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AreasYour body

Your body

You cannot think your way out of a body that is braced. This area starts there: the breath, the ground under you, moving, eating, resting, and the small physical things that change how the rest of the day lands.

What works for this

Working from the body first

A body that has not slept, eaten or moved has less left over for holding itself steady. Changing the state you are in is often faster than changing the thoughts you are having, and it is more reliable when you are already worn out.

One move, today

A long slow out breath, longer than the in breath, three times. The out breath is the part that does the work.

What matches

6 practices

Narrow these down

The fast forceful practices are not for everyone. With high blood pressure, heart trouble or glaucoma, leave them out and use the slow ones, which carry no such warning.

Rapid breathing with effort behind it raises pressure inside the chest, the head and the eyes for as long as you keep it going. The gentler lift,…

A minuteBreathingBody basedQur’an 32:9One line of research

Any breathing instruction that reaches you through a screen or a book comes from someone who cannot see you. Keep the final say over what your body does.

Recorded instructions have to be general. You are the one who knows that your chest tightens on holds, or that counting makes you anxious. Treat each…

A minuteBreathingBody basedQur’an 26:13One line of research

Here is a question that costs nothing: has anyone in your family been told their vitamin D was low? It runs in families through genes, skin tone, where you live and how much time anyone spends outside.

The clinician telling this story found out only afterwards that his mother, father and brother had all been low. Nobody had mentioned it, because it…

A minuteFood, caffeine and fuelMedical and treatmentQur’an 15:22One line of research

Around seven in ten people who use herbal products never mention it to their doctor. Not out of secrecy, mostly because a tea or a gummy does not feel like it belongs on a list of medications.

The useful move is to answer a wider question than the one you were asked. When someone asks what medication you take, tell them what else you take…

A minuteFood, caffeine and fuelMedical and treatmentQur’an 106:4One line of research

Before inviting anyone to turn attention to their body, ask first. How do you feel about trying this now, and would you like to?

The asking is part of the practice, not the preamble to it. Someone whose body was once not theirs to control needs the choice handed back in small…

A minuteFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 6:125One line of research

When you start paying attention to your body, things wake up. More feeling, a deeper breath, memories arriving sideways. That is the practice working, not the practice going wrong.

Say this at the start, not afterwards. People who were not told tend to decide the movement made them worse and stop, when what actually happened is…

A minutePosture and how you carry yourselfBody basedQur’an 17:109One line of research

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