In this episode of Through a Therapist’s Eyes, we explore whether technology has become humanity’s biggest emotional challenge as we welcome special guest Lisa Danahy from Create Calm. Together, we look at how growing up digital is reshaping patience, empathy, and connection in ways no generation has ever experienced. We break down the tension between our slow, human emotional systems and the fast, stimulating world of screens, and examine how COVID revealed just how fragile our real-world connection skills have become. Lisa shares her SEL expertise to show how families and schools can better support kids in this new landscape, while we discuss rising emotional fatigue, digital overstimulation, and what genuine connection looks like in an algorithm-driven world. We close with practical tips for slowing down, setting healthier boundaries with technology, and rebuilding the emotional habits that help us feel grounded and truly connected.
Tune in to see if Technology is Humanity’s Greatest Emotional Challenge Through a Therapist’s Eyes.
Think about these three questions as you listen:
- How has technology changed your emotional rhythm — your patience, attention, and empathy?
- Are humans emotionally evolving fast enough to handle the speed of digital change?
- What does genuine human connection mean in a world mediated by screens and algorithms?
Links referenced during the show:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kJjUTNsoY6Z47dK1bXWrIluMR1NaMbck/view
From Through a Therapist’s Eyes: ReUnderstanding Your Emotions and Becoming Your Best Self — Chapter 1.23 | The body goes as the brain thinks.
From ReUnderstanding Your Marriage and Becoming Your Best as a Spouse — Chapter 13 | Connection is in the little things.
https://www.throughatherapistseyes.com/category/podcasts/mentalhealthtips
Intro Music by Reid Ferguson – https://reidtferguson.com/
@reidtferguson – https://www.instagram.com/reidtferguson/
https://www.facebook.com/reidtferguson
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3isWD3wykFcLXPUmBzpJxg
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Episode #335 Transcription
Chris (00:01) All right, hello and welcome to another episode of Through a Therapist's Eyes. This is November the 13th, 2025 and you are hearing episode 335. I love the little number overlay there. ⁓ Is technology humanity's greatest emotional challenge? This has become my personal favorite new topic because I just, think we need to take it so seriously. But we've got some business to take care of first. First of all, If you've been a longer time listener to show, we've got her back. Do it, Casey, what do you got? Do you need a drum roll or something? We've got the girl back. Casey Morgan is hanging out. ⁓ Kasie (00:41) Hello everyone, it's good to be back in the saddle again. Chris (00:46) Seriously, fantastic cool that you're back with us. If you haven't heard her before, it's been a year plus and some change, I guess, that she was hanging out with us at Metrolinux and a part of the panel and we talked about it a while ago. I don't know, I probably procrastinated and just got my head somewhere else that it shouldn't have been and, you know, didn't get you back quick enough, but I'm glad you're back now, girl. Kasie (01:07) Yeah, it's good to be here. Thanks for having me. Chris (01:10) And we also have a guest hanging out with us. We'll give her a little bit more of an introduction, but her name is Lisa Danae and you are hanging out. How are you, Ms. Lisa? Lisa Danahy (01:19) I'm doing great. It's awesome to be here. Chris (01:23) So this is episode 335. This is where you get insights from a panel of therapists in your home or time in your car, but not to delivery therapy services in any way. The three questions that we're going to get you thinking about today is how has technology changed your emotional rhythm, your patients, Casey, your patient, right? Kasie (01:41) No. Chris (01:43) Dang. How has it changed? How has it changed your emotional rhythm, your patience, attention, and empathy? Second, are humans emotionally evolving fast enough to handle the speed of digital change? Can I just say no? Can I just say no? All right, that's a little ⁓ seed planted. And thirdly, what does genuine human connection mean in a world mediated by screens and algorithms? Lisa Danahy (01:45) We'll work on that today, Casey. Chris (02:11) Join us to think about those things as we endeavor to figure this thing out together. Click subscribe, help us out with the bell pushing the subscribe button, all that kind of stuff. Five stars, John will get upset if you don't give us five stars. Contact it through a therapist's eyes.com. This is the YouTube live version. We do that on Thursdays about 6.15 to 6.30. We fire up. It's a great way to interact with us. We try to embed your comments and do stuff with that. Listen, I like to say Lisa. This is the human emotional experience which we endeavor to figure out together you down with that Lisa Danahy (02:43) I am down with that and if we can get any close to figuring any part of it out, that'll be wonderful. Chris (02:50) Awesome. Casey, just got to check in with you. that, does that like, I don't know, where's your head with hearing this familiar stuff? You ain't heard that for a while. Kasie (02:57) Yeah, I'll be honest with you. I use that tagline a lot. Like I trademark it to you, but I also say like also often in my practice, I'm like, we'll endeavor to figure this out together. Chris (03:10) That's, that is fantastic. You know what? quote you all the time as well. I'm like, you know, the best therapist is half therapist. That's, that's, I will, I, I endeavor to put that to you. Sorry, Elise. I told you we got a little reunion thing going on. Kasie (03:12) Yeah. That's right. That's right. My name is... My new thing is nothing changes. Lisa Danahy (03:25) And I might add that the best therapists never have the answer. Kasie (03:30) points. My new going tagline is nothing changes if nothing changes. Chris (03:30) True that. That is absolutely true. Well, got another one for you. You're going to love this Casey. Ready? I know that I'm extra, but that's better than being less than. Kasie (03:41) Okay, yeah. I like it. I like it. Yeah. Chris (03:48) That's my new life motto. Right? Own it, wear it, but at least I'm not that. I don't know. Extra, inextraordinary. Also, business we gotta do, we have not one, but two new YouTube subscribers. A little clap for them. Kasie (03:54) Okay, you put the extra and extraordinary. Chris (04:07) We got the low graph welcome to the through a therapist eyes group and Mark Weisenfelder welcome as well. get new YouTube subscribers up until a thousand. We're looking for a thousand telefriends seriously and truly. We need you to jam with us. We need you to get somebody else to join and we love giving a highlight when they do. Shall we figure out who this Lisa lady is? Casey. Kasie (04:27) Yeah, I want to know more. Chris (04:29) Alright, let me see how I can get this right. Miss Donna. Hey, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. You got a lot of letters this lady. She is a C dash I A Y T also a T A C E P and also has an MS. I think that means she's pretty smart case. Kasie (04:46) think we're only missing three letters from the formal alphabet. No, I don't know, but there's a lot there. There's a lot there. Chris (04:51) You want to say which one of those are? Okay. Okay. Good. She's a powerful educator and entrepreneur. Her nonprofit create calm has facilitated cultural shifts and deep healing for thousands of students, teachers and families in hundreds of schools and community organizations across the country. Really been banging at that since 2016. ⁓ some of those letters probably mean something along these lines and MS in yoga therapy. How cool is that? All right. Kasie (05:19) Woof woof. Chris (05:20) A BA in psychology. Told you you're one of us shrinks people. And then over 30 years as a school administrator and SEL curriculum developer. Do you know what SEL stands for, Casey? Kasie (05:33) Yeah, social and emotional learning. No, I did not. You forgot already. I was an educator for six years in a positive behavioral support classroom before I became a therapist. So. Chris (05:35) you cheated. You looked at the notes, didn't you? I have two of them Neil. I have two of them. She is also a Hay House feature author many podcasts she's been on and many presentations to groups interested in emotional growth both as a full-day facilitator I believe in an adjunct add-on to things you've done a lot ma'am how'd I do? Lisa Danahy (06:01) You did fabulous. Thank you for that great intro. Chris (06:05) Kind of weird being here all these things that you've done and stuff. I hate it when people do that to me. It's just like, wow, what? Lisa Danahy (06:11) Yeah, yeah, it puts a little bit of a pressure on, you know, you get a little bit of a, uh-oh, now they're gonna expect something from me. Kasie (06:21) Yeah, you can Chris (06:21) right indeed Kasie (06:22) just be like me and