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Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.
Before picking a calming technique, work out which way you are off. Revved up and shut down need opposite things.
Wound up: slow the out breath, lower the lights, less input. Shut down: more input, movement, sound, a change of room. The common mistake is running…
Calm can feel unsafe if you have not had much of it. Take it in small amounts and let it be strange at first.
Grounding exercises sometimes leave people more agitated rather than less, and then they decide they are doing it wrong. Often the truth is that…
When you are far from settled, aim for the next step rather than for calm. Rattled is a real improvement on numb.
There is a rough order to these states: shut down at the bottom, revved up in the middle, settled and connected at the top. Coming back tends to…
Breath reaches the settling machinery faster than reasoning does, because it works on a part of the brainstem that does not wait for your opinion.
That is why arguing yourself out of a panic rarely works while six slow breaths often do something. It also explains why breath practice can feel…
Cold water on your face, particularly at the hairline and around the lips, sets off a reflex that slows the heart. It is one of the few things fast enough to interrupt real panic.
Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.
A splash at the sink, a few minutes outside in cold air, or a bowl of cold water if you have one to hand. There is a quieter version for when you…