Quick Stress Reset

This quick stress reset can be used while you're at work (and anywhere else - except driving!). It touches on a few different ways to bring yourself back into your body, and to calm the nervous system and eyes. So you can get back into your day a little more regulated.

The touch, physiological sighs, and vagus nerve stimulation in this recording can help quickly reset your nervous system, so you can get through what you need to. Then, when you have time and space, I’d recommend practising some deeper regulation and emotional processing. When you’re able to let the emotions move (which isn’t always possible in a work setting) the unexpressed emotion behind the stress may not be as triggering next time. Hope it helps, let me know.

Image by Seidenperle from Pixabay

Transcript

This is a quick stress fix for when you just have to deal with it. So I'm assuming you may be at your desk. It doesn't matter where you are. But what we're going to start with is just tapping the feet up and down. So back and forth on the floor. Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap. Shoes on or shoes off. It doesn't matter. Tapping them, Tapping them. And then try to scrunch up your toes. Inside your shoes is okay. No shoes, Even better. And then try to spread them. And it's hard if you've got kind of pointy shoes. But just doing the best you can. Breathe in. Squeeze the toes. Breathe out. Try and spread your toes. Breathe in. Try to squeeze them. Breathe out. Spread. And then just do a little bit of tapping, Rubbing over your, Wherever you can reach. The feet, The ankles, The legs, All around the knees. Coming up. If it feels good, You can hit a little bit harder into your hips on your buttocks and your lower back to sort of pummel around there. Take a breath in. Breathe in more. Long breath out. Just notice the sensation in your feet, In your legs, Maybe your hands from that little bit of tapping and rubbing we did. Again, Breathe in. Breathe in more. Long breath out. It's a physiological sigh. We'll do it one more time. Breathe in. Breathe in again. Long breath out. And you're just going to start gently rubbing your hands together. And to access two parts of the brain, The sensory part and the dialoguing center, I'd like you to repeat in your mind the parts that you're touching. So for example, I'm rubbing the back of my hand and rubbing along the thumb of my left hand, Along the first finger, Second finger, Third finger, In between the fingers. So I'm just going to let you go ahead and do it yourself. Dialogue, Speak in your mind about what part of your hand you're touching and rubbing. Try to get all of the hand, Wherever there is a little bit of lack of sensation, Maybe spend a little bit more time there. So rubbing it, Tapping it, Talking through it in your mind. Try to get every part of both hands back in the front, In between the fingers, Along the fingers, Tips of the fingers. Place them down on your thighs. Just feel the firmness of your hands on your thighs. Take a breath in. Breathe in some more. Long breath out. And now with your hands, If you can feel your collarbone, See the bones that run along the top of your ribs at the bottom of your neck. There's this one bone on each side, Collarbone, There's a little dent in the middle. If you can go right to the center of the collarbone where the little dent begins and that's the bottom of your sternocleidomastoid muscle or tendon. I probably didn't say that very well. Anyway, The side you're touching, So let's touch the inner side of the left collarbone. So you're at the end of the collarbone into the center where it ends and you're going to turn your head to the right and see if you can feel that sternocleidomastoid, So it's just easier if I say SCM, Ligament muscle, And see if you can squeeze it or rub it all the way up to behind your ear. So you're touching the left collarbone with your left hand and using the right hand to squeeze and try to relax that SCM muscle. And the vagus nerve runs along this muscle, So now just lightly tap, Just tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap along there, Breathe in, Long breath out, Gentle taps, And then maybe a light rubbing, Just gently stimulating the vagus nerve there. Come back to center, Place both your hands on your thighs again, Breathe in, Breathe in more, And breathe out. Just noticing how you feel, Maybe you can feel some tingling or warmth up the side of your neck there. We're going to do the other side now, The end of the right collarbone coming all the way into the center where you feel the bone end and a divot, There's a little divot, So hold there, And then from that point to behind your ear on the same side, On the right side, Especially when you turn your head to the left, You can feel it a bit more, You're trying to squeeze either side of that muscle, Don't squeeze so hard that you cut off the circulation, Just squeezing and massaging might be quite tight in here, So just giving that a little bit of a squeeze and a rub. And like before, From behind the ear all the way down to that collarbone point there, Along that SCM, Just tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap, Just switching on the parasympathetic nervous system just to calm the body a little bit. And we'll bring both hands back onto the thighs, Taking a deep breath in, Breath in again, Long breath out, Rub your palms together, And this is great for eye strain, Tired eyes, Stressed out nervous systems, Just rub, Rub, Rub, Rub, Rub, Rub them, Get them as hot as you can, And then I get you to cup your eyeballs, So cup your eyeballs so that you can open your eyes into the palms, Relax the shoulders down, Try to seal off any light, And just stare into the darkness. If there's warmth, That's a bonus, If you're in a cold area, Don't worry, It's still, It's just sending those sight signals to the brain, It's just giving them a little break. Okay, So breathe in, Breathe in more, Long breath out, We'll do this two more times, Breathe in, Breathe in, Long breath out, And one more, Breathe in, Breathe in more, Long breath out, Just gently take the hands away, And you can do that anytime throughout the rest of the day, If you've noticed every, The colour has become brighter, That's a really good sign that the parasympathetic nervous system is switched on. So breathe in, Breathe out, Rub the hands again, Just do a little tapping over the head and the back of the neck, Maybe a little bit over the face, On the chest, Just a little bit, I'm here, I am safe, Rub your hands, Make them nice and hot, Rub them together again, And place both hands on your heart centre, If that's suitable for where you are, If you don't want to, That's okay, Just do it in your mind, And if you do have your hands here, Just firmly press into the centre of your chest a little bit, And just gently circle massage, I am here, I am safe, I am loved, Circle the other way, I am here, I am safe, I am loved, Pat yourself back on the back, And get back into it with a slightly more regulated nervous system.