Hi,
It's Mandy here.
Welcome to this practice for urgency and overwhelm.
So we're going to take a few moments together to gently explore what it feels like when intensity or urgency takes over.
Those moments when everything feels like it needs to happen right now.
You might recognize that racing energy,
The rush to fix,
To do,
To react,
To achieve.
It can also make you feel impatient,
Frustrated and irritated.
Does any of these sound familiar?
It's so common,
Especially when you're living with ongoing pain.
And it's certainly something that resonates for me.
Sometimes urgency can feel like safety,
Like we're solving a problem,
Figuring out a way to quickly protect us from discomfort,
Or as some kind of desperate grab to maintain a sense of control.
That elusive sense of control.
Perhaps this sense of urgency or intensity is an adaptation that's served you well in the past.
But often,
It's simply a signal to our nervous system to stay on high alert,
Believing there's danger when there isn't.
Today,
We'll explore how to ride that wave,
To notice it,
Breathe through it,
And to let it pass without needing to react or get swept away by it.
As Jon Kabat-Zinn says,
We can't stop the waves,
But we can learn to surf.
So settling in to a comfortable posture.
You can do this practice sitting,
Lying down or standing.
There's no right or wrong way.
If it feels okay for you,
You could let your eyes close,
Or just soften and have a relaxed gaze.
And take a slow,
Gentle breath in through the nose,
And a long,
Steady breath out through the mouth.
And just breathing in this way,
Helping to ground yourself into this moment.
With each exhale,
Imagine a bit of softening,
Allowing the body to release just a little bit more into the surface supporting you.
If at any time you feel a bit unsettled,
You can always open your eyes,
Move,
Stretch,
Or return and rest your attention in the movements and sensations of breathing.
This is your practice,
And you're in charge here.
So when you feel ready,
If it's okay,
Could you bring to mind a recent moment when you felt rushed,
Pressured,
Or tightly wound?
That sense that something had to be done right now.
And we're not reliving the story,
Just remembering how it felt,
And gently scanning the body.
Where do you notice the sensations of that urgency or intensity?
Perhaps there's a tightness in the chest,
A racing heart,
Tension through the shoulders,
A kind of buzzing in the head,
Maybe a restlessness or fluttering in the belly.
And simply naming what is here.
This is intensity.
This is the feeling of urgency.
And taking a slow breath into the area where you feel that most,
And exhaling as if widening the space around that feeling,
Creating room for it to be there,
Just exactly as it is.
And now it's time to simply ride the wave.
See if you can watch this feeling like you'd watch a wave at the ocean shore,
Rising,
Peaking,
Crashing,
And falling.
It may help to notice the shift in shape or strength or texture of the sensations.
Simply noticing how it moves through you,
Moment by moment.
And you don't have to stop it,
Or fix it.
You're just observing.
And if it helps,
You could silently remind yourself,
I can feel this.
I'm safe.
The body learns safety not by pushing these sensations away,
But by staying present long enough to realize they pass.
These sensations of urgency and intensity,
They'll pass.
Now see if you can bring perhaps a hand to the chest or the belly,
Or anywhere else on the body that feels comforting.
A grounding gesture.
And as you rest here,
Just take another couple of slow,
Gentle breaths.
Lengthening the exhale.
And if it feels okay,
You might ask yourself gently,
Does this activity truly need to be done right now?
Is this urgent?
Can I allow a little more space and time?
And just allowing these questions to bubble away,
And maybe,
Just maybe,
You might start to realize that not everything is urgent.
We can always let some things wait.
And if you can't do that today,
That's okay too.
We're just learning to pause,
To notice,
To ride the wave of intensity.
And that opens up choice.
And when you're ready,
Just taking another nourishing breath,
Noticing the sensations of contact between your feet and the ground,
Between your body and the surface supporting you,
Maybe even feeling the touch of air on your skin.
And noticing that you're supported.
You're here in this moment.
And as you get ready to move back into the next moments of your day,
Maybe taking with you this gentle reminder,
I can ride the intensity wave.
Not everything is urgent.
I have time.
I have choice.
I have clarity.
And every time you pause like this,
Your brain's learning.
You're safe,
Even in the middle of urgency and intensity.
You're doing really well.
Thanks.
I'll see you next time.
