Hello friends,
You are so welcome here.
My name is Stella Billory.
I'm a senior occupational therapist working within mental health in the NHS and I have a private practice for folks who have ADHD and this meditation is specifically for dealing with feelings of emotional intensity that can be a daily reality for those of us with ADHD.
It's really not uncommon to experience emotions really vividly and quite immediately and sometimes this can lead to feelings of overwhelm and reactivity.
Coping techniques become essential tools for navigating these intense emotional currents,
Providing a lifeline when emotions threaten to engulf our reason and self-control.
This short meditation has two aims and the first is to acknowledge the signs of emotional overwhelm and understand that it's a stress response and the second is to create a physical anchor point during moments of overwhelm by focusing on the breath and the physical sensation of bringing a hand onto the heart and this will act as an anchor to bring us into the present moment and also the physical body.
And so this meditation can be practiced pretty much anywhere at any time of day.
It might be a practice that you return to if you find it useful or something that you incorporate into your daily routine to bring up more awareness to your emotional landscape.
And so we'll start our practice now and just encouraging you to find any position that is supportive to you and that might be seated or laying down and you might do this practice with the eyes closed if that feels comfortable and safe to you and if it feels safer to keep the eyes open just allow them to rest on one point of contact.
And so we'll start by acknowledging the signs of emotional overwhelm and thinking about what happens when we get overwhelmed,
What happens when we feel a lot of emotions and you know we have this idea in our society that somehow what happens inside of the mind is separate to and different from what's happening inside the body.
Really the mind is just a part of the body,
It's all the body.
And when we get very stressed there are several physical indicators that we're moving into this stressed state,
This emotional overwhelmed state and these indicators might be dryness in the mouth or it might be sweaty palms or increased heart rate.
And that's not to say that you're experiencing any of these things right now as you listen to these words but I'd like you just to tune in to the texture and the sensation inside your mouth and you might do this by moving your tongue around,
Noticing the texture of the teeth and the gums.
And if we think about saliva inside of the mouth this is an indicator that our body is ready to digest our food and this happens when we're in rest and digest.
I'm just noticing what's happening inside of your mouth right now.
And then we'll just let that focus and attention go.
And the next invitation is for you to gently bring your awareness towards the breath just as it appears so you don't need to change anything,
Just noticing.
And again if we think about what happens when we're starting to feel overwhelmed people have different responses to stress.
Some people might start breathing very quickly and their breath might become more shallow.
And other people might find that they hold the breath if they're particularly overwhelmed.
And again that's not to say that you're experiencing either of those things right now.
I'm just checking in how is my breath.
Perhaps noticing all the different parts of your body that are affected and touched by the breath.
The temperature of the air as you breathe in and out through the nose.
And likewise the physicality of the breath as it moves in and out in the torso.
And then the next invitation is to notice what's happening with the palms.
And if it feels comfortable just to bring the palms so that they're touching in some way.
You might just interlace the fingers or let one hand rest on top of the other or bring the hands into prayer.
Whatever feels most comfortable for you right now.
And just noticing the sensation of touch.
And again the temperature of the skin.
Of course there will be environmental factors which will affect this experience.
If it's a particularly hot day you're more likely to feel hot in the palms as well.
Just noticing.
What's your body temperature?
Good.
And these are just a few of the signs those little telltale signs that we might be moving into a state of dysregulation.
And really the key in order for us to get ahead of our own reactivity is to notice when we're starting to feel dysregulated.
And the more we practice these skills the better equipped we become at noticing.
And the second part of the practice is creating a physical anchor.
And we can do this when we're overwhelmed.
But it's really much more useful for us to initiate these practices when we're in a state of calm.
And so the invitation is to negotiate consent with yourself.
And if it feels comfortable to do so,
To bring a hand to the chest,
To the top of the chest.
And the physical heart is located just to the left of your chest.
And if it feels comfortable to do so,
To bring a hand to the chest,
To the top of the chest.
And the physical heart is located just to the left of your chest.
Around the centre,
Just to the left.
And you might bring a hand onto this part of the body with the palm resting down.
Now that we have the hand as a physical anchor on this part of the body,
Perhaps we can start to feel into the physicality of the body a little more deeply.
And you might be able to feel the breath more vividly as you breathe in and out through the nose.
And there's this invitation to notice with more sensitivity the temperature of the hand and the temperature of the body.
And you might be able to notice the heart beating there.
Perhaps you can tune into that natural rhythm of the heart,
Or imagined rhythm,
As the hand stays on this part of the body.
And the idea with this practice is that you can return to the anchor of the heart whenever you're starting to experience the first signs of overwhelm.
And if we think about the qualities that are associated with the physical heart,
They're often that of compassion,
Kindness and patience.
And perhaps we can start to evoke those feelings,
That deep sense of heart within ourselves.
And it's okay to feel overwhelmed,
And there's not a single human on the world,
On the planet,
That doesn't experience emotional overwhelm.
Can we cultivate a little bit of calm and sensitivity to ourselves as we take our final rounds of breath?
And on your next exhale,
Just allowing that hand to melt away from the heart,
Knowing that you can return to that physical anchor whenever you need to.
And a gentle reminder that these practices are the most effective when we utilize them often.
I hope that you can return to this practice as and when you need to.
Thank you so much,
Friends,
For joining me.
