Good evening, everyone. I'd like to welcome you all to tonight's Hidden Sparks Without Walls presentation.
My name is Deanna Stecker, and I'm a Hidden Sparks coach and host for tonight's webinar. I am so excited and grateful that.
We have Inez Tiger with us this evening. to discuss cultivating resilience, tools for regulation and renewal for educators.
As always, throughout the presentation. We highly encourage you to contribute your comments and questions via the chat.
If you'd like the whole group to see your comment.
Please be sure to chat to everyone. Otherwise, you can direct your question just to me to have your question addressed.
A full recording of tonight's webinar will be available in about a week.
We'll let you know when it's posted, and you can share it with friends and colleagues.
While I introduce Inez, please pop your location in the chat so we can see where everyone is Zooming in from.
Great. Inez, you can go to the next slide, please.
Excellent. So, just a little bit about Hidden Sparks. Um, Hidden Sparks helps educators in Jewish day schools nurture the hidden spark within each student.
Facilitating professional development to increase understanding and support. for the broad range of learners in the classroom. We offer all kinds of things, which many of you might be familiar with.
Our Learning Lenses course, Coaching for teachers. A differentiating instruction course, and of course, these webinars.
And now a little bit about Inez. Inez Tiger brings over 30 years of experience as an educator, school leader, and mental health professional.
She has served as an elementary and middle school teacher.
Counselor, principal, and most recently as Director of Wellness at the Pressman Academy in Los Angeles.
Inez is a certified teacher of the Community Resilience Model, a practitioner of the Trauma Resiliency model.
And a long-time facilitator and trainer in the practice of counsel.
Specializing in self-regulation, somatic trauma healing, and the power of storytelling.
Inez recently transitioned from her role as a school-based educator.
to focus more deeply on healing and wellness. A collector of stories she finds meaning in listening to the resilience of students, parents, and teachers.
As they navigate their school journeys. Originally from South Africa, Inez lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
While her two adult children have launched into the world.
She finds joy in art making, meaningful collaboration, and long walks with their dog chase.
One of her guiding mottos comes from Maya Angelou.
You did… But people will never forget how you made them feel.
Inez, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Deanna. Welcome, everyone, and thank you, Hidden Sparks.
For inviting me to this wonderful opportunity. Um, just to give you an overview of the session.
Um, I will be sharing with you this model, the community… The resiliency model, Chrome for short, which is from the Trauma Resource Institute.
try to help support self-regulation, balance, and renewal. for you as an educator, as a human being.
And I'll give you a little bit more about goals tonight.
So let me tell you a little bit about, um, this model, the Community Resiliency model.
It was conceived from the Trauma Resource Institute's international work.
and develop more fully. from a state of California mental health services act project in 2013. It was designed and created.
And developed by Elaine Millacaraz, social worker. from her, um… her wonderful vision and creativity and innovation.
And from her travels from all over the world.
And they conceived the model, and they wanted to… she wanted to create a biologically-based model of intervention.
Based on cutting research about the brain so that it could be easily accessible, transportable, affordable.
and adaptable to humankind. So here's what we're going to look at tonight. These are my goals, please go out, we do all of them. But first of all, self-care. I know as educators.
We go to workshops, and the first thing we do is we listen, and then we want to think about the application for the classroom.
Tonight, I invite you to just take it in for yourself.
These are skills and tools that you can use.
For your well-being. Particularly at this time of the year in November, we're coming up on Thanksgiving, there's student learning conferences, people are getting sick.
And they can just see Hanukkah around the corner and can barely make it to the end.
And so, our well-being is even more privileged. to be… to be honest tonight. So to… I'm going… To leave you with at least 3 basic wellness skills you can take into your life tonight.
And to use these skills during your tasks of daily living, at home, at work, at play.
You're becoming a crumb guide tonight. By the end of the session.
Please, God, you can start to take these into your life, and I'll give you some more skills as well, and start to share them with others.
And the goal for sure to really highlight that the mind and body can heal.
I'll give you a little bit of neuroscience tonight to show you how to understand the mind and body reactions to traumatic or stressful experiences.
So before we start with any session, first of all, I just wanted to remind you, like Deanna said, it is interactive tonight, and I invite.
you to really interact in the chat. And if you have questions, to write them down, keep them with you. I'm going to save the last 10.
15 minutes or so to really address a lot of your questions. All right.
So let's begin with resourcing. What or who uplifts you? What or who gives you strength?
And what or who gets you through hard times. As you think about one of these questions.
I want you to notice. in your body, what do you know, what you're observing when you think about one of your answers, what sensations you may sense.
What you're feeling, and I invite you to put them into the chat.
And Diana will read them as they come in. So, water who uplifts you.
Waterhu gives you strength? And Waterhu gets you through hard times.
Take a moment to enter that.
spending time with family, especially grandkids, family. My spouse and mum.
turning off and laying in my bed with my phone on Do Not Disturb.
Learning and knowledge helps ground me. family, quiet time with a book.
silence and reading, helping others. being with family, work besties, music, art therapy, friends, co-workers, quiet time.
doing something enjoyable. These are beautiful resources.
So as you notice them. as you sang them, just notice in your body.
So what I want to share with you about these 6 wellness skills that I'm going to share at least 5 with you tonight as we get through.
is that we all have a nervous system. Learning to regulate the nervous system through the Community Resiliency Model Wellness Skills can be life-changing.
As people learn to bring their own systems. back into balance, and then share these skills with their family and communities.
