February 19, 2025 • 20 mins
Exploring Coherence: The Key to Somatic Healing and Presence
Lisa Dawn explores the concept of coherence and its importance for healing and well-being. She talks about how coherence involves noticing what is working within us, the harmony between different systems in the body, and how these observations contribute to our overall health.
Lisa also shares her personal journey of moving from being overstimulated and fearful in social situations to finding balance and capacity through somatic work.
The episode includes practical exercises for listeners to check in with their bodies and cultivate coherence, along with thoughtful reflections on the impact of kindness and presence in our lives.
00:00 Introduction to Healed, Now What?
04:41 Understanding Coherence and Its Importance
07:56 Practical Coherence Check-In
11:18 Personal Journey with Coherence
13:08 Guided Coherence Practices
18:02 Final Thoughts and Reflections
19:41 Closing Remarks and Upcoming Episodes
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Lisa (00:01):
Greetings, my friends, and welcome to another episode of
Healed, Now What?, a podcastwhere we discuss life,
relationships, connection, andtrauma through the lens of
somatic and attachmentpsychology, nervous system
health, relationships, and selfdiscovery.
I'm Lisa Dawn, and I'm on amission to teach people how to
(00:23):
transform their deepest woundsinto their greatest strengths by
first transforming therelationship they have with
themselves.
So whether you've had trauma,years of failed partnerships, or
just want a better relationshipwith your body, I've got you
covered.
I am a Somatic ExperiencingPractitioner, Educator,
(00:44):
Relationship Mentor, and TraumaSurvivor.
With a lifetime of experiencehelping not only myself, but
countless others transform theirlives by learning how to become
the fullest versions ofthemselves.
We do this through selfawareness, connecting with their
bodies and changing the way theyperceive themselves and others.
(01:06):
I have coached innumerous peoplehow to heal their wounds and
create lasting change so theycan live a more joyous,
passionate and fulfilling life.
Thank you so much for tuning inand enjoy the show.
(01:32):
Hi friends, Lisa Dawn here.
Welcome back to this week'sepisode.
So I just returned from a weeklong somatic training, and it
occurred to me that the lasttime I was on a flight was back
on February 8th, 2020.
(01:53):
We were returning from Indonesiaand we arrived, I believe it
was, A day before the airportswere shut down and flights were
canceled going from Hong Kong toVancouver.
Wild.
It's so wild how time passes,sometimes feeling shorter than
(02:15):
it actually is.
And there I was again, boardinga plane on my way to the West
Coast on February 8th, 2025.
And I will also say that thiswas my first in person training
in a, in a long time.
I've done plenty of trainingsonline, but there's something
(02:36):
completely different about beingphysically present with other
humans, immersed in a field oflearning together.
Now, for those of you who arewaiting for an episode to drop
last week, I thought I'd be ableto record one, but my body had
other plans like rest, morerest, and time in the sauna.
(02:59):
It's funny because Alberta hasbeen freezing.
So, for my people who live here,you know what I'm talking about.
It's been anywhere between minus20 and like minus 40 Celsius.
I don't even know what that isin Fahrenheit, but I was excited
to escape to the west coast forsome milder weather.
But, of course, there was a plottwist.
(03:22):
They were having their coldestwinter since, like, 1937.
I kid you not because I lookedit up and because it was coastal
and damp, minus 8 or 10 degreesfelt more like minus 30.
I just could not stay warm.
Thankfully, we found a gym witha finish dry sauna, which became
(03:42):
my saving grace.
and the place that we werestaying so lovingly provided us
with some heating pads, thosemicrowavable ones, which was
also my saving grace.
So the week was both beautifuland challenging.
I had to step into beginner'smindset again, taking it day by
(04:03):
day.
And somatic work is fascinatingbecause you're not just learning
intellectually, you're alsoexperiencing it in your body.
I often joke that thesetrainings feel like letting
people play with my nervoussystem.
It's like receiving therapyevery single day for a week,
wild, totally wild.
(04:26):
And yet, It was beautiful towitness how far I've come, how
much more capacity I now have toshow up without old triggers,
dysregulation, and fear holdingme back.
