Break The Scroll Habit | Nervous System Reset Practice

This embodied transition practice is designed to help you interrupt the automatic habit of reaching for your phone and instead return to yourself. Many of us move unconsciously from moments of doing into scrolling, without realizing our nervous system is seeking stimulation or escape.

In this practice, you are invited to pause, soften, and reconnect with your body before reacting. From this space of presence, you can begin to notice what you actually need, rather than defaulting to distraction.

This is not about restriction or forcing yourself to stop using your phone, but about creating a conscious moment of choice between impulse and action.

Transcript

Hi, My name is Dika and this practice I actually designed to solve a problem that I am personally facing in my day-to-day life. And that has to do with my social media usage. You might recognize this, That your fingers, Before you even are aware of it yourself, Tapped on your phone to that one icon and you find yourself endlessly scrolling, Wasting your time. And I have been looking into my social media habits and wanting to make some changes. And in that process, Bringing more awareness to what happens, When do I grab it? What's happening in those moments? Where am I at? I started to realize that very often I come out of a space where I've been doing, Going, Achieving. I've been more in my head and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that. Sometimes stuff just needs to get done, But I'm actually ready to make that transition coming back into my body. Kind of softening, Coming out of doing into more just being. And in that moment of transition, There is this initial struggle, This initial resistance to make that shift. And if I'm not fully aware or really committed to getting there in a healthy way, What happens is that I'll grab my phone and I'll just start to distract myself in the hopes that I sort of just relax and chill a bit and come into that space of, Yeah, Just being and enjoying. And while it might feel like I'm sort of relaxing in the first moments when I'm scrolling and just being entertained and just having that moment to quote-unquote relax. Often that feeling is not very long lasting. I waste way more time than necessary. And when I finally pull myself out of it, I don't really feel good. It doesn't feel like I'm actually now in that space of being. In a way, I'm even more wired. And so that is one way. Another reason to often grab sort of, Or distract social media is if I'm noticing like, Hey, There's something, Something to feel or something that I need to do that I don't really want to, Or, Um, Yeah, I'm feeling a bit sensitive. Then instead of just allowing yourself to be in the discomfort or to feel what you need to feel and move through it. I'll grab social media and again, Take that moment to distract myself. Now, In the process of trying to change that habit of not grabbing social media, I bummed into one thing that I struggle with. In that moment of transition, What do I do? And so specifically, Because that comes sometimes with a bit of resistance. I'm noticing that if I don't choose social media in the here and now, But I don't have yet full clarity on what would be the most nourishing thing, Then I'm sort of in this in-between space. And I would like to have something just to feel or to support me in that moment. Um, So that I can, In a way, Connect back and get some clarity to just take a pause and just allow myself to maybe be even a little bored. And so that's what today's practice is for. It supports you basically in connecting back to yourself, In just practicing that in between nothing space, Maybe allowing yourself to just be sort of bored so that your brain, Instead of grabbing social media, Goes into sort of these dopamine hits. It can just come a little bit out of that hyper addictive space and hyper active space. And just allow itself to sort of relax and reshuffle and then from there create a space to receive clarity and to really tune in with yourself. What is actually the most nourishing thing? What do I truly need? What is most supportive for myself? Okay, One bell marks the start and three bells marks the end of this practice. For now, Just sitting down. You can place your hands in front of your chest, Maybe in just a little prayer, Or just take this moment to really thank yourself for showing up because this is actually already half of the work. You were aware enough. That maybe your habits, The way you're using social media is not really serving you anymore and that you'd like something else. You And then from here bringing your fingertips towards your head. And I want you to just sort of like gently tap on the top of your head. So gently tapping as if they're like sort of raindrops falling on your head. You can extend the tapping to your forehead. Temples. And maybe from there to your cheek. Your chin and your jaw. And then allowing the topping to