Blog Archives

Notice 5 Things

9/25/2017

Instructions for Notice 5 Things:

Stop what you’re doing, and take a belly breath.
Look around you and notice 5 things you can see.
Listen and notice 5 things you can hear.
Feel and notice 5 points of contact between your body and the environment around it (your feet on the floor, your clothes on your shoulders, your back against the chair etc.)

You have just taken a step out of your busy mind to connect with your environment. Doing this grounds you in how things really are, and offers a break from the judgments, interpretations, and bias that we usually see things through.

“Slowing things down and deliberately paying attention to each aspect of our sensory experience can reveal things that we may have never noticed before.” – Williams, Teasdale, Segal, & Kabat-Zinn

0 Comments

Pressure Release

9/18/2017

1 Comment

Instructions for “Pressure Release”:

Stop what you are doing and sit down in an upright, dignified posture, with your feet evenly on the floor. (If you're a little 'vertically challenged' like me you might need to sit on the edge of the chair to get your feet onto the floor.)
Push your feet down onto the floor, notice the floor underneath your feet, supporting you.
Notice the muscles in your thighs tense as they work to push your feet down.
Keep pushing until you can’t push any more.
Release the pressure, and notice the muscles relax.
Pay attention to the sense of release and relief flowing through the body now the muscles are relaxed.
Try to bring this sense of relaxation with you as you move on with your day.

This is a great practice for when you notice you are getting caught up in your feelings. It’s almost like you are having the muscles in your body teach your mind how to let go. Once you practice in the body, you can invide your mind to follow along, and release it’s own tensions.

.“It is true of all life forms that, as the demands made on an organism increase, so that organism’s capactiy to respond to that demand also increases — but only ever up to a certain point. Beyond a certain point, if the demands just keep building the organism’s capacity to respond is overwhelmed and the organism’s capactiy to perform falls off — often very repidly.” – Michael Chaskalson

1 Comment

Your Breath Works for You

9/11/2017

0 Comments

Instructions for "Your Breath Works for You":

Pay attention for any time you feel upset or disturbed from calm.
Instead of getting involved in the upset, employ your breath to work for you—take 3 belly breaths.
With each inhale, know that you are inviting clam into your body, and with each exhale, know that you are expelling stress and upset.
Repeat as and when you need to.

This week's weekly minute is inspired by a few of my clients who have told me recently how turning to the breath when they have been feeling sad, angry, out of control, etc., has helped them enormously.
I can't tell you how great it is when I hear that a client has found a tool that works for them, so they can feel in control of their emotions, and not be buffeted about by them. This tool rarely fails, and to make it even better, everyone has one, and its free!
Practice it this week, give yourself a chance to become familiar with it, and you will find yourself turning to your breath as a default reaction, instead of being overcome by emotion.

"When the breath is unsteady, all is unsteady; when the breath is still; all is still. Control the breath carefully. Inhalation gives strength and a controlled body; retention gives steadiness of mind and longevity; exhalation purifies body and spirit." - Goraksasathakam

0 Comments

Hope Over Fear

9/4/2017

0 Comments

Instructions for "Hope Over Fear":

Stop what you're doing and take a belly breath to get grounded.
Check in with your thoughts.
Are your thoughts based in fear? (What could go wrong; What you might fail at; Ways in which you are not good enough?) Or in hope? (What if it went right? What might work out; What if you ARE good enough?)
Make a decision to stick with, and strengthen the hopeful.
Because, why not? (-A string of reasons might come up right now... Ignore them, it's fear talking!)

We all have a gallery of voices in our heads that support, or berate us. There's the voice of the kind primary school teacher who encouraged us to try our best, opposed by the strict secondary school headmaster who said we would never amount to anything. We have a choice who we can listen to, and why not choose the kind, hopeful voice? Hasn't the world got enough fear?

"Weigh carefully your hopes as well as your fears, and whenever all the elements are in doubt, decide in your own favour; believe what you prefer. And if fear wins the majority of the votes, incline in the other direction anyhow." - Seneca

0 Comments

Notice 5 Things

Pressure Release

Your Breath Works for You

Hope Over Fear

Categories

Archives

Let's talk soon...

Hours

Email: [email protected]