Release Worry And Reset To Calm

Worry is common, especially with women. When you feel worried the feelings seem to go on forever... but they don't have to when you know what to do to release worry and reset to calm.

Learn the number 1 most common cause of worry and how to release it with this simple but powerful technique you can use anytime, anywhere.

Transcript

You're here because you feel worried more often than you would like to,

And this is such a common issue for women.

We worry about our jobs,

We worry about the future,

We worry about whether or not we can rise above our challenges,

And often we also worry about other people.

We worry because we feel really like we are losing control,

Or that things are out of our control.

And here's the irony,

You aren't in control,

And you never were.

When you think about it,

What does worry do for you?

What does it accomplish?

Does worry change or accomplish anything?

I think we can all agree that no,

It does not,

But think about how horrible it feels to be in that place.

You're racing heart,

Maybe you have trouble sleeping at night,

Maybe you're suffering from digestive issues or other health issues because this has become a repetitive pattern for you.

And in fact,

When worry becomes something that we repeat over and over,

It has a huge impact on us.

It keeps us living in fight or flight mode pretty much consistently,

And when that happens,

Our bodies become flooded with cortisol,

The stress hormone.

And this creates a whole host of issues for us,

Everything from having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep,

To digestive issues,

Maybe we have unexplained weight gain or even other health issues.

But the habit of worry and worrying frequently doesn't just impact us,

It impacts everyone around us.

If you have children,

You know they totally pick up on it,

They have spidey senses and they know when something is off,

Right?

If you have partners,

They're also impacted,

And even our pets know when we are not feeling at our best.

Every so often,

If I'm in a place where maybe I've received sad news or something like that,

My dog will come and put her head in my lap because she just can feel it.

So it isn't just about us,

It's about everybody around us as well.

Let's dive into really what worry is though.

We worry because we are thinking certain thoughts,

Right?

And thoughts are not things,

Thoughts exist here in our minds.

So to take it one step further,

That would mean then that your worry is really just a thought of something that could happen.

It is one thought about a potential future outcome.

And in that way,

It does not exist,

That outcome does not yet exist.

And it is only one of many possible outcomes.

And often when we worry,

We kind of dream up the worst possible scenarios we can think of,

Right?

So worries do not yet exist,

They are just thoughts,

They may always be thoughts,

Only one of many possible outcomes.

And in that way,

A worry really is an illusion.

It's something we're just thinking about.

I like to look at it this way.

The word worry stands for waste of resources that are rightfully yours,

Waste of resources rightfully yours.

Worry is a habit.

It's something that we have practiced over and over so many times that it's now become our default pattern.

And really worry is essentially praying for what we don't want.

We're thinking over and over about bad things that could happen.

And bad things that probably won't happen,

Bad things that may never happen.

But there's good news.

Since we have the ability to notice our thoughts,

This means that we are not our thoughts.

And when we notice our mind starting to spin out,

We can take steps to shift away from these thoughts rather than getting swept up in them.

So when we notice that we're off track,

We can shift the mind and re-center.

Now I'm sure you might be thinking,

Okay,

That's great Greer,

But it's easier said than done.

And I totally get it,

I understand,

I have been there.

Sometimes when we get stuck in these mental patterns,

We feel paralyzed,

We feel stuck,

And it's hard to even think about how to help ourselves and get out of it.

So I'd like to share a simple but powerful ritual to help you do exactly that.

And this is my favorite tool because you can do it anytime and anywhere.

So what I am talking about is actually reconnecting with the breath.

This is the quickest and easiest way to re-center ourselves.

In the yoga world,

Breath is life.

The word prana is life force.

And so if we can regulate our breath,

We can regulate our nervous system and we can calm the mind.

So let's take a moment and try this together.

We are going to just go ahead and close our eyes.

And I just want to invite you to feel your sitting bones on the chair or other surface below you.

It's feeling a nice rooted,

Steady posture,

Stretching your spine up tall,

Reaching the crown of the head towards the sky.

So you've got a nice long spine.

And then beginning to scan your body,

Starting at the crown of your head.

And just noticing any areas where you might be feeling any kind of tension,

Places that need a little TLC,

And just working to consciously relax them.

A lot of us hold tension in our face,

So relax your face,

Relax your jaw,

Let the shoulders drop away from your ears.

And just really allowing yourself to relax,

Letting the mind be present here,

Letting go of anything else that may be tugging at your attention,

Just focusing on your body.

And from there,

We will go ahead and bring your attention to your breath.

Just noticing the breath moving in and out of your body,

Keeping your attention and focus solely on the breath,

Watching the inhale,

Watching the exhale,

And listening to the sound as the breath moves in and out of your body.

You can take a few moments to just consciously lengthen the breath,

Smoothing out any rough edges,

Slowing it down.

When we take full,

Slow,

Steady breaths,

That automatically sends a message to our nervous system to calm down.

And we are also bringing in more oxygen,

More prana,

When we take fuller breaths.

And in this way,

It allows us to think more clearly,

We feel more alert.

Sometimes when we are anxious,

The breaths get very shallow and we're not bringing in a lot of oxygen,

And so we can feel a little fuzzy headed or slightly off balance.

So just slowing the breath down and just keeping your focus only on the breath.

And you may notice that the mind tends to wander after a few moments.