keep your list short and then the expectations are a lot lower. So that's good. ⁓ Lisa Danahy (06:28) Good to know for next time. Chris (06:30) So, listen, let me, let me set this up. think that Neila, you and I talked about this instead of doing a rabbit hole ⁓ when we were doing a month in review, because I have really gotten in touch with like, look, this is a really super important show today. And, you know, because I just, I just really have begun to get in touch with the idea that, you know, we are struggling not in this country. but literally around the world. feel like we get kind of egocentric in our American minds. And so this isn't our political problems in silos that we get into or us against them, tribalism and all the stuff you hear people talking about. It also isn't just the issue of social media around the world. I've thought of this in a broader stroke and really, I mean, I don't mean to be too bombastic with the title technology. humanity's greatest emotional challenge. I, but I did that on purpose because I want people to really begin to understand at least because I don't think we're even having dialogue about the massive impact on our mental health, our emotional functioning, our human connection, our emotional realities. We don't even know that they're being affected as much as they are. And then we can't even do anything about it. So we're going to pepper in all of the things about like ideas that we have about how to manage this and stuff. But I personally have an agenda to really begin getting people to understand this is a big deal. We have never in the history of humanity dealt with the rapid types of changes that we are experiencing. And it hadn't even started to get bad yet when AI comes online. So I see Lisa's head shaking and Casey I don't know your guy. I hope I didn't blow your head apart. That's the way want to set this up What do you two ladies think about that? How do you experience this this topic? Lisa Danahy (08:37) Well, I'll jump in and say that I think this is incredibly relevant and significant. And I think having these kinds of hard conversations around what everyone's just trying to go with the flow with is really important. And I think that what I'm hoping we can talk about tonight is how many ways our lifestyles and our case today in regards to technology are really impacting our well-being and in ways that we don't know. And then, you know, what's physiologically happening to our bodies and our minds too. Chris (09:20) very physiological. ⁓ Kasie (09:22) Yeah, I I definitely agree. I think that the instant gratification that people look for from the internet makes us displace a lot of our... trust in things that are unfounded or not real or even drive some of the things you'll probably talk about today from a comparison perspective. There's just a lot out there and it's so easily accessible that given it to a person that's not of good understanding of themselves to begin with can be really dangerous. Conversely, there are some positives to the impact that technology has had on mental health and And I think and hope that we get there as well throughout our conversation. Chris (10:10) Yeah Lisa Danahy (10:10) I would absolutely agree with you. Chris (10:13) Yeah, I think so. I, there's definitely always positives and I have, I have faith in humanity. maybe we'll get a little bit to the different generations because I think the, you know, ⁓ the boomers have just gotten into the game and we have nothing but romance fraud and complete confusion about things going on. And Jen X is, ⁓ just, you know, gotten into this and gotten into a frenzy talking to all of our classmates we haven't talked to in 20 years from our hometown. You know, across the country and, and, and the Gen Xers kind of got the millennials together and I don't know where we screwed them up. had a client tell me, Chris, you guys gave us those trophies. And I felt so convicted Lisa, because I literally was on the stage giving them the trophies. It was me. I was doing what I was told. And honestly, Gen Z I feel like is actually the first generation in all of humanity ever in the history of humanity that has had to date their whole life. in this space and they're starting to adjust if you notice if you pay attention they're actually starting to say hey keeping a snapchat streak is like kids games i don't want to do that anymore right they put their phones down they're like my my son who's 24 years old literally said i want to be a family man i was like what shocking right so i do have a lot of hope go ahead yeah what'd say Kasie (11:39) pretty shocked. No, I'm just pretty shocked that your son said that. Chris (11:47) I know not the one you like the other one the older one. You like him Nice Thank you, right, right So let's get in a little bit to like growing up and or finding ourselves in this space, you know, I think No generation has really experienced this before the closest thing I think we came to was when we went from horse and buggies to to to riding an automobile Kasie (11:51) him to. Lisa Danahy (11:54) I'm glad you clarified that. Chris (12:16) And that changed industries. That was a massive, massive differences. but that was over like how many years, know, that really got into, ⁓ incorporating the normalcy of how many everyone basically has an automobile. And, and so that rapid pace of change was so adjustable. We were able to cope aesthetically manage ourselves. And if you look at technology timelines, they've just exploded. really briefly to explain like if you get a million users, you know, how quickly does it take to do that? Well, it took however many years just making up numbers, 50 years, a hundred years to get a million users of automobiles probably, right? know, microwaves came out. It took like five years, 10 years to get, you know, a million people to buy a microwave. You open up a new app, Casey, they're jamming in there in a day, a million users, right? Kasie (13:14) Yeah, mean, convenience and access. mean, that's really the name of a lot of this, right? Like that's what human beings, I think, have gone to in general. I mean, if you really think about it, ⁓ even down to the food that we consume, what is convenient is more likely to happen for us than what is sometimes even accessible to us. So we just drive by, now we can order it on DoorDash. You know, it is coming directly to us. So convenience and access, I think, has a lot to do with that. Chris (13:44) Don't have to wait. Yeah. Kasie (13:46) Right. Lisa Danahy (13:47) Well, and I think Chris, actually your comments about the technology and the industrial kind of revolution that we experienced with vehicles and all of these things that made life simpler, they still were primarily about ⁓ making things simpler for us physically, right? So that we can get around more, we could go to more places we could connect. But there wasn't, as far as I can tell, as enormous an impact on brain development and nervous system regulation as this technology trend has had. And that's what I think is where we're feeling this like, know, and how are we going to navigate? Chris (14:35) Yeah, that's powerful. Let's let's just park out here for just a second. Because I've been thinking a lot about this just in my downtime at home, honestly. I know I'm weird. I go home and I think about this because it's just, oh, it just seems so much. And I got to think in me. We're in an epidemic of loneliness. Anxieties are exploding off the charts. Suicide rates have been high and maybe higher. You know, the depression and despair, the loneliness and hopelessness. Like, what is it to be inundated with information and you guys are both work with kids Casey and Lisa a lot so that the physiological is focused on the physiological for just a minute you got all these choices all these information all of these contacts all of this stuff flooding you and that raises cortisol right that raises adrenaline right that physiologically changes your body and that is every single day all day long Have we studied? we even had a chance to take a step back and do a nice longitudinal study on how much cortisol is being produced in people's bodies? Right? I got questions. Lisa Danahy (15:45) I think you're absolutely right. think that what we see now is chronic stress mode, chronic cortisol rates are elevated. And also we haven't even touched on the dopamine impact, the dopamine driven reward loops that come into existence around this connection to technology. ⁓ So I think that we've got a couple of things. I think we've got this chemical shifting that we're looking at, but also there's a ⁓ physical, a lack of physical movement. And so we know that our bodies are wired to move and ⁓ we know that our brain health and our nervous system functioning is dependent on movement. So we're becoming more stationary and at the same time we're putting our focus into something that creates this dopamine reward loop and that creates this excess cortisol. So we're in an eternal stress mode and without the physical movement, we