"Let's deactivate our stress by tuning into our feelings and needs."
- Marshall Rosenberg
2022.
It's been a few days since we passed the cap.
New year, new desires, new projects, new (or not) resolutions but also a lot of questionings.
We won't lie to ourselves, it's been two years now that we've been sailing more or less blindly, without really knowing where we're going or what tomorrow will bring.
This feeling of insecurity and general uncertainty, felt by all of us without exception, can push us to the limits, generate agitation and especially a lot of anxiety.
A bit like a bubbling fire ready to blow up the pressure cooker.
For no reason.
Tanapol Kaewpring
It is indeed difficult to see clearly.
To stay in the movement.
To move forward and stay on track.
Anxiety (an emotional disorder characterized by nervous tension caused by uncertainty and an indefinable feeling of insecurity) can cause a lot of damage, both psychologically and physically.
So, rather than listing all the possible somatizations caused by this unpleasant feeling, I wanted to share with you here some tips, in order to reduce the pressure, to realign and to come back to the present moment.
To start this new year better.
THE ANCHOR
FUN-DA-MEN-TAL!
When we are subject to anxiety (especially chronic), and therefore to overthought, it is essential to return to our body.
Linked to our root chakra, anchoring is our connection to the Earth, to our physical and material needs.
Anchoring (or rooting) allows us to come back to ourselves, in the present moment, and to stop running in a loop.
Thus we become more attentive to our environment, more focused, more able to step back from certain situations and to let go while developing a feeling of inner security.
There is no magic recipe here, but simple actions that we can do on a daily basis:
Daren Thomas Magee @realfunnow
- Be Nature
Whether it's gardening, hiking, a long walk in the woods, walking barefoot or hugging a tree, there is nothing more powerful than nature to help us reconnect to ourselves, to our essence. Even if you don't live in the Fjords or in an ecolodge in Scotland, try to get away to nature as much as possible. It will give you a lot of well-being and a greater sense of belonging.
Results guaranteed.
- Get moving!
Moving your body allows you to focus on it, to become aware of it, to circulate vital energy, and to let go of your mind. Sport is a precious ally for our general well-being thanks to the endorphins it releases. No need to run a marathon, a daily and regular activity will already be very beneficial! Another option: have sex...
- Let your creativity speak
Draw, color, paint, sculpt, photograph, do whatever comes to your mind, play with your imagination! Any creative activity, no matter what it is, leads us to a state of meditation and concentration that is favorable to a return to calm and therefore to anchoring. Have fun and let your inner child express himself.
He is your best playmate.
- Healthy body, healthy mind
Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are...
Food is the first medicine of all. Eating healthy products, following the seasons as much as possible, keeps us healthy and also helps us to reconnect to the Earth and to the living.
Therefore, to anchor ourselves.
Simple. Efficient. And delicious.
- Breathe in!
Many anxious or stressed people have a tendency to block their breathing at the level of the thorax, which can lead to a feeling of suffocation.
Bringing the air back down into the belly, breathing in and out for a long time allows you to calm the tensions accumulated inside your body, to reconnect to it and to come back to the present moment.
Exit the cumbersome thoughts.
You are in the here and now.
Breathe, everything is fine.
- Visualize
If you're more visual (and even if you're not), visualizing your feet rooting into the earth can be a very powerful exercise.
It may sound a little crazy to some, but it works! The power of the mind is huge, don't forget that.
Take a moment, stand up straight, feet flat on the ground, close your eyes, imagine yourself... you are a majestic tree with strong and deep roots, which go all the way to the center of the Earth...
Isn't that cool?
In any case, this simple technique helps to bring up the telluric energy, essential to our anchoring, and especially avoids going too far, or even much too far (in your head).
Basically, come back down to Earth, everything will be fine.
RELAXATION
Relax...!
It is vital to know how to stop to free your mind and allow your body to relax.
Especially for those who live in an urban environment where the pace is frenetic or even schizophrenic.
So we can't say it enough... take some time for yourself.
Especially since today there is no shortage of relaxation techniques, so... no excuses.
Review of the basics.
- Breathe in!
And yes again. Because it's THE foundation.
- Awaken the yogi in you
Whether it's ashtanga, hatha, yin yoga, vinyasa or any other, yoga, this ancient practice, is the winning combo.
It allows us to anchor and relax while untying knots (physical and emotional), strengthening our body (deep muscle strengthening), but also teaching us to change our state of consciousness and expand it through breathing and ... anchoring.
