Living Beyond Overwhelm

One question I am frequently asked when I teach a stress management class is, “What is a quick effective way to return to calm when I feel overwhelmed, about to go ballistic or on my way to a meltdown?”

Great question! We are living in a time of great confusion, anxiety, noise pollution, overload from social media and economic instability to name only a few of the contributors to our overwhelm and stress.

Our first response to any stressor begins in our bodies. They don't feel safe. Our nervous systems become dysregulated. Yes, it is a real thing. Many people react to situations throughout the day in survival mode (fight/flight or freeze/shutdown-sympathetic state) feeling irritable, anxious, fatigue or muscle tension. The goal is to return our nervous system to a balanced and restful mode (parasympathetic state), calm and rational in our responses, able to focus and concentrate.

Here are 3 examples of research backed practices that re-balance the nervous system. Each one taking less than a minute to do: breath, healing touch and movement. I think of them as mindfulness practices that help us connect with our bodies in moments of stress so we can shift from overwhelm to calm.

Breathe Naturally: When you are doing “nothing” but breathing and paying attention to your breathing, you are doing “something” helpful in calming your nervous system. You are training it to come to calm.
PRACTICE: Gently, for 5 or 10 breaths, mindfully pay attention to the sensations of breathing in (air through your nostrils or throat, the gentle expansion of the belly and chest). Breathe out (feel air flowing out of your nose and your belly and chest relaxing).

Healing Touch: When you breathe deeply into the heart center you activate the calming parasympathetic branch of the nervous system. Pairing that with remembering a moment of feeling safe or peaceful activates the brain's antidote to stress, oxytocin and restores a sense of safety and calm.
PRACTICE: Place your hands on your heart. Imagine breathing gently, softly and deeply into your heart center 20-30 seconds. Call to mind ONE moment of feeling peaceful, safe or loved.

Movement: Any time you move your body it shifts your posture, thus shifting your physiology, the basic functioning of your body's systems. That includes shifting the fight/flight/freeze state of stress or overwhelm.
PRACTICE: Grip and Release: Bring your awareness to your hands. Slowly tense your hands into fists. Release the tension into your open palms. Do this tense-release five times.

Like anything else we want to get better at doing, consistency is crucial. Do you have just a few minutes throughout the day to experiment? I invite you to try them out. Notice anything changing?