aren't able to move ourselves in and out of stress response because we know that the emotional and physical signs of stress are the same. Whether you are anxious and your heart is racing and you're all sweaty and your muscles are tense, or you are running out in the backyard and your heart is racing and you're sweaty and your muscles are intense, it's a stress response. The difference is in the emotional stress response, we don't have a clear marker of when it's ending. And with the physical stress, we do. So, this notion of being in this technology space where we are stationary, we're not moving, we're not getting signs that the stress is over. In fact, we're tapping into parts of our brain that say, this little dopamine hit is feeling really good. Let's stay here. This is better than running. But the reality is we're not wired that. Chris (17:52) Hmm. You know what's interesting? I'm sitting here listening to you, Lisa, and I'm thinking, you know, a really good example of this that we have actually experienced as human beings is frankly, police officers. You're making me think of our law enforcement, men and women, right? Which I happen to believe have it the worst of all first responders and worse than military personnel. And here's why. It never turns off. Any police officer will tell you when they're on off duty, they're looking to the door. always aware of their surroundings there never really de escalated there never really in the state of calm even when they're not working in a course every shift any shift any moment of any shift something happen so what you're saying is exactly that now we all can't turn off like that and that's kind of devastating. Kasie (18:43) Yeah, what I've really... Oh, go ahead. Lisa Danahy (18:43) Yeah, you know. on, Go on. Kasie (18:47) No, I was just saying like what I've noticed as well is in addition to that, I think we have stopped learning how to interact with our stress because we are trying to divert the attention away from what feels uncomfortable. So instead of allowing our nervous system to naturally repair through interacting and sitting with stress and being able to bring our natural anxiety down from a 10 to a 7, 7 to a 5, 5 to what's manageable. we divert our attention and go for those dopamine hits to be able to divert ourselves from what feels uncomfortable. And so we're not even allowing the natural processes of our body to even take shape in any kind of formulary way to be able to deal with life in general. Chris (19:33) Yeah. Lisa Danahy (19:34) Yeah, Casey, I wanted to mention in my book, I talk about hypervigilance and this state of hypervigilance is this chronic stress mode that not being able to shut off, that not being able to tap into it to know to shut it off. And what is interesting is if you've come across any research by Stephen Porges, Stephen Porges has developed something known as the Polyvagal theory. And the notion is that our nervous system processes information. And when our nervous system is in a hypervigilant stress mode, it taxes the system and we are less capable of accurately assessing danger, risk, and our safety. So when someone is hypervigilant, their nervous system is constantly in that sympathetic heightened state. And when we're doing that, we're in a regular ⁓ state of fight, flight, freezer, fawn. And from that place, we literally can't accurately interpret what's in front of us. You could smile at me, but because I'm hyper vigilant, I'm gonna see it as a threat, which goes back to your police officer comment. know, this police officer is always on. And so his kid comes running up screaming and gets in his face and that police officer Exactly and sees it as a threat even if it's just temporarily and goes away. Okay, I got I got myself back but but you're right I mean that's that's a real challenge because imagine now that we're all in this hyped up state we're getting our dopamine fix from a screen not real movement and then we're in this chronic stress where we're not accurately assessing our our engagement, our socialization with other people. Chris (21:35) We have no idea what's going on. Maybe that's the thing that's driving me nuts because this is all of us all around the world all the time, y'all. that's why I created this title in the way that I did. Technology, humanity's greatest emotional challenge. Like that sounds kind of crazy, but we don't even know that's going on all the time. All right, Casey, you got to have done that down for me. She said porges, she said polyvagal stuff, she said the vagus nerve stuff. Can you make that sound normal to me? Kasie (22:03) Yeah, so think about how a kettle sits on a stove, right? So when you're going to boil some water, you know, at 211 degrees, it's just really hot water, but one degree of difference makes it boiling, right? So our nervous system is in its state as it is. And then once it gets activated or acted on upon, you know, from whatever stress, it could be. a big stress or a little stress depending on where you're at within your place of resiliency at that time. And when it gets activated, it boils over. And so what you're going to see is the pour out from that to stick with the analogy of either this hypervigilant anxiety written state or for some people they might even bump low and go into an isolated depressive state. Chris (22:54) know what's funny to me? Okay, first of all, if you're a young therapist listening to the show, I want to look something up real quick. Polyvagal theory is what we just kicked in to talk about. I knew Casey would do that Lisa she she makes things so like amazingly clear with the way she goes about some descriptions and stuff. I'm from West Virginia, anything simple dumb down for me, make it make it make it where I can understand it. And but seriously, Kasie (23:19) Alligators are honoree because they don't have all them teeth and no toothbrush, Chris. Chris (23:24) Man you can't go there man. What are you doing to me man? What are you doing to me? Alright, so listen though young therapist polyvagal theory is is something that is really interesting and it'll blow your head apart when you kind of get into it because it's just it's so much when you start talking about the parasympathetic system and the vagus nerve and you know all these it's it's wild but it's really really cool, but here's my new thought and this is what I want to look up it when did it come out, you know when when when portrait was starting to figure this stuff out with the systems because Something occurred to me. Lisa Danahy (23:55) think he was doing it in the late 90s. I might, yeah. Chris (23:58) Yeah. Not long, right? Let me see. Lisa Danahy (24:02) No, there was lots of work on the stress response generally, but he, as far as I've been able to see in my research, he's the one who really started to tie it to social engagement. Chris (24:19) Yeah. And what's interesting about that is, ⁓ it was 94 is a neuroscience Dr. Steven Porges. And wow. You know, I wonder how old he was when he was doing that. I'm just putting pieces together and thinking big picture. mean, if you zoom out 30,000 feet, I've never thought about this before, but you know, he started to dial into what I think we haven't really even begun to fully conceptualize, which is what we're talking about. Kasie (24:37) Mm-hmm. Chris (24:49) And that guy may have kind of, mean, yeah, we've got some scans, we got some brain technology and we can kind of do some things. I'm sure that triggers smart people's brains to say like, okay, what are these nervous systems doing and learn about neurology? But dude, we haven't even figured out anything about neurology yet, in my opinion. There's so much to learn. Lisa Danahy (25:06) I agree, but I might say that actually thousands and thousands of years ago when people were engaging in these holistic practices of yoga and meditation and things like that, they were tuned in, right? Chris (25:18) Nice plug. Nice. Say a little more about that because I think, you know, I have a friend that has said to me, I think it's an interesting, true statement, you know, ⁓ not moving is the new smoking. Have you heard that Casey? Yeah. Yeah. So go a little further with that, Lisa. Kasie (25:34) Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Lisa Danahy (25:39) So I will definitely share my feelings on that. I wanted to mention another book that I think is phenomenal. If you get a chance, look up John Ratty, R-A-T-E-Y. He wrote a book called Spark. And he references a lot of research around this notion of how movement fuels the brain. ⁓ And so that is... ⁓ I think that his work and Stephen Korg's work is a lot of what I've pulled to kind of justify the work that I do in mind-body practices. And yeah. Chris (26:19) Let me do this real quick. Neil, that's one for you. Can you grab that and make sure that we have it on our show notes, Neil? What was that again? Lisa Danahy (26:26) John Ratty, R-A-T-E-Y, and the book is called Spark. Chris (26:32) We'll get that popped. So go ahead with what you're saying. Lisa