The nervous system's stress response is triggered by a simple binary question,
Am I okay?
Or to put it more bluntly,
Is my body in danger?
Let's say you are in danger,
An actual tiger is chasing you through the woods.
In this scenario,
Your brain responds by flooding your body with adrenaline and cortisol,
While igniting processes,
Which would enable you to run fast or fight hard.
Makes sense,
You need to protect your body at all costs.
The problem with this trigger is that the brain doesn't differentiate a real tiger from what are often called paper tigers,
Non-life threatening stressors we can't seem to get a break from.
In other words,
There's no low gear when it comes to stress.
And what can you do when you can't escape ongoing stress such as riding the roller coaster of uncertainty during a global pandemic?
We return to the question,
Am I okay?
You can't reason with our brain and tell it to stop responding to paper tigers as if they're real tigers.
This decision-making calculus is based on inputs from other body systems,
Including signals from the sensory nervous system.
This is why when we calm the body,
We tend to feel less anxious.
If the situation we're in is safe enough that we can consciously relax our muscles,
Unclench our teeth,
Slow down our breathing,
Then the brain understands that there is no existential threat.
The answer to the question,
Am I okay,
Becomes yes,
Even when the uncertainty persists.
In this guided meditation,
I'm going to take you through a calming practice designed to let your nervous system know that you're okay.
In an uncomfortable position,
This practice is designed to calm the nervous system.
So you might consider lying down on a yoga mat,
A sofa,
Outside in soft grass,
Even your bed.
There's no right or wrong way to do this,
But I hope that you can find a spot where it will feel safe to relax.
Become aware of the sensation of breathing wherever you feel it in your body.
Notice which body parts move when you breathe in and out.
Notice the texture of your breathing.
The depth of your breathing.
The rate of your breathing.
It's okay if your breathing is shallow and quick.
For now,
Just collect as much data you can about the feeling of breathing in your body.
What else do you notice?
What else do you notice?
Now place your hands on your lower abdomen,
Just below your navel.
The next time you breathe in,
Notice how your hands move away from the spine.
As you release the breath,
Notice how your hands move closer to the spine.
Keep breathing as you focus your attention on the movement of the hands on the belly.
The next time you breathe in,
Notice how your hands move closer to the spine.
The next time you breathe in,
Breathe more purposefully into your hands while also slowing the pace.
This doesn't have to be an especially long breath,
Even just a little slower than before will be fine.
When you breathe out,
Match the pace of your incoming breath.
Continue like this a few more times,
Perhaps incrementally increasing the length of each round of breath.
As you continue breathing slowly and deliberately into your hands,
Stay attuned to how this feels in your body.
You may start to detect some subtle or not so subtle shifts.
Keep breathing as you focus your attention on the movement of the hands.
Begin to count the length of your in-breaths and your out-breaths.
See if you can even out your breathing so that the count is the same for each inhale and exhale.
Keeping the in-breaths and the out-breaths the same,
See if it's possible to add a count or two.
If this creates any strain at all,
Drop back to the previous number.
The intention is to signal the nervous system that you're okay.
If you try to do too much,
Your brain may get the opposite message.
If it feels possible,
See what it's like to add some extra counts to the outgoing breath.
Like before,
If this creates any form of stress,
Drop back to what felt comfortable.
If adding some extra counts to the exhale feels comfortable,
Try to work up to double the count of the incoming breath.
For instance,
If your in-breath is four counts,
Your out-breath would be eight.
That's your translation for each inhale during inhale to hold and exhale back up to 12.
Now you look back up and exhale back up,
Check your fitness Eli,
The ranges to the right,
And then Thank you.
Thank you.
Check back in with the sensation of breathing in your body.
Where do you feel it now?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What else do you notice in your body?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
What's the current texture of your breath?
