Solidarity in Times of Crisis

I'm so delighted that we are joined by our wonderful chief clinical officer, Dana Udall as we come together to chat about solidarity in times of crisis. Hi Eve, thank you. When we think about what's happened recently with the reversal of Roe V. Wade, millions of folks are facing increased threats to bodily autonomy, and to reproductive rights. Today we're gonna be talking about some of the emotions that we may be feeling because of this reversal of rights. And I know that for many folks, myself included, it's very distressing to think that these rights are no longer accessible. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news and I felt a very physical reaction that I was really struggling to absorb what I was hearing, like this can't be true. There's really strong research that says that if we tell ourselves not to have a particular thought, not to feel a certain way or try to suppress it, it actually makes us feel it more strongly. I have a practice of kind of noticing and trying to observe the emotion as something that is outside of myself and then using the breath to calm down because then I feel like I have more choice so I can respond in a way where there's more intentionality and really feel like I'm more effective instead of being fused to that emotions. I think when it comes to difficult emotions like anger which is a very strong energy filled emotion, it can be this very overwhelming physical experience. And so my practice has really taught me to connect in with my body and to really understand where I'm feeling it. So just reminding yourself that you are being supported by the surface beneath you even like unclenching your hands. Again, sometimes I'll like shake out my arms and my hands as a way to actually express some of those emotions. Emotions as well as our physical sensations are sources of data for us. And that if we learn to read those and to pay attention then we can really respond differently. They may mean that something is going on with us. Something may be not quite right, or we're experiencing something that warrants our attention and our care and our compassion. May be particularly compassion for others who have a different belief system, or are different from us in some fundamental way. You know, we live in a world where of course there are going to be different opinions, and people will have different values and beliefs. 'Cause I think compassion can come with this sense of I have to be good to all people no matter what they've done. And that's just not actually the case. That's not very skillful compassion. And so I think there are ways we can be effective and offer compassion to others in a way that feels also protective to ourselves. There's something about that reducing our own level of anger or...