1. Notice.
Inhale and exhale. Notice what you feel on, in, and around your body. Speed of breath, heart rate, and body temperature.
2. Think back to safety.
Think back to a recent moment you felt most calm, safe, and most like your “self”.
3. Identify.
Identify at what point in time and/or which part of your body began experiencing disturbance or stress.
4. Replay.
Replay the scenario from a calm state to a stressed state, in slow motion (as if watching a slow movie). Identify people, conversations, objects or behaviors that may have made you stressed, uncomfortable or that stand out to you as you’re replaying the recent event(s).
5. Tune in.
Tune in to your body sensations as you recall the event(s) and slow down and notice if there is any shift in your body, a sensation of tingling, tensing, warming, numbing or cooling in your chest, arms, legs, face or an overall change in body temperature.
6. Healing hands.
Place your hand on the area that has experienced a shift or change, and breathe deeply. If it’s an overall feeling, you can simply place your hands on your heart.
Doing this allows the body to process the somatic experience, and creates a passageway to release the tension.
Notice if something comes up, an image, sensation, awareness or understanding that offers clarity to the situation. If nothing comes up, that’s ok. Simply slowing down, pacing your breath and raising awareness is progress and helpful in itself.
I encourage you to practice this after an upsetting experience, to allow your body to process the emotions and communications of your body. You may also choose to practice this before a stressful situation so that you can identify potential triggers and plan ahead ways to support yourself.
As you go about your day, I encourage you to tune in to your body.
***It is important to note that this exercise is not in place of trauma therapy, rather it is a skill you can practice on your own adjunctive to good therapy work. If you are in therapy and notice something new while doing this exercise, jot it down and bring it to your therapist for deeper and continued work. if you are not in therapy and realize that a lot has come up for you, I encourage you to begin your healing today.