Shadowing Practice: A Tool To Help Us Allow - Learn English Speaking with Video
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When difficult symptoms, sensations arise in the body, most people automatically try and get away from them,
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to calm them down, to distract themselves, analyse the sensation, fix it, suppress it, override it, replace it with a better state.
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But this often keeps the nervous system trapped in the very cycle it is trying to escape.
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Why?
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Because the ego, the centre of consciousness, the brain, is still sending the same message to the body that it's always been sending.
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This experience is dangerous.
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This should not be happening.
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We cannot allow this.
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and after some temporary relief the nervous system will simply respond accordingly it will resist
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and the internal map will be reinforced the default mode network your internal map of what is
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and isn't safe it is isn't isn't is
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and isn't yours continues predicting threat by your own bodily sensations it continues amplifying sensations and the system continues being defensive
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and stuck in survival.
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So what we obviously do is something very different.
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We allow.
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We're not trying to change the state the ego prefers, but as we're learning to allow, I want to give you this tool which will help you allow.
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We want to use these classic NLP state changes, not to change into a state that feels better for the ego,
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but to change into a state of being an allower.
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A little bit of a boost as we learn how to do this, to be and stay with what has previously felt frightening, overwhelming, and we automatically want to avoid.
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Allowing is a state of non-interference, allowing the body to do what it's always been trying to do, which is re-regulate itself, which feels extremely unpleasant.
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These are our symptoms.
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We want to reinstate a state, remember a state, install a state where the ego remembers,
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I can stay with difficult sensations.
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I can stay with this.
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This is temporary.
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Sensation is not danger.
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And my body knows what it's doing. To trust it.
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And this is important because the nervous system updates through embodied prediction error.
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As Carl Friston's free energy principle suggests,
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the brain is constantly trying to reduce uncertainty by relying on existing internal models of maps of reality.
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If the map says strong sensations equal danger because once they were interpreted to mean that,
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then every intense sensation will trigger fear and protection
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and defense based on that old map but when the sensation appears
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and despite the suggestion that this is dangerous we normally avoid it
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but we choose to remain present without panicking avoiding fixing calming resisting
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or escaping the brain receives new information and new evidence that old prediction has actually failed because we stayed with it
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and this is how our map begins to update.
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I've done a separate video talking more about the map.
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The map is not territory.
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And it's not because we've installed a better program that we've changed this map.
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It's because we've stopped interfering with the better program the body is already trying to install naturally from the self
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because we are a self-regulating organism, self-regulating system.
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That's what the body does, like all organisms and systems in nature.
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It has a natural tendency, a default tendency, blueprint towards balance,
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coherence, equilibrium, homeostasis, authenticity and completion.
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But the ego, through trauma, through suppression, through years of override,
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has often interrupted these corrective cycles because it mistakes intensity for danger.
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And so this exercise helps the ego remember something that it has forgotten.
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That sensation can move through the body completely safely, even if it does feel intense.
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So try this as an exercise.
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The moment you notice fear, the moment you notice a sensation,
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symptom monitoring, engagement and resistance with what's happening in the body, just stop.
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Not necessarily dramatically, just stop.
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Come to the body, pause interrupt that autonomic automatic defensive loop pattern that neurocircuit that old cycle
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the goal is not to make the sensation disappear or to choose a better state
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the goal is to automatically stop interfering with it so
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that the self can continue basically updating us to the better state to the balance the regulation
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that it's been trying to do
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Just stopping and coming to the body is so important and being with what's there without interference,
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because usually the ego immediately contracts around sensation and tries to control it.
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Instead, we stop, we pause and we create space.
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We come to, we body drop.
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into the body step two not into analysis not into thought out of the head dropping into the body
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not into symptom checking into the felt sense of being here
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as an embodied feeling sensing experiencing awareness notice the whole container what's happening in your body
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everything.
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The weight, the posture, the shape, the sensations within it, all of it.
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Nothing needs to change.
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It needs to be exactly as it is.
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You are the noticer of your experience.
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You are entering embodiment.
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And this matters because allowing is not a cognitive exercise.
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For prediction errors and healing to take place, we have to do this in an embodied way.
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The nervous system learns through lived bodily experience.
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And for most of us, we've been hiding from our bodies for a very long time, living in our heads.
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So step three, we remember and recall the state of being an allower.
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You can close your eyes in that moment and let your mind naturally bring forth a memory.
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Do not force it.
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But of a time when you felt capable, okay, you had capacity, you were present,
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grounded, embodied and bigger than the experience that was happening.
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Doesn't have to be perfect.
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You don't have to feel fabulous in this memory.
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It can be a time when you're a child, when you're standing on a hilltop, jumping off a diving board, just being quiet somewhere and feeling OK,
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even if it was being OK, not being OK.
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And, you know, whatever it was, there was a sense of something.
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It could be anything, sitting in nature, walking, being.
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Any memory makes space and it will come forward.
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And if no memory comes, that's OK, too.
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I couldn't find memories because I didn't ever really feel safe and allowing in my childhood.
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So I kind of invented them.
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And this is something you can do as well you can
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borrow think of somebody you know who does know how to allow it can be
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just somebody you know personally
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or someone you admire who's you know you haven't you haven't met
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and imagine how they would sit with the sensation how they
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would allow how they would breathe how they would think how they would feel how they would remain present borrow
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that state and embody Imagine what it would feel like to be
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that person allowing a sensation to exist in their body without interfering with it.
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Because the nervous system can learn through imagination as well as memory.
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And then step four, feel the state really, really, really now flesh out in the body what's there.
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Don't just think about the memory.
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Inhabit it first person.
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You are in it.
