This is a guided visualization to help you explore how your body responds in stressful events.
Learning how to read your nervous system,
What happens when you jump up into that fight or flight,
What happens to your heart rate,
Your breathing,
Tension in your body,
And also learning how to come down out of it.
I want you to just find a comfortable space,
Preferably seated for this one,
And just close your eyes.
Begin checking in with your breath,
Checking in with your body,
Noticing if you're holding any tension in your body as we begin,
Noticing the pace of your breath,
Where you're breathing,
If you're breathing into your belly or into your chest.
Just scanning your body from head to toe,
Noticing if you're holding any tension.
See if you can focus in on your heart rate.
Determine how fast or slow it's beating.
Now I want you to begin to visualize a stressful event in your life,
Something that triggers you,
That's uncomfortable.
Maybe it's speaking in public.
Maybe it's getting on an airplane.
It could be a colleague at work or having a difficult conversation with your partner.
I want you to get very detailed with this visualization.
Everything you see,
The person you're with,
The room,
The color of the walls,
What they're wearing,
What you're wearing,
What do you smell,
What do you hear,
What do you feel with the touch of your skin.
Now begin zoning into your body.
Where do you feel the stressful situation first arise in your body?
Do you have a little tension in your gut?
Shoulders tense up?
What's happening to your breathing?
Is it short and shallow,
Really rapid?
Maybe you're holding your breath.
Have you begun breathing in and out of your mouth?
What's happening to your heart rate?
Is it fluttering?
Getting a little faster than you expected?
Maybe your palms are beginning to sweat or you're feeling a little jittery that you want to move and act and can't sit still.
Sit with these feelings for a second,
All of them.
Explore them.
Don't judge them.
Just become aware.
We're learning how to read our nervous system.
Don't jump up into that fight or flight,
Stressed zone.
Become comfortable here.
It's okay.
Stay very detailed in this event with everything you're seeing,
Hearing,
Smelling,
And all the reactions in your body.
Now I want you to give me a big deep breath in through your mouth,
Down into your belly,
And out of your mouth.
Let's do one more.
Let's do one more.
Now in through your nose,
Out of your mouth.
Think of a powerful breath.
One more.
Now I want you to breathe in your nose,
And slowly out of your mouth.
In your nose,
And slowly out of the mouth.
In your nose,
And slowly out of the mouth.
Continuing this pattern in the nose,
Filling your belly,
Making sure your belly is expanding,
Shoulders are staying stable,
And then you're just extending that exhale.
Don't worry about counting right now.
Just extending it a little bit further.
In the nose,
And out of the mouth.
You can begin to play around with hissing the exhale through your teeth,
Just making this kind of sound.
Try humming your exhale out.
Really just finding what is comfortable for you in this situation.
Just coming back to our breath.
Now let's check back in with our body.
What do you notice?
Has your heart rate changed?
Has the tension in your neck and shoulders changed?
Do you have a warm,
Comforting feeling?
You can continue this breathing pattern as long as you're like.
I just want you to check in with your body,
Noticing if you had any changes.
If you went from a stressed out,
Difficult situation,
To the ability to calm yourself in the moment.
That breathing technique is one you can use in the moment in stressful situations in your life,
But you need to practice it.
You can come back and use this recording as much as you like.
Experience coming down out of a stressful,
Tense situation.
It's about reading your nervous system and learning to regulate it where you want to go.
I'm going to leave you now.
You can continue on as long as you'd like.
Thank you.
