Hi friend,
This is your SOS practice for when you are anxious or even panicking before going to sleep.
You might have been in bed already and your thoughts were going round and round chasing each other and the more you're tossing and turning you find it more and more difficult to fall asleep and that might make you really anxious and give you high anxiety and panic right now.
This is an easy practice,
You can just follow my words.
I will leave some spaces where you can speak things out loud yourself if you'd like to or just listen to my voice.
We got this,
Okay?
So let's start.
To start with,
I would like to invite you to get out of your bed.
Lie down on the ground even next to your bed or if the ground has a carpet,
Go somewhere where it doesn't have a carpet ground,
Maybe in a bathroom on the tiles.
You're asking yourself probably now,
But if I lie down on the cold tiles,
Won't I wake up and then I won't be able to sleep?
We are trying to activate your vagus nerve and cold sensations are a great way to activate the vagus nerve.
So just lie down,
Feel the cold coming from the ground.
Just notice where you're touching the ground.
You might want to change your position,
Whatever you feel most comfortable.
Notice how those parts lying or touching the ground start to feel a little bit more cold now and just know that your sensory neurons processing that information,
Activating the vagus nerve,
Which in turn in a few minutes will activate your parasympathetic nervous system.
Breathe in deeply,
Breathe out.
Breathe in again and try to extend your exhalation this time to activate even more that healing part of our body.
Repeat after me either in your head or out loud,
I am safe.
Even if I'm feeling anxious and my thoughts are spinning,
Right here,
Right now,
I am safe.
Continue to feel the cold from the ground.
Maybe you want to turn around and feel the cold from the other side.
And when we count to three,
I want you to put tension in all your muscles of your body,
Like a plank,
Just not with extended arms,
Just lying on the ground.
Squeeze every muscle as much as you can.
We're doing this to let the adrenaline out because your anxiety and your perceived threat of this moment lets your body release cortisol and adrenaline and that prevents us from falling asleep in those moments.
So we're activating the part that calms us down and we're releasing all the adrenaline.
Now sometimes you might need a few more repetitions of that and that's okay,
But I'll count to three and then you're just going to squeeze everything,
Every muscle,
Even the ones in your face to your toes.
Just squeeze it together,
Okay?
Okay,
Let's go,
One,
Two,
Three and squeeze.
Squeeze as tight as you can,
Hold it,
Let everything shake,
Think of the adrenaline,
Just releasing it and hold it,
Hold it,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze and release.
See your body flattening on the cold ground.
Take one more breath and repeat,
I am safe.
Right here,
Right now,
I am safe.
And let's do it one more time together,
On the count of three,
One,
Two,
Three and squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
So tight everywhere,
Your legs,
Your knees together,
Your feet together,
Your toes,
Your arms and your fists,
Your eyebrows,
Nose and cheeks,
Squeeze,
Squeeze,
Hold it,
Hold it,
Let it shake and release.
If you like,
You can put your hands on your heart,
Just check in with yourself where you are now.
Maybe you need another round of this or maybe you're feeling more calm already.
You can go back to bed,
Cuddle yourself into the warm blanket and allow yourself to fall asleep.
I hope you enjoyed this practice,
If this was helpful to you,
Please leave me a comment or review,
I love to hear from you,
I love to hear about your journey.
I'm Hannah,
I'm a neuroscientist,
Therapeutic photographer and I work with the FeltSense people to shift the nervous system from states in fight,
Flight,
Freeze,
Trauma,
Response states to states back of safety.
I hope you have a great sleep and a good night.
