The other day I was asked to answer the question, "How do you know when you’re stressed?"
The first thing that came to my mind just happened to be the lyrics, “I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes” (you’re welcome for that little musical ear worm!)
If there is something that occurs where my 'fight-flight-freeze' response becomes activated, I often physically react right away with a sense of clenching in my hands and also in the jaw. When I notice the sensations in my hands, I then am able to practice bringing the attention to my breath to help come back to the present moment.
However, as you might know, noticing the subtle sensations can be a challenging task, especially if we have already entered a state of reactivity, and the overwhelming physical sensations and/or thoughts and feelings have taken hold.
When it comes to practicing being present, in many exercises we’re taught right away to focus on the breath as an anchor. However, based from my experience working with children, and from further studying, focusing on the breath immediately, may cause discomfort for various reasons.
In David A. Treleaven’s book Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (an essential read for all mindfulness facilitators) he talks about the importance of helping to establish anchors of attention that are stabilizing.
He says, “As a remedy we can encourage survivors to establish stabilizing anchors of attention that supports one’s window for tolerance-creating stability in the nervous system as opposed to dysregulation.” (121)...“The more tangible the anchor, the easier it is to return to it when attention wanders.” (122)
I have found using the physical contact of the hands, hand-in-hand with the exploration of the breath (pun intended), as an effective tool for practicing coming back into the present moment and helping to stay a little more grounded.
I hope you enjoy trying out some of these breathing exercises to help support you in feeling more calm and present. Feel free to leave a comment below!
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