So leading into this, this weekI want to speak about coherence,
(04:47):
as it was a huge themethroughout the week.
And I also want to speak to howit informs our true nature and
well being.
So for context, we're definingcoherence as the ability to
notice what is working withinyou.
So your presence, your capacityto connect, the parts of you
(05:10):
that are available to meet otherhuman beings.
Coherence is about noticing whatsupports you.
And within that, what is alreadypresent within you at this
moment, and this is huge inhealing.
When we're overwhelmed, burntout, depressed, anxious, or
(05:32):
dealing with a health crisis,our ability to recognize what is
working becomes paramount to ourhealing journey.
Coherence can also be describedas multiple systems working
together in a way that isharmonized and responsive to the
(05:53):
present moment.
So there's some different waysthat we can observe it.
We can observe it in ourselvesby how well rested we are, the
quality of our sleep, ourdigestion, our ability to
recognize hunger or fatigue,setting and maintaining
(06:13):
boundaries.
Our ability to respond to stresswhile still having access to
safety.
Our ability to move in and outof connection.
How our organs communicate witheach other.
And subtle quiet signals likebreath, heart rate, and muscle
(06:35):
tone.
Coherence is also about havingclarity.
And as we moved through thetraining, there was a noticeable
coherence in the room.
It felt to me like workingtogether consistently towards a
shared goal.
It feels like a pulse moving inthe same direction.
(06:56):
Ever been to a concert whereeverything just felt electric,
held together, andunderstandable to your body
without having to say anything?
That, to me, is also coherence.
It's this quality of beingunified or connected.
Body coherence is a state ofharmony between the brain,
(07:21):
heart, and the body.
And it occurs when thesympathetic and parasympathetic
nervous systems work together.
So coherence provides us with asafety and wellness map, an
essential tool, especially intimes of trauma, relationship
stress, or a generallyoverwhelming world.
(07:43):
And the great thing aboutcoherence is the more that we
notice and attend to it, themore it grows.
So that's something to getreally stoked about.
So let's just take a moment todo a little coherence check in.
(08:05):
So I'll start by just gettingyou to notice how you notice
wellness.
So how do you notice yourhealth?
See if you can locate what isworking.
So right now in this moment, isit that you notice that you are
(08:29):
still breathing?
Maybe your attention just goesthere.
And how is it to notice thatspirit is moving through you
with your breath?
(08:50):
Maybe you notice your feet andhow they support you in getting
around.
How about your heart and it'sbeat just noticing.
Yep.
It's still there pounding away.
(09:16):
Are you able to move your body?
Each day, even if that's just adance, maybe to a single song or
going for a walk, a run.
Maybe you hit up the gym a fewtimes a week.
Do you notice when you're hungryor when you're tired and just
(09:46):
see how it is to check in withthose things right now in this
moment.
Coherence is about creatingconditions for ourselves to have
more access to wellness, tohealth, to those parts of
(10:06):
ourselves that reflect theessence of who we are, that
reflect the kind of person wewant to be, the way that we want
and hope to feel.
If you've been tuning in for awhile, we've talked a lot about
building capacity.
And coherence is one of the waysthat we do that.
(10:32):
So we build this so we can staypresent to life in all of its
ups and downs and in betweens.
We do this so we can handle allof the stimulation that happens
on the day to day.
Stuff just being thrown on ourplates unexpectedly.
When we can connect into and tapinto our own coherence.
(10:55):
We become shaman to our ownexperience, and it's such an
empowering journey.
When we tend to ourselves first,we can show up differently in
all of our relations.
It's really about being able tonotice our inner selves, our
somatic selves, and expandingour awareness.
(11:18):
So as I usually do, I wanted toshare my personal journey, one
of the elements of my personaljourney with coherence.
So for much of my life, Iconsidered myself an introvert
and I still do, but there was atime when I was actually afraid
of people.
Socializing fear for a few hourscould leave me needing days, if
(11:40):
not a full week to recover.
And then I'd replayconversations, second guess
myself and feel incrediblyinsecure.