Danahy (26:35) Yeah, absolutely. But so I, just to give you a little background ⁓ for about most of my life, I've engaged in some sort of yoga practices and it started because I was stressed out in the job and had kids and life. And ⁓ I thought maybe that would be the way I could survive it all. ⁓ But I also in the very ⁓ critical mind, Chris (26:56) Hehe, deep. Lisa Danahy (27:03) analytical person, so I needed to know the science. So I have spent a lot of time finding science that is slowly starting to catch up to these practices that are thousands of years old so that I can understand the why. But basically what's happening is there are these movements and practices with breath and stillness that help to access the nervous system in a way that connects the mind and body to empower us to intuitively move and intuitively find stillness to naturally regulate the nervous system, to access the brain. Yeah. Chris (27:45) Can I make a quick point? What you were describing is exactly what we do the opposite of every single day. Kasie (27:53) Yeah. Lisa Danahy (27:55) Yes, that's my point. Chris (27:58) Yeah, I know I'm with you and and and I don't even think we realize it because you know what I got to get across town to pick up my kid they got a dance class and also there's about ten choices along the way of what store I want to stop at or what thing I want to get and my cell phone is ringing me and buzzing me because Casey keeps on texting me like how do we do what you just said to do that's Kasie (28:14) Correct. Lisa Danahy (28:19) Well, first of all, I think we have to find a way to build it into our routines, to reframe what we do. So in an ideal world, would I love to have two hours a day to go to my yoga mat and go sit out under the trees and have all of this? Absolutely. So what I decided... Chris (28:42) Sounds impossible! Lisa Danahy (28:47) when I really was practicing this very, very consistently about 30 years ago, I decided I needed to build it into my daily routine. I wasn't gonna go to my yoga mat to find this sort of balance. I needed to find it in the chaos. I needed to find it in the daily shuffle. So what I did when I was running an early childhood program, I was running a preschool for infants to six-year-olds. And I started to notice that ⁓ there were these, you know, these spiking periods of energy and imbalance and I started to think, well, maybe I can build this stuff into what I'm doing here at the school. And I can then access these tools a little more regularly and change the culture of the school so that people have these tools readily. And so it's Chris (29:37) And thus we have SEL curriculi. Okay. Lisa Danahy (29:40) Yes, that's exactly Kasie (29:40) Yeah. Lisa Danahy (29:43) right. So back in the 90s, I brought in a friend of mine who's a yoga teacher and I took my background in ⁓ yoga and psychology and we put together an SEL curriculum so that basically in the non-stress times, and this is super important, in the non-crisis times, we were regularly practicing movement and breathing to access and regulate the nervous system so that when the stress times came, we were ready to pull the tools. So, right? Chris (30:20) Yeah. But no, Lisa, we have protocols. We have things that we have to do to kids. We have to make them sit in a chair for five hours and ban them from gym class. No physical education anymore. No outdoor recreation. No. All right. I'm sorry. I just, I get so frustrated. Lisa Danahy (30:36) You're right. So you know what I did? I went to a school system in Virginia and I've been working with them for 10 years and we've been teaching their kindergarten teachers. We've been giving a certain pilot group of kindergarten teachers these tools and at first every new teacher says I don't have room for one more thing in my day. Don't try to tell me to do something else. So what we've done is we built it into the pacing guides. So for example, a kindergartner will come into their classroom to do a math assignment. Before they sit at their table, they will do a movement and breath exercise. Then they sit down, they do some math. Halfway through, we do movement. We do a cross body movement to help keep the left and right hemispheres of the brain aligned and return to focus. Finish the math project and then at the end, we do a wrap up breathing exercise. So we're actually building it into the layers of the curriculum so that it becomes such a part of the routine that we don't even recognize that we're practicing this regulation all the time. And what we're finding is when we teach the children this outside of their crisis moments, they actually will ask for it when they're struggling or they'll share it. You hear in these classrooms, hey, I think you should take a balloon breath. You seem really upset. or you'll see somebody just all of a sudden they reach their arms up, big breath in, they bring their hands down and go, huh. And they regulate themselves and. Right? ⁓ Chris (32:10) I know what that is. I do the thing with the, you have to look on YouTube to see what we just did. Hey, I want to do something real quick though, but first let's take a break. Sometimes we take a break to do an advertisement or whatever and this kind of thing, but I want to take a best break to make sure that these people that are listening to the show around the world can find them some Lisa Donahue at create calm. So Lisa Danahy (32:17) There you go! Chris (32:37) Don't be bashful i know you don't like the sort of thing probably but what book did you mention that you have written how can they get it and what is create calm and how do they get to it. Lisa Danahy (32:47) Thank you for asking and I'd love for folks to come find me. ⁓ Create Calm dot org. Create Calm is a nonprofit that brings behavioral health, social emotional learning curricula into schools, into communities. ⁓ We have a real passion for working with kids who are developing differently and special populations. We want to get these tools out there that kids ⁓ who may not have access to it. So that's really important. And because I have a background in education and a lot of my work is in a therapeutic setting with children and also in the schools, I put together this book, Creating Calm in Your Classroom, that is a social-emotional learning curriculum for early childhood, because I felt that, first of all, it was to pay homage to my roots of 20 years of running an early childhood program. But also, I feel it's really important to do this early, early, early. You know, I led a training the other day for ⁓ some kindergarten teachers, new kindergarten teachers, and I said, do you realize that the students in your classroom are forming their coping skills for adulthood with you? And the teachers all froze. And I said, you know, let's teach them these strategies to be able to manage themselves. and to be able to develop healthy coping skills that they can carry into their adulthood. So they can find that book on Amazon. They can find it at Balboa Press. Chris (34:19) Okay, so what I wanna do is... I apologize for that maleness. ⁓ Kasie (34:29) ⁓ god. Rocky IV is in my top five favorite movies though, Rocky IV. Lisa Danahy (34:41) I started getting teary when you mentioned it. Makes me cry. Kasie (34:43) Yeah. Chris (34:46) So let's switch gears a little bit with this too and look at like, okay, so we're adults, like I'm 52 years old. And part of what we're maintaining is, you I like this phrase that the emotional bandwidth that human beings have hasn't increased. It hasn't changed. Our bandwidth is still pretty much the same as human beings, but the stimulus intensity is just exploded. And that mismatch really gets us all dysregulated. And so, you know, there are so many little Basic realities and then I want you both to kind of comment on how we can deal with this. Like, you know, when you, when you, when you back in the day got ticked off with road rage or whatever, I remember a friend, she would take, she would stick up her middle fingers. tell you that's what she would do in the South here. call it gigging, right? But she would take her hands and she would put it underneath the dashboard and she just, you know, fire it out there, you know, to the world. But we literally get behind the screen. and a keyboard and shoot this stuff out to everyone who would ever come across it. Like we are literally saying something to my ex-wife about her family member who was actually in a bad situation legally and people were saying crap directly to her. That's crazy talk. Also, it's like we have technology changing all around us where we don't even know that the changes are social media everyone talks about, but You I was just in a session yesterday and, you know, I'll try it now even and see if it works. I'm going to fake cough. Have you noticed this about your virtual sessions, Casey? Did you guys even hear that? Okay, you did? Well, I got a good microphone. When I did it in session, my computer microphone blocks that out. And so my client sneezed. I wasn't sure. I literally didn't even