Hello there and welcome to this practice on regulating and finding resourcefulness in feelings of anger or resentment.
And you might be arriving at this practice having felt a frustration,
A need unfulfilled,
A feeling of a boundary being crossed,
In some way your self,
Your sense of self,
Sense of dignity threatened by another,
The world or a situation itself.
So in this practice we're going to find a way to be with those feelings in a healthy way,
To hold them and to let them regulate and integrate in a healthy way so that we can come back to a sense of ease and a sense of agency.
To begin just maybe finding however you are,
You might be seated,
You might be standing,
You might be lying down,
This is a practice that hopefully can meet you wherever you are.
It's based off a sensory motor psychotherapy resource protocol called PEACE,
Which is an acronym that we'll work through together.
So just beginning where you are,
P stands for pause,
So just pausing whatever you're doing to firstly identify any bodily signals of unrest.
It might be muscle tension,
Shakiness,
Numbness,
Shallow or rapid breathing,
Heart rate faster than usual,
Just noticing any bodily signals of unrest or unease at the moment.
Just doing this as you feel your feet connected with the earth and the ground beneath you,
Letting that ground you and hold you as you come in contact with the bodily signals right here.
And it's normal and it might be that these feelings become more amplified as we come in contact with the bodily signals,
So that's okay.
Just feeling the feet on the earth and feeling your strong spine,
Maybe lengthening your spine.
Feeling your body,
Its strength,
Its groundedness as you come in contact with the unrest.
And we're going to move to E,
Which is to embody a somatic resource,
And for this one,
For feelings of anger,
Resistance can be useful.
So finding your palms up against each other and pushing them against each other,
Creating resistance,
Tension between them,
Feeling the muscles in your arms,
In your shoulders,
Along your forearms,
Maybe along the shoulder blades at the back of the body,
Feeling the tension and resistance.
So inhale and then as you exhale,
Maybe just let the tension go,
Drop your hands down by your side and just feeling what it feels like in your body now.
And let's do it one more time,
Putting your palms against each other and pushing them against each other,
Feeling yourself activate,
Feeling your body activate,
Creating resistance.
Whichever event or situation,
Interaction you found yourself in that helped these feelings come alive and you're imagining in this healthy way that your body is responding by pushing back,
By saying no,
Your body is responding in this healthy way and you can complete this cycle.
So inhaling and pushing your palms together,
Feeling the tension across the upper body,
Feeling your feet connected to the earth and as you exhale,
Letting your hands drop down by your side and feeling the release of tension.
We move to A,
Which is to acknowledge the positive effects of this resource.
Just noticing what you notice.
Noticing what you feel on the sensate level in your body.
Noticing what you feel energetically.
Is it more settled?
More aroused?
What do you notice?
Maybe noticing the space across the eyes,
In between the eyebrows.
Acknowledging the change in state after the resource.
And we move to the C,
Which is to concentrate your attention on the positive effects of the resource.
For about 20 seconds or so,
So just focusing your attention on the internal signals of the ease,
Of the calm,
Of the relaxation that came after the resource.
It just helps fortify the new state.
So just really focusing on it.
What does it feel like?
Can you let yourself savour,
Maybe even amplify the feeling a little more?
Is there a posture,
A gesture that you'd like to do with your body to anchor it?
This new state.
Then we move to the E,
Which is to engage with your environment again.
So maybe starting to notice the sounds around you immediately in this environment,
Orienting back to this space.
Any smells?
And kinesthetically the feeling,
Maybe of the air on your skin or clothes on your skin.
Something in the environment happened that had us feel these feelings of anger.
And we have created and used a resource together to help you tend to that in yourself.
Tend to that in yourself in a healthy way.
To now be able to re-engage with the world around you.
So just deepening the breath.
And in your own time,
Slowly blinking open your eyes back to the world and just noticing what you notice.
See what grabs your attention visually.
Maybe just take a moment to reflect on how that practice was for you.
What felt like it really worked,
What felt a bit challenging.
And how is your state different now as opposed to when we began?
And then again just feeling your feet on the floor,
Your body weight against the earth.
Maybe taking a moment to show appreciation.
To yourself for taking the time.
And then seeing how you'd like to re-engage with the world around you.
What do you need as you move back into the world?
If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me.
Otherwise I look forward to practicing again soon.
Be well.
