Aftercare Mindfulness For OCD Exposure Therapy

This mindfulness practice is here to support you after completing an exposure as part of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) therapy for OCD. ERP can bring up a range of thoughts, feelings and sensations. You might notice tension, anxiety, discomfort or even a sense of relief. Whatever arises, this practice invites you to observe your experience with curiosity and compassion, without needing to change it, make sense of it or resolve any lingering uncertainty. It’s also an opportunity to acknowledge that you’ve done something challenging and recognise the courage it takes to actually do exposures! Go you! You should be proud of yourself.

Transcript

Welcome to your post-exposure mindfulness. So you might have just completed some exposure response prevention therapy for OCD and now you're sitting with a lot of feelings and so this mindfulness practice is for you. So wherever you are, I invite you to get comfortable if you're sitting or maybe you're lying down. Wherever you are, Just taking a few deep breaths in. And letting it go. Just allowing your body to settle into this space. Observing the mind, Observing the thoughts. Noticing if the mind is busy. Observing the body, Noticing if there's emotions, Sensations, Tensions. And as you are observing the mind and the body, I invite you to bring in this sense of curiosity. And a non-judgmental attitude. We know that doing exposures can be really challenging sometimes, And can bring up lots of feelings and lots of thoughts. So in this mindfulness practice, We're going to practice being curious. Curious about what we're feeling, What we're thinking. And we're going to also practice bringing in a self-compassionate attitude. And perhaps even some self talk that is positive and supportive for you. So to begin with, I'm just going to invite you to notice how you're feeling. Noticing if there's any tensions anywhere in the body once again, Just tuning in. Noticing. Maybe there's a heaviness or lightness. Maybe there's a fluttery feeling, Or an energizing feeling. Just noticing where you feel that in your body. And as you start to pay attention to these feelings, Your mind might get caught up in thoughts. So just notice that and then bring your awareness back to the body. Just see if you can breathe into this tension. Breathe into the sensations you're feeling and see if you can make room for them to be there just as they are. Just as they are, There's no need to change, Control, And get rid of this feeling. Just seeing if we can make some room for it. So it's quite normal after doing exposure therapy and. . . Really going into some of the difficult things we don't want to feel or think. It's quite normal that it would bring up. . . Lots of emotion in the body. There might be lots of tension, Or feelings, Sensation. You might be feeling a bit more anxious or fearful, Overwhelmed. Guilt, Shame. Well, There might even be a sense of relief. There might even be a sense of, Wow, I just did something really hard. Wow, I can't believe I did that. And so now I invite you just to really acknowledge yourself. Really acknowledging yourself for the courage that it's taken you. To do this exposure, Whatever it is. Other people might not know how hard this has been for you. But you know. You know. What it's taken to do this exposure and that is powerful. That is really powerful. It takes a lot of courage to face some of these really tricky situations. So I want to now invite you to offer yourself some words of praise, Words of encouragement. I'm just noticing any of these parts of you that have come up, Maybe a scared part or anxious part, Relieved part. Just see if you can offer this path that's really faced this fear and done this exposure, Seeing if you can offer it some encouragement and it could be saying something like Wow, I'm really proud of you. I'm so proud of you. For doing this exposure. Wow. Look at you. I'm so proud of you. You've done so well. So just taking a few moments here to say some words to yourself. Words of encouragement. Words of praise. Doing something that's really tricky. Something that maybe other people don't understand. Let's see if you can offer that understanding, That praise, That compassionate word to yourself. And as you offer yourself these kind words, Just notice, What is it like for me to receive these words? What does it feel like in my body? To receive this praise, This compassion, This acceptance. What does that feel like? What do I notice in my body? Is there some ease? Is there some more space? Maybe there's nothing. Maybe there's numbness. Whatever is there, That is totally fine. In mindfulness practice, We bring an attitude of curiosity to whatever we're feeling. So before we close this practice. . . Inviting you now just to bring your awareness back to the body, The breath. Allowing the breath to flow naturally, Just observing. Observing the breath. Observing the body, Sensations. Just allowing yourself to be as you are in this moment. Having just faced some difficult exposure. Really acknowledging yourself for that. For taking that time. And now taking this time to. . . To settle, To integrate, To allow all of these parts of you to be seen and recognized for the work that they're doing. Recognising them yourself, For yourself. Is an act of deep care, Self-care and self-love.