'MANAGING LOWS' - 8 point strategy to change your state
‘THE TOOL BOX’ - THE PEARL EXCHANGE
WEEK 1 - MANAGING LOWS. 8 POINT PLAN.
ACCEPT - Any time you feel down, angry, depressed, emotional or any negative energy come up the first step is always awareness. Ask yourself: Am I Aware. The thoughts don’t have to define you. Try to view them as information from the brain rather than identifying with them. Only when you attach yourself to a thought does it become an emotion and begin to affect your physiology. If you accept, allow instead of resist the negativity loses its power. Fear, Stress, Pain require resistance to grow. What you resist persists.
ACTION - As you feel negative energy arise, notice it immediately. Say to yourself ‘Am I aware’. Then say out loud or in your head “ACCEPT’ 10 Times. Then if you want reinforce this by writing down ACCEPT 10 times. To truly accept is to surrender. To let go of everything out of your control and focus on what you can.
2) GRATITUDE - As humans we have a propensity to focus on the negative. This is how we were designed to keep us safe and protect us from threat. When this happens, part of the brain the ‘Amygdala’ initiates fear, and a flight or flight response. To flip reverse the chemical reaction in your brain force yourself to focus on the positive. The reason doing good things feels good is because it changes our own chemistry. Hormones and neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine fire up and provide a natural high.
ACTION - Simply write 3 things down you are grateful for. (can be 1 word or sentences with explanation eg: The sun, My mum (Not mine yours), The sea.
Metta meditation - Now meditate for 2 minutes. Think of someone you love and repeat the following 3 mantras over and over agin in your head:
May you be happy
May you be free
May you live with Ease
Repeat with someone you don’t know quite as well and then someone who maybe you don’t always get on with. (This works well as we mentioned above negative energy needs resistance to thrive. For example hate mainly hurts the one who is hating.
This is a simple but fantastic way of creating a neurochemical change in our own head.
3) BREATHE - CHANGE YOUR STATE - Change your physiology. ‘Stress’ is a physiological response in your body. Therefore if we change this physiology we take our body out of a stress state and reduce inflammation.
ACTION - 4/8 breaths for 2 minutes. Simple but effective. Breathe through the nose. Breath low with lateral expansion. 4 seconds in 8 seconds out.
4) MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE - As with breath movement can immediately change the state of your body and the chemistry of your mind. For me I like to do 10 quick sun salutations. But you can dance, walk, thrust or whatever primes your state.
5) HORMESIS - Purposeful exposure to low amounts of stress to make body and mind adapt and grow. In my experience after breath holds, cold water or physical contraction we can find a greater sense of relaxation, clarity, calm, stillness.
ACTION - BREATH HOLDS. 30 x Active breath in through nose, then pursed lips breath out. Then hold on exhale. When you need to breathe, inhale hold your breath and squeeze in wave of tension from lower to upper body all the way to the head . Keep squeezing then exhale through pursed lips for as long as you can and repeat x 3.
6) BRAIN WAVES - Go from beta waves (highly engaged, Stress, anxiety) to alpha/theta/delta waves (Rest, connect, meditate, switch off)
ACTION - Inhale through nose low, big (belly, ribs, shoulders) Then either:
Bee. Make a Bee humming noise for as long as you can.
Snake. Push your tongue through your lips and hisss for as long as you can.
Open your mouth and imagine you are fogging up a mirror for as long as you can
Breath out though your nose with some light throat constriction for as long as you can.
Repeat one or all 3 times.
7) COLD - Natural high, immunity.
30 secs -2 mins cold shower at the end of your hot one. Learn to have control over your autonomic nervous system create positive changes in your cells, and create a natural high.
8) WALK 10 MINS - Outside with no phone. Ecotherapy. Connect completely to the moment every object, sense, smell. As soon as you notice your lost in thought come back to sensation with no judgement or frustration.
‘Everything changes’ - Accept, Surrender and step back from your thoughts and know that they will eventually pass.
