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Welcome to the Anxiety Coaches podcast!

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Relaxing and informative show where we

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explore anxiety and and Ptsd sharing

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how you can overcome them for

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a life. Know.

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How will come back to

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the Anxiety Coaches Podcast! I'm

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your host and coach Geno

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Ryan and I am so

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happy to be with you

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again. Today is together We

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can consider the many ways

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to bring your mind and

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body bear to it's natural

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peace and calm. In. Today's

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episode, I'm talking about the

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power of self soothing. And.

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We're gonna be self soothing, er,

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stress through the sensors. Often.

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I find that people do

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not know how to soothe

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themselves and this goes way

1:00

back when I was even

1:02

working with women and eating

1:04

disorders. People. Don't know

1:06

how to self soothe or

1:08

take care of themselves. Or

1:10

use self care however you

1:13

would like to frame there,

1:15

but especially during times of

1:17

distress. We. Forget even those

1:19

of us who were practiced

1:22

it taking care of ourselves.

1:24

We can forget. We get

1:26

that part of our brain

1:28

is not quite on line

1:30

sometimes during these stressful situations.

1:32

so learning how to relax

1:34

and self soothe will help

1:37

us. Especially if we can

1:39

find a way to remember

1:41

these things because it's going

1:43

to lower blood pressure, reduce

1:45

our heart rate, and stop

1:47

the message. To the lizard

1:49

brain, the amygdala that there's

1:51

an emergency that needs to

1:53

be tended to. This makes

1:55

it easier for your whole

1:57

brain to function for. You to. Think

2:00

more clearly. And cope

2:02

better in hell, blaze. Self.

2:06

Soothing. Aims to bring little

2:08

bits and pieces of peace and

2:10

com. Back into your life

2:13

for this. We wanna look to

2:15

our senses and use their. Awesome!

2:17

Ness. Let's look first. At

2:19

using your sense of touch

2:22

are often neglected Sense of

2:24

Touch. His arm largest organ.

2:26

Use it your skins. Think

2:29

of padding, soft animal. Touching.

2:33

Something soft or smooth in

2:35

your pocket. Taking

2:37

a hot or cold shower or

2:40

bath, And remember

2:42

that your preferences will be different than

2:44

someone elses, so there's no judgement here.

2:46

We're all going to find our way

2:49

to this sense of touch on our

2:51

own, But feeling the bubbly.

2:53

Water while you're doing. The dishes:

2:55

Doing some self messiahs and

2:58

wearing clothing that suits your

3:00

skin can be taking steps

3:03

to using your sense of

3:05

touch to make your day

3:08

less. Stressful. It's.

3:10

Helping you to have

3:12

a good relationship with

3:14

your environment. Use.

3:17

Your sense of smell, Smell

3:20

is our biggest trigger for

3:22

memories, so this can be

3:24

a delightful. Trip down memory

3:27

lane using scented candles.

