So far in this series I’ve covered:
–Part 1: humming exercises
–Part 2: hot tub, sauna, cold water plunges
–Part 3: fog horning (loud sounds), shaking it off
–Part 4: playing and/or listening to music
Do you notice anything these different types of therapeutic activities have in common? If you do not, don’t worry, I’m going to give the answer shortly, which will hopefully provide a framework for understanding how to settle your nervous system more generally, and even how exercise and other physical activities affect you.
Where or how do you experience humming in your body? Well, you can hear it right, so it’s sound, through the ear drums. But it also creates a vibration you can feel elsewhere, so there’s a small amount of “touch” sensation in your vocal chords, mouth, and maybe chest too. On a more subtle level, the breath itself also provides some touch sensation or air passing through your body, your chest and belly expanding and contracting.
Hot or cold tub, sauna, etc., you can definitely feel primarily via the touch sensation of the temperature and water immersion, and I bet there’s some sound quality to it also, like bubbles popping, air jets rumbling, or steam steaming.
Fog horning is a powerful sound of course, and another broader vibration-based touch sensation. Shaking it off is a powerful touch sensation, and your vision may be affected somewhat as well.
Playing music is sound of course, and different kinds of touch sensation depend on the instrument and how notes are made. The piano uses the hands, but the woodwinds and horns use the hands, the mouth, and the breath. There is also a visual component if it involves some hand eye coordination, or if you’re reading sheet music.
So, the thing all of these activities have in common is that they engage different parts of your sensory feedback systems to varying degrees. Sensory feedback is an umbrella term for all the stimulus we receive in our body and make our brain aware of our body.
Our five senses–sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell–seem to operate independently, as five distinct modes of perceiving the world. In reality, however, they collaborate closely to enable the mind to better understand its surroundings.
Today I want to explore the “Balancing Bird” activity, or more generally just engaging with the balance aspect of the touch sensation as a way to calm your mind and nervous system by more fully using your senses. Once again, this is something from “My Grandmother’s Hands” by Resmaa Menakem, though it’s written about in many places.
It’s a simple enough activity: the bird is constructed such that if you place the tip of its beak on your finger tip, it is pretty perfectly balanced due to its even weight distribution and relative size. If you walk with it and/or move your arm at all, you will find it takes more of your attention to keep it balanced, and therein lies its magic: it takes your mind off of whatever you were doing before by calling more of your conscious attention to balancing this little bird.
You can try it with other objects too, like a book, or my favorite is the PVC sticks we use for warm-up exercises and drills in the gym, as it’s somewhat challenging for me. Thinking more expansively, any activity that gets you close to flow state with your balance and coordination without otherwise causing a lot of physiological stress (like a hard workout) can accomplish this shift or redirection quality within the nervous system.
The thing about emotional stress is that it has a strong tunnel vision-like effect: it seems like it’s the only thing that is happening, and there isn’t room for anything else. Too much of one sense starts the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses. The way out is anything that brings you closer to equilibrium with your senses. In these difficult moments, the familiar is your friend. Oh yeah, I feel super stressed, I can’t see straight or think… but I can feel my feet on the ground, my breath, the warm water, the bubbles, the lights, the music, the bird.
If you’re reading this on your phone, try carefully balancing it on two fingers (screen facing up). Move it around in the air like an airplane. If that was easy, now try with one finger. Keep the other hand close so you don’t drop your phone :).
Stay with it for 30-60 seconds, then check in with how you feel stress-wise, and notice if your thoughts shifted at all during the experience.
Coach Mauricio