Three Techniques to Stay Calm and Centred – It is Your Choice!

Very simply said: If you have the choice between being calm and centered  or stressed and all over the place, the choice would be obvious right?

Yet, how often do you make that choice? Does it seem that such a choice is outside of your control? What if it is possible to return to a calm centred state quickly – would you make the choice then? It may take a little practice and learning, but it can be life transforming.

The first step is to be very clear of the benefits. Of course, there are numerous – but let’s sum up a few:

• Emotional: If you are habitually calm your mind will be peaceful, joyful, confident and clear without anything from the outside needing to happen to make it so! You will be less reactive.
• Relationships: You are more likely to relate to people in a positive, thoughtful and kind way – you are less likely to be irritable, angry, dismissive, self centred etc. Home and workplace relationships will benefit.
• Productivity: You will be more focused with the ability to make better decisions, deal with complexity, set and achieve goals.
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3 Rapid Techniques Which Get More Effective the more you use them!

In the 3 below techniques, begin with a positive choice to allow yourself to return to calm!

-Take 2 minutes to come back to yourself. This means withdrawing attention back into your mind and body and noticing what is going on. As soon as you bring mindful attention to your experience your breathing is likely to slow and deepen, tensions will start to drop, and you have the possibility of shifting from fight or flight to rest and digest.

-Take 3 minutes to do a heart coherence practice (this synchronizes breathing and heart and has been shown to be hugely beneficial for emotional and physical health.)

• Close your eyes – shift your awareness out of your head to the centre of your chest
• Imagine you are breathing in and out in a very calm way through a tiny hole in the centre of your emotional heart – in the middle of the chest. Do this for 2 minutes
• Think of someone you love, care for, or feel gratitude towards and really feel it – do this for 1 minute

-Learn to slow your breathing down to 6 breaths per minute (all through the nose)  and practice this for 3 to 5 minutes with your eyes closed. You will need a timer to learn to do this, until you find the cadence. One way of doing this that is really calming, is to breathe in to the count of 4, breathe out to the count of 4 and then hold the breath for 2 seconds – alternatively, slow the outbreath down to 6 seconds and don’t do the breath hold. You might need to work up to this. Note: Receive proper training in this if you get dizzy using breathing techniques or have a respiratory problem.

There are numerous other benefits that we introduce during transformational coaching and training sessions.