3:29

Either at home or the office, he

3:31

can. Notice the sense of

3:34

your loved ones as you hugged

3:36

them. Keep. Fresh fragrant flowers

3:38

in your home or on your

3:40

desk and where your favorite. Essential

3:43

oil or perfume as that's

3:45

your preference. Visit places that

3:48

smell wonderful to you, such

3:50

as restaurants. Or coffee shops

3:52

or speak Greece. go

3:54

outside and smells of world as

3:57

it is in your location there's

3:59

the street here in Makawao

4:01

Town over there a little ways

4:03

away from me where you walk

4:06

by one cookie shop and it's

4:09

just this pleasant beautiful

4:11

smell of vanilla

4:14

and sugar and

4:16

spices and it's just delightful and

4:18

then you walk a little further

4:20

down and there's this coffee shop

4:23

with these really fresh

4:25

ground smells of coffee

4:27

coming out of there and it's

4:29

just it's a treat for the sense of

4:32

smell and it's delightful so

4:34

find what's in your area what

4:36

do things smell like not to

4:38

mention that I am here on this

4:40

beautiful island and the incredible

4:43

flowers that are always

4:45

blooming and just

4:48

smell magnificent I have there's a

4:50

night blooming Jasmine that I get

4:52

to enjoy that is

4:55

just so fragrant

4:57

at night that you can hardly

4:59

even believe that someone isn't out

5:01

there spraying it it's just amazing

5:04

see what's in your area and

5:06

enjoy it we

5:08

can also go on and look at

5:10

our sense of sight and

5:14

the things that we can see will

5:16

have a powerful effect on us for

5:18

good or for harm so pay attention

5:20

to what you are allowing into your

5:23

sense of sight find

5:25

images that you find soothing and

5:28

visit them often use

5:30

photographs or that are

5:32

yours or cut out pictures from

5:34

magazines and books to make a

5:36

self-soothing collage of things that are

5:38

beautiful to you or go

5:41

to an environment that you find soothing

5:44

and look at it look up into

5:46

the night sky or the day sky

5:49

it's there and it's for your

5:52

benefit to actually tilt

5:54

your head back and look at it delight

5:57

in photography books of your

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Favorite subject: Create your own

6:02

pictures and paintings. Gaze at

6:04

photographs of month ones that

6:06

make you smile. Keep

6:09

track of let you lead in.

6:12

Use your sense of sight

6:14

to your benefit because often

6:16

we are learning things in

6:18

that are not helpful with

6:20

our senses site. You may

6:22

wanna pay attention to what

6:24

you were scrolling through on

6:26

social media will kind of

6:28

news programs you might be

6:31

watching. And see if

6:33

there are images that

6:35

are. Causing. You

6:37

distress. And it's okay to

6:39

let. Those go. You.

6:42

Could use your sense of hearing. Certain

6:44

sounds can be horribly

6:46

annoying, but others are

6:49

soothing. And it's all.

6:51

Different for us. Just like. Different

6:53

tastes in music so

6:55

develop your taste. Determine

6:58

what suits and relaxes you

7:00

and then play it on.

7:02

Sin. Listen. To audio

7:05

books on podcast. That help

7:07

you to relax and tells

7:09

let go. Look.

7:11

For a soothing voices and

7:13

tempo. Listen. To

7:15

nature in your environment. Listening

7:18

to water can just be

7:20

so soothing. Visit

7:23

places that call. To your sense

7:25

of hearing. An air

7:27

of water feature to your home is you

7:29

can be to serve water. Is

7:31

just so calming. Maybe.

7:34

Live where you have your own babbling

7:36

brook. Or. You could

7:38

just turn on some white noise. This

7:40

is very. Soothing to a lot

7:42

of people. Spit on the day

7:44

before we we could do those

7:47

things, people ran Sanzar. I remember.

7:50

Having a white noise. In the

7:52

scene in the bedroom that could do

7:54

like waterfall but all it was it

7:56

was a static tennis noise. It's also

7:59

easy for us. to find exactly what

8:01

we want now. So take advantage of

8:03

that. And if you want to listen

8:05

to white noise you can even find

8:07

it on YouTube. Listen

8:09

to any moving water such

8:12

as an ocean, a river, a stream,

8:14

or waterfall. And you

8:16

can also listen to those as

8:18

a recording if you cannot get

8:20

out to these yourself. It's

8:23

joyful to be able to do that but

8:25

we can't always take a trip even living

8:27

near the ocean. Can't spend all day there.

8:30

So sometimes we have to listen

8:32

to the recording of the ocean.

8:34

And finally listen to the body

8:36

scan meditation that I have. It's

8:38

got the ocean in the background.

8:41

Or you could listen to a

8:43

guided muscle relaxation audio. If

8:45

you want that body scan meditation

8:48

of mine you can go to

8:50

anxietycoachespodcast.com. It's on the there's a

8:52

body scan page there for you.

