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Class OverviewIn this class, we’ll learn how to trigger the calm response in order to regain mental clarity and emotional balance by tapping into limbic calming techniques that work from the inside out. (Check out the Top 10 Big Ideas from the class below!) Your ProfessorLisa Grace Byrne, M.P.H. and Certified Holistic Health Counselor applies modern science with traditional wisdom to help women and mothers take practical, transformative action to live a life they love.How to Establish Inner Calm and Clarity for MomsFor many moms, most days the craziness starts before breakfast — juggling schedules, remembering assignments, managing relationships and finding your keys. When life becomes a chronic stretch of stressful triggers, it can feel nearly impossible to find the calm, clarity and vitality we need to meet the demands of our day. The trick is to learn tools to shift back into the calm response even when the world around you is swirling. In this class, we’ll learn how to trigger the calm response in order to regain mental clarity and emotional balance by tapping into limbic calming techniques that work from the inside out.  The Top 10 Big Ideas1You Can’t Stronghold Stress into Submission The stress and calm responses in your body and mind are intimately connected as if they are on a toggle switch. When one is on, the other must be off. Most of us tend to try to stronghold stress into submission and focus our efforts on turning OFF stress. But turning off stress is actually very hard to do and almost always causes you to experience more stress. A hugely more efficient way is to work on how to turn ON your calm response. In the end, it will accomplish the same thing: stress diminishes, but it does it in a way that is not only much easier but also more effective. That’s what we’ll focus on in this class. 2Know Your 2 Brains Let’s follow how we we’re wired from the inside to unpack the most effective calming tools available. The way our stress response systems- biochemically and neurologically- are designed is that we function almost on two separate types of “brains”. These are the limbic and cortical systems- the “caveman” and the “thinking” brain.The part of our brain which houses the master controls to our stress response is in the limbic part of our brain. But our number one stressor in life is our thoughts, which come directly from the cortical part of our brain. So the thoughts we generate have a huge impact on the triggers that are set off in the limbic parts of our brain.3You Can’t Think Yourself Into Calm Thoughts are excellent at turning on stress, but the problem is they are really bad at turning off stress. Yet, most of us try to “think” our way toward calming down all the time. How many times have you found yourself trying to tell yourself to calm down? And how many times does that actually work? Exactly. To manage the stressors of our lives we have to learn different tools that impact our internal calm response. In effect we have to learn how to target the limbic part of our brain directly and turn the calm on from there.4How to Turn Around on the Limbic Staircase When it comes to establishing a grounded, internal sense of calm and clarity -there are many wellness practices that are hugely helpful. For example, some of these practices are exercise, meditation, social connections, and nutrition. But they only have a positive impact when our internal biochemistry is shifted into the calm response…first. When our bodies experience chronic low-grade stress all day long- even these positive wellness efforts can be ineffective. It’s like trying to swim against the tide- a lot of effort and very little forward movement. Take for example nutrition. If your adrenals are releasing cortisol as a response to a triggered stress response all day long, that seriously impacts your body’s ability to digest and metabolize the full range of micro- nutrients available in the foods you are by eating. So even though you may be eating an excellent diet, it won’t have the full effect on your well-being because your body can’t synthesize and metabolize the nutrients in those healthy foods when it’s in a chronically stressed out state. It’s like running on a staircase trying to get to the top floor.If you are facing DOWN no matter how fast you run you are just getting to the basement faster.The first and most crucial step is to TURN yourself around so you are facing the right direction. This is where the limbic calming techniques come in.55 Tools of Instant Calm = Limbic Calming Strategies In my book, Replenish, I talk about 5 categories of tools that immediately and directly impact and target the limbic part of your brain. Which means they circumvent your thinking brain and they directly impact the part of your brain which controls your stress/ calm response. I’m going to go through these 5 categories and in this class share just one specific tool for each to give you a concrete example of how to use that category in your everyday life when you feel the rush of stress come over your body. 6Aromatics At the very top, inner part of your nose sits the olfactory nerve. This is the nerve that recognizes and processes your sense of smell. Your olfactory nerve is hardwired into the limbic part of your brain. All the other senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch) get processed first through your frontal cortex and your brain interprets that sense as potentially stress-inducing or not. But your sense of smell goes right to the limbic seat and from there can impact your stress/calm toggle switch immediately. 7Breath When you breath deeply into the lower lobes of your lungs you send a signal to your limbic brain to inhibit stress-producing hormones and trigger relaxation. The longest nerve in the body, the vagus nerve, begins in the limbic part of your brain and ends underneath your belly button region and explodes into millions of nerve endings. These nerve endings are engaged when you expand your diaphragm and when air reaches the lower parts of the lungs, in effect sending powerful signals to your brain to calm your system down. 8Nature Researchers Nature researchers are coming to understand how even small incremental exposures to nature act as a powerful stress reducer in our lives. An immediate limbic calming response happens when we step outdoors and into natural open-air spaces. Breathing fresh air, seeing the colors and textures of green plants, natural landscapes and trees, and viewing open skies all tap into the limbic calm response. Studies have even seen significant increases in social behavioral markers when students simply had views of outdoor, natural areas versus views of concrete high rises.9Energy Points We all have an energy body because every cell is in constant movement- and anything that moves produces waves. When our body is healthy it releases different wavelengths than when it is sick. Same for when we are in the stress hormonal pattern versus when we are in the calm hormonal pattern. Neurovascular points connect our energetic body with our nervous system and our circulatory systems. Knowing how to use these calming points allows us to shift our energy flow into healthy, vibrant patterns throughout the day. 10Nervous System The largest organ of your central nervous system is your skin. When you calm and soothe your skin, you are directly impacting your nervous system and nurturing the parasympathetic nervous system.The parasympathetic nervous system is our “rest and digest” state and when that is emphasized it shifts your limbic response into the calm mode. Learning simple ways to soothe and calm your skin directly impacts your stress resiliency.