And I didn't realize at the timethat I was overstimulated,
functioning with very littlenervous system capacity.
This wasn't a reflection ofintelligence or a willingness to
(12:03):
heal.
I had just experienced multipleoverwhelming events that left my
system disorganized anddysregulated.
So everything felt hard.
It took heroic efforts just toparticipate in life.
Now fast forward through a fewyears of somatic and trauma
(12:23):
informed work, and I no longerfeel like I'm expending massive
energy just to exist in theworld.
I can now attend a week longtraining with 90 people without
feeling completely drained.
That's the power of coherence.
That's the power of working withour somatic bodies.
(12:46):
That's the power of building andexpanding our capacity.
So I just wanted to take a pausefor those of you listening who
might be struggling, or forthose of you who are just
feeling at your capacity, I seeyou, I feel you.
(13:08):
So let's try something togetherin this moment.
If you can maybe just directingyour attention towards your
feet.
So you're just, Taking all ofyour awareness, and you're
drawing it down to your feet.
(13:30):
And just let your awareness bethere, you're paying attention.
To your feet on the ground.
Now just moving up to yourankles.
Just spending a little bit oftime there, noticing your
ankles.
Now going up to your calves.
(13:57):
And moving up to your thighs.
And hips.
Just following that train upyour body as you listen to my
voice.
And what do you notice aboutyour lower body?
Just anything that stands out.
(14:21):
For me, I notice tingles.
I notice, like, a weightedness.
I notice gravity pulling on mein a pleasant and kind of
settling way.
Just spend a few more momentsthere.
(14:43):
Just getting in touch with this,this lower half of your body.
Now I invite you to do justanother short practice.
So I invite you to think about atime, and this could be just a
(15:03):
fleeting moment in the recentpast, when you felt more like
the way you want to feel.
So a time when you felt morelike you.
So just give you a moment to, tocall that up this time where you
(15:26):
just felt more like the way thatyou want to feel.
And this could be anything.
It could feel like more ease,increased presence, more access
to joy, a willingness andavailability to connect with
others.
Maybe this time is where youjust felt less anxious, less
(15:50):
tight.
So thinking of a recent timewhen you felt more like
yourself, or more like you wantto feel.
Now just see if there's an imagethat comes along with that time.
(16:14):
And if not, that's okay.
It could just be more of afeeling.
And just spend a bit of timethere with this feeling or this
image of a time where you justfelt more like the way you want
to feel when you felt more likeyou.
(16:43):
What do you notice happeningwithin you as you pay attention?
If you had your eyes closed, Iinvite you to gently open them,
maybe even have a peek aroundand notice what you notice
(17:06):
around your environment.
How is it to notice thatcoherence within yourself?
And just do a check in.
(17:28):
How do you feel after listeningtoday?
Perhaps it's a feeling of beingmore present, calm, or a feeling
of safety.
Or maybe it's the opposite.
Or maybe in this moment, it'sjust showing up as an unfamiliar
(17:49):
feeling.
Like something is different, butyou don't really know what.
So coherence is a cadence, it'sa rhythm.
(18:10):
And when the body is in acoherent state, this results in
a broader, more expansive focus.
So it enables us to be a littlebit more present to what is.
Coherence is about expanding ourawareness, connecting with our
inner self, and tending to ourwell being so that we can show
(18:32):
up fully in life and in ourrelationships.
So I just wanted to end withsome words from Young Pueblo.
You have no idea how much impactyour kindness has.
(18:57):
Without even knowing.
You have turned bad days intogreat ones.
You have reconnected people withtheir power.
And you have helped many realizethat there is still some good in
the world.
Listening supportsunderstanding.
(19:18):
Calmness supports mentalclarity.
Letting go supports inner peace.
Kindness supports abundance.
Intuition supports purpose,acceptance supports joy.
(19:41):
Alright my friends, that's all Ihave for you today.
Until next time, take care, staywarm, and keep noticing what's
working within you.
Bye for now.
As always, thank you so much forlistening.
Life is busy.
