?
Speaker 4: Okay?
Speaker 2: So I want, because I want, obviously everyone to get
Speaker 2: your new book that's coming on available September twenty four,
Speaker 2: let it settle. But also you know, to follow you
Speaker 2: on Instagram because we obviously went on the journey last night.
Speaker 2: Can you take us through like whatever however long those are,
Speaker 2: so like what a two minutes or you what you
Speaker 2: do on Instagram that people can can know kind of
Speaker 2: what you do on there, just to take us through.
Speaker 2: If we're having a tough day, we've got some decisions
Speaker 2: to make and we need to.
Speaker 4: Just be saying we do.
Speaker 2: But I'm just saying like there's you know, if we
Speaker 2: just need like a moment of just being in this
Speaker 2: moment and not letting our minds wonder to what is sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's start. That's just by taking a deep
Speaker 1: breath in, breathing in through the nose and then breathing out.
Speaker 1: Just go ahead and let it all settle. The shoulders sebtle,
Speaker 1: let yourself kind of sink down into what's beneath you,
Speaker 1: and then go ahead and close down your eyes, or
Speaker 1: you can just stay here with me from this space,
Speaker 1: start to connect to the body, just right here where
Speaker 1: you are, noticing yourself seated on the couch or the
Speaker 1: chair and just almost as if you're feeling pulled ten
Speaker 1: feet below the ground. Just feel that sense of sinking.
Speaker 1: And at the same time, as you feel that sense
Speaker 1: of sinking from below, imagine as if if you had
Speaker 1: two balloons attached to your shoulders, and imagine the rise
Speaker 1: of the shoulders the entire upper body as those balloons
Speaker 1: float towards the ceiling. And with that rising from above
Speaker 1: and that rooting from below, just start to connect to
Speaker 1: the space between those two, that centered space within the heart.
Speaker 1: Just start to tune into where you are right now.
Speaker 1: You know the physical space that you're in, but also
Speaker 1: the emotional connection to this moment. Letting yourself be open
Speaker 1: to what's here. There's no right or no wrong, there's
Speaker 1: just what is. And start to label that emotion. If
Speaker 1: it's joy, if it's fear, it's sadness, just let yourself
Speaker 1: truly be with a full experience of you. And as
Speaker 1: you hold on to that emotion, just letting it be there.
Speaker 1: I also want you to connect to just a small
Speaker 1: sense of joy, a small sense of something in your
Speaker 1: life that just lights you up, and allow for yourself
Speaker 1: to start to feel that joy, kind of start to
Speaker 1: grow within your chest, to experience it in your body,
Speaker 1: and just to remember that whatever we're experiencing there's always
Speaker 1: a little joy to be found, and that it's possible
Speaker 1: to hold both at one time. So as we prepare
Speaker 1: to come back to the space, just hold on to
Speaker 1: both those emotions, giving space for everything that you're experiencing
Speaker 1: and being okay with where you are right now. So
Speaker 1: when it feels right, go ahead and flutter your eyes open,
Speaker 1: just taking the space around you, and enter back feeling
Speaker 1: connected and calm.
Speaker 4: You're the bess, Michael, thank you amazing?
Speaker 1: What was your Joe amazing family?
Speaker 2: Like I had a literally picture of just like I
Speaker 2: just saw that all the wedding photos that came in
Speaker 2: today and it was just like you, me and the kids.
Speaker 4: It was just my happy place.
Speaker 1: That Yeah, that's a good thing. You can always go
Speaker 1: back there. That's a good space to return to. And
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that the sadness doesn't exist, doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that the fear doesn't exist, but that joy can always
Speaker 1: be there.
Speaker 4: I love that, Michael. Where can our listeners find you?
Speaker 1: So on TikTok, Instagram or Facebook book It's on Instagram
Speaker 1: It's Michael dot Galleon, It's coach Michael one. On TikTok,
Speaker 1: you can also find my podcast, which is called Letting
Speaker 1: It Settle. And then later this next month we've got
Speaker 1: the book Let It Settle, which is available through pre
Speaker 1: orders at my website at Michael Gallion dot com.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Of course you thank you for having me. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: see you chat.
Speaker 2: So we really should get back to doing that. We should, like,
Speaker 2: I'm so chill. Now you can throw anything at me, like, yeah,
Speaker 2: do it, go for it.
Speaker 3: See what you want. I'll find my senso.
Speaker 4: Finding it five four three do one.
Speaker 3: The meditation was good. I like the sink ten feet
Speaker 3: and then the balloons bring in your.
Speaker 2: Back up because you actually feel the pole like I
Speaker 2: felt the blake, the pull down and then the balloon's up.
Speaker 1: I did, I did, Okay, did you know it?
Speaker 3: I was immersed and and I'm not sure he.
Speaker 4: Felt the tug. I'm gona tug.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll everyone go get his book a pre
Speaker 2: order now, let it at all