

Are you standing or sitting? How is your posture? Any aches or pains? P = Proceed Research shows that just naming your emotions can turn the volume down on the fear circuit in the brain and have a calming effect. Notice any emotions present and how they’re being expressed in the body. You can reflect about what is on your mind and also notice that thoughts are not facts, and they are not permanent. Observe your experience just as it is-including thoughts, feelings, and emotions. You can even say to yourself “in” as you’re breathing in and “out” as you’re breathing out if that helps with concentration. If you’d like to extend this, you can take a minute to breathe normally and naturally and follow your breath coming in and out of your nose. Stop what you’re doing put things down for a minute. Here’s a short practice you can weave into your day to step into that space between stimulus and response. When we drop into the present, we’re more likely to gain perspective and see that we have the power to regulate our response to pressure. Over time, we can succumb to, among other things, high blood pressure, muscle tension, anxiety, insomnia, gastrodigestive complaints, and a suppressed immune system.Ĭreating space in the day to stop, come down from the worried mind, and get back into the present moment has been shown to be enormously helpful in mitigating the negative effects of our stress response. And if the bodily systems involved in stress don’t slow down and normalize, the effects can be severe. If we’re actively worried about whether we can put food on the table or get the perfect exam score, presto: the stress reaction activates. We usually experience stress reactions in response to thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations.

Of course, most of us don’t encounter a life-or-death threat all that often. It can save our lives or enable a firefighter to carry a 300-pound man down 20 flights of stairs. The stress response is critical to our survival. Two-thirds of Americans say they need help for stress.