(20:01):
So it means even more thatyou're carving out time in your
day to be here.
Listen, we've got so many greatepisodes coming up, so please
make sure you subscribe tofollow along on Apple podcasts
or Spotify.
And for those of you who like towatch your podcasts, we are now
uploading them to YouTube.
And if you appreciate theseepisodes, please do us a favor
(20:24):
and leave a rating or a reviewand share it with anyone you
think could benefit.
See you again next Wednesday.
outro music
Greetings, my friends, and welcome to another episode of
Healed, Now What?, a podcastwhere we discuss life,
relationships, connection, andtrauma through the lens of
somatic and attachmentpsychology, nervous system
health, relationships, and selfdiscovery.
I'm Lisa Dawn, and I'm on amission to teach people how to
(00:23):
transform their deepest woundsinto their greatest strengths by
first transforming therelationship they have with
themselves.
So whether you've had trauma,years of failed partnerships, or
just want a better relationshipwith your body, I've got you
covered.
I am a Somatic ExperiencingPractitioner, Educator,
(00:44):
Relationship Mentor, and TraumaSurvivor.
With a lifetime of experiencehelping not only myself, but
countless others transform theirlives by learning how to become
the fullest versions ofthemselves.
We do this through selfawareness, connecting with their
bodies and changing the way theyperceive themselves and others.
(01:06):
I have coached innumerous peoplehow to heal their wounds and
create lasting change so theycan live a more joyous,
passionate and fulfilling life.
Thank you so much for tuning inand enjoy the show.
(01:32):
Hi friends, Lisa Dawn here.
Welcome back to this week'sepisode.
So I just returned from a weeklong somatic training, and it
occurred to me that the lasttime I was on a flight was back
on February 8th, 2020.
(01:53):
We were returning from Indonesiaand we arrived, I believe it
was, A day before the airportswere shut down and flights were
canceled going from Hong Kong toVancouver.
Wild.
It's so wild how time passes,sometimes feeling shorter than
(02:15):
it actually is.
And there I was again, boardinga plane on my way to the West
Coast on February 8th, 2025.
And I will also say that thiswas my first in person training
in a, in a long time.
I've done plenty of trainingsonline, but there's something
(02:36):
completely different about beingphysically present with other
humans, immersed in a field oflearning together.
Now, for those of you who arewaiting for an episode to drop
last week, I thought I'd be ableto record one, but my body had
other plans like rest, morerest, and time in the sauna.
(02:59):
It's funny because Alberta hasbeen freezing.
So, for my people who live here,you know what I'm talking about.
It's been anywhere between minus20 and like minus 40 Celsius.
I don't even know what that isin Fahrenheit, but I was excited
to escape to the west coast forsome milder weather.
But, of course, there was a plottwist.
(03:22):
They were having their coldestwinter since, like, 1937.
I kid you not because I lookedit up and because it was coastal
and damp, minus 8 or 10 degreesfelt more like minus 30.
I just could not stay warm.
Thankfully, we found a gym witha finish dry sauna, which became
(03:42):
my saving grace.
and the place that we werestaying so lovingly provided us
with some heating pads, thosemicrowavable ones, which was
also my saving grace.
So the week was both beautifuland challenging.
I had to step into beginner'smindset again, taking it day by
(04:03):
day.
And somatic work is fascinatingbecause you're not just learning
intellectually, you're alsoexperiencing it in your body.
I often joke that thesetrainings feel like letting
people play with my nervoussystem.
It's like receiving therapyevery single day for a week,
wild, totally wild.
(04:26):
And yet, It was beautiful towitness how far I've come, how
much more capacity I now have toshow up without old triggers,
dysregulation, and fear holdingme back.
So leading into this, this weekI want to speak about coherence,
(04:47):
as it was a huge themethroughout the week.
And I also want to speak to howit informs our true nature and
well being.
So for context, we're definingcoherence as the ability to
notice what is working withinyou.
So your presence, your capacityto connect, the parts of you
(05:10):
that are available to meet otherhuman beings.
Coherence is about noticing whatsupports you.
