Hello my friend.
If you are listening right now because something feels really overwhelming in your system,
You're feeling a big surge of emotion,
A real urge to react,
Maybe to fix,
Maybe to explain or defend,
Or to shut down because there's all this activity on the inside and the outside of you is frozen,
Please know you're not alone.
It's really normal to feel triggered and to be triggered.
It's a normal part of being human.
It also means that your system is feeling overwhelmed.
So when we feel like that it feels awful but what we need to do is help our system to feel safe.
And that's what we're going to do now.
We're going to take a small pause together.
Let me remind you that you don't have to solve anything in this moment.
You might feel urgency but it's false urgency.
It's just your body is producing a response.
Can you pause to take one conscious breath.
Just feeling your breath moving in and then out.
Just to give you that pause.
And then notice,
Just get curious about what is happening in your body.
Maybe you can label it.
Is there tightness somewhere?
Is there a feeling of a rush of heat?
Does it feel like your heart is beating really fast,
Pounding?
Maybe a feeling of pressure or a fidgety restless feeling like you want to climb out of your skin.
This is nothing to be afraid of.
Just name it silently.
This is activation.
This is activation.
Or my body is feeling unsafe,
Unsettled.
Now I'm just going to ask you to focus on your exhale.
I'm not trying to exhale.
You'll exhale anyway.
But see if you can feel that downward movement it has.
So when you inhale there's an upward movement and your chest rises,
Your belly rises.
And when you exhale there's a downward movement.
And just at your own pace,
Whatever's happening,
You're just feeling the up movement and then the down.
I wonder if you could just slow down a fraction.
That exhale,
That down.
See if you can make it lengthen a little,
Even a micro amount.
And then check to see if your shoulders are holding themselves up or up at your ears.
And see if you can let them drop even a fraction.
And let your jaw soften.
You're not trying to calm yourself.
You're letting your body know that you're safe.
It's safe for you to loosen a little,
For your shoulders to drop,
For your jaw to unclench.
And now can you bring your awareness down into your feet.
Maybe your feet are on the ground or they're resting on something.
Really feel how your feet anchor to the floor.
See how they connect to that support underneath them in a very concrete way.
And I invite you to press down through your feet gently.
A way to really feel here I am.
There's ground underneath me.
And that is helping your body to register I am here.
And I'm grounded,
I'm supported.
And now you can offer yourself some reassurance.
And you're speaking to the parts of you that think they have to protect you by putting up this protest,
This triggered feeling.
They're really doing their best for you.
They want you to be supported but they're using a way that isn't helping you,
May have helped you once.
And you're just going to say,
I see you trying to protect me,
Thank you.
But we don't have to react right now.
So what you're saying is you have a choice and when we say I don't have to react right now,
No matter how my body is feeling,
We're creating space between the feeling and our response to the feeling.
Notice if any space is appearing for you,
Even a little,
Or if anything softens.
You are allowed to do nothing.
You're allowed to feel what you feel and be human.
And you're still allowed to take your time to look after the feelings.
This action comes from steadiness.
It allows your system to know actually there is no danger.
And even though it can feel a little uncomfortable,
Every time you practice this it becomes less so as your body learns a new kind of safety.
So even this pause you've taken is a very powerful act of disarming your triggers,
Of healing.
And each time you steady instead of reacting,
You're helping your body feel safer and safer in a real physical way.
So you can return to this,
Pause this place whenever you want to,
And you can play it more than once.
Trust this,
It really works.
Thank you for practicing and thank yourself.
It's such a wise thing to do.
And until next time,
Bye for now beautiful human.
