Avdeep Bahra

What have you had to let go of and grieve in order to allow in the new?

Here’s some things I hear people share and I can relate to as well

🔅Letting go of young adult children, and letting in their independence, one’s own freedom.

🔅Letting go of what one needed in a relationship/friendship, in order to allow new relationships or new ways of being in current ones.

🔅Letting go of what health was like years ago and allowing a new form of health and healthy living.

🔅Letting go of a career and what’s expected in North American culture, to allow in what’s more aligned.

What’s been your experience(s)?

Here’s a few that came to mind, let me know your thoughts!

🔸Conception
🔸 Birth or miscarriage.
🔸Death or loss (of person, thing, job, health etc)
🔸Start or end of a relationship
🔸Young kids becoming young adults, and moving out or becoming more independent.
🔸Perimenopause or menopause.
🔸 re-location.

What else do you wish was spoken, felt more openly about???

The more I’m reading about perimenopause/menopause, the more I can’t help but think of the intersection with trauma.

When that anxiety/depression hits in late 30s, into 40s - how much is that trauma waiting to be processed versus hormonal changes?

What about the “unusual” sensation, aches, pains, itches, etc?

The headaches or migraines?

The gut or pelvic floor changes?

Skin issues?

I’m sure there are so many more.

I’ll definitely be paying more attention to this intersection in myself and with clients.

What do you experience with that instruction?

▫️ a shift in muscle tension
▫️ nothing
▫️ more thoughts
▫️ a change in spine alignment
▫️ a different breathe
▫️ a curiosity?

I was surprised at how well my body usually “listens” to instruction!?

Too much is tied into how much you/we are doing, working or earning.

Having been in Europe last year - the focus of life is so different.

Less of a rat race.
Less greed
More community, connection and caring relationships
More laughter, more fun.
More health.
More ease

Yes it was a vacation. But since then I’ve heard from multiple people how their health and GUT was soooo much better.

What toxins are we ingesting investing in North America that’s creating so much chaos in our bodies???

Thoughts???

I’ve taken courses, attended retreats, practiced tai chi, worked with plant medicine - and come to learn, sometimes the hard way - that it’s not that actual event that’s important.

🌟 it’s the afterwards.

🌟And the afterwards could mean months afterwards.

🌟It can take time to weave in what one has learnt. We are creatures of habit (often).

🌟What habits are you un-learning?

I’ve not been on here the past month and today as I created a post, scrolled - I noticed the bracing, the breath holding, the cringy feeling inside my body most of the time.

🤔It really calls to ask - how healthy is it being on social media?

🤔 In what ways can it be better, more nourishing, less bracing-inducing?

Much to ponder as I explore returning here or not. For now.

🤔 how do your insides feel@as you hop on social media?

What other reasons led you to “masking”?

Been more than a month that I’ve been on IG. I must say as much as I love connecting with many like minded people here, the break has been super-refreshing. 😃

Feeling doesn’t always mean emotions.

It can mean the other things listed above.

And those things can be connected to or lead to emotion.

For instance yesterday, I stayed present with an unusual headache I was experiencing- and briefly after - tears followed and then the memories of when my eldest son was little. And the state of my health back then. The lack of support etc etc.

Makes sense these all sensations, emotions and memories arise!…. I was painting over the baby blue walls in his old room ….

What’s helps you feel?
Or feel more?

Some things people say that’s helps them feel are:

✅ support - from people or any of the below.
✅ music
✅ art
✅ nature
✅ movement
✅ plant medicine.
✅ awareness, willingness, non-judgement, capacity.
✅ self-compassion, understanding, time.

What helps you feel more?

Your root (chakra) relates to your sense of security and safety in the world.

Yet that area (physically) - the genitalia seem to carry so much shame for many people.

Yet they give birth to so much!!

How can we change our relationship to our root?

Being more welcoming, loving , caring. What else?

I visited Europe last summer and instantly I felt open, lighter, happier. My mood felt better. My skin, nails, hair were better within 24 hours of being there. My gut was better - I could eat anything and didn’t feel bloated. I actually felt less hungry, yet felt satied on what I ate

How’s that even possible?!

🌍 Context matters! Community matters! Support matters!

I recognize I wasn’t working at the time but still that shift was too rapid and instant to say “it’s because you were on vacation”.

My whole family felt it.

I’m still grieving 😢 - that I/we have to work SO hard here (in the Greater Toronto Area) to feel good. It feels like a fight here.

I did nothing in Europe to feel good - literally just stepped foot on the land, took in the air, the sun, the energy.

🌍 Anyone else relate?

🌍 What other contexts support you better?

Healing your trauma alone or with your therapist/healer etc is not enough.

Having community and the right context/environment- for YOUR body - matters!!

I think many of us would need less “therapy” if we had the broader levels of support.

Thoughts? Feelings?

Here’s what psilocybin 🍄 is teaching me….

🌍 how to RESPECT, like really really respect, myself and others in relationship.

In healing trauma and embracing neurodivergence- respect makes so much sense.

What might happen if ..

🌍 We met ourselves with respect?
🌍 Others met us with respect?
🌍 You/we met others with respect?

I see a more loving, kind, caring world that is healing together.

What has nature or plants taught you?

Having travelled to Europe last summer, some quieter cities in Ontario/Canada and the south over the past few years, my body is really feeling the difference.

My body feels what’s in the field when living in a fast-paced city. Well, now it’s more like the Golden Horseshoe Area.

The buzz, the busy-ness, so many people yet a lack of community. So many people yet a feeling of disconnection and loneliness. The pollution, the lack of land, nature, water, sun and nutritious food.