- Meditate
We talk about it, we re-talk about it, we re-re-talk about it but meditation is as vital as the air we breathe.
No need to sit and wait for enlightenment.
It can be practiced in different ways, whether it is walking (preferably in a natural environment), dancing (for example, the 5 rhythms dance, or Wu-tao), or practicing a creative activity...
Meditation is an active and conscious practice, a training of the mind that helps us to free ourselves from cumbersome and negative thoughts in order to cultivate kindness and other qualities towards the world and ourselves.
Not insignificant when we know that it is the mind (and thus our thoughts) that shapes our reality.
Bonus: recent scientific research indicates that its daily practice can have a considerable impact on cell renewal and prevent cognitive degradation.
When a discipline combines body and mind, what more could you ask for?
- Listen to music
Avoid live heavy metal concerts or the latest techno track.
Prefer ambient or radio music. Youtube is full of these little gems that you can listen to without moderation to bring down the pressure and put yourself in alpha or theta state.
Make yourself comfortable and let your body rest while your mind travels.
It knows exactly where to go.
- Take care of your body, it will return to you well
Massage yourself or have a massage, take a hot bath with sea salt (good for cleansing energies), dim the lights in your room, burn incense, essential oils (like lavender for example), swim in the ocean, give yourself a treatment...
The body is the vehicle of the soul.
Without it, it would be impossible to experience life.
Don't disregard it, it also needs you.
- Let Morpheus guide you to sleep
Sleep, sleep, sleep... sleep again...
According to an article on the Brain Research Federation website, "Sleep is essential for brain development and maturity, and helps reduce brain aging. Sleep helps to consolidate memory and allows the brain to cleanse itself of waste and toxins accumulated during the day. It contributes to learning and to the management of emotions. A negative feeling can be memorized and expunged during the night. On the contrary, lack of sleep can have harmful effects on our cognitive abilities: it impairs our attention and vigilance, reduces our ability to feel, imagine and create, affects our mood and emotions, etc. Chronic sleep deprivation weakens our immune defenses and our resistance to pain, and promotes anxiety disorders (...)"
Do your Cinderella, restorative sleep (your friend) is hiding before midnight...
- Cuddle with your pet
Physical contact is essential for survival. Hugging someone for a few minutes reduces stress by releasing oxytocin, also known as the "love hormone".
Same effect with your pet.
Unconditional love, he is there only for you.
Say thank you, pamper him.
He will give it back to you a hundredfold.
THE HYPNOSIS BATH
No, hypnosis will not make you do the rabbit or jump from the 5th floor without a parachute!
Forget about the pendulum, its magic tool is the voice.
Although street hypnosis is practiced, Hypnosis (with a capital H) is first and foremost the oldest word healing practice in the world.
It is in Mesopotamia, more than 6,000 years ago, that the first written traces of healing by word are found: a Sumerian cuneiform manuscript describes healings obtained through modified states of consciousness.
At the origin of what is called psychotherapy, Hypnosis allows to treat a good number of mechanical, functional and/or psychological disorders but also to bring down the barometer when it risks to explode in full flight.
John Baldessari
Among the different techniques offered by Hypnosis, the Hypnosis Bath - or "psychological massage" - is one of the most efficient to free yourself from stress and to find a state of plenitude and inner calm.
So, if you would like to know more about this technique and/or are unable to come back to yourself through other practices, do not hesitate to contact me here.
I will be happy to help you come back down gently.
Finally, continue to do small actions that make you feel good on a daily basis.
It is the small actions that allow us to move forward, step by step, and stay connected to ourselves and the present moment.
Keep in mind that the past no longer exists and that the future is built in the present.
Try to cultivate as much as possible thoughts that make you happy, that nourish you, that elevate you and that give you the desire to act for your greatest good!
Our thoughts create our reality and our experience of this world, so it is important to take care of them.
Most importantly, take the time to connect with your emotions, feelings and needs.
It is by learning to listen to ourselves that we can better disarm the stress that sometimes eats away at us and prevents us from acting.
Remember that we attract to us what we vibrate.
Fear, resentment, stress, negative thoughts considerably lower our vibratory rate and make us much more fragile and vulnerable than joy, love, gratitude or forgiveness.
So listen to yourself.
Surround yourself with people who bring you encouragement, support, love, who stimulate, motivate and inspire you!
Do yourself a favor.
Think about yourself.
The world will be a more joyful place.
And you will be happier.