In times of anxiety and stress,
It can be really normal and quite human to want to run away from the thing that is causing distress and disturbance,
And leaning in with intentional attention has actually been shown to create space within the nervous system and to even ultimately allow the system to move into a state of agency and one might say bravery.
This is a guided exercise to help your mind and your body lean in to those difficult moments,
To find the calm within the storm so that you may learn and expand upon your own internal sense of capacity.
If at any point in time during this guided exercise you start to feel an increase in stress or worry,
Push pause and do your CPR for the amygdala exercise,
Encouraging your mind to heal through and release whatever's coming up for you in that moment and then come back to this exercise.
We have linked some guided exercises below for you.
Let's begin as always with welcoming that soothing hand touch,
Palm against palm as though you're washing your hands under warm water,
Arms crossed across your chest and a gentle moving hug down the tops of your arms or gently drifting your fingertips across the tops of your brows or following your cheekbones.
Feel free to interact with these touches in any way shape or form that feels comfortable for you and I'd like to invite you to welcome in a gentle soothing breath.
I'll be inviting in breath counts and I also encourage you to breathe and what other cadence and rhythm feels most comfortable for you.
Let's welcome a steady breath in to a count of four,
Three,
Two,
One and release to a count of six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
Beautiful.
Now I'd like to invite you to float back across the course of the previous week or weeks,
Even months and find a moment of anxiety.
Now moments with anxiety might actually be many moments as we know it can be quite diffuse but find an experience where you truly felt like you were caught up in the grips of it.
Let's take your time and notice one of those experiences.
Anxiety can come like waves and the more we get to learn and know about our own body's experience of those waves,
The more personal power we have for healing.
Once you've identified one of those waves,
I'd like to invite you to sense into it,
To notice what was happening in your mind and body,
To connect to those five senses as you recall that experience.
What were you seeing,
Smelling,
Tasting,
Touching and finally what were you hearing?
And on that scale of zero to 10,
Where 10 is the greatest level of activation you've ever experienced and a zero is completely neutral,
Take a moment and note where you rank on that emotion scale.
An important part of navigating through distress and disturbance is that acknowledging it's allowing the system to say,
Hey that's here,
Which in of itself takes it out of the emotional sphere and turns it into a data point and data is thinking brain.
Now once you have that experience and you've noticed where you are on that scale,
Let's welcome in another soothing,
Gentle breath.
Breathing in to a count of four,
Three,
Two,
One and out to a count of six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
Beautiful.
I'd like to invite you to imagine that that experience that you just identified,
Your target,
Is actually a storm cloud over here.
It's an experience that has passed by and floated through your world and it was stormy and there was a lot of sensory stuff going on.
Just invite all of your mental imagery or emotions and sensations to turn into that cloud and notice that it's there and you're here.
And notice what that cloud looks like.
Is it white and fluffy?
Is it a stormy gray?
Is it foggy and hazy and diffuse?
What does this experience look like for you?
And as you're noticing that cloud,
I'd like to invite you to imagine that you're going to take 10 steps closer to it.
Yes,
I did say closer.
I know that you might be thinking,
What?
Why?
And when we allow our mind and our body to notice that we can be in relationship and yet not overwhelmed by these moments of distress and disturbance,
We're building a new framework for how our brain will experience these moments in the future.
We're building agency and strength.
So let's take those 10 gentle steps forward towards this cloud.
I invite you to count alone in your mind as you walk towards it and notice the weight of your feet as you walk,
The ball of your foot as it rolls forward off the ground,
Propelling you forward with the next step,
Until you get to 10 steps.
And as you're getting closer,
Welcome in another gentle,
Soothing breath,
Reminding your brain and your body of the very real pattern behavior of breathing that you do every day to keep you and your body strong and stable.
Breathing in to a count of 4,
3,
2,
1,
And out to a count of 6,
And out to a count of 6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Beautiful.
And now noticing that cloud,
That experience,
I invite you to start to walk around it,
Moving to the right,
Just taking in.
And again,
We're going to take 10 more steps,
Counting out loud with each step,
Noticing the nuances and the differences in this experience as you start to take on different points of view.
Each step,
Counting out loud,
Noticing that every experience has multiple ways that we can look at it.
And now we're going to turn around and start circling back the other way,
And we'll take 20 steps,
Going back across our center point,
And then 10 more steps past all the way to the left now.
And start checking out what's going on.
And I did just realize that my left and right are going to be very different from yours,
So please follow whichever sequence feels best for you.
If you went to your left the first time,
That is just fine.
Just counting those steps and taking in the experience,
Inviting your mind to notice and expand around all the data points herein.
Beautifully done.
And when you're ready,
Let's welcome in another soothing breath,
Breathing in to a count of 4,
4,
3,
2,
1,
And out to a count of 6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Very good.
And now I'm going to invite you to imagine that you're just kind of zooming out a little bit,
Noticing all the data points within this experience,
And also noticing how this experience has not overwhelmed or become you,
Even though you just spent quite a bit of time with it.
Notice the resilience of your mind and your body,
The agency to choose to interact again with this moment,
Knowing that in the past it was complicated and even hard,
And that there might have been some things to learn within it.
I invite you to come back to the present moment,
Look around your space,
And let's find any 5 items in your environment that are square or rectangular or shape.
And now let's find any 4 items that are white,
And you may also of course use the items around me,
There's quite a few.
And let's find any 3 items that are round,
2 that are yellow,
And finally 1 that if you were to pick it up would be quite heavy.
Notice if even in that final one that brought your brain a little bit more online and back into the here and now,
Because you're not only finding but now you're imagining lifting.
Distractions are very powerful,
The more sensory that we bring into them.
Let's welcome in another soothing breath,
Breathing in to a count of 4,
3,
2,
1,
And out to a count of 6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
And as you wrap up this exercise I would highly recommend doing a little bit of journaling or even just taking a walk to think about about if or what you learned during.
And as you wrap up this guided exercise,
Strong work.
And if you have an extra moment,
Take a moment to journal or to just simply sit and reflect back on that identified experience and notice what has shifted or changed as you chose to be in relationship with it.