And within that, what is alreadypresent within you at this
moment, and this is huge inhealing.
When we're overwhelmed, burntout, depressed, anxious, or
(05:32):
dealing with a health crisis,our ability to recognize what is
working becomes paramount to ourhealing journey.
Coherence can also be describedas multiple systems working
together in a way that isharmonized and responsive to the
(05:53):
present moment.
So there's some different waysthat we can observe it.
We can observe it in ourselvesby how well rested we are, the
quality of our sleep, ourdigestion, our ability to
recognize hunger or fatigue,setting and maintaining
(06:13):
boundaries.
Our ability to respond to stresswhile still having access to
safety.
Our ability to move in and outof connection.
How our organs communicate witheach other.
And subtle quiet signals likebreath, heart rate, and muscle
(06:35):
tone.
Coherence is also about havingclarity.
And as we moved through thetraining, there was a noticeable
coherence in the room.
It felt to me like workingtogether consistently towards a
shared goal.
It feels like a pulse moving inthe same direction.
(06:56):
Ever been to a concert whereeverything just felt electric,
held together, andunderstandable to your body
without having to say anything?
That, to me, is also coherence.
It's this quality of beingunified or connected.
Body coherence is a state ofharmony between the brain,
(07:21):
heart, and the body.
And it occurs when thesympathetic and parasympathetic
nervous systems work together.
So coherence provides us with asafety and wellness map, an
essential tool, especially intimes of trauma, relationship
stress, or a generallyoverwhelming world.
(07:43):
And the great thing aboutcoherence is the more that we
notice and attend to it, themore it grows.
So that's something to getreally stoked about.
So let's just take a moment todo a little coherence check in.
(08:05):
So I'll start by just gettingyou to notice how you notice
wellness.
So how do you notice yourhealth?
See if you can locate what isworking.
So right now in this moment, isit that you notice that you are
(08:29):
still breathing?
Maybe your attention just goesthere.
And how is it to notice thatspirit is moving through you
with your breath?
(08:50):
Maybe you notice your feet andhow they support you in getting
around.
How about your heart and it'sbeat just noticing.
Yep.
It's still there pounding away.
(09:16):
Are you able to move your body?
Each day, even if that's just adance, maybe to a single song or
going for a walk, a run.
Maybe you hit up the gym a fewtimes a week.
Do you notice when you're hungryor when you're tired and just
(09:46):
see how it is to check in withthose things right now in this
moment.
Coherence is about creatingconditions for ourselves to have
more access to wellness, tohealth, to those parts of
(10:06):
ourselves that reflect theessence of who we are, that
reflect the kind of person wewant to be, the way that we want
and hope to feel.
If you've been tuning in for awhile, we've talked a lot about
building capacity.
And coherence is one of the waysthat we do that.
(10:32):
So we build this so we can staypresent to life in all of its
ups and downs and in betweens.
We do this so we can handle allof the stimulation that happens
on the day to day.
Stuff just being thrown on ourplates unexpectedly.
When we can connect into and tapinto our own coherence.
(10:55):
We become shaman to our ownexperience, and it's such an
empowering journey.
When we tend to ourselves first,we can show up differently in
all of our relations.
It's really about being able tonotice our inner selves, our
somatic selves, and expandingour awareness.
(11:18):
So as I usually do, I wanted toshare my personal journey, one
of the elements of my personaljourney with coherence.
So for much of my life, Iconsidered myself an introvert
and I still do, but there was atime when I was actually afraid
of people.
Socializing fear for a few hourscould leave me needing days, if
(11:40):
not a full week to recover.
And then I'd replayconversations, second guess
myself and feel incrediblyinsecure.
And I didn't realize at the timethat I was overstimulated,
functioning with very littlenervous system capacity.
This wasn't a reflection ofintelligence or a willingness to
(12:03):
heal.
I had just experienced multipleoverwhelming events that left my
system disorganized anddysregulated.
So everything felt hard.
It took heroic efforts just toparticipate in life.
Now fast forward through a fewyears of somatic and trauma
(12:23):
informed work, and I no longerfeel like I'm expending massive
energy just to exist in theworld.
