5 ways to get out of your head and into your body
Create a sense of safety, relaxation, and calm stress and anxiety
Hi friends,
Big life transitions (i.e. career changes, new jobs, moving, etc.) are often accompanied by uncertainty and discomfort, especially when they’re out of your control. Even just the thought of such transitions can send you spiraling down the road of What Ifs, causing fear, stress, anxiety, and overwhelm.
In these moments and phases of life, you have an amazing power to self-soothe and create an environment of safety — most of us just haven’t been taught how. Today, I’m sharing how you can invite relaxation and calm back into your life by getting out of your head and into your body.
Why it’s important to come back to your body
When we’re faced with uncertainty, we can become overwhelmed with racing, repetitive, and/or intrusive thoughts. We may experience cognitive distortions such as catastrophic thinking, future-tripping, black/white thinking, or magnification that can impair our ability to move forward. Living in our head by thinking, analyzing, and more thinking takes us out of the present moment. It triggers our fight, flight, or freeze response, putting our bodies into a state of chronic stress. By grounding our body we come back to the present moment without getting lost in the past or future — we acknowledge that we are safe in the here and the now.
5 exercises to get out of your head and into your body
1. Butterfly Tapping
Butterfly tapping is a bilateral technique that activates your rest and digest system (aka your parasympathetic nervous system). Your parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for calming your body and your mind.
Place your right hand on the left side of your chest and your left hand on the right side of your chest, locking your thumbs together (like a butterfly!). Take a few deep breaths from your low belly and begin gently tapping your chest — tap your right hand, then your left, alternating your hands. Keep tapping until you feel a sense of calm.
2. Coherent breathing
Coherent breathing is one of my favorite exercises and a regular part of my morning routine. It’s a super simple type of controlled breathing where you take deep and long inhales and exhales. Coherent breathing is another way we can activate the parasympathetic nervous system and has positive effects on our digestion, immunity, and stress response. Cool fact: by slowing down our breath we can actually slow down a racing heart.
I like to do this practice laying down. Once you find a comfortable position, place one hand on your heart and the other hand on your belly.
Notice your breathing and whether it’s shallow (coming from your chest) or deep (from your low belly). Take a couple breaths, becoming more aware of your breathing.
Take a deep inhale from the lower part of your belly for 6 seconds.
Exhale out of your nose for 6 seconds.
Repeat for 5-10 minutes.
Side note: If you’re having difficulty inhaling/exhaling for 6 seconds, start with 4 seconds and build up from there over time.
3. 5-4-3-2-1 Exercise
The 5-4-3-2-1 exercise is super, super simple and taps into your senses. You can even teach it to kids.
Find and name five things you can see
Find and name four things you can touch
Find and name three things you can hear
Find and name two things you can smell
Find and name one thing you can taste
4. Havening
Havening, at a very simplistic level, is a psychosensory technique that uses human touch as a therapeutic self-soothing tool. There are more advanced applications of havening, but for our purposes I’m going to keep it super simple.
From a seated position, cross your arms over your shoulders. Gently (and slowly) stroke your arms from your shoulders to your elbows. Repeat as many times as you need until you return to a sense of calm.
5. Take a short walk
Getting outside and into the fresh air is a great way to change your scenery — and perspective. Leave your phone and headphones behind so you can concentrate on your steps. Notice the rhythm of your steps (you can even try counting them) and focus on the way your foot hits the ground. Similar to the bilateral stimulation of butterfly tapping, your eyes also engage in bilateral stimulation when you’re walking as your gaze darts to the left, ahead, and to the right as you take in your surroundings.
✨The In-Between Coaching✨
If you are in the midst of your own life/work transition or want support figuring out your next big thing, I’m offering a free coaching session to anyone that’s interested in exploring how 1:1 coaching can support them.
Take care,
Alison