3 S Practice: Skillfully Responding To Stress

When experiencing stress related to the demands of life, the same system that prepares the body for fight or flight in dangerous situations gets activated. This can create a sense of overwhelm and bring about reactivity rather than responsiveness. 3 S Practice supports the deceleration of internal activation and offers an opportunity for grounding and gaining greater awareness in order to sense what would best support the self during times of stress.

The track includes a 13-minute talk followed by a guided meditation and begins and ends with brief music.

Transcript

When we're experiencing a great deal of stress or overwhelm,

There's this internal acceleration happening.

You may notice the heart rate is increased,

Breathing may be more rapid,

And perhaps thoughts are racing.

And there might just be this overall sense of speeding up.

Now,

If we're in a dangerous situation,

This is helpful,

Even necessary.

We need to be able to move rapidly and make rapid decisions.

So our nervous system response creates conditions in the body to help us out.

But if we're not in a situation of looming danger,

But feeling stressed out with the demands of life,

These same nervous system responses can happen and they can feel quite overwhelming.

And sometimes in the midst of that,

We do or say things that aren't so skillful that we may come to regret.

There are three S-words that can be reminders to help gain more grounding and awareness in these situations.

So we can have more clarity about what's going on and perhaps a better sense of what we need in those moments to support ourselves.

And those three S's are slow,

Sense,

Scan.

So the first S-word is slow.

And this may feel counterintuitive when stress hormones are pumping through the body,

But slowing will support calming the nervous system down.

So the invitation is to slow,

Not to try to stop.

So just think of it as tapping the brakes.

One way to help slow down is to take some deep,

Slow breaths.

A deep,

Slow inhale to the diaphragm and slow,

Complete exhale.

A few rounds of these kinds of breaths can send the signal to the nervous system that fight-or-flight is not necessary right now.

Now it still takes some time for stress hormones that are already released to be metabolized by the body.

So it may not offer immediate relief,

But the signals are being sent.

Other ways to slow might be to notice that there are rapid thoughts occurring and to label that.

Rapid thoughts,

Racing thoughts.

Some people use the phrase brain is full or mind is full.

When there's conscious awareness that there are many racing thoughts,

That is already supporting the brain on moving out of that alarm center because there's a knowing that this is happening.

So there's rapid thoughts and the knowing that rapid thoughts are happening.

So that's moving awareness to another part of the brain away from the alarm center.

You might also gently and silently say to yourself,

One thought at a time,

Just as a reminder.

And consider other ways to slow down or tap the brakes.

You might be in a highly stimulating environment and might need to move to a quieter or less stimulating space for a few moments.

If you're in the midst of activity,

You may need to consciously slow the pace.

So various ways to slow as we consider this first reminder of slow,

Of slowing down.

The second S is sense.

And this is a reminder for sensory awareness.

When we bring focus to our senses,

We are bringing in present moment awareness.

So you might bring focus to several sense gateways one at a time and notice what's coming in.

Sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch.

Or you may bring focus to a particular sense gateway and notice the various things that are entering there.

Several things that you see or perhaps even noticing several things of a particular color you can see.

Or maybe there's various elements of sound arriving in that sense gateway.

Noticing the variations and textures of sounds.

Touch is another gateway for various arrivals and sensations.

Maybe noticing textures,

Touch points,

Temperature.

Smells and various other sensations can arrive in the nose.

Same with taste in the mouth.

Various sensations arrive there.

So the second reminder of sense offers several options for grounding in sensory awareness.

Bringing conscious awareness right here right now.

The third S is scan.

So after slowing down and gaining present moment contact with sensory awareness,

The invitation is to scan the body.

Bringing in body awareness.

And noticing where there is tension or activation.

Sometimes we sort of lose track of the body when we're stressed out.

So this reminder we're prompted to do a scan throughout the body from the head all the way to the feet.

And when tension or activation is noticed,

Seeing if it's accessible to loosen or soften any.

So this third reminder of scan brings further grounding into the body.

Again noticing activation or tightness and seeing if there's an option for any release.

As stated earlier,

This is a practice for gaining grounding and awareness when experiencing stress.

To get a clearer view of what's happening and what support you may need to offer yourself.

It helps interrupt reactivity and allows you to respond more skillfully.

And there may be a bit of relaxing or calming that happens when we're doing some deep breaths.

When we're gaining greater present moment awareness and also working to soften or release areas of tension in the body.

But this isn't really a relaxation exercise.

The primary aim of this practice is to have greater awareness of your current condition so that you may take steps to support yourself in needed ways.

Sometimes when we're in periods of high stress we feel as though we must do something quickly to alleviate this feeling of stress.

But it's truly more wise if we can gain clarity before reacting.

That idea of responding rather than reacting.