say what. Kasie (36:27) Yes. Bless you. Lisa Danahy (36:41) last week. Chris (36:42) Bless you. It's a simple human experience that we are being lost from. Like, it's wild. So, thirdly, I'll say, ⁓ unfortunately or fortunately, there's some good things and bad things. We do these virtual therapy sessions now. And I had three in a row. And I realized, because I sat in my chair for three hours straight. One time, I'll never do it again. Never will I do it again. Because how did I feel at the end of those three hours sitting in this chair, looking at that screen and not even taking the break to go to the lobby and get my next person and shake a hand? That interaction is massively different in my experience as a therapist. So I think these are just like, Lisa, you were talking about curriculum and kids, and I'm thinking about, you know, John and Sally and Dave and and Mary sitting in their computer desks, you know, with CEOs watching them and their productivity. Okay, I'll start rambling because I can get going. Kasie (37:47) Yeah. Lisa Danahy (37:47) I think we have to build movement into our screen time. Casey, what do you think? Kasie (37:58) Yeah, so I mean, what I was going to say, Chris, too, is, you know, I've been working with the zone of resiliency for a long period of time. And a lot of this is based on how resilient people can be or not be based on the experiences that they've given themselves. And so people with a more narrow resiliency zone get bumped out of that zone quite often and regularly. And the problem that I noticed is that we're not even aware of the sensations or the notes that our body is giving us, right? We're not even aware because of what we're doing. So the first part of this is learning Chris (38:31) Hey! Kasie (38:33) how to track within yourself to be able to be aware of when you're kind of leaving the station, right? Like your brain after one session probably needed a break before you went into the next virtual session. But we think like, we're going to make them wait. And so Chris (38:47) over here Kasie (38:50) What I have found in my practice that I think is one of the biggest things that people do is they think about movement or wellness or something as being done, you know, really early first thing in the morning, right? Like at 4.45, I need to get up and go to the gym and do all that stuff before I go to work. Or they think about like, ⁓ when I get off of work, I've got to go home and do my homework out and then, you know, cook dinner and get the kids and all that stuff to the point to where those times are no longer really that beneficial because we're doing it. before and after something that's really stressful when really it's much more effective if throughout the workday you got up from your desk to even use Lisa's examples. Like you can hit one, two, three yoga poses in between sessions to be able to bring balance to the mind and body and reset the nervous system prior to going into the next session. So I think it's more about, go ahead, sorry. Lisa Danahy (39:41) or Chris (39:44) Or... Lisa Danahy (39:45) No, I was gonna say, or invite your clients to do it with you, but go on. Kasie (39:48) Yeah, absolutely, right? Like this is the stuff that... To me, I think if more professionals started practicing what we actually preach to people, we would start kind of even a revolution, right? How many therapists are out there? How many mental health professionals are there? How many opportunities do we have to implement this stuff from the top down in corporations to be able to say, hey, like we're gonna incorporate, know, balancing the brain through different various exercises throughout the day and encourage our employees to do that. So I 100 % agree with what you and Lisa are saying here that there has to be a cognizant way to get the word out about simplistic tools that can be done throughout a workday to be able to reset people to help expand their zone of resiliency so that they're not driving down the road gigging people or getting home and becoming a keyboard warrior. Lisa Danahy (40:50) Yeah, Casey, I wanted to mention that's exactly what inspired my book because in my book, I take us away from labeling how we feel and labeling what's happening because I think we are spending way too much time trying to come up with a story around it all. And so I am ⁓ a big believer that we have this energy. And you talked about if we can tune into where we are and what we need, then we can better manage it. I look at it in terms of energy. And one of the definitions of emotion is energy in motion, right? And so emotions change and evolve. So if I can tap into my energy, then I can get a sense of what I need. And as Chris said a little while ago, the energy might be high, the energy might be low. And I think you even mentioned, you may have too much or not enough, but if you can start to play with the energy in your body, in your experience, then you can start to do these things, these movements, these breath exercises, these meditations that are going to help you rebalance your energy very quickly and very simply. I agree with you. I remember I had a client once who said, I need to get to my yoga mat. I'm really stressed. And I said, you need to live like you're on your yoga mat. Right? Because you can't turn it on and off. You can't say, I'm going to go for a run and then come home and beat your kids up emotionally because you still have stress. You can't compartmentalize like that. So let's not. So in my book, I talk about these single little things you can do. If your energy is too high, Kasie (42:20) Mm-hmm. Chris (42:20) Nice counter Lisa Danahy (42:44) Go to this page and find the high energy balancer. If your energy is too low, meet the low energy and then try to bring it up. Because wherever you're out of sync, there's not a good or bad or right or wrong. It's just you go, you know what? I've got this really unsettled energy. I want to work with it and bring it in. Or maybe you were feeling disconnected because you had been sitting for three hours at your computer and you think, Okay, what's my energy? I need to move. What kind of movement? I want to increase my energy gradually, or I want to reconnect the left and right hemispheres of my brain and body. And the more we practice these little tiny snippets, the more we can piece them together and access them throughout the day. Chris (43:31) Here's the thing, I am not making a joke. I am being serious when I say, oh Lisa, that is really awesome stuff, you know, I totally get that. I'm vibing with it, I feel it. But I don't have to worry about it because you know what they're gonna do is they're gonna create nanobots, they're gonna be in my bloodstream, they're gonna totally take advantage of understanding when my energy's level's low because they can sense my density but dopamine levels and then I'm gonna get a pop-up suggestion that says, hey Chris, you need to do 10 push-ups or hey Chris, you need to do 10 breathings. Hey, do the balloon thing with the reading thing that you got. You know, honestly, we have no idea how fast this stuff is going to be changing on us and moving at us. Thus again, kind of the concern with how does humanity embed this in crazy sounding. Lisa Danahy (44:19) Not at all. And might I say that we have these little things called neurons and we have all sorts of, we have, and we have baroreceptors and we have lots of parts of our body that act like those little nano robots and we can access them now. We don't have to wait for somebody to fill our bloodstream with some sort of little robots. We can access it and do it ourselves right now. Chris (44:25) he mirror neurons too. I mean, I am going to say again, I am not making a joke with that. Like I follow stuff with Elon Musk and Neuralink and know, chips going in here and there and it's terrifying to people. look like guys, like part of, need to be a leader in this. That's why this conversation to me is so valuable, so important and is going to be replicated on through a therapist size platform. I could say at least. Because there's there's so much happening so fast to incorporate all of these things in and Lisa you're right like we used to do this in Japan in the far east or whatever in 1925 AD not BC I mean you know. Wild. Casey, where's your brain? I'm just curious. Kasie (45:32) Yeah, I know, mean, I was a little sidetracked with your NanoBot comment, but I'm back now. ⁓ Chris (45:38) ⁓ I bet you're back now. Good, good, Kasie (45:44) went on a tangent for a second in my brain's eye. It was like, you know, lots of my bloodstream, they put everything else in your body, you know, like, but, ⁓ but I think even, even that comment aside, I think that you're absolutely right. You know, when I think about, ⁓ a lot of people that I see often, I think about the, the lack of motivation towards movement, the lack of motivation. ⁓ and that's what comes to mind when I think about all these things, because where did the motivation go? Chris (45:47) Uh-huh. WHY NOT?! Kasie (46:14) Right? Like