Welcome back to Resiliency Training - Week 2
I’m putting control and freedom back into your hands! Each week we’ll be learning tangible, effective ways to calm your nervous system – there are so many ways you can move from a state of overwhelm or stress, back to a state of resiliency and feeling good again.
In Lesson #1 we learned the Resiliency Shift – probably the most effective method to handle stress and complexity over the long-term. If you missed Lesson #1 you can find that here.
My intention is to offer you both learning and growth in our Resiliency Training. So, we’ll start with learning a bit about what is happening in our bodies when we get stressed. This will help us become aware when we’re triggered and how we can use our bodies to help us feel better. And then we’ll move onto Lesson #2 where real growth takes place!
Nervous system 101 - what's happening to me!?
Let’s learn a little more about our nervous system and what’s happening to us when we become ‘triggered.’
Remember being ‘triggered’ means that something happened that made your mind think ‘ah, there’s a tiger!’ – in our modern day, it can be anything from a big awful news event, a frustrating word from a team member, or your spouse forgetting to do something they promised they would. – Basically, whatever gets you emotionally wound up and is otherwise known as: STRESS.
We’ll keep referencing our handy ‘triggered versus resilient chart’ below to help us as we build our awareness around what is happening and keep centered on the orientation that being resilient helps us make better decisions. Once we become aware of what’s happening, we can choose!
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What's happening in your body - build your basic understanding
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulates your involuntary and reflexive functions, like your heart rate, blood pressure, etc. It deploys the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), AKA ‘fight/flight/freeze’ when a threat is perceived and switches to the parasympathetic (PSNS), AKA ‘rest/digest’ or ‘feed/breed’ in the absence of a threat. Check out the new titles on our chart above!
The ANS is critical to your body being able to function. This automatic response system of ours has helped protect us from ‘tigers’ since the beginning of human history. But, now with perceived tigers everywhere, we need to help our ANS realize there are no tigers actually present. Enter: Resiliency Training!
Let’s fight (or flight or freeze) – getting hijacked
Wonder why you can suddenly lose it and not be able to reel it back in? Because your nervous system was hijacked and you are no longer in the driver’s seat. While everyone responds differently to specific events, the stress response (or SNS response) often looks like this…
- You have an urge to act – immediately (fight! freeze! flee!). Your heart rate increases, your breathing may freeze or become shallow, you lose the sharp edge of your logical & analytical abilities, and big emotions arise like anger, frustration, annoyance.
- Long-term: repeatedly seeing tigers (in 2022 complexity and crisis are everywhere), your nervous system can stay in this mode, which can lead to a general sense of overwhelm or burnout. If you’ve experienced either of those recently, it’s not you, it’s the increase of complexity and crisis we all face.
Take back the wheel – your body is your friend
You may feel like you lost your mind (access to the best parts of it anyway), but you haven’t lost touch with your #1 resource – your body. It’s time to learn how to calm your nervous system.
When you get ‘triggered,’ you can take back control by:
- becoming aware of this dynamic – ‘hey I’m triggered’ (refer to chart again); and
- letting your brain know – ‘hey buddy, there is not a literal tiger in this room, please switch back to my parasympathetic nervous system please!’
There are so many ways we can use our bodies to help us get back to a resilient state – and that is what Resiliency Training is all about. Are you ready to learn another easy, effective method to help you get control over your emotions and stress? Let’s use our breath!
I currently have 3 openings for new coaching clients & 1 opening for strategic advisory services – Learn More or Let’s Talk!
Consider this for yourself or share with a rockin’ climate shero in your life.
I’m so excited to get my services in the hands of those who need it, I’m offering a special 50% Friends & Family discount to all of you! If you’re reading this, then it means you’re in my circle and have touched my life in big or small ways – mention promo code, F&FLAUNCH50, to receive 50% off services through September 14, 2022.
Resiliency Training #2 - where real growth happens
As you’re reading this email, begin to notice your breath right now. Is it slow or quick? Shallow or deep? Breathing is something we do every minute of every day – let’s use it to unleash our own freedom and give us control over stress and overwhelm.