Because often in reactivity we respond in ways that we later wish we hadn't.

So that's what this practice is about.

Slowing down,

Grounding,

Gaining awareness of how stress is showing up in the body.

Because maybe now is not the time for that phone call or text.

Maybe now's the time for some stretching or journaling or touching base with nature or to just keep breathing or whatever ways that you know support you.

And also in this midst of slowing sensing and scanning there may be a recognition that the current level of stress being experienced is actually about something else other than what initially seemed to be the case.

Perhaps there's a recognition of being caught up in a story.

Because we all tend to have particular stories that we can get caught up in and react from.

And it's quite helpful to know when that's happening rather than it happening unconsciously.

When we recognize we're caught in a story we're more capable of unhooking from it.

So what this practice supports is getting to a place of more mindful awareness so that you have an opportunity to employ needed supports so that you can more skillfully navigate this time of stress.

I'd like to offer a period of 3S practice now and the verbal guidance offered will go through all of the steps slowly.

Over time you may learn that there are particular things that work well for you to support this slowing sensing and scanning.

So that you may not need the verbal prompts.

So on your own this practice will likely be of shorter duration once you get a feel for what works for you.

But it's good to practice so that there is a remembrance of the three steps when stress arrives and you wish to respond skillfully rather than react impulsively.

So let's begin.

Inviting in a sense of slowing.

Of tapping the brakes.

Not stopping but slowing.

Giving permission to take a few deep slow breaths.

Deep slow inhale all the way to the diaphragm.

To the belly.

And slow complete exhale.

And again slowing the breath.

Breathing in deeply.

Slowly.

And releasing the breath.

Still slowly and fully.

You might take another breath or two in this way.

When you're ready you may return to the natural rhythm of breath.

But knowing you may take deliberately deep and slow breaths at any time.

Just noticing if anything else seems accelerated.

Is the environment highly stimulating?

And might you find a space that's a little quieter and calmer?

Are there many thoughts moving through rapidly?

If so might you acknowledge that to yourself?

Mind racing.

Our mind is full.

Or maybe labeling the kinds of thoughts that are noticed.

Worried thoughts.

Nervous thoughts.

Frustrated thoughts.

Planning or to-do thoughts.

Whatever particular themes the thoughts seem to hold.

Noticing and labeling.

And if possible might you offer a gentle nudge to allow one thought at a time.

And moving attention now to the second S of sense.

Bringing attention and noticing the particular experiences arriving at your sensory gateways.

You might bring awareness to each of the five senses.

And notice what is being taken in by each.

If you are sighted what are the eyes drawn to?

If you are hearing what are the ears noticing?

What is the sense of touch noticing?

Are there smells or sensations noticed in the nose?

Or are there particular tastes or sensations noticed in the mouth?

Or you might focus awareness on one or two sense gateways and notice the multiple experiences arriving.

Perhaps with sight you might bring attention to things you haven't noticed before.

Or maybe choosing a particular color and noticing multiple things that are shades of that color.

With sound you might notice that as you focus only on that sense that there are layers of various sounds,

Volumes,

Textures.

With the sense of touch you might notice the sensation of clothing on the skin.

Or perhaps the texture of various items in your vicinity.

You might notice the sensation of touch points where the body is making contact with a seed or the floor or the ground.

How gravity holds the body in place.

With smell you might notice if there are different aromas arriving at the nose.

Or perhaps sensations in the nose.

Maybe the sensation of air coming and going in the nose with the breath.

Through the taste gateway perhaps noticing taste or other sensations in the mouth.

Is the sensation of breath also evident in the mouth?

So allowing sensory awareness in whatever way works and moving attention now to the third S of scan.

Bringing attention to a scan of the body starting at the top of the head and just slowly allowing attention to move throughout the body.

Noticing if tension or some kind of activation is in the body and seeing if there might be a loosening or release.

Forehead,

Temples,

Face,

Jaw,

Chin,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Arms,

Wrist,

Hands,

Fingers.

Noticing tension,

Loosening if it's accessible.

The chest and the upper back,

The abdomen,

Belly,

Lower back,

Softening,

Loosening,

Hips,

Thighs,

Knees,

Calves,

Ankles,

Feet,

Toes.

Bringing awareness through the scan throughout the body.

Noticing tension and loosening where possible.

As we prepare to end this practice notice if any qualities have shifted within.

Has there been any calming or slowing of thoughts?

Is there a little more clarity?

Is there any better sense of what would support you right now?

I would invite an offering of appreciation to self for allowing the time and space for this practice.

If it feels right you might place a hand on the heart as a gesture of this appreciation and care for self.

Thank you for your practice friends.

May this 3S practice support you in times of stress.

Reviews

Wonderful meditation for stressful times. I will use this practice going forward if things are getting overwhelming. Thank you!