Attentive to body

As a way to care for yourself, try this -

Be attentive to your body – learn to tune into signals and short-circuit a stress response

"We can choose how we respond to stimulation coming into our sensory systems... There are certain limbic system (emotional) mechanisms that can be triggered automatically (such as anger) but “it takes less than 90 seconds for one of these programs to be triggered, surge through our body, and then be completely flushed out of our blood stream…within 90 seconds of the original trigger, the chemical component of my anger has completely dissipated from my blood and my automatic response is over. If, however, I remain angry after those 90 seconds have passed, then it is because I have chosen to let that circuit continue to run. Moment by moment, I make the choice to either hook into my neurocircuitry or move back in to the present moment, allowing that reaction to melt away as fleeting physiology.” - Jill Bolte Taylor, My Stroke of Insight (p 146)

Relaxed breathing: Sit comfortably in your chair, possibly straightening your back and putting both feet on the floor. First, take a normal breath or two. Now, breathe slowly and deeply – in through the nose and out through the mouth – letting your abdomen swell as you breathe in, and fall as you breathe out. Stomach breathing involves primarily the diaphragm and is more efficient.

You might want to close your eyes if it helps. Place your hands gently over your stomach. Imagine you are filling your stomach with air, while you hold your ribcage and collarbone mostly still. With every inhalation let your belly expand, and let it deflate upon exhalation. Take deep, slow abdominal breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth. Slowing the breath and breathing in through the nose releases nitric oxide from the storage passages in the nose, which helps bring about decreased heart rate and blood pressure, lessening of muscle tension, and lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels. Lower stress hormones increases antibodies and thus immunity, and helps us response rather than react to our situations, and creates space for a responsing to God.