This is Larissa Hall Carlson with three mindfulness tools to help you ease through the challenging moments.
Caregiving can be exhausting and stressful.
Belly breathing is one of the best techniques to ground and soothe amidst the chaos.
It's very simple.
Establish a comfortable,
Steady seat and rest your hands on the belly.
Take a few moments to elongate the spine.
If it's comfortable,
Close the eyes.
Drop the attention down to the belly and begin to deepen the breath there.
On each slow,
Deep inhalation,
Let the belly expand like a balloon.
On each long exhalation,
Draw the belly button back towards the spine,
Squeezing out the stale air.
On each inhalation,
The belly opens and widens with breath.
On each exhalation,
The belly deflates,
Engaging the core muscles,
Squeezing empty.
Continue,
Each inhalation let the belly open and soften with breath.
Each exhalation,
Engage that core strength,
Squeezing out the stale air,
Releasing tension and tightness.
Keep going.
Deep full belly breaths or diaphragmatic breaths.
Breathing in and out through the nose if that's comfortable,
Inviting more grounding,
More settling,
More ease.
At the end of the next exhalation,
Release the belly breath.
Release the hands back to the lap and feel the effects.
One to three minutes of belly breathing can help release stress,
Enhance presence and reboot clarity.
Now another area in the body that tends to feel tight or tense during caregiving are the shoulders.
Let's loosen up the shoulders.
Either sitting comfortably or standing,
Begin to roll the shoulders forward and up,
Back and down,
Coming into shoulder rolls.
Let these circles be comfortable,
Never forcing the shoulders,
Never grinding,
Just moving at a comfortable rhythm.
You can begin to deepen the breath,
Breathing in and out through the nose if that's comfortable,
Inviting the heat to build in the shoulders,
Melting away tension and tightness.
Change direction.
As you continue to roll the shoulders,
Notice if one shoulder feels a little more open than the other.
Invite the shoulders to be balanced,
Harmonized,
Softened.
And at the end of the next shoulder roll,
Release all that movement.
Let the natural breath return and feel the effects in the shoulders.
Has anything warmed,
Softened,
Relaxed?
Perhaps you can sense increased energy tingling or vibrating up in the shoulders.
This is a mindfulness tool to quickly soften and ease.
Use it any time of day when you feel the shoulders starting to creep up to the ears.
Now the third tool for caregivers is kindness meditation,
A practice that we'll be doing to recharge the batteries,
To refill the well.
This is a loving kindness meditation known as Metta.
So establish a comfortable steady seat,
Elongate the spine and with the eyes soft or closed,
Repeat these phrases,
Inviting well wishes to flood the body mind.
May I feel peaceful and at ease.
May I feel peaceful and at ease.
May I feel peaceful and at ease.
May I feel peaceful and at ease.
Let the breath gradually deepen,
Soaking up those kind and friendly words for yourself.
Let the eyes flutter open.
This loving kindness meditation can be used any time of day or night.
Whenever you're feeling tapped,
Exhausted,
Spread too thin,
Stressed or frustrated,
Simply come back to these words.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
Doing you the very best.