And these skills can become a common language. Um, CRM has been used across cultures, different.
Rules of distress and sensations of well-being. A resiliency can expand by learning simple wellness skills, and the result is feeling greater balance in your mind, in your body, and your spirit. And this we have found to be true.
community, your lifespan, we all have a nervous system.
And so it can be shared even with individuals who have low literacy rates, or with children who have not learned how to read and write, so pre-verbal.
Learning to read the nervous system is a human skill, regardless of literacy level.
And it can be used across the lifespan. A well-attuned parent can help to regulate the immature nervous system of infants.
And children can learn the skills as well as adults, and the oldest person we found who learned the skills was 104.
So, it has been practiced across many, many. communities. So I want to take you into the mind shift, the perspective shift that we invite you to have, and I know for many of us as educators, we grew up.
with a conventional assumption. perhaps our teachers told us this.
Meaning, we look below the surface of the iceberg. People are suffering, people need to learn how trauma impacts a child and a.
Dart's development, and so we ask ourselves, what happened to you?
Why are you acting out that way? What's happened in your life that you would choose those behaviors, or that's happening to you?
Then we're moving into more of a resiliency-informed perspective.
We know that people are resilient. The brain can rewire. People need to learn how skills of well-being can be cultivated, and how they can reduce suffering.
So we want to ask ourselves, what is right about you? What are your strengths? What.
is in your toolbox, in your frame of reference, in your life that is helping you to navigate this moment.
And then, ideally, through becoming a community resiliency guide.
you start to think about trauma resiliency-informed, meaning. We know that with the neuroplasticity of the brain.
People can change and grow. People can learn to read their nervous systems to build resiliency in themselves and others, so the more I know.
how my body operates in this moment, the more I have.
a cultivation of skills that can help my body.
So people can also learn that empathic listening to another's trauma or stress leads to a balanced nervous system.
That's that co-regulation that is the superpower of teachers. So I'll talk a little bit more about that.
So let's begin with the foundation. Let's look at what is the essence of the community resiliency model, and I'll use this graph.
I want you to think of your zone of well-being like this. Say there are two lines in a graph.
And in between, you'll see there, is a line moving, meaning.
When you are in the zone, the kids a lot of times say the okay zone, right? So when you're in your okay zone.
You are navigating life's ups and downs, right? You are.
You know, it's not a happy zone, right? It's a state, a well-being in your mind and your barn, and you're able to handle the stresses of life.
You can be annoyed. Or even angry. But you do not feel like you will lose your head, right? You can be sad, but not feel like you'll be washed away.
by the river of life and sorrows. When you are in the resilience zone, you can manage the ups and the downs of life.
And you're in your best self. It's not your happy self, it's just a self where you are cultivating your well-being to navigate.
the ups and downs of life. And notice that the resilience zone is like a wave.
Because you can sometimes have higher stresses during the day, and when you're calmer, there is an ebb and a flow.
And the challenges as you're going through your day is to be aware of.
where I am in my zone, so that I can stay there to cultivate that sense of well-being.
But life happens, right? You'll see that red.
Firestorm there is the stress, the stress of life. You wake up in the morning, the alarm didn't go off.
Now you're in your car and there's traffic. This can bump someone out of their zone.
And they can get up into the high zone.
Right? You may see some mania, some anxiety and panic, some anger, some outbursts.
Or you may get bumped down into your low zone.
And you may see some depression, or sadness, or isolation, exhaustion, fatigue, numbness.
How many of us… I'm not going to ask you to put this in the chat, are going up into a high zone and down into our low zone.
Even within a day, it is completely normal to be navigating like that.
The idea is that we cultivate a wide resilience zone to navigate the ups and downs, because when we get stuck.
Right? If you get stuck in your high zone.
for a couple of days, even, where you cannot, and you're in the anger, or you're in that anxiety, and you cannot get back into your okay zone.
We know that the stress hormone of cortisol is released. We may feel some symptomatic pains in our bodies.
And it is really hard, it feels like our prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain that is.
thinking and control is offline, and we cannot manage. Similarly, stuck in the low zone.
We may have such a low energy of sadness that lasts for a few days, and it is hard.
to manage our life. Not that it's not acceptable, what it is, is we know that.
thing to be in your body, right? Adversity is.
happens to all of us, and the goal in teaching ourselves is, how do I get back into that zone of well-being, into that okay zone?
And so, especially when you're working in a school setting, you can be up and down, in and out of that zone all day long.
And how do you find tools. And, um, skills to navigate.
So, that you can see at the top is a narrow resilience zone, so that you'll find. I'm sure we've been there, especially.
when we were in COVID, especially during October 7th.
All these moments in our lives where we find out resilience zones so thin and narrow that anything can bump us out.
But the more we cultivate tools of well-being, the more that the zone.
has more capacity. Ideally, we have a higher capacity to navigate life stresses, and that's the goal, is how can we increase.
that resiliencer. So let's do a little bit of neuroscience around what's happening to us in our body.
The neuroplasticity of our brain is that. Neurons that fire together wire together, and ideally.
What happens is that a mirroring neuron is a neuron that fires both when a person takes an action.
And someone else observes it. So if I suddenly started yawning right now, I imagine some of you would start yawning.
If I started crying, some of you might start getting tears.
Because what happens in… when we are connected, because we are connected beings, when we're connected with someone.
My nervous system, if I've downregulate calm, will down-regulate the calm, hopefully, to you if you bumped out of your zone.
