{"id":878,"date":"2018-04-17T13:38:54","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T12:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.radicallyopen.test\/?p=878"},"modified":"2018-04-17T13:38:54","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T12:38:54","slug":"my-obsession-with-eyebrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/my-obsession-with-eyebrows\/","title":{"rendered":"My Obsession with Eyebrows"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve done a few degrees, but I think I am now doing a post-doc in eyebrows.\u00a0 I never really thought much about eyebrows, really.\u00a0 They are just kinda there, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 The first time I paid attention to eyebrows was with my dad, whose eyebrows are, I admit, quite impressive.\u00a0 While he has precious little hair on his head, he makes up for that in the eyebrow department and they tend to look like flirtatious window dressing for his eye glasses.\u00a0 I recall talking to one of his neighbours who confided to me: \u201cYour dad has the sexiest eyebrows.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Eyebrows can be sexy?<\/p>\n

The second time I really paid attention to eyebrows was when my partner and I were on a \u2018dog free\u2019 vacation in the interior of British Columbia (Canada).\u00a0 My RO DBT<\/a> colleagues and clients know that I am very fond of dogs and spend a considerable amount of time dedicated to volunteer pet therapy and often have a canine co-therapist in my practice.\u00a0 However, for this vacation we were blissfully dog free \u2013 not a dog bowl, leash or poop bag to be found in our mini-van bought for said dogs.\u00a0 Agh, but what was found?\u00a0 The conversation kinda went like this:<\/p>\n

Nicole: \u201cHoney slow down!\u00a0 Is that a coyote running across the highway up there?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Deanne: \u201cOh dear. That is not a coyote; that is a dog.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a dog alright.\u00a0 Scared, starved and stinky.\u00a0 While it is outside the scope of this blog to get into the details of the actual rescue, suffice to say we suddenly had a feral dog on our hands.\u00a0 And the first thing we did when we got back to Victoria was to call our dog trainer:<\/p>\n

Sherry: \u201cOk, so this might be some work.\u00a0 Prior to me getting there, just make sure to look at her eyebrows.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Nicole: \u201cDogs have eyebrows??\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sherry: \u201cWell not technically, but look for movement in her face, especially above the eyes; this will the clue that she is feeling safe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So, we spent a couple of days really<\/em> investigating facial movements.\u00a0 Frozen?\u00a0 Deer in the headlights?\u00a0 Relaxed?\u00a0 To out myself, however, I was probably staring intently at her to ascertain this which I would soon learn is counterproductive.<\/p>\n

A month after we found Willow, or Feral Fawcett as she is sometimes called, I was off to my first RO DBT intensive as a delegate.\u00a0 I debated cancelling as we had a lot on our plate with 5 resident animals and the new addition.\u00a0 But thankfully I did not, as my third introduction to the importance of eyebrows came in this first intensive.\u00a0 Thomas Lynch and Erica Smith\u2013Lynch, who were facilitating, spoke of eyebrow wags (e.g. raised eyebrows) and the universal social signal of cooperation this sends.\u00a0 Specifically, they also spoke to how this was critical in activating social safety in both \u2018eyebrow wagger\u2019 and \u2018wagger receiver.\u2019<\/p>\n

In RO DBT we teach eyebrow wags early on in our curriculum to get our clients practicing inside AND outside skills class. We teach the fun fact that we have 10000 facial movements available in our repertoire but we normally only use 100.\u00a0 In my experience, some clients are reluctant to believe that the raised eyebrows will actually work as a powerful social signal or believe that it will be reciprocated.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s also why as skills instructors we are modelling it \u2013 to activate the social safety of those in the class and ourselves \u2013 and to give the message, \u201chey, I like you and you are in my tribe.\u201d\u00a0 Of course, there are many<\/em> other social signals we model and teach, but the eye brow wag and the exercises we practice associated with it allow clients to viscerally experience the difference between a threat state (frozen or flat face) and a safety state (open expression). It has been my experience it is one of the pro-social signals that is a great \u2018take away\u2019 for my OC clients.\u00a0 In the words of one reluctant client, \u201cthis eyebrow shit really works.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

So my challenge to you is to practice your eyebrow wags.\u00a0 Side effects may include smiling, a sense of calm, and feeling friendly. You may also experience people in your vicinity being kinder to you, offering to help you and generally being more engaged. \u00a0Of course, if you are a member of the Little family, side effects may also include bushy eyebrows.\u00a0 While I can\u2019t discern whether bushy eyebrows are sexy per say, they are a powerful social signal of cooperation when they are raised.<\/p>\n

\n

About the author:\u00a0J. Nicole Little, Ph.D., R.C.C.<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Nicole is a therapist specializing in eating disorders and other conditions of overcontrol in Victoria, B.C., Canada.\u00a0 She has also taught for 13 years at Universities and colleges. Her passions are RO DBT and animal assisted therapy.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve done a few degrees, but I think I am now doing a post-doc in eyebrows.\u00a0 I never really thought much about eyebrows, really.\u00a0 They are just kinda there, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 The first time I paid attention to eyebrows was with my dad, whose eyebrows are, I admit, quite impressive.\u00a0 While he has precious little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radicallyopen.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}