I can now attend a week longtraining with 90 people without
feeling completely drained.
That's the power of coherence.
That's the power of working withour somatic bodies.
(12:46):
That's the power of building andexpanding our capacity.
So I just wanted to take a pausefor those of you listening who
might be struggling, or forthose of you who are just
feeling at your capacity, I seeyou, I feel you.
(13:08):
So let's try something togetherin this moment.
If you can maybe just directingyour attention towards your
feet.
So you're just, Taking all ofyour awareness, and you're
drawing it down to your feet.
(13:30):
And just let your awareness bethere, you're paying attention.
To your feet on the ground.
Now just moving up to yourankles.
Just spending a little bit oftime there, noticing your
ankles.
Now going up to your calves.
(13:57):
And moving up to your thighs.
And hips.
Just following that train upyour body as you listen to my
voice.
And what do you notice aboutyour lower body?
Just anything that stands out.
(14:21):
For me, I notice tingles.
I notice, like, a weightedness.
I notice gravity pulling on mein a pleasant and kind of
settling way.
Just spend a few more momentsthere.
(14:43):
Just getting in touch with this,this lower half of your body.
Now I invite you to do justanother short practice.
So I invite you to think about atime, and this could be just a
(15:03):
fleeting moment in the recentpast, when you felt more like
the way you want to feel.
So a time when you felt morelike you.
So just give you a moment to, tocall that up this time where you
(15:26):
just felt more like the way thatyou want to feel.
And this could be anything.
It could feel like more ease,increased presence, more access
to joy, a willingness andavailability to connect with
others.
Maybe this time is where youjust felt less anxious, less
(15:50):
tight.
So thinking of a recent timewhen you felt more like
yourself, or more like you wantto feel.
Now just see if there's an imagethat comes along with that time.
(16:14):
And if not, that's okay.
It could just be more of afeeling.
And just spend a bit of timethere with this feeling or this
image of a time where you justfelt more like the way you want
to feel when you felt more likeyou.
(16:43):
What do you notice happeningwithin you as you pay attention?
If you had your eyes closed, Iinvite you to gently open them,
maybe even have a peek aroundand notice what you notice
(17:06):
around your environment.
How is it to notice thatcoherence within yourself?
And just do a check in.
(17:28):
How do you feel after listeningtoday?
Perhaps it's a feeling of beingmore present, calm, or a feeling
of safety.
Or maybe it's the opposite.
Or maybe in this moment, it'sjust showing up as an unfamiliar
(17:49):
feeling.
Like something is different, butyou don't really know what.
So coherence is a cadence, it'sa rhythm.
(18:10):
And when the body is in acoherent state, this results in
a broader, more expansive focus.
So it enables us to be a littlebit more present to what is.
Coherence is about expanding ourawareness, connecting with our
inner self, and tending to ourwell being so that we can show
(18:32):
up fully in life and in ourrelationships.
So I just wanted to end withsome words from Young Pueblo.
You have no idea how much impactyour kindness has.
(18:57):
Without even knowing.
You have turned bad days intogreat ones.
You have reconnected people withtheir power.
And you have helped many realizethat there is still some good in
the world.
Listening supportsunderstanding.
(19:18):
Calmness supports mentalclarity.
Letting go supports inner peace.
Kindness supports abundance.
Intuition supports purpose,acceptance supports joy.
(19:41):
Alright my friends, that's all Ihave for you today.
Until next time, take care, staywarm, and keep noticing what's
working within you.
Bye for now.
As always, thank you so much forlistening.
Life is busy.
(20:01):
So it means even more thatyou're carving out time in your
day to be here.
Listen, we've got so many greatepisodes coming up, so please
make sure you subscribe tofollow along on Apple podcasts
or Spotify.
And for those of you who like towatch your podcasts, we are now
uploading them to YouTube.
And if you appreciate theseepisodes, please do us a favor
(20:24):
and leave a rating or a reviewand share it with anyone you
think could benefit.
See you again next Wednesday.
outro music
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