And so the mirror neurons mirror each other's behavior. I don't know if you've ever been around someone who maybe bumped out of their zone in the high zone, and they may be anxious, and you can feel the energy, and you may have been calm, and now you're starting to get activated. It can do that.
However, if you down-regulate, and down-regulate your calm, it can actually shift theirs, right?
And so that co-regulation that we have as educators in the classroom is so powerful.
If and when our capacity is really full. If our resilience zone is very low.
Our mural neurons can activate that dysregulation as well.
And so, the power of the neuroscience of our brain.
to remember that we can. affect someone else's behavior is really powerful as we think of these wellness skills.
So here you can see a person in their okay zone can create a positive feedback loop with their well-being.
And which influences others, helping them to achieve a state of balance.
And this interconnectedness, facilitated by mirror neurons, can lead to healthier.
And more supportive relationships and that's why I said.
As an educator, your superpower is your nervous system.
So if you are well-resourced, and you have all these.
tools of well-being, you have the ability to shift the energy in the room.
And so, except when you are completely bumped out, you can't.
So a lot of what I'm teaching you tonight is how to do this with each other as colleagues before we start working with students.
So let's do our first activity. I invite you right now to take a moment and to think about where you are at 8.30 tonight on.
November 19th. In your zone? Are you in your okay zone?
Or do you feel a little bit bumped out, edging up to the high zone?
Do you feel that you're down in your low zone? I invite you to put that in the chat.
Just to get a sense of where you are right now.
As you think about your well-being and your state.
I'm in my okay zone, low zone. Okay zone, lower end of okay zone.
Okay, okay, low. Okay.
And notice I invite you, as we go through the workshop.
where your zone is by the end. Just to notice that, all right.
in your okay zone. I imagine many of you might have been in your low zone just coming to a webinar, so… Um, just notice that as well.
Okay. So, let me get into the skills. Here we go. The three basic skills and help now.
As you know, I'm sure you've heard this as an educator, you must put your mask on first, right?
So, applying your resiliency mask first is key in any moment with.
whenever you're at school, in your home, in your life, because we know that if our zone is too low, we cannot help anyone else.
And so often when I'm teaching or when I'm at school and I'm around, I'm constantly wondering where I'm navigating my own zone.
And if I find that my zone is really thin, I will bring in a skill so that I can have more capacity to be there for others.
And I put you, if you notice a child being bumped out of their resilience zone, pause and help them with skills that cultivate well-being. Not yet. This is for you. But in… as you start using them.
you'll start to see, is this child dysregulated? Are they in their high zone, low zone, and what skills can I.
is to help them to get back in. And so, I just want to give you an overview of the 6 skills. I'm going to teach you tracking, that's in the palm of your hand, because that's the basis of all the skills.
Then I'll teach you… I'll teach you resourcing tonight, and I'll teach you grounding, and I'm going to show you the help now.
We may not get to gesturing in shift and stay, which is okay.
And guess what? There is a free app. Here we go, the iChill app, so you can download it.
Um, I work closely, obviously, I'm a trainer for the Trauma Resource Institute, and during October 7th.
We were working a lot with Israel and a lot with.
Um, Hebrew speakers, and so they're translated in Hebrew as well.
So it is in English, Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, and Ukrainian.
Um, and you'll actually hear Elaine Miller's voice taking you through all the skills. And it's a great app because it goes.
You start off, what's your zoning, you put what your zone is, you do a skill, and then you check back in. What's my zone now?
So it's a really lovely way to practice the skills.
Okay, so here's the basic three. Tracking, resourcing, grounding.
So I'm going to take you through tracking. So, what is tracking?
As it says, tracking is learning to basically start having a GPS of your nervous system.
A lot of us, um, our portals of thinking and feeling are really strong.
Um, we tend to stay up here in our heads.
all our emotional literacy is really strong. What are you feeling?
But same thing, same thing is something a lot of us are not raised with in terms of vocabulary and learning about sensing.
The occupational therapist, this is their field, they are all in the interreception of the body. What are the sensations on the inside, right?
And so, thinking about the doorway of yourself. and your students. Thinking about what?
How do I tend to be… sense the world? Do I tend to go in through sensing through my mind?
Or do I tend to go through my body, my nervous system?
I think from that aspect, or do I tend to go in through my heart, meaning feelings, and sensing from that way?
So here's what tracking is telling you. Tracking is noticing or paying attention.
to what is happening inside your body at. the present moment. So, what you're going to be doing is I'm going to be taking you through a tracking exercise.
is determining if the sensation inside your body is pleasant.
Unpleasant or neutral. And then we're going to learn to stay with the sensations that are pleasant or neutral. What do we notice on the inside?
You know when this is really evident is when you go to the doctor.
And the doctor says, tell me about the pain. You don't give the pain feelings, oh, it's a sad pain, or it's a happy pain.
He typically… the doctor's asking for, how would you describe that pain? And you might say.
It's jittery, or it's warm, or it's soft. Those are sensation words.
So, what we're doing is we're inviting you to increase your body literacy. What am I sensing on the inside?
So that's what tracking is. And when you're tracking the autonomic nervous system, what you're doing is… let me explain both of you.
both sides of the autonomic nervous system. We have two parts. There is the sympathetic, which is the part of the nervous system in the brainstem, which is preparing for action.
If a bear walked into my room right now, right?
I will do one of four things. I'm either gonna freeze or flee.