we went from generations of being motivated and acclimated to really kind of run after the things that we want. We had a lot of go-get-it-ness ⁓ in the nineties. I mean, that's when I grew up, right? So in the nineties. And so we had a lot of go-get-it-ness, a lot of ambition. And then it kind of came to this screeching halt where we wanted everything that we wanted right now. We wanted it faster. We wanted it better. And we wanted it more concise and we wanted it smaller and all of these things. And, and Now that we have all of this access and opportunity, I think that it's all kind of piecing together around the fact that we don't have that bandwidth or capacity to balance that out in a real time sense if we don't have the skills to do so. And most people that I have met do not naturally have that set of skills. They just don't. Chris (47:08) No they do not. Right. Lisa Danahy (47:10) And might I add that if we do not continue to nourish and nurture our bodies and minds with movement, with breathing, breath, we literally, science has shown, and this will go broader than yoga, there is research that says that yoga literally increases gray matter volume in the hippocampus. literally improves learning and memory. So if we're gonna hope that people are out there making the bots and able to insert the bots, then we better keep on moving and breathing in a way that grows our brains because without that movement, without that brain body connection, we're sinking into this stagnant space where that sedentary existence is. causing us to go more into the limbic system. It's causing activation of the amygdala, the fear stations, the emotional centers. And so we've got to jump back in and take control of our brain functions. we've got to, you know, I do think there is some technology that has been shown to improve how we can focus and some of our ⁓ Chris (48:36) Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Lisa Danahy (48:37) thinking skills. And so I think that all technology is not horrible. But I also think that we need to reduce the cognitive interference. And we need to keep building executive functioning skills. And that's through this human movement and connection. Chris (48:57) And also just limit setting and other things that I think that we need to begin peppering in here as we begin wrapping our arms around this in the next 10, 15, 20, 30 years. Because I'm thinking like, as you were talking, you know, just take ice cream choices. It's a good, easy example that people have used to say what technology has done. I mean, back in the day, we had chocolate and vanilla, and you had that one that had like a couple of things in it. What did they call it? Cosmopolitan. That was wild, right? I mean, Kasie (49:26) Neapolitan. Chris (49:27) What's that? Kasie (49:27) Cosmetolitan is an alcoholic beverage, a Cosmo. Neapolitan. Neapolitan. Chris (49:30) Cosmopolitan. Well, what did I say wrong? Well, I have... Okay, Cosmo... The crazy looking ice cream. Thank you, Casey. Keeping me honest. Now we've got chocolate chip. Now we've got spirit chip, mint chip, walnut chip, almond chip, almond mint chocolate chip. I mean, we have 50, 60 different flavors. And so here's the thing, boundary control. Pick two that when you get ice cream, that's what you go between one or two and you don't think about all the rest, right? simple little things like that. We're talking about movement. We're talking about other. But Lisa, you were just saying, and I want you to go back and both of you, maybe Lisa, you first, because you were just right on a nice transition. We talk about screens and society. We haven't talked about social media a lot today because that's only the tip of the spear. There's so much more than that. But really, our brains are wired for connection. Human to human connection. We get pheromones. We get hormones. We get dopamine, we see a smile, we feel a hug, touch, all of these things are in operation that we're only just now beginning to learn about. So our brains are really wired deeply through all of humanity for connection. But our tools now, I think this is a wild statement. You think about it. Our tools are really built for stimulation. 20 flavors of ice cream, 20 drinks to choose from, 30 adjunct professor classes that you can take in your college course choices. It goes on and on and on. So I'm curious how you guys see that, right? Lisa, you were kind of moving there anyway. We're wired for connection, but our tools are built for stimulation. Lisa Danahy (51:18) Yeah, I think, you know, it takes me back to when when we were in the pandemic and, you know, I was doing a lot of yoga classes in schools regularly with kids there and then one day, 98 % of my, my client base evaporated, and we went online. And so we pivoted and we started doing yoga online with the schools that we were working with. And It was interesting to watch how all the schools and lots of funding came in. There was lots of federal funding and state funding to support this new structure of connecting. And all this money came in for social emotional learning, but it was to buy computers and it was to buy technology. And no one really said, okay, what are we going to do to keep that, that, that Chris (52:00) Yeah Lisa Danahy (52:16) human touch, that social connection. And so when the pandemic ended, we all went back into in-person engagements. And we're seeing it now in the students I'm working with who were in kindergarten to second grade during the pandemic. They're really struggling just to have social engagements that are really productive and consistent. And so I do think ⁓ it's a question to ask ⁓ and for us to consider because the connection isn't the same. And we are eluding ourselves if we think that by having lots of likes on social media or lots of friends in a social media platform, that that somehow means that we have authentic connection. Chris (53:13) And we really want to make this point because we trivialize this issue. I think Lisa and what I mean by that is we kind of say, yes, COVID and now kids and children aren't learning how to connect. They don't learn how to date or talk on the phone. And I agree with all that, but yo, listen, you 50 year olds out there, you 60 year olds out there. You 40 year olds, Casey, right? Okay. All right. You're here, right? Kasie (53:38) yeah, now I'm here, yeah. Chris (53:42) We don't know how to do it either. Y'all we are forgetting the reality is here's a phrase. COVID didn't create disconnection as much as it really revealed how fragile we've become in real world connections. Lisa, do you know how many times I have in therapy, the very sad reality that people will say, I have no friends to hang out with. That's been happening over the last 30 years. I would submit to you. Right. So. So it's not just the trivial, easy, kids haven't learned and COVID shut us down. I think it kind of popped an awareness about like, hey, what have we been doing y'all? Lisa Danahy (54:22) Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. Go on, Casey. Kasie (54:23) Yeah, I agree. No, I mean, I agree. And I think part of this too, and I don't want to derail us here at all, but I think that it really has shifted us into looking towards external locuses of control, right? Like it just pushed it out there. Chris (54:40) Mmm. Kasie (54:42) And so now when things are happening, we look to assimilate, you know, from those external locuses instead of like being self reliant and being able to exist and being able to go out there and create conversation or whatnot. We always say like, I would, but this, or I would, but this, or I would, but this. And it really has shifted us in a direction to where people sometimes what I'm experiencing in my office is that people don't really have a sense of self to be able to even put out there any longer. know, like who am I outside of what I am online? Chris (55:26) Existential question is not answered. ahead, Lisa. Kasie (55:28) Yeah. Lisa Danahy (55:29) No, think, I say, think that's such a huge point because I notice this with a lot of my clients and myself. I've noticed this with myself. We are so locked into assuming roles and roles defining who we are. And then when the role starts to shift as we grow, we're constantly moving into different roles. But because we were so locked into the, the range of the role as our guide point and what society sees as that role, when it starts to shift, we really are rocked because we don't have any other internal marker. I remember the first time a couple years ago, a therapist said to me, well, what do you want? And I went. Chris (56:23) Yeah, yeah. Lisa Danahy (56:24) I said I Chris (56:25) Why do answer that? Because there's 150 different things that I have as an answer and I can't choose one. Lisa Danahy (56:31) Right, and I was so used to looking externally for what my needs were that I had stopped connecting internally. And so a big piece of my work is helping people to reignite their intuition, helping people. And that's again, what the yoga does. The yoga