Hi there and welcome to this very quick practice.
Let's do the practice first and then I'll unpack some of the elements so you understand the context and where to use it.
So let's begin by sitting or standing.
If we're sitting,
Put your feet flat on the ground,
Your hands on your lap comfortably.
Just allow your body to go a little bit limp and loose.
Close your eyes or allow your gaze to fall down with a soft focus,
Maybe a meter or two in front of you.
And as you do that,
Let's start by taking three mindful breaths and I'll time your breath in silence with mine.
Among all the movements we've actually been able to create.
And as you exhale on the third breath,
Let's just do a check in first with the head and do this for real right now.
What thoughts am I noticing?
What am I saying to myself?
What's myself talk?
What stories am I telling myself in this moment about what's going on?
Not trying to change them,
Not trying to dive deeply into them and analyze why,
But rather just noticing what are the stories in this moment.
And then having done that,
Let's shift checking in with the heart.
One hand on your heart and please do put that hand on your heart and explain why later.
And just ask yourself,
What is my deepest intention right now?
Or how would I like myself to show up in this moment?
Or what do my values tell me is the correct way to be in this moment?
And just floating those questions and just seeing what comes up for however long you like.
And then finally shifting your hand to lightly rest on your abdomen.
What emotions or sensations do you notice coming up in the body?
What hunches or intuitions are coming up for you in this moment?
What is your gut telling you about this situation?
Watching especially for and sensing out especially for sensations as emotions arise in the body.
And perhaps when you notice a sensation arising,
Perhaps giving it a label like tight or loose or open or uncomfortable,
Whatever you label it.
And if you like even breathing into it and imagining that you're breathing in and out of it.
Not trying to change the sensations,
Not trying to push them down,
But simply letting them be and noticing what's going on in this moment.
And that's the practice.
So let me unpack some of the elements of that practice.
So did you understand what they're about?
If you go on to Google,
You search the web for breathing and parasympathetic nervous system,
You'll discover that a couple of slow breaths can often be enough to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system,
Which is the the off switch for the fight or flight response that's driven by the sympathetic nervous system that can often overwhelm us in difficult times when we're under stress.
As little as three breaths like that.
One just brings us back to the present,
But two actually has that physiological effect of triggering the parasympathetic nervous system.
Checking into the head allows you just to observe and the objective is just to observe,
Not to change anything.
What am I telling myself about this moment?
What thoughts are determining my experience in this moment?
Because the way you're thinking about this moment,
That stories you're telling yourself determine a lot of the experiences you're going to have.
Putting your hand on your heart when you're checking into the heart triggers a release of oxytocin.
Oxytocin is the bonding hormone or the hugging hormone,
As it's often called in the popular press.
And I'd suggest you hop onto Google and again look at this,
The role of this particular hormone.
But in brief,
It releases a hormone that makes you more inclined to be compassionate towards whomever is doing the touching.
And so in that moment,
When you put your hand over your heart,
Not only does it have the effect of bringing your attention to what your heart is telling you in that moment,
But it also releases a chemical that causes you to be a little bit more compassionate with yourself.
Because one of the things we often do in our toughest moments when we need the most compassion,
We are the hardest on ourselves and our inner critic gets out as sharp as barbs.
So make sure when you do the practice that you do,
If it's convenient,
If you're in a place where you can,
Make sure you put your hand on your heart as you feel into and sense into and check into your heart.
And then finally,
Putting the hand on the abdomen also releases oxytocin,
But it kind of brings a sense of the shift from the heart to the gut.
Putting your hand on your gut tells you where you should be feeling into and sensing into it and gives you a sense,
A very spatial sense of where it is you want to allow your attention to settle.
This is not a unique practice for me.
It's been around a long time.
And the reason it's been around a long time is it's really,
Really quick to use and it's really,
Really effective.
I suggest that you use it as part of the RAIN process that you'll find in one of the other practices that you'll find on the platform here.
And it's particularly useful as part of the IN steps in RAIN.
In that few moments when you feel yourself becoming overwhelmed by a stressful situation and you're working through the recognize,
Allow,
Investigate and not me phases of the RAIN process.
As you get to the I and the N,
The investigate and not me,
This three step check in,
This heart,
Head and gut check in can be a great way of enhancing that whole process and giving some focus to it.
So that's the simple process,
The head,
Heart and gut check in.
Enjoy.