Or fight, or form. I'm going to tend and befriend the bear.
And my body is operating purely bottom-up from sensations, and so it has to escape.
or freeze, it has to do something in order to protect itself.
And so what'll happen is my breathing rate will increase, or my heart rate, and I will stop digesting, and my mouth will go dry, the saliva will dry, because the body is getting ready.
to protect itself by escaping or fighting or fleeing.
Once the bear's left, and I'm in a calmer state, now the parasympathetic, think of a parachute.
The parasympathetic kicks in. And my breathing rate slows down, heart rate slows down, blood pressure comes down, you may find yourself releasing.
energy, and then the digestion comes in. Alright, so that's when you're tracking your nervous system.
Now, you might say, well, when would I be using this? Well, think about someone who activates you, that child who activates you, a partner who activates you.
You'll notice sensations in your body kicking in when you're feeling that stress. Some of us, I mean, I live in LA.
And so, some people just get in the car on the way to work and are activated by the traffic. And they'll notice it by saying.
my heart rate increases, I'm holding the steering wheel tighter. That's tracking your nervous system. And when we taught this to students, I've taught.
Um, the neuroscience to 5-year-olds all the way to 8th graders.
Some of them would come and say, you know what, my hands are sweaty.
My heart rate's increasing and my tummy is tight.
And I need a fidget, because I'm really activated by this right now.
And that's teaching you how to track your nervous system, like, really knowing what's going on on the inside.
Because we know what we pay attention to grows. If we focus.
Our mind and our body and us, and our sensations, and our attention on those of the sensations that are pleasant, they will grow.
The brain likes to default to the negative, so if we pay attention to the negative.
It will increase those negative. Um, sensations and feelings. So we are training the nervous system.
to focus on that, which is neutral or pleasant.
And I like this line because the study that was done in Finland, what they did is they asked people.
to color in. Where they are sensing these feelings and sensations in their body. And it's interesting because the anger, if you look, say, for example, at the anger and the happiness, and the love.
A lot of it is in the head, and the chest, and it's the same color. And you might say.
Well, I thought anger would be in just the body, or in the legs.
What we're realizing is that. our life experiences, including our thoughts and feelings, have a corresponding sensation within the body, and they are.
on the perception of the person. Meaning, it's not universal and widely.
organized around what people say it should be. It's what I believe it. So for someone who says, when I'm angry, my hands get hot, and someone else says.
Actually, I just feel that anger in my chest. It's not right or wrong.
It's what is working for that person. So this really shows us that it's biology.
And that it is… showing that people are relating to what's going on on the inside of their.
Nervous system. So let's look at the part that is showing us how do we know what we're tracking.
So the insula, I want to focus on this part of the brain.
The insula, this is looking at that interreception, that's understanding what the sensations are on the inside.
The insulin is the part of the brain that tells the body and the mind to communicate with another. So, for example, if you went outside.
And it was cold. How would you know it's cold? The insular would tell the body.
Are we getting tingles? Uh, the hair is standing up, the body feels like it's, it's shaking, go in… sign and put a sweater. It communicates to the medial prefrontal cortex to take action.
To keep the body in a state of internal balance. If we didn't have that insula, we wouldn't be able to sense our bodies.
We would not know. It's hot, it's cold. I'm jittery, I'm upset. We wouldn't know that.
So what we're trying to do is we're trying to increase body awareness. And the more body awareness we know, it can reduce impulsivity.
and promote emotional regulation and clearer thinking. So you might say, well, how does that work? So just as that example I said, I had a third grader come to me, exactly this, and say.
I noticed that in my hands are sweating. They're really hot, and I'm starting to get a headache.
Tell me more, I said. She said, I'm really upset. I had an argument with my mom on the way to school, and I can't stop thinking about it. I said, okay, what do you need? I need to go for a walk and drink some water.
Okay, let's go do that. Drank some water, we walked, we talked a little bit.
What do you notice now on the inside? She said, my hands are not as warm, and they're not sweating as much, okay?
Just drink some more water. What do you notice as you're drinking the water?
I'm feeling a little bit more calmer. And so we talked through it, but do you notice that it was not just from.
The thinking senses, it was from the sensations of her body.
And so the more we know about the sensations that are happening on the inside of our body.
Then, to think about what skill we need, then we can process, because as I said.
When we bumped out of our zone, we are all sensations. We cannot think in that right mind.
So when we learn to… when we can learn to tell the difference between sensations of distress and sensations of well-being.
We can begin to make a choice. That's why this is very empowering.
So once I notice some sensations that are happening, I'm feeling upset in my body, I'm angry, it's hot.
I have a choice. What skill can I use?
That can bring me to… A place of well-being, feeling calm and less tension, and cool down.
It's giving you that impassee to the students, they're becoming the CEOs of their wellness.
Because the more they know about what to do next, the more that the tools are available.
Now, I do want to caution, for some people, even sensing pleasant or neutral sensations can spark unpleasant, even painful sensations.
And so we always say, stay one step behind, always give people a choice.
We invite you to share. So if learning sensory language is too distressing.
Give the person choice to stop learning the skills, and we can do another skill.
So, I'm going to give you this vocab right now, because a lot of us were not raised on sensation language. We were raised on a lot of emotional language, right?
So these are sensation words, cold, hot, warm, spicy, thick, firm, gentle.
And here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to invite you to do this exercise with me. We're going to track now.