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feel it physically as
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if it's happening now how your chest feels your breathing your
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posture how your face softens you're not engineering this you're just
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letting it inhabit you letting expand this state of being an allower either from your past
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or borrowing it from outside what does it feel like
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and let it embody let it fill your experience through all your senses and your mind as much as you can.
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You don't have to do it perfectly.
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This is not positive thinking.
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This is the nervous system learning and the ego is remembering, oh yes, this is possible.
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I know this place.
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Even if I can't remember it myself, I know it because I recognize it in someone out there or something.
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And it's a place where intensity did not immediately mean danger, where it's okay to be with what is in a body.
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And then step five, bring sensation into awareness.
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Staying connected to this state of allowing,
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of being okay with whatever is arising in the body that you are inhabiting fully from the neck down,
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bring awareness to whatever difficult sensation is rising.
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The feelings of fear, anxiety, the feelings of dizziness, pressure,
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emotion, sensation and remind yourself, I'm an allower.
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I can allow this.
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I am bigger than this.
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Yeah, I don't like it but it's temporary.
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I can just allow it and I can feel it and I can stay with it.
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This is the movement of the nervous system.
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It knows what it's doing.
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It does not define me.
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My body is regulating and I'm going to allow it.
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And most importantly, do not try and make the sensation go away.
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Because the moment we try and calm the sensation, change it for a better one, the ego sends the message, oh, this is unsafe.
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And we reinforce the cycle.
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Instead, we remain present, and we let the cycle move through us.
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Because this is what a system re-regulating itself feels like.
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And it's just that the ego is very, very scared because once it felt overwhelming.
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Step six, let the body complete the cycle for a set period.
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What it's wanting to do for a minute, for example, be with it and allow.
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Say if you want to, I allow.
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Whatever you want to do, body, go for it.
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Be with it, stay in the body.
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And this is the paradox the ego slowly learns.
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The very thing it is desperately trying to get rid of often begins resolving once it is fully allowed.
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And you might notice it changing even in that moment.
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It might get louder temporarily.
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Whatever.
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This is energy moving around the system.
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These are all processes completing now because we're allowing them.
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And if we resist, we just delay it further because resistance itself amplifies the experience, the fear, the monitoring, catastrophizing,
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contraction and the constant checking.
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All of this increases salience and tells the nervous system to keep protecting.
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But when we allow sensation safely and by safely, I mean you don't have to feel safe, But by being with it and letting the fear move through you,
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letting the ego going, it's not safe.
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And you're being with it.
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That is showing safety.
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The body no longer needs to maintain defensive amplification around it.
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And of course, the dial in time turns down.
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Cycles can complete and the nervous system gains dynamic flow again over time.
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Of course, the brain updates its internal maps.
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the ego learns something new intensity is not danger sensation is
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survivable my body even though it sometimes does intense things knows
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what it's doing it's always trying to regulate the body is not betraying me i can remain present whilst experience
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and energy moves and this is how consciousness itself updates this is the brain retraining and rewiring from the self,
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from the authentic coherence of the organism.
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And it's not by forcing a new identity that the ego would prefer, because the ego doesn't know who you are, of course, it only knows who you had to become to survive.
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And it will now update according to your authentic truth, your capacity, your nature and your instinct.
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So by repeatedly experiencing that it is safe to stay inside a body while life moves through it naturally,
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it starts to feel okay being in the body,
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being you, feeling and allowing the natural flow of being a human being in a body to once more reinstate.
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So keep practicing it, doing this many times a day
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and eventually you can just I allow over
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and over again each time supporting what's happening the body's doing by non-interference
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so let me know how you get on below
About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will engage with a compelling discourse about the practice of allowing sensations in the body rather than resisting them. You will explore how the mind often misinterprets intense bodily sensations as threats and how this can lead to a cycle of anxiety and avoidance. By learning to allow and embrace these feelings, you can foster a healthier relationship with your body and improve your emotional regulation. This lesson will not only enhance your understanding of complex concepts but also provide a platform for effective IELTS speaking practice as you articulate your reflections and insights.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Allow - to let happen or to give permission for something to occur.
- Ego - the part of the self that is concerned with self-identity and decision-making.
- Internal map - the mental representation one has of reality, influencing perceptions and reactions.
- Sensation - a physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens to or comes into contact with the body.
- Self-regulating - the ability of an organism or system to maintain stability in response to changes in the environment.
- Coherence - the quality of being logical and consistent, often used to describe a balanced state of mind.
- Prediction error - a concept from neuroscience referring to the difference between expected and received sensations.
- Homeostasis - the state of steady internal conditions maintained by living organisms.
Practice Tips
To effectively utilize this video for your English language learning journey, consider employing a shadowing app to assist in your practice. The pacing of the speaker is deliberate, allowing for clear articulation of thoughts. Here are some strategies:
- Listen First: Watch the video once without attempting to speak. Focus on understanding the content and the context in which the key vocabulary is used.
- Shadowing: As you listen a second time, begin to repeat the phrases and sentences immediately after the speaker. This can help in improving English pronunciation and fluency. Aim to match their tone and rhythm to enhance your speaking skills.
- Record Yourself: Use a voice recording tool to capture your shadowing practice. Listen to your recordings to assess your pronunciation and flow, then adjust accordingly.
- Discuss: Engage in conversations about the topics presented in the video with peers or tutors, incorporating the key phrases you have learned. This will bolster your confidence and reinforce your new vocabulary in real-world scenarios.
- Review: Revisit the video periodically. Repetition is crucial for retention and mastery, especially when aiming for higher-level performance in IELTS speaking practice.
By consistently practicing with these techniques, you will not only improve your English skills but also gain valuable insights into self-regulation and emotional awareness.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.