Last weekend I witnessed a summer camp for mostly grown ups with intense interest playing the guitar.

If it was yoga we would call it a week long intensive. Maybe a retreat. And we would weigh the cost/benefit of the continuing education and whether or not the credits are pre approved. Probably because that sounds better to adults. As adults why do we need to justify taking a week out of our real world to indulge ourselves in our passion?That thing we love to do that’s only for ourselves.

What if we could create our own summer camp to nourish and feed our soul? What if it lasted all summer? Or maybe all year? What would your summer camp look like?

Today is part 3 of our reclaim your health and resilience series …

You reap the benefits and consequences of everything you do. So that could be work, food, exercise, entertainment, relationships. That’s what this series is all about. Reclaiming your health and resilience is within your control. Everything we do can be a lever. Nutrition is a very powerful lever. Everything you consume becomes a part of you and that makes what you eat a very intimate relationship. But unlike relationships with other people you have complete control of this one.

Today is part 2 of our reclaim your health and resilience series …

Movement of all kinds is a powerful influencer on all aspects of our health including of course our mighty nervous system. The reason of course is because all movement is accepted by the nervous system as a kind of challenge. And practice rising to that challenge in relative safety like with purposeful movement or exercise builds resilience across all bio-psycho-social-spiritual connections.

Today kicks off a 4 part series on reclaiming your health. Movement, nutrition, sleep and connection, each of these are levers, access points and communication pathways into the nervous system and each of them can and will affect your nervous system whether you know it or not in both positive and negative ways. Today, I want to kick off our series by looking at sleep. I like to think of sleep as the canary in the coal mine. Often (not always) it’s the first thing we notice when we’re stressed. It’s an easy thing to gauge. How well do you sleep on a regular, consistent basis?

one of my goals on this podcast is to try to use these conversations to help normalize the experience of trauma so that people don't feel so alone in their experience. And so that when we encounter someone who has maybe a trauma story, or trauma history or maybe is struggling in that moment, we can hold space for them a little bit and maybe extend a little grace for what they are experiencing. And my guest today is a beautiful example of that and of how you he's using his own experience to help others. Jason Sapp is a retired Army sergeant and Iraq or combat veteran, and now a certified professional life coach and author, Jason guides people to more holistic alternative resources to wellness…

There is NO trick to unlocking resilience. No one skill or tool or practice will guarantee that you will never be overwhelmed by stress or trauma. We can’t trick our body’s survival system. And I don’t think we want to even though people try all the time.

There are 3 things that make something feel stressful or traumatic to your nervous system. And you can apply these to situations, relationships, memories, thoughts or injuries, pretty much any experience you’ve had long or short term, present, past or future. Isolation, uncertainty and lack of control. It could be any one of those things or any combination of them.

The good news is that knowing those three components of stress and trauma, we can customize our own behavior to build the kind of unshakeable resilience that so many people are looking for.