As beautiful as our farms are, most of us don’t get a chance to spend time breathing in the country air, going for long, meandering walks which help calm down our nervous system – that is until we don’t see the cowsh.. until it’s too late and those great new pair of sneakers you bought don’t look so crash hot!
Don’t fear I have a few tips to help you calm your farm that don’t require you to soak your sneakers in the laundry trough whilst you are holding your nose, thinking the best form of revenge is to have steak that night for dinner. Here’s some practical tips:
- Breathing techniques. I’m sure you’ve heard before about counting your inhale and exhaling for one extra count. Did you know, though, that when you place a hand on your heart and another on your belly, this deep breathing technique also helps you ground yourself back into your body? True story. We carry in our body any unprocessed emotions, events, trauma etc. We don’t experience life through an avatar, the body keeps the score. It’s no different really to muscle memory – except the knock on effects on your quality of life can be terrible. Getting yourself acquainted with being back in your body is an important step in your healing.
- Creating a safety mantra for yourself, that you repeat either internally or out loud can work a treat. Try out different sentences such as “All of me is safe and I have full autonomy over me and my body”, or “It’s safe for me to ground myself back into my body”. You get the drift. Play around with different words/sentences that convey the message of safety, security and your own safe harbour and repeat this whilst practising the grounding breathing techniques. You can do this and the deep breathing whilst on the train, sitting at the traffic lights, even whilst you are on the loo.
- Journaling. Whether you are a fan of writing or not, writing down what is going on for you can be cathartic and help you start to make some sense of what’s going on for you. I’ll let you in on a tip I give my clients (they get homework each session so don’t say you weren’t warned!). Write down how you FEEL. It can be one word or a whole page, it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to write yet another shopping list, and you don’t need reminding of what the kids have on the weekend and the six different places you have to be all at once (dance class, footy practice, birthday party etc.). You probably need to check in on how you are feeling. Journaling will help.
- Good old Mother Nature (this is where the farm and the cowsh.. can come in). Can be a farm, or your local park or a simple walk around your neighbourhood – especially on a sunny day. You’ll get your dose of Vitamin D and your body will thank you for the gentle exercise. If you can go barefoot on grass even better. Whilst you are on your walk, make a point of noticing the colours around you and the scents of the earth and how perfect the blue sky is. Such a simple thing but a walk never fails to bring me gratitude and calm, and grounding into Mother Earth doesn’t hurt either.
- Leaning into silence. This may feel a little challenging (or downright scary) – that’s ok. When was the last time you actually were still in silence? Once you start noticing, you might surprise yourself that there can be multiple moments throughout your day/evening where you can sit in silence. If it feels a little too confronting, do it with the breathing technique tips listed above and use your safety mantra. Learning to be still and silent even for 30 seconds on a daily basis, will help calm your farm and start to guide you as to what’s whispering from within that needs to be healed and brought home. If you need help with this please just click the Begin Healing button and I’ll help guide you back to your safe harbour.
Till the next blog, be patient with yourselves blossoms.