If you could project… I can't see you, so I invite you to do it anyway, to put your hands together, and we're going to rub fast. Rub, rub, rub, rub, rub.
really fast. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
And then, stop. And just notice what sensations you are sensing in your hands.
And now, if you could take your hands and write it in the chat. Or Diana, if you wanted to come off mute and just tell me what you're sensing.
Definitely warmth. I see some people writing that also. A little tingliness.
Cool, cool, yeah. Thankfully, yeah? Yeah.
Let's see what people are tingling, cold, twitching, heat.
Yeah.
Warm, tingling. There you go. You just tracked. What you just did was tracking.
So really sensing what's happening in the body. And a lot of times, I'll give you one, um, way to help kids track.
Or even for yourself, is they take a bet, like a brown pepper bag, and put a bunch of objects in.
And then you invite them to, you know, not eyes closed, but close a bag. Put your hand in.
and try and describe the object just with sensation language, right there, alright?
A lot of you may work with students and teaching them about the five senses. Just tell me what you smell.
Tell me what you see, tell me what you taste, using sensation language, not feeling language.
That's basically tracking. Alright, so that's… The main skill we do every single skill through tracking. So I'm going to teach you another skill now.
So we just did the hand rubbing. Now I'm going to teach you resourcing.
A favourite sport, an animal, one's family, a game, faith, a movie, a singer, a TV show, music, pray.
Remembering an act of generosity or kindness. And when the resource and its details are brought into consciousness.
And awareness with intention, it can result in an embodied sense of well-being.
So, once again, it is a person, a place.
It brings your body peace. joy and calm. So, thinking about it.
It could be something you smell. It could be something you see.
Something you touch, something you taste. It could be people, places, sound, anything that brings your body that sense of joy.
peace or calm. That's a resource. Now, a discussion of a research… we're actually going to bring up a resource for each of you. So, discussion of a resource can sometimes shift our… A lot of pleasant sensations, and into difficult memories.
Or uncomfortable body sensations. This can be a common occurrence.
acknowledge the shift. You might be asking someone about their resource, and you notice the tears.
Right, they might bring up a loved one. Someone who's died, an animal, anything that brings a lot of, um, either sweet tears or salty tears, you just notice it.
And gently invite awareness to more pleasant memories of the resource. So they might say.
It's really sad for me to talk about my cat, and so you might say, I invite you to.
Bring up a memory when… The memory of your cat brought you a pleasant memory.
So you're shifting that awareness. And invite the awareness to a part of the body that feels more comfortable or neutral.
If this is too hard, ask if it would be helpful to think of a different resource.
Because, as I say, some resources may not be able to bring them that sense of well-being.
So we are going to do an activity now.
you are going to bring up a resource, yours. So I'm going to take you through it.
Um, I invite you to write about it. And then we're going to put it in the chat. All right, so here we go.
So, take a moment to think about something that gives you a sense of calm.
joy, peace, or comfort. It can be a memory, a person, a place.
An animal, faith, and activity, or something about yourself that gives you strength or peace.
Describe three things about it. So, for example, use your senses. Is there a comforting sound or smell?
What we're doing is we're intensifying the resource now.
So think about those 3 things about it. And as you think about this resource, notice what is happening on the inside.
Other sensations pleasant? Unpleasant or neutral.
Are there any changes in your breathing? Your heart rate, muscle tension.
And stay with the sensations for at least 12 to 15 seconds.
If the sensations are pleasant or neutral. Thinking about that resource… Stay with those pleasant or neutral sensations.
And now I invite you. If you feel comfortable to share.
Tell us about the resource that came to mind, that you brought.
To your consciousness.
Music makes me calm, pleasant, and relaxes me so I can get through a stressful situation.
I use it a lot when planning my lessons.
Reading a… e-book… Visualizing the beach.
Friday night reading after the meal gives me energy through the week.
The sound of waves at the ocean. The bison exhibit at the Bronx Zoo.
Sounds of nature, birds chirping, animals walking. The beach. I love the smell and sound.
Smell of a peach rose. calm, relaxing music, meditation.
I often get stuck with visualization. Using resource intensification is a great idea. Using more than one sense. Yoga practice.
Coffee outside early morning. These are beautiful, thank you.
The beach creates a sense of calm, the water colours bring warmth, love, and peace to me, the beach with my family.
Chicken soup. These are beautiful, thank you. Going on vacation, sense of freedom, calmness, peace.
It's a lovely shower of resources. So there we go. So you learn tracking.
And resourcing. And conversational resourcing. I added this slide because.
I know you teachers, I know some of you are going to take this back to your classroom already, and so what you can do.
I use a lot with children. Especially when someone's really upset. I will conversationally resource them.
So I will say, perhaps they're talking about the animal or person, or whatever they went through that's really hard. So I might say, during other difficult times in your life.
What will help get you through? Is there anyone or anything providing support for you right now? So they might say, well, my mommy always does it. Tell me more about your mom.
Tell me more about it, or tell me about your grandma. Tell me about your aunt.
And so what you're doing is you're having that nervous system.
Ring up that resource. And then asking them, as you bring up your mom, what do you notice on the inside? Oh, I feel better.
Where do you feel better? In my tummy, or in my chest, okay.
So what you're doing is you're regulating that nervous system using the resource.
And these questions can begin a dialogue to remembering that although a person may be suffering, there are ways to manage their life with their resources and connections to people.
As people gently ask these strength-based questions, they often become more aware of the present moment.
And so it's bringing that ability, especially if they're bumped out of their zone.