says, here's my mind, here's my body, here's that little voice inside, there's all these other little voices, here's all these feelings and thoughts, and where am I in the middle? Kasie (56:48) you Lisa Danahy (57:01) And that, you know, where is that central knowing so that whatever happens externally, I can be really steady inside. And, you know, and I think that, I think, think Chris, you're right. This didn't just happen in COVID. This has been happening for a while. ⁓ You know, I think the way that we have constantly validated externally, everybody wants validation. You can even talk about it like it's a good thing. You know, here, practice. the skills of validating someone. Well sometimes validation strips them of their self-expression because I'm now telling you what I think of you and what's important instead of you telling me what you think is important in you. Chris (57:38) Hmm. Or chat GPT is doing that. Right? Or grok. Or, or, or serendipity or, or deep think deep seek deep seek deep think. You know, we have these large language models that are doing that at least I'm telling you I've got class or wildly and I'm, you I use it. You know, it's, it's, it's fun. It's, it's amazing. Kasie (57:50) Yeah. Lisa Danahy (57:50) Absolutely. Yep. Yep. Chris (58:13) And oftentimes it seems very, very accurate, but there's a lot that's missing in the humanistic reality. Kasie (58:20) Yeah, especially if you're using that as your primary source of, ⁓ like the primary source of everything, right? Like if I have a question, I go to chat GBT or something like that. That's one scenario. If I'm having a mental health crisis, an anxiety attack, a panic episode, and they give you a pretty generalized kind of statement on there about like, if you're in crisis, here's a number to call, but then it's gonna start interacting with you. And there have been multitudes Chris (58:25) primary. It does. Kasie (58:50) of clients that I've seen where the chat bot is looking up all the different algorithms and responses and it's giving them information that is not always helpful, in some ways is very harmful and there have been instances to where it has suggested or has been part of suggesting the end of life for people and so I think it just gets out of hand. Chris (59:10) Casey, I feel so connected. I feel so connected with it. You know, it's interactive. It's wild. Lisa Danahy (59:15) Well, I will tell you, my youngest son, is an AI producer. He is actually an architect and he builds robots. But he said to me one day, I know it really, I'm so blown away by him, but anyway, but I said to him, I said, oh, I use chat GPT to come up with this answer. And he said to me, mom, you know, it has a bias. It's telling you what it thinks you want to hear. Chris (59:27) Very cool. Lisa Danahy (59:44) And as soon as he said that to me, I have a different lens that I read every answer with now. But it takes a process of me going, all right, so this is just information. And I still have to engage my intellectual capacity to decipher and discern and decide. Chris (1:00:05) decipher, discern, and decide. Okay. Lisa Danahy (1:00:09) Yeah, right, because I can look at whatever's happening on the outside, but I need to go into the inner space to decipher. Kasie (1:00:21) discern and decide. Yeah. ⁓ sorry. I'm the other half of Christmas brain. Lisa Danahy (1:00:21) Go on. I wanted Chris to finish it so I could make sure he remembered. Chris (1:00:26) Sorry, decipher, discern and decide. Yes, decipher, discern and decide. Decipher, discern and decide. You know, mean, get to keep us going there, it's it's there. Here's another phrase that that, you know, is important that humanity really humanity needs to consciously slow down. Humanity, all of us across the world need to really retrain. You were just talking about our emotional presence and intentionally re Kasie (1:00:33) But you know, what's Chris (1:00:55) claim, you know, what our bodies know how to do, but is being stripped from the normal function day to day. Now, that's devastating. But we do have that capacity. But we've got to know this is going on so that we can begin being like Gen Z. Hey, this stuff's cool. It's kids stuff. I'm all grown up now and I need to be a family man. I'm looking for a partner. like, want to get a real job, right? Because they've lived it as a kid all the way up to now. They're just now coming into adulthood. Kasie (1:01:36) But the problem is, is that there has to be a balance there, right? And not to play devil's advocate here, but there has to be a balance because you want to get a real job, but your resume is being read by AI. And if you don't know how to play the AI game, then you're not even getting considered. So, I mean, there's, it's a systemic problem that in my opinion is plaguing like the world in general, when it comes to the interactions that we have with technology, you know? Lisa Danahy (1:01:36) I'll tell you what. I think you're right, Casey, I think that's so true that we have to engage. We can't have this little revolution like, I'm not playing, I'm taking my ball and I'm not going home. Kasie (1:02:19) out. ⁓ Chris (1:02:20) and the world just goes ZOOOOM! Wait, where is everybody at? Lisa Danahy (1:02:23) Right, right, but I have to say, okay, now this may hit some people the wrong way, but I'm going to say it anyway, because I have a background in holistic and spiritual practices, and this is, okay, so about 30, 40 years ago, no, maybe 50 years ago, Chris (1:02:39) Okay, you just caught my interest. I'm now baited. Lisa Danahy (1:02:50) I don't know, Chris, you may remember, Casey, you're probably too young, but there was a theater production called God Spell, and there was a song, The Age of Aquarius, right? This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius. Well, astrologically and energetically, there is a belief Kasie (1:02:54) I was not alive. Lisa Danahy (1:03:19) that there's an astrological calendar and that we were in the Piscean age up till about, it's a slow, slow shift, but up till about like the mid 1900s. And we were in this Piscean age, which was the, believe that would be, ⁓ in fact, I was born into the Piscean age and Chris, may, okay, so you're Piscean. So the Piscean. Chris (1:03:43) I Pisces, I gotta tell you. Just saying. Lisa Danahy (1:03:48) Now I want you to do this for me. I want you to say, believe and see how it feels. Say, I believe. Chris (1:03:56) I believe. Lisa Danahy (1:03:59) Okay, now keep that in the back of your head for a moment. And I'm going to tell you that now we are moving into the Aquarian Age. The Aquarian Age is the age of knowing. So we're transitioning from believing to knowing. So now I want you to say, I know. Kasie (1:04:21) I know. Chris (1:04:22) one as much. I know. Okay. Lisa Danahy (1:04:27) So in theory, what's happening is the kids who were born starting in the 1990s were coming into the Aquarian age. It takes like thousands of years to make these shifts. So it's not like we're done. We're at the very beginning of the Aquarian age. So in theory, these kids are coming in with a sense of, know. instead of I believe. And there's a confidence and a security that comes in that. And so my hope is, and I see it in my children, that they are going to have the capacity to figure this out. That it is not my generation that's going to figure it out. Chris (1:05:16) We're lost. No, we're lost. Really? Right? Right. Lisa Danahy (1:05:20) I'm along for the ride. I'm along for the ride and I'm doing my yoga to survive and to thrive actually in that and I'm using the technology in a way that suits me but it's not going to be the same as the way my kids do but I have confidence. I am not afraid of what's to come because I have confidence in my children to be the knowers to be able to manage it. Like you said I see my son who says No more screen time tonight, kids. We're gonna watch, you know, we're gonna play a game. My kids play board games. My kids play card games. They go for a walk after dinner every night. They make their dinners. So I have hope. I have faith that we're moving into a knowing that is complicated and these knowers are the ones building this technology and they're going so fast because they know. But I'm gonna hold out hope that we're okay. Kasie (1:06:17) My 14 year old likes to tell me how much he knows every single day. It's really awesome. Everything I say is like, know. I'm like, you're a knower. I'm gonna start saying that from now on. You know what? This makes so much sense. You are a knower. Chris (1:06:22) Awesome. Lisa Danahy (1:06:24) yeah. He is, he is. And I realize, and I say this all the time, that I had this moment when my kids were in college, and when I was doing more of this teaching that I got to this point where I said, my gosh, I did this all wrong. I thought being a parent was imparting my knowledge and my wisdom, and I was gonna like raise these kids, but no. Chris (1:06:34) I love that. Lisa Danahy (1:06:59) They came in knowing, they came in knowing far more than me and I'm just a