Hi,
I'm Peter Dawson and thank you for joining me in exploring the practice of how to reduce the intensity of strong negative emotions.
This simple but profoundly impactful practice has four simple steps.
They are 1.
Notice,
2.
Label,
3.
Breathe,
4.
Release.
The first step is just to notice what is going on.
Not just what is going on around you but what is going on inside of you.
Is there some sort of tension?
Is there some sort of disturbance or a discomfort that's bothering you?
The purpose of the first step is just to bring our awareness to the situation at hand.
It's just to increase our consciousness so that we recognize that we're experiencing something that we want to do something about.
The second step is to give a label to that experience.
We're going to label the emotion,
The energy that we are feeling.
So it may be that we feel angry,
We might feel anxious,
We might feel annoyed,
Frustrated or even bored.
The act of actually labeling and expressing how we feel has been shown to actively reduce the intensity of the emotion that's being felt.
At the same time as labeling the emotion,
We also want to give a score to the intensity of that emotion.
So we'll give it a score out of 10 where 0 is the least and 10 is the most.
Stage 3 is the breathe rhythmically.
The power and impact of rhythmic breathing is well researched and well understood.
And in this practice we're going to use that power to help us reduce the intensity of strong negative emotions.
If you want a deeper understanding of the precise steps in rhythmic breathing,
Please see my other practice,
An introduction to rhythmic breathing.
Just two or three rhythmic breaths can help reset our system and bring us back to neutral,
Reducing the intensity of strong negative emotions.
The final step of this practice is the release.
There's a lot of energy in emotions,
But instead of holding onto them,
Holding them as tension within the body,
We're just going to let them release.
Much like the energy of a wave passes through the ocean or the energy of the wind blows through the branches of the tree,
We're not trying to catch or stop or arrest that energy.
We're not trying to deny that energy exists.
We're just simply allowing it to flow through our system,
To flow through our bodies so that we can release it.
So when we're noticing that we're experiencing an intense,
A strong,
Maybe a negative emotion,
We're just going to do the four steps.
Notice,
Label,
Breathe,
Release.
So let's put this all together.
So step one,
Just notice how you're feeling right now.
Step two,
Give it a label.
Just say it out loud or even better,
Write it down.
I'm feeling X.
Give the intensity of the emotion a score out of 10.
Zero for the least,
10 for the most.
Now let's breathe rhythmically.
Preparing with a nice,
Easy exhale.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Pause,
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Pause and let go.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Pause,
Breathe out,
Two,
Three four,
Pause and let go.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Pause,
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Pause and let go.
And let go.
Now let the energy flow through your body.
So now I'd like you to notice how you feel.
Write down the feeling you're experiencing now and also give yourself a score between 0 and 10 about the intensity of that feeling.
Then notice how that's changed between what you wrote down initially.
Has the feeling shifted to something else?
Has the intensity decreased or changed at all?
I encourage you to use this practice every day and you can use this many times a day whenever you feel a strong or intense negative emotion and you want that to be released.
I often find I use this technique several times in a row.
When I'm experiencing particularly intense or strong negative emotions then sometimes it takes several goes round to reduce those to a level which I'm comfortable with.
There is no right or wrong approach and every individual is different.
So be curious,
Be kind to yourself and enjoy using this practice.
Using this practice more often will enable you to gain control over how you feel and much greater control about the quality of your life.
Thank you for joining me today and I look forward to seeing you soon.
