This section addresses the following questions:

• I hated it…My question is what is the point of that orientation exercise? I don’t get it. How will it benefit me? I really don’t want to keep doing it again as Irene advised in the audio.
• I have a sense of wanting to rush through and have resistance towards this lesson. What should I do?
• If the lesson doesn’t feel good, should we skip it?
• I don’t really get orienting. I don’t feel anything happening.

Orienting is the single most important basic tool in this program, and for good reason.

Being simultaneously aware of both the environment and our internal response to it is something ALL mammals (except for us) do automatically and all the time, except for when they are asleep. It’s an awareness we are supposed to have online whenever we are engaged with the world. It’s a fundamental part of being alive, and yet so few of us know how to do it at all.

This is because trauma and chronic stress happen in the environment. They happen in relation to people and things in our space. So, even contemplating slowing down and attempting to engage in a gentle, natural curiosity can bring up a lot.

Most of us have avoided doing this for our whole life because being relaxed, curious, and aware in our environment was not possible when we were kids, or for some period later in our life. So, engaging with our self and our environment in some way, especially when that support and engagement may not have existed in our early lives or which has been overwhelmed by sustained stress at some point, will invariably bring up the stress and trauma we experienced during those times.

So, we may resist doing it at all or, if we try, we may check out into daydreams or distract ourselves with racing thoughts, get angry, irritated, anxious or feel like we hate this and it’s pointless. We might feel nauseous or feel nothing at all, etc. All these experiences happen because we are stirring up those old stuck body memories and emotions, and our system is trying to protect us from feeling any of that again.

If you hate it, or just don’t see the point, or think it’s stupid (when in reality it is an absolutely crucial part of simply being alive and in connection to the world) it’s probably very important for you to do, but in smaller doses to start. A minute here, 5 minutes there.