come down. Front of the chest, Gentle tapping. I'm bringing that down towards the side of the ribcage. Amazing and then from here stroking down giving a few grounding. Squeezes and touches to your legs. And making yourself down to your feet and then specifically connecting to this, We call it kidney point. So it's the center of the ball of your foot. So if you curl your feet, There's gonna be a little dimple. That's the kidney point and I want you to press there. And maybe even massage and squeeze it out, But squeeze that kidney point. Beautiful, Giving your feet. A little squeeze, A little massage. Amazing. And then from here, Inhale, Arms up, Stretch up. Exhale, Arms down. And sigh it out. Inhale, Arms up. Stretch up. Exhale, Arms down. Inhale, Arms up. Exhale, Arms down. Amazing. And then shrug out your shoulders. Give your arms a little shake, A little shimmy. Maybe sighing out with a little sound. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. . . Amazing. And then from here, Placing your feet. Out a little bit. Placing your hands behind you and just giving your legs a little shake, A little shimmy. Amazing and then letting them drop to the left to the right giving them a little shake. And again, You can sigh out with a little sound. Amazing. And then from here. You can either stay sitting. However you like, Cross-legged, You can also rest against something, Or you could lie down here. And for the next five minutes, The invitation is. For you to just stare either at a wall or at the ceiling. And that's all that you're doing. And so. You're just allowing yourself. To be and to witness and basically not have any. . . Other input than that and just witnessing whatever arises but that's all that you're doing. So coming in that position, Just sitting, Choosing either a wall. Or the ceiling to stare at. And then the five minutes are starting now. And so you're allowing your body to just be relaxed. And all that you're doing is literally staring at either a wall. Or the ceiling. And so it's not necessarily meditation. So you don't even have to sit up like straight. Or practice mindfulness in that sense. Of course, It helps to just be curious about what's happening for you, But all that you're doing. Is actually nothing. Training your nervous system. So just be okay with that. These spaces in your day, In your life. Or there is nothing to do, Nowhere to go. And where these spaces of. Nothing. Actually create. Space for transitions. Space for pauses. For just being. And that sense of boredom can actually be a portal. Into new clarity, Direction, Creativity. And those were the five minutes. From here, Whether you're sitting or lying down, Again, Bringing the fingertips towards your chest. Head gently tapping as if they're raindrops. Hmm. So tapping on your forehead, Temples. All the way down to your chest. Ribcage Now once you arrive at your hips. It's squeezing down. Or if you're lying down, You hug your knees in towards your chest, Giving yourself a good squeeze. And again, Connecting to that kidney point. Ball of the foot gently pressing there. And from here, Breath in. You can reach your arms overhead, Lengthen out, Exhale, Side out. Breath in, Stretching out. Exhale, Side out. Breath in, Lengthen out. And stretch it out. And then taking a moment to just shake out your legs. And shake out your arms. And then from here we're going to meet in meditation. So this time it's a silent sitting meditation. So if you're lying down, Coming to sit up again. Finding yourself in a comfortable cross-legged seated position. Just three minutes here and in those three minutes There's going to be one central question. So coming to sit down, Placing your hands, Resting on your knees or in your lap. And allowing your attention to draw inwards. And then sit with and meditate with the question. What do I truly need right now? What is the most nourishing thing? I could do for myself. Moving from here. And so letting that come to you in whatever shape or form. What do you really need? What is the most nourishing? The most supportive thing. You could do for yourself. Okay. You From here bring your hands in front of your chest thanking yourself for showing up. And then from here, The invitation is to act on that insight, That clarity that you received. So it might be that the most nourishing thing from here is to actually take a nap or to go for a walk, To just be in nature. Or to go and read, Or to actually make yourself some nourishing food, Or maybe to grab a practice. And continue. Like actually nourishing your body, Like working out, Moving. Or it might be actually to focus on a task that you didn't really want to show up for or to really send that message that you're maybe running away from sending. So whatever it is, Whatever insight that you received, The invitation is. . . To use this space that you created, This connection with yourself. To move. In the most attuned, Aligned way. And to leave social media for what it is. Thank you.