Part 1 – techniques 1 and 2
Your boss reprimands you, a loved one upsets you, or you’re about to make an important presentation…your heart is pounding, your palms are sweating and you get a sense of rising nausea. What do you do to calm yourself?
Some people know exactly what to do. They have a clear method they call upon at just these moments. Armed with their well-rehearsed trick, calming comes easily.
You need a technique, everyone does
- It must suit you – it’s not one size fits all, so be sure you choose the best one for you
- It needs to work. Your technique must be within your capability and it must work for you
- By all means have two on hand if it feels good to have a back up
- Practice it and use it at every opportunity – you’ll appreciate how quick and effective it becomes
How they work
These stress reducing strategies facilitate a shift in your current state by various means. Some use visualisation and association to recast you as your calmer grounded self. Others promote brain and body processes that relieve stress. And some enable you to use your focus and attention to stop mounting stress levels and land you on solid ground.
All are about containing your stress-fuelled fight, flight and freeze reactions. Use them in order to:
- Regulate your stress levels and keep them in check. Make it a daily practice.
- Prepare for challenging situations, like before an important meeting or difficult discussion. To calm and ground yourself.
- Bring you relief when you’ve been triggered in your thoughts, feelings or sensations. To assist in your recovery.
Team them with good sleep practices and some exercise and you’re bound for lower stress levels and greater wellbeing.
If you are familiar with a couple of these techniques, I hope this post will be a reminder to practice them. Some of them will be new to you and I hope you’ll give them a try. I’ve collected them over the years from various sources and I’ve tweaked them with the help of clients’ feedback.
What’s your pick and how will you use it? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Really liked this, Jacqueline. I just used the spiral technique here at my desk (a colleague was driving me slightly nuts by speaking very loudly on a call – not really his fault). I noticed the irritation appeared in my throat area (had never noticed that before). It was almost eery how the ‘reverse’ spiral seemed to instantly trigger a winding down of the feeling.
I know Joy, it’s really surprising how effective it can be….just by tuning into a sensation in a very intentional and focussed way. You can almost feel the stress switch in your brain flick to ‘off’.
Thanks for having a go and letting us know!
Good one Jaqui.
Thanks Niv!