It’s a constant practice to move at the pace of my body, to protect myself from the chaos of the external world, to fight ableist ideas etc.

Anyone else relate?

Who here has travelled/lived/worked elsewhere?

What cities/countries worked for you???

From the podcast by Microdosing Table Talk, guest Aaron Orsini! 🌱

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/microdosing-table-talk/id1667902256?i=1000642588653

Masking - hiding of your true self.

I and many of us have so many layers to masking, often because of oppression:

🔅 as free beings living in a land/world that is steeped with the effects of colonization, imperialism, racial capitalism, transphobia, white supremacy.
🔅 thus as a woman of colour.
🔅 steeped in a culture conditioned to believe “boys are better than girls”.
🔅 as “neurodivergents” living in a “neurotypical” would

What other social, historical constructs - have led you to masking?

Can you feel the weight of it all?

Its heavy, draining and exhausting.

❤️ What helps lighten the load for you? What helps you un-mask?

I see cognitive difficulties in folks, including myself, (executive function in particular) because of both trauma and neurodivergence.

🧠 Executive function is a task of the frontal lobes of the brain.

🧠 It is not the same as being “lazy”, procrastinating etc etc.

🧠 To an outsider it might look the same.

🧠 But on the inside once you find it - you can FEEL the difference.

🧠 executive functioning difficulty is a physiological and neurological thing.

Thoughts? Curiosities?

Executive functioning skills may be different because of trauma and/or neurodivergence.

☑️ Executive function skills include:

Attention (sustained, divided, alternating attention etc)
Initiation (of a task)
Planning
Organizing
Completing a task
Sequencing
Problem solving

Examples of tasks in which you use executive functioning include:

☑️ brushing your teeth
☑️following a recipe
☑️driving a car
☑️completing a work project
☑️ doing a leisure activity.

🌱 My skill and expertise as an Occupational Therapist in neurological rehab really helps me see executive function difficulties, cognition in general, sensory processing differences, subtleties of eye movements, muscle tension or flaccidity, breathe etc.

🌱 I see with more clarity now how Occupational Therapy can/does support me in understanding both Neurodivergence and Trauma in the body. Both with myself and with clients/others.

🌱grateful for clarity and things coming together and making even more sense now.

🌱. Hope the posts and shares continue to support you!

I’ve been aware of the intersection between these 3, however was recently blind sighted by a whole other level of awareness - around the topics of ….

🌱 ableism
🌱 the unique gifts of folks who are neurodivergent (ND)
🌱 masking
🌱 monotropism
🌱 that autistic burnout can look like depression.
🌱 the different pace and sensory needs of ND folks
🌱 the difference in relationships that can arise once NDs are better understood and accepted.

This website is brilliant for all of above and much mix more. https://neurodivergentinsights.com

What’s been your experience with ND?

What does a “yes” feel like for you in your body?

For some it feels like :
🌱 an opening
🌱 a softening of muscles
🌱 a yes in their throat or a head nod
🌱 a smile, a deeper breathe.
🌱 a shift in eye acuity or contact
🌱 a reaching.
🌱 a lessening of resistance.

What’s it like for you?

I’ve been tuning more into true consent, likes, dislikes, desires, needs, wants …

My own as well as others.

How do you know when something feels good in your body? Here are some things you might notice…

🔅 a settling in your body or softening of body tension.
🔅 a deeper breath.
🔅 a smile, it might become easier to make eye contact with others.
🔅 you feel happier, more at ease, content, excited, joyful, curious etc.
🔅 you feel a bit more (or alot more) present!

What’s your experience?

Real. Genuine. Embodied and relational consent.

💫 Do you know what that kind of consent feels like for you?

Upcoming free drop in virtual groups.

DM or email [email protected] to join. Please confirm which date(s) you’d like to join.

Zoom link will follow a few days prior to group date and day off.

🔅 A space to slow down.
🔅 Connect with yourself and others.
🔅 Share if you wish.
🔅 Engage in 1-2 somatic practices, if you wish. There’s always choice!
🔅 Tune into what feels good for you!

Is it:

🔅 the feeling of your seat or floor beneath you?
🔅 the flowing in and out of your breath?
🔅 the sight of something pleasant in your space?
🔅 the smell or taste of something delicious?
🔅 the sound of silence or some other sound you enjoy?
🔅 the contact of your hands on your body?
🔅 contact from another?
🔅 being in nature?
🔅 the memory of something that brings a smile to your face?

Let us know what feels good to/for you! 😊

Since working with and her Powerful Women’s Mastermind in 2019 I choose a word and intention each year. It holds a focus and energy for me for the year.

This years word appears to still be evolving. For now I’m sitting with Effortlessness. With that word many other energies unfold.

🌟 How about you? What’s your word?

🌟 Here’s to a year of feeling more deeply
🌟 To being more and more like yourself.

Upcoming 2024 winter groups!

DM or email [email protected] to join or for inquiry.

❤️ Returning Home to your Body resumes as donation based. Pay what feels good for you.

❤️ More details re: Embodied Self Compassion coming soon.
For now… it will be in-person Wednesday January 31st evening.
〰️ come explore what self-compassion means to you
〰️ what it looks like, feels like, sounds like
〰️ the barriers or beliefs you have around self-compassion
〰️ simple somatic self-compassion practices.
〰️ and ofcourse discover community compassion too - feel what’s it like to be held in a space with others.

Grief arises in waves over time.

Can you relate?

What have you grieved that was from a loss months or years ago?

For me tomorrow is the “anniversary” of the “loss” of my job/work as a conventional Occupational Therapist at a local hospital.

Grief creates space for something else. Gratitude, inspiration, more lightness etc.
And before that there is also grief.