Once you start resourcing and tracking, it can bring them back into their zone.
And then you can ask more questions about what's happening in the present moment.
Skill number 3, grounding. So, let's talk about grounding. For those of you who do yoga, I'm sure you know more about grounding.
Um, it's the practice of being present with the Earth, with gravity, right? It's a gravitational security is the foundation.
upon which we build our interpersonal relationships, that direct contact of the body.
was something that provides support in the present moment.
If our relationship to the Earth is not safe, then all other relationships do not develop optimally.
When we are grounded, we have a sense of self in relationship to present time and space.
And when we are grounded, we're not worried about the past or the future. We are here now.
in our bodies in the present moment. So, I really want you to, um, understand that grounding is not for everyone. Not everybody likes it.
And we want to give as much permission for people to ground whatever feels comfortable for their body.
I'm sure you've seen in the classroom the kids who are moving, moving, walking, walking, walking.
A lot of them are grounding. That's how they are regulating their nervous system.
Some people like to do it lying down, some in water, some sitting, standing against a wall.
any part of your body, a lot of them use fidgets. Fidgets are a way of grounding. Anything to bring that sense of presence to.
the moment now. And then just some tips. Chairs are often not made for children or adults of shorter stature.
So just to make sure you place books, backpack, a box under the feet so they can experience their feet making contact with the surface.
They can keep issues on or off, whichever's more comfortable, so they can get that real sense of groundedness.
And some children and adults who've experienced physical and emotional trauma may have difficulty with the skill of grounding.
And so it can increase sensations connected to traumatic memory once again.
choice, if a person senses, oh, this is not working for me, stop.
Move on to another skill. We don't want to ever make someone.
feel that they have to do it. So, I'm going to invite you. It's all very invitational. I'm going to take you through a branding experience.
And so I invite you, your screens may be off already, they are, so… Um, I invite you to find a comfortable position.
Sitting, lying down, standing, take your tongue. And you may open or close your eyes, or gaze softly down, whichever you prefer.
And notice how your body is making contact with the surface.
If you're sitting? Bring attention to your seat, making contact with the chair, the sofa.
Now notice your legs. And then your feet making contact with a solid surface.
Notice the sensations that are more pleasant to you or neutral within your body. Take your time.
Notice your breathing. Your heart rate, your muscle relaxation.
If you become aware of uncomfortable sensations. Bring your attention to places that feel neutral.
Or more comfortable. And as you bring your attention to neutral or comfortable sensations.
Notice any change.
Let's spend about 12 seconds. Notice and sensations that are pleasant or neutral.
Just scanning through your body. And noticing where they are.
And as we get ready to end. Slowly scan your body, and bring your… Attention to all sensations that are pleasant or neutral.
So, what did that feel like for your body? I invite you to put that in the chat.
Pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, I didn't like it. I lacked anything. Anything around.
What that felt like to practice the grounding.
Pleasant, relaxing, calming. Not good.
Calming, safe.
Okay, thank you. Release. Yeah, and as I said, don't be surprised if someone says, I can't do this, this is too uncomfortable. It's fine.
It's fine, it's what your body feels. That it knows is comfortable with.
Okay. And sometimes I will use it conversationally. So, especially with students who are dysregulated or upset.
Um, once we've got back into the okay zone, or as we're getting there.
I might say, as we're walking. Can you notice, as your feet are walking on the ground, what are you noticing?
In your body. Or can you notice how the chair's supporting your body? Find a comfortable position. What is most comfortable for you?
Well, I just want to lie here on the floor, okay?
As you're lying on the floor, what do you notice?
Um, what sensations are pleasant or neutral in your body as you're lying on the floor.
Right? Sometimes changing positions can help. If you want, as we talk, you can stand, sit in the chair, on the floor. So, just bringing that sense of groundedness.
to people who… it could be helpful to regulate them back into their okay zone.
And now I'm going to teach you help now.
So when a person becomes stuck in the high zone or low zone, help now to reset now can be helpful. These are quick.
These are very quick ones. I love them as an educator because I can use them quickly in the classroom.
Or for myself, right? The skill is a way to quickly help move the nervous system back in the direction of the resilience zone.
And we'll practice some of these and find out which of them are most helpful.
So, I'm sure some of you already use these, right?
Drink a glass of water, tea, or juice. I notice whenever I'm.
speaking in front of people, or teaching from the class, I always have water next to me, because if I'm feeling that I'm getting a little bit activated, just drinking the water.
completely relaxes me and calms me down, gets me back into that okay zone.
Listening to sounds inside or outside, noticing vibrations. Counting down from 10 or 20. I do this a lot with students. A lot of them can count.
And that will bring them back into their okay zone.
Going for a walk, noticing your feet making contact to the ground.
Looking around the room, naming 6 or more colors in your space.
Noticing the temperature inside or outside. touching something inside or outside.
This one, pushing hands or back against the wall. Kids love this, especially I was working with middle schoolers.
The breath, we do… you'll notice we don't teach the breath.
Because the breath does not work for everyone. And so a lot of times, I'd say, um.
Let's use some mindfulness, and they say, what do you want from me? I'm breathing, it's not working.
I said, okay, let's go push against the wall.
And these are some of the strongest muscles in the body, and there is a big release when we push against the wall, or when we push back against the wall.
And then notice your surroundings. So these, and you'll be getting the slides. These are ones that can work very quickly to bring that, okay, the person back into their okay zone.
