In this practice, we use several techniques to help regulate your immediate stress levels in the body. You can use them separately or in combination. As you add a new technique, you pay the most attention to that one and let the others be in the background.
Regulate Stress in the Body with Self-Kindness
- Find a comfortable posture, ideally with your feet firm on the ground.
- Check in with yourself. What’s your felt stress level? If it’s helpful, use the image of a traffic light: are you in green, in yellow, or in red? That’s your starting point.
- Feel the ground under your feet. Really feel into the stability of the floor.
- If the breath is a good place for you to rest awareness, start to make it a bit longer and deeper. Feel the chest and belly expand as you inhale, and relax as you exhale. You may also rest your awareness on your hand, or the sounds around you, if that is more comfortable for you. If you feel anxious or stressed, let the exhalation be a bit longer than the inhalation.
- Now, if you like, add a bit of swaying or rocking. Let yourself feel if your body likes this or not.
- You can either stay here, or add one more tool, which is slowly rubbing and massaging your hands. Feel into how that feels.
- Slowly, come back to stillness and check in with yourself again. Do you feel different? Has something changed? How do you feel in your body?
- When you are ready, bring this practice to an end.