platform. And I'm literally holding them like this and they're going shoo-boing, shoo-boing. platform. ⁓ Chris (1:07:09) Pun intended platform, Wow. Listen, I knew this would happen in the sense of, know, this is a conversation that absolutely needs to continue. ⁓ You know, we need to wind it down a little bit today unless we want to go for another hour, which I'm down with that. But we are going to have Lisa back, I believe, because we're to talk more specifically about ⁓ your yoga practice. I think honestly, these conversations that you and I have and maybe we'll have Casey back or you can meet John or Victoria or somebody something because This is such an important- Lisa Danahy (1:07:42) And I want to let Kasie (1:07:42) Can I ask, I wanna ask Lisa one question before we go off air. Chris (1:07:46) We got we got time to wrap up. We got to do shrink wrap up and all that stuff too. So yeah go case Lisa Danahy (1:07:50) And I also want to promise the listeners that if you tune back in with me, I will get Chris moving. Kasie (1:07:50) Okay, one. Chris (1:07:56) That's crazy right there. That was not fair. Kasie (1:07:57) Whoo, nice. Lisa, are goats effective in yoga to do goat yoga? Does it still have good effectiveness or no? Just a quick question. Lisa Danahy (1:08:06) You know there is a there is an energetic Chris (1:08:13) Wait a minute, what is this question? Are there goats? Wait a minute, I need- hold on, what? What are we- Kasie (1:08:18) So I do goat yoga. I love goat yoga, like I've done goat yoga and hot yoga. Lisa Danahy (1:08:22) So a lot of people, Chris (1:08:24) What the hell is that? Goat yoga, I gotta know. Lisa Danahy (1:08:24) so while you're doing your yoga, the goats are there climbing on you and in your space. So here's my take on it, Casey. Yes, that was my point, Chris. Casey, I think what the reason goat yoga works is because it's a live connection. Chris (1:08:31) je god! Kasie (1:08:34) It's amazing. Chris (1:08:34) Okay, can we do dog yoga instead? I'll do the dogs. Okay. Good. Lisa Danahy (1:08:47) you're in a space energetically with these beings that are connecting to you. It's exactly what we're talking about. This whole conversation about the real connection, right? So whether it's a goat or a cat or a dog or some people like lizards, it's that connection. Some people, that's why people like to do their yoga outside, touching a tree. So it's the visceral experience of Kasie (1:08:55) Yeah. Yeah. Lisa Danahy (1:09:17) other people's energy that gets us going. And so I personally think that their hooves are too hard and they poop too much. So I've been doing a lot of go yoga. Kasie (1:09:29) I love it. Chris (1:09:29) I can't hold this anymore. I have to say this is a great story So when I was a little kiddo, right? We have a Ogilby Park Ogilby Park has a zoo and we went to the zoo somewhere and whatever and I'm so excited with the goats and I'm like I mean I must be like four or five years old and I'm planning walking around whatever you got these little pellets, know, you feed the goats and I was so excited to feed the goats So I went like let's get the pellets, whatever them, you know feed the goats well Lisa, they wouldn't eat my food They were eating my food Lisa Danahy (1:09:57) We've been eating all day. Chris (1:09:58) No, because the pellets weren't really pellets. It might have been the poopoo part of the process. And my mom came and she helped me out, put it all down, probably hopefully wash my hands, but yeah, I had a lovely experience with goats. Kasie (1:10:01) It was clear. of our help. Lisa Danahy (1:10:18) We'll get you in a goat yoga. We'll get you in a goat yoga. Chris (1:10:19) Love that. That's awesome. All right. So, Neil, you ready to do this shrink wrap up? think we really do need to get out of here and, hopefully we've sprinkled in some, some practical takeaways and, and, and some things for you to think about. ⁓ I'll just go, first, I guess, cause I think I know who's going to win this hell. She already just did the, the, wrap up there before we went to the goat thing, but, ⁓ Kasie (1:10:22) It's fun. Yeah. Chris (1:10:47) Before I guess we go any final thoughts or conclusions that we left out and we'll have Lisa back again and talk again I'm pretty sure. Okay, well, we'll do the wrap. I guess I'll go first in the sense of just like, look, this, this I feel like is such an important topic. Refer your friends to the show. We need to begin having a dialogue about this so we can begin to understand the realities that we're facing. You know, moving, talking, connecting. These are all vital to our human health, our wellness, our psychology, our mental health, our spirituality, all of these things. And we've done it for millennia. And for the last 30, 40 years, it is finally matching up with something that is literally threatening that fabric. So I want us to be aware so we can become prudent and as Lisa was talking about earlier, have decision-making with discernment that becomes really important in being in touch with our own entity. And I have a lot of hope about that too, because I think that humans absolutely have Casey your word resiliency that we build on and that we have inside. Sometimes we are forgetting to unlock it. So unlock it with us. All right. ⁓ let's, let's give her the grand finale. Casey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna vote you next. Kasie (1:12:17) Who me? yeah, sorry. I was waiting for the grand finale. Sorry. Chris (1:12:18) Yes, Casey. Your name's No, no, no, Lacey gets the grand finale. I'm voting you next, Kasie (1:12:27) Okay, Lisa Danahy (1:12:28) The pressure's on. Kasie (1:12:30) here's the deal, right? Like the screen is a double-edged sword. It can connect you to millions and millions of people, but also set you up to feel never more alone than you're in your whole entire life, right? So you really wanna curate your experience to cure your mind. And the way to do that is to simply get in touch with how you are, who you are, and let that process naturally reveal itself inside and out. And to do that, you wanna track what's going on with your nervous system and let that kind of happen for you and unfold in a real time kind of way. It's hard to do that if you pack it all in behind a screen. So I would say stop the scroll before it takes a toll. Chris (1:13:13) ⁓ whoa! Okay. Lisa Danahy (1:13:17) Nice, I like that. Well, that's a lot of pressure. Following up on that is going to be really tough. ⁓ Chris (1:13:25) We can't let her win the first time out Lisa. Go baby go! Lisa Danahy (1:13:30) All right, well, I will say that I think that while we are connecting more than ever in new and exciting ways, my hope is, and I believe and know that we can continue to enhance our internal connection, going back inside to that place, that essence of each of us, and we each have it. This place of joy and love that is our natural way of being, joyful, loving, connected beings. We will belong. We will be okay. We will thrive. We will be resilient as long as we continue to remember who we really are on the inside. And then all this other stuff can happen on the outside and we'll be okay. Chris (1:14:20) Alright, Neil, I don't know, brother, you got a tough job and this is gonna get real interesting when Victoria, John, I, and Casey are battling, brother. I wouldn't wanna be you, what you got? Neil (1:14:32) I hope that when Victoria's back on here with Casey, she tries harder because she's been so like just boning it in. So I'm hoping that this is Casey. I think you're going to really push us, but this was an amazing wrap up. mean, honestly, like price of admission, this is why I love helping out with the shows because of this. But I mean, between the three of you both, all, all three of you hit really key points. But honestly to me, Lisa's... Chris (1:14:39) You're so right! Neil (1:14:57) is the one that stands out the most. mean, it really is about ourselves and then it leads to everything else we do. And so I think that is super, super important. And, you know, she got it. Chris (1:15:09) Love it. Listen, createcom.org. That is where you go to get more of that amazing wrap up. Lisa, I really appreciate you hanging out with us. do, I really appreciate it. I think it's a super important conversation and immediately when I connected with you, I figured, man, that it was perfect timing because this has been so on my mind and it's right up your alley in schools and what you've done. And I just, really appreciate your hanging with us. Lisa Danahy (1:15:11) Woo woo! Thanks, it's been a blast. really, I am so glad to be here and I got a lot out of this too, so thank you. Kasie (1:15:41) Nice to meet you, Lisa. Lisa Danahy (1:15:43) UTK, I can't wait to do more with you. Chris (1:15:44) Casey's back! Casey's back! Listen, tune in to Thru A Therapist Eyes. We got more of Casey and we'll see Lisa again. Neil, appreciate what you do and y'all stay well. We'll take care and we will see you soon in episode 336. Yes, sir. See you then. Kasie (1:16:02) That's right.