And I put this in as well. Um, these are great ways.
to conversely resource someone. Can I get you a drink of water? Would it be helpful to go for a walk together?
Sometimes it helps to get the… And did you have anxiousness out by pushing against the wall with our hands, or pushing our back against the wall? Do you want to do it with me?
Sometimes it can help to look around the room and see what catches your attention. Is there a color you like, for example?
when I'm not feeling like my best self, I found it helpful to remember time in my life that was better than this moment, so resourcing.
If I'm really anxious, sometimes it helps me to count down from 20. Would you like to try it with me?
I found this app called iChill, and I listened to it when I'm down or too anxious.
You might want to think about using it when you're stressed or down. So, as you can see, these are quick ways.
to bring that, um, resiliency zone. Back, I mean, bringing the well-being back there.
I notice the time, and I want to make time for questions, so I'm not going to take you through all the Help Now skills, so I invite you to do those on your own.
Um, I just wanted to quit this for you.
Thinking about your own self-care plan. What are you doing in your life to widen your resiliency zone?
If you found this crim skills helpful, how could you weave the skills into your daily routine?
Which skills would be the most helpful? What specifically do you need to do differently to embark on a better self-care plan if you think yours needs improvement?
And write a statement of encouragement to yourself, strengthening your resolve to improve your self-care. So I put that in just for you to think about.
as you're thinking about what do I really do that helps me to widen my resilience zone?
And then, if you think about your community, you know, as you take this back into your school.
into your classroom. How could you use it in your community?
What strength does your community have that would support bringing Scrim skills to more people? What challenges would you expect? Where can you start and with whom?
The most ideal thing is to start with a colleague.
And to tell your colleague about your results, I'll end with this little sweet story, and then I'll take questions.
Um, I was working with a tech director, we were sitting at her desk, and the next minute she got this really.
Um, tough email from a parent. And she got activated. She said, can you believe this? And she turned, and I know she loves cats. Cats are her resource.
And as she's getting all activated about this email, I'm sitting next to her, I pulled up my phone.
And I brought up some cats, and I held up my phone to her as she turned around, and I went, look here, she went.
Look at those kitties! And she said. What is this voodoo you doing with me? It's not voodoo. And she goes, oh, I said, let's talk about the kitties. And we talked about the kitties, I could see her whole nervous system calm down and relaxed.
And then I said, do you want to talk about the email now?
And she said, did you just resource me? And I said, I sure did. I helped your nervous system get back into that state of well-being.
that okay zone, so now we can talk about the email and how we want to respond, right? So it gives you that pause.
So that's how you can help colleagues, how you can help yourself.
And take these skills into your life. So I'm going to… and then I did add how to connect with us. If you're interested in doing more training.
And you can do a 3-day training, how to become a Chrome Guide, more.
You can become a crum teacher, which is the 5-day training, and bring this into your life.
and other resources, I did list the book from Elaine, all about the trauma Resiliency model.
And I did the research, the evidence-based research. Alright, so thank you very much, and I'm going to take questions now, and then we'll talk about this.
So, let's take some questions.
Oh, I like this. When kids have given up and said they've tried.
I've had them come push against the wall, encourage them to try harder, then ask how far they move the wall.
We discuss how effort does not always result in action. Then we discuss efficiency.
And maybe a different effort will bring about the desired result. It helps them to reset their bodies and their attitudes.
I love that connection between the two. regulating my body, and at the same time.
Um, looking at efficiency and what I can and can't do in that moment.
Thank you. And Lauren, thank you for saying I couldn't relax at this time.
I appreciate that, because you're right, you tracked your body and you went.
It's not relaxing me, so that's really empowering yourself to know, is this working for me or not?
So, thank you. Mmm, beautiful. That's, like, the ultimate question, right?
What happens when too many students are dysregulated at once? How can you co-regulate and keep your own sanity?
I love it. So hopefully we're doing proactive things at the moment.
And so, um, a lot of times I found myself.
asking them to take a pause, alright? Let's take a pause.
Let's go figure out a way. So, obviously, we don't… you know, the Community Resiliency module doesn't teach the breath. We're not asking them to take a breath, because that's not.
What we're looking at may not work for their nervous system.
But a lot of times, I will teach them in advance, obviously, about their resources, or about grounding.
Um, and tracking. And what I might do for myself in that moment, I found myself, when I was getting dysregulated.
I needed to ground, and I would put my hand on the desk.
And they'd watch me, and I'd actually talk out loud.
And I notice I'm grounding, and I'd say, I feel the disc.
And it's firm, and it's soft. Oh, it's not so… it's firm, and it's cold on my touch.
And I'm calming my body right now. And I'm noticing that I'm thinking of the ocean, and I would talk it out aloud as I'm doing it, to show them what I'm doing to relax.
Sometimes it would help, because I… and I also go much softer.
And I stopped downloading the comm in myself for them to be mirrored.
It would work with some, some it wouldn't. Obviously, I may switch off the lights.
And I'll do all the other, um, classroom management techniques to help that energy happen.
I might even say, right now we're gonna take a break, and I'm going to put on some music that helps my body to reset.
And so I might use all the techniques that I do for me.
to mirror with them. But obviously, it's done in prep. I do some pre before I do it for myself.
And I might tell them, this is what I do when I regulate.
Um, I hope that helps. I work with toddlers as part of a team of three. Our personalities clash and escalate whenever there's disagreement. I'm having a hard time in our small space, and the inability.