8:55

And now

8:57

let's turn to using your sense

9:00

of taste. Let's not forget

9:02

about the tongue and all of

9:04

its senses. Find

9:06

your favorite flavors and

9:09

experiment and try new ones. Try

9:12

savoring a piece of fruit.

9:15

Eat it slowly. See

9:18

how it feels to chew gum or suck

9:20

on a hard candy or sip

9:22

herbal tea and decaf

9:25

coffees. And enjoy

9:27

the coolness of iced drinks

9:29

on a hot day or

9:31

a hot drink on a cold day. Use

9:35

your sense of taste to

9:38

soothe yourself, to remind

9:40

yourself that this is

9:42

good. Things are okay.

9:46

Some self soothing behaviors are healthier

9:48

than others. Eating ice

9:50

cream when you're sad or biting

9:52

your nails when you're afraid may

9:54

be your default but it may

9:57

not be the best choice. So

9:59

make note. The about your current ways

10:01

of soothing. In your journal and

10:03

then identify others. From the things

10:06

that we have talked about here

10:08

today see, there's some other ways

10:10

that you could sued yourself instead

10:12

of like I said, eating ice

10:15

cream when you're sad, or biting

10:17

your nails when you were afraid.

10:20

So I'm gonna give you some.

10:22

Ceilings. You can

10:24

shut this down in your journal and.

10:27

I would like you to

10:30

consider the ways that you

10:32

can soothe yourself when nice

10:34

ceilings arise because we may

10:36

wanna do different things for

10:38

different ways that we are

10:40

feeling. Let's look at how

10:43

we might sue theirself with

10:45

anger. When do you feel

10:47

angry and how might you

10:49

be able to suit yourself.

10:53

About being sad. Scared.

10:59

Lonely. Ashamed.

11:03

Unloved, And

11:06

says. And. Disappointed.

11:09

So. Chat those down in your

11:12

journal and think of ways

11:14

that you. Can soothe yourself

11:16

when you are experiencing. Those

11:18

feelings. I'm

11:21

going to give you some ideas

11:23

here and maybe you can chat

11:25

these next to the ones that

11:27

you would wanna do or come

11:29

back to this and see where

11:31

you can match these up the

11:33

ceilings with of these ways of

11:35

soothing. So.

11:37

You know, Making. Art or

11:40

riding can be very helpful

11:42

when we are trying to

11:44

make a shift in our

11:46

ceiling or even to understand

11:48

how we. Are feeling and some

11:51

of those ways would be things

11:53

like Jon you know I'm not

11:55

gonna get on my journal soapbox.

11:57

here but you know how i feel about it I

12:00

love the act of having a

12:02

pen or pencil, crayon,

12:04

paintbrush, whatever in your

12:07

hand. This works our

12:09

brain a little bit differently. So try

12:11

journaling. Try writing

12:13

some poetry or plays. I

12:17

have a member in my group coaching

12:20

membership that writes plays.

12:23

To me that's so delightful and awesome. Something

12:26

I've never done so I'm quite impressed.

12:30

Or short stories. You

12:32

might like writing music. Simply

12:35

drawing or coloring, painting,

12:40

working with clay or

12:42

play-doh or putty, beading.

12:44

Again, we're using our hands,

12:47

jewelry making, sewing,

12:50

crafts, knitting,

12:52

needlepoint, doodling. I'm

12:54

a big doodler. Mandalas,

12:57

they can be so beautiful. Draw them

12:59

in and color them in. And

13:02

even cooking. It

13:05

can be an artistic way of

13:07

expressing your feelings or

13:10

shifting your feeling. Now

13:13

how about if we move on

13:15

to some ideas for self-soothing around

13:17

movement. Getting

13:19

the body up out of the computer

13:21

chair or off the couch is a

13:24

way to start. Maybe you

13:26

would like to dance. Walk.

13:30

Run. Ride a bike. Do

13:33

yoga. Tai Chi. Qi

13:35

Gong. Boxing or

13:38

kickboxing. Any sport

13:40

that you like. How