In Lesson #2 we will experience two specific breathwork exercises we can use to calm our nervous systems. You can regulate your breath to regulate your thoughts and emotions – putting that resilient state easily within reach when you’re hijacked.
My recommendation is to try practicing these exercises when you’re feeling good or neutral, so when you get out of whack, you can easily reach for them.
BREATHWORK EXERCISE #1 - The Box Breath:
The Navy Seal’s have been doing this one for years! For real, Navy Seals have been taught to practice the Box Breath in times of extreme stress, so they can move from the left side of our chart to the right – they need their thinking brains in those tough situations. So, it’s the perfect breath practice to help us navigate the complexity and crisis of 2022 and beyond!
You can follow the written instructions below or learn the Box Breath with me and my unscripted six year old, Lilly, in this video! Have kids or a partner at home? Invite them to join you – everyone can benefit from learning how to calm down from big emotions!
Once you learn the basic technique you can do this on your own, anytime, anywhere – no video needed.
Box Breath Instructions:
- Step 1: Let’s make sure we’re taking deep breaths down into our diaphragm. I call it a balloon breath. Put one hand on your stomach and the other over your heart. On an inhale, imagine your belly is a balloon and you’re filling it up with air. On the exhale, you’re pushing all of the air out of your belly.
Try that for a few breaths. The hand on your belly should raise first and higher. The hand on your chest will follow – as that belly balloon is growing it will get big enough to fill your chest too.
- Step 2: Find a comfortable seat, loosen your waistband or any tight clothing, and set a timer for 3 minutes to start.
- Step 3: Let’s begin the box breath! Start your timer and breath in the following manner:
- Inhale for a count of 4
- Hold for a count of 4
- Exhale for a count of 4
- Hold for a count of 4
- REPEAT (imagine you’re drawing a box with each count of 4 – see image below)
- Step 4: Practice. Practice. Practice. The more often you practice, the more effective it becomes. Getting the hang of it when you’re not totally stressed out will help put it to memory, so when you really get triggered, you can turn to it to help you calm down in real time.
Learn the Box Breath with me & Lilly! Invite your partner or kids.
BREATHWORK EXERCISE #2 - The Bee Breath:
You got it, like a bumble bee. Both my kids and I practiced a lot of breathing exercises over our months of distance learning and COVID quarantines and I’ll say first hand how powerful the breath can be in calming big emotions.
This Bee Breath exercise is our go-to, ‘ need to calm down right now!’ move. For real…find a time to use it today!
- Step 1 & 2: – see above from the Box Breath – these steps help you make sure you’re taking full breaths down into your diaphragm.
- Step 3: Inhale slow and long. On the exhale make a humming sound like a bee, also slow and long.
- Step 4: REPEAT the bee breath deep inhale and audible slow humming exhale until you feel a noticeable shift in your body – that could look like a bodily sigh or you feel a release in tension from your face/neck/shoulders, or your thoughts seem a little clearer and open.
- Step 5: Practice. Practice. Practice. Try out the Bee Breath anytime you feel stress, annoyance or frustration setting in or when you need a little calm down time for any reason.
You did it! Way to go! How do you feel?
Don't take my word for it!
I encourage you to not take my word for it – try it for yourself! Let me know how it goes! I love hearing from you – the good, the bad and the ugly – we’re in this together! I hope these breath exercises bring you back into your own personal state of resiliency, so you can make clear, confident decisions in line with what matters most to you.
Invite your friends
Grab your resiliency workout buddies! Know anyone who could benefit from Resiliency Training? It’s definitely more fun with friends! Forward this email to them, so they don’t miss out! Here’s the sign up: http://eepurl.com/hz6L3X or use the box below!
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Thanks for joining me on this journey - we're all in this together!
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- ellen@freedom-growth-joy.com
- 3544 37th Ave S
- Minneapols, MN 55406
True freedom comes to those who choose it.
Land acknowledgement: I live on traditional, ancestral & contemporary lands of the Dakota people near Bdote, the confluence of the Minnesota & Mississippi Rivers.