To get my needs met in the moment, I practice meditation.
I have a wonderful support group outside of work, but it's become increasingly difficult.
To deal with my stress in the moment. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing that. Wow.
I can only imagine, and I'm glad you have the meditation.
But yet, I imagine some. some tools with each other would be helpful.
But that is… that's a challenge… challenging situation to deal with in the moment.
Um, let me look at this one, sorry. I always get distracted when I try grounding activities. Any suggestions?
You know, Esther, I have to be honest with you, and I'm gonna be really honest here, I don't always use grounding with people. I use it for people that say that they feel connected in grounding.
But it's not my first go-to. I first usually start with resourcing, because people have a lot of stories of resourcing, and images and experiences.
But I often do get distracted, too. What I will do.
Is I will just focus on what I'm touching.
touching helps, so I'm touching the chair. And so I can feel the chair, or I'm looking at something, so I can see it.
Um, to keep it very, very simple in that moment.
Because grounding can be really challenging, our mind goes somewhere else.
And just to notice what is present right now with my body is something that I do to try.
and be as present as I can. Is it possible to create a negative association between the resourcing?
The positive and negative situations that need to be navigated through, especially with special needs children.
who become dysregulated often? If so, how can that be avoided? It's a great question.
Um, it can. I mean, I think… I feel like that's a whole session just by itself.
Um, especially with special needs, it's a whole, um.
webinar we can do just on helping them navigate some of these skills.
But what we tend to do in this model.
is to help them. If there is a negative association around the resource.
We don't try and change it, the negative… the association. What we do is to try to couple it with a positive sensation. Like, for example, if someone may be.
say abusing a drug, alright, or they're using a drug.
That might give them a sense of relief, because it is a, um… A resource that can bring relief.
But what I might talk about is, when you are.
using that substance. Who are you with? What are you noticing where you are?
I'm with my friends. Okay, tell me about your friends. What is it about your friends that can help rega… that are a resource for you?
So what we want to do is not judge the resource of the negative association, but to try and find the moments when the resource.
is… does have positive associations with it, because we know this is not therapy, right? We're not talking about.
unpacking the resource and why it's positive or negative, it's more about helping that nervous system to regulate.
I don't know if that's really helping your question and answering it.
But really helping them to see. the positive aspects of the resource versus focusing on the negative ones.
Um, when I try these activities, I tend to feel more stressed, the pressure of expecting it to work.
Erica, I appreciate that. It's practice, right? Like any skill.
That's why I said, for me, grounding doesn't, or it's not my go-to, it doesn't always work. I have to be in that right frame of mind, or inner presence that.
I am starting to get more regulated. I think it's just knowing… that's why I say to children, to students especially, becoming the CEO of your wellness means really increasing your body literacy.
To know what works for you and doesn't. So it's lots and lots of practice.
trying it on. I imagine what I said tonight, a lot of you are doing anyway, I just gave you language.
I imagine that when you're driving and you're getting activated.
You're switching on the music, immediately your energy's shifting. I imagine that you are resourcing and tracking.
And grounding, or using some of those skills in your life that you.
you didn't even realize you were doing it anyway, it was helping you, so.
I… I invite you to… let your nervous system speak, bottom up, bottom up, instead of placing some judgment on, like, why is it not working? Go, oh!
Be curious. Oh, so this worked. This resourced me, this regulated me.
I didn't, I don't like it. So it's more about feeling comfortable with what does work for you and what doesn't.
Um, as opposed to, why is this not working? I need it to.
to shift me right away. It takes time. It takes time.
I hope that helps answer that question. Um, I'm trying to see if there's anything else. Deanna, did you have any other questions that you saw?
Hmm.
No, I think that's… I think that's it. And, um, afterwards, when we send out the recording, everyone will get the slides with all ways to be in touch with you.
Um, and to find out more. About all of this. Um, so I really, Inez, want to thank you for this.
very enlightening presentation. It's not often that these webinars speak so.
so clearly to us as educators, and often… and also give us tools to take back to our classrooms, so… I feel like it's just everything all together, which is really terrific.
Hmm.
And I also really want to thank everyone for your participation.
Hmm.
Um, and for your honesty, and for really being part of this.
Hmm.
community, it really is terrific. Um, so… I just want to encourage all of you to share your feedback. There will be a survey, hopefully, that pops up after the webinar. We do read each and every response.
And really appreciate you taking the time to fill it out.
Um, there are some learning lenses courses coming… the Learning Lenses course is coming up this summer.
And we have some upcoming webinars, if you follow Hidden Sparks on Instagram and Facebook.
You'll see some of those updates, and I'm sure you all get the emails, but if you haven't gotten them in the past.
Now that you've registered for this webinar, you will find out more every time we have something coming up.
email. Um, and Inez, do you have any… Final thoughts to share before we say goodnight to everyone?
Actually, one of the participants, Judith, said something really lovely. I want to highlight what she said here.
Sure.
She said, uh, we need to accept the neurology of ourselves. Isn't that beautiful? So, it is not mental weakness, it is the neurobiology of our bodies.
and learning to work with it. So thank you for letting me be part of your evening.
I wish you much ease through the rest of the semester.
And… and… and taking these wellness skills into your life, too.
Right.
And I, I love this comment from Esty, your calm energy was contagious.
To stay resilient.
And I believe we all felt that, so thank you so much.
Okay, I'm glad. Pleasure.
And have a wonderful evening, everyone. Take care, bye-bye.
Thank you