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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
15 practicesMost of the traffic on the nerve joining your gut, heart and lungs to your brain is heading upwards. When your stomach turns or your chest tightens, your body is reporting in.
It helps to treat those sensations as messages rather than faults to be got rid of. Next time your stomach drops before a difficult phone call, try…
You can tell you are settled by small signs: your breath sits low in your belly, feelings arrive in waves rather than floods, and you can think and feel at the same time.
Other markers: your voice has some tune in it, you can take in new information, you can read what is happening on someone else's face. Knowing your…
You will stop doing this once you feel better. Write it on your list of things that help, so it is there next time instead of forgotten.
Adherence fades the same way it does with exercise, and the fading is not a character flaw. The trouble is that when you next need it you will be in…
A gut feeling is a real signal rather than a turn of phrase. The chemicals that carry emotion in your brain are also at work in your heart and your gut.
This matters most if you grew up being told your read on a situation was wrong. Noticing the sensation, naming it, then checking it against what you…
The calm and connected part of this system speaks through your face, your voice, your ears and your heart. That is why those are the places to work.
A softer face, a slower voice, unhurried breathing and something friendly to look at are not decoration. They are the reachable end of the circuit…
The way you sound reaches people more directly than what you say. There is a pathway that tunes the ear towards the human voice, and a warm, unhurried voice uses it.
Worth knowing whether you are the one speaking or the one listening. If you are settling a child or a friend, let your voice go slower and softer and…
Breathing that has gone almost invisible happens in both kinds of stillness, so it will not tell you which one you are looking at. Muscle tone will.
Look at the jaw, the hands, the shoulders, the way the body is being held in the chair. Tight and set is one thing. Slack and heavy is another. You…
Stand on one foot for half a minute, a hand on a chair if you need it, and put all your attention into the foot on the floor.
You will find it is never still. There is a constant small negotiation towards the toes, the heel, one side and back again, and every so often you…
Try locking your ankle and holding everything rigid while you balance. You will fall over. The wobble was doing the work.
People who are frightened of losing control often try to hold themselves regulated: clamped, monitoring, allowing no drift. It is exhausting and it…
There are small signs that somebody has come back into connection: light in the eyes, a bit of music in the voice, a smile that arrives by itself.
They are easy to see once you know to look, and they are just as useful in reverse. If you are with someone difficult and your own voice has gone…
Breath does not always calm. For some people it opens the door to feeling, for others it puts a little distance in. Find out which it does for you today.
The instruction to breathe deeply gets handed out as though it settles everyone. Plenty of people find that attention to their breath brings the…
Your heart speeds up slightly on every breath in and slows on every breath out. Sit quietly with a hand on your chest and you can feel it.
This is why lengthening the out breath calms you and lengthening the in breath wakes you up. It also means you carry a working control that needs no…
Hum a note you like for a few breaths, and try covering your ears with your palms so the sound fills your head.
The vibration carries through your throat and your inner ear, and humming lengthens the out breath for you without any counting. Choose your own note…
Breathe in, then push the air out gently against a closed throat, or against lightly pinched nostrils, for a couple of seconds.
The change of pressure in your chest is what does the work, and two or three rounds are enough to notice something. Keep it gentle. Straining is…
Whatever happens in a session, the change gets built in the other hours. Choose things you can do at a bus stop with nothing in your hands.
There are roughly 167 waking hours a week outside an appointment, and that is where a practice either becomes yours or quietly disappears. Elaborate…