In Part 1 & Part 2, we covered two different ways to reconnect with your body and settle your nervous system. If they worked for you, great. I highly recommend you lean into them as part of your daily and weekly routines.
Thinking forward about my own experience at this perhaps pivotal time for you, I invite you to sit with and challenge any thoughts that come up for you that may be dismissive or judgemental about you expanding your tools in this different way of caring for yourself. I want to acknowledge this now, because I know for myself there was a little bit of a shame feeling that came up initially, like “I shouldn’t need” to do this. You need what you need to be healthy, you don’t have to justify it, and you deserve to be healthy. Onward!
If nothing has resonated so far, that’s ok, we have just scratched the surface, really. Today I want to give you two more tools to expand with, and like I said at the beginning, try to remain curious and keep going until you find one or more that works for you.
So, in Part 1 humming was the first thing we explored. Now I want you to go a little deeper into your vocal range, and summon your inner foghorn:
1. Identify a space where you feel comfortable and free to make some noise.
2. Find a comfortable position, preferably sitting on a chair or on the floor.
3. Pay attention to your sensations and to the present experience for a moment.
4. Bring your attention to your breath for a few moments, breathing deeply and slowly.
5. Imagine the sound of a foghorn: a bassy, powerful horn sound. 1:41 in this YouTube video provided a real world example for me that was helpful to start from.
6. Inhale deeply, then on the exhale make the sound of a foghorn as best as you can. Because it’s such a low tone, the power for it comes from deep in your abdomen, like a deep “vooo” sound. Let it resonate throughout your torso and body. It’s okay if you find this sound hard to make, stay with it and perhaps enjoy the silliness of imperfectly trying.
7. At the end of the exhale, take a few normal breaths to recover. If you’re doing the foghorn sound fully, it will take some effort.
8. Try at least 3 repetitions. If you find this soothing, repeat the process up to a dozen times and explore the sensations at the end of each cycle. See if you can notice any change in your sense of stress or calm, and where your thoughts go during and after this exercise.
This one may feel similar to the humming exercise if you did it, but in my experience the whole body effect was more noticeable with the foghorn technique, perhaps because the force and vibration was stronger.
Second technique for the day: Shake It Off.
I’ll take any chance I get to talk about our pupper, Estrella. When she’s walking down the street and sees a cat, she gets super excited to say the least. The audacity; how dare it occupy her neighborhood. She wants to chase that cat.
We are working on it for sure, but to this day our efforts to calm her down or even get her attention are 50% effective at best. We say “leave it,” then try to redirect her with a tasty treat, and keep walking. But right afterwards, do you know what she does all on her own? She shakes it off. A few moments later, it was like nothing happened. She’s trotting along, sniffing grass, maybe looking a little self-satisfied if the cat ran away. Our dog trainer had to point this out to us initially, and now we notice it all the time.
Animals often shake themselves to release the excess energy produced from the stress response. Allowing your body to connect with the trembling sensation produced by a stressful event can enable your system to settle.
- Stand up if you’re sitting down, or lie all the way down on the floor. Make sure you have enough room to shake without hitting anything or anyone else.
- Make a note of any movement limitations you may have, like shoulder or neck pain, and try to focus on engaging with this exercise only using the parts of your body that you feel safe and pain-free doing it with.
- Imagine a dog shaking off water after a bath, or perhaps imagine that you are shaking off the sand from your body after going to the beach.
- Inhale, exhale, start small and build up “the wave” if it feels ok, shaking for 5-10 seconds.
- Notice how you feel, take a few breaths, then repeat 2-4 more times. See if you can notice any change in your sense of stress or calm, and where your thoughts go during and after this exercise.
Interestingly, I find shaking a little more natural for me than foghorn-ing. Maybe it’s my dance background, but flailing about is something I do more readily. Nevertheless, I’m going to try making some awesome foghorns right after this.
Please let me know how either of these went for you.
Coach Mauricio