And if that happens,

Just gently guide your mind back to focusing on your breath.

And by doing this,

We are giving the mind something else to do,

Because our minds are active.

That is what minds do.

They are constant companions.

If we allow them to,

They will churn out thoughts and ideas,

But we can take back the reins and guide our mind to what we want it to do.

Listen to the sound of the breath as it moves in and out of your body.

It sounds a little bit like ocean waves.

And this sound of breath really is the very first sound we ever hear when we are still in our mother's womb,

Back when we were warm and safe and held,

And all of our needs were looked after.

And in that way,

We can reconnect to those same feelings of safety and security when we tune into the sound of our own breath.

It's a very calming sound.

Just taking one more breath like this,

And then on the next inhale,

You can open your eyes.

So that's a very simple centering technique that you can use anytime and anywhere you may need to.

And I realize it may seem like something very simple or even something you already know,

But sometimes we need a reminder.

We need to remember to use this tool anytime we notice that our minds are spinning out and we don't feel calm and centered.

We are going to dive into how to take this even deeper to make this tool supercharged for you.

And ancient yogic scriptures talk about the practice of withdrawing the senses in order to still the mind.

We already just practice this by withdrawing one sense when we closed our eyes.

Vision is a very powerful sense.

So is our hearing.

And sometimes we get anxious when we feel overstimulated.

So by shutting down the senses,

We can calm the mind very quickly.

So what we are going to do is use the hands to close off the ears.

So we'll be placing the four fingers on your brow,

And then you can use the thumbs to press the cartilage at the inner edge of your ear to close off the sound.

And we will,

I'll talk you through it first.

And then we will practice just three rounds of breath,

Inhale and exhale is one round.

So you'll do three rounds with your eyes closed,

Your ears closed.

And then once you have finished those three rounds,

You can let your hands return to your lap,

Keep your eyes closed for a moment,

And just allow yourself to notice the effects.

So let's take the hands or fingers together,

Placing them on the brow.

You'll place your thumbs on the inner cartilage of your ear and close off the outside edge of your ear.

So you don't hear noise around you.

And then just take three slow,

Steady breaths with your eyes closed.

So let's go ahead and do that.

Let your hands come to the lap when you're done,

Keeping the eyes closed.

So when you have completed three rounds of breath,

Keep your eyes closed.

And let your hands just rest gently in your lap.

And just take a few moments to notice how you feel.

And then on the next inhale,

You can gently open your eyes.

Hmm,

How did that land for you?

What I've heard from clients in the past is that particularly when we close off sound,

It really just intensifies the feeling of going deep within,

Of hearing the sound of your breathing,

Which is such a calming sound,

And just really feeling like it's a very quick and powerful reset.

And this is a simple,

Effective tool you can use anywhere.

And it's just one of many tools that I teach my clients in my Peaceful and Powerful Wisdom Circle.

So I'd like to invite you to think about how worry keeps us stuck.

It stems from a distrust of life.

Sometimes we don't trust that we are held or that the universe has our back.

But we are not the doers.

And if you think about all the things that happen without any of our participation,

It's incredible.

The sun comes up every day,

Flowers open in the sunshine,

And then fall closed again at night to sleep.

The temperature is just right to support life on our planet.

Our heart beats,

We breathe.

There is a force at work all around us,

And that same force exists within us as well.

Some call it Source or Higher Self or Cosmic Energy.

It's Divine Consciousness or Infinite Intelligence.

And it's the same power that underlies our entire universe.

This Universal Intelligence is pre-programmed.

An acorn knows exactly what to do to become an oak tree.

An embryo knows exactly what to do to become a baby and then later a full-fledged human being.

So there is a force at work,

A divine architecture that is also guiding us to be and do and have a most beautiful life for ourselves as well.

If you find yourself worrying,

Again,

You can use this recentering technique that we just worked through together.

And I invite you to ask yourself this question as well.

As I said before,

Oftentimes when we worry,

We're projecting into the future about possible outcomes.

So ask yourself,

Is there a problem right now in this moment?

And 99 times out of 100,

There isn't a problem right now in this moment.

It's us worrying about all the things we think could happen.

I'd like to share a quote from Eckhart Tolle.

He says,

Don't believe everything you think.

We think approximately 60,

000 thoughts in a given day.

And this is just one out of all of those 60,

000 thoughts.

And when we worry,

We cut ourselves off from our higher thought.

We're not able to access our executive thinking and we're not able to make good decisions.

And really,

When we paralyze ourselves in worry,

We're blocking the conversation with our intuition,

With our inner guidance and our connection to our highest selves.

So remember,

This is a practice.

We can continue to build awareness of what's going on in our minds,

What our mental habits are,

And we can choose new mental habits that serve us better.

At first,

You may find that you have to remind yourself quite frequently.

Your mind might slip off every few moments,

But over time,

With practice,

Feeling more calm and centered and peaceful will become your new mental habit.

And the more often you practice it,

The more often you are reinforcing this new habit and becoming the master of your inner domain.

Reclaiming your inner world and building an inner world that you love.

I'm so glad that we were able to spend this time together and look for future.

I'm so glad that we were able to spend this time together.

And I will be sending you some other tips and tools.

So keep an eye out for those in your inbox.

And I hope that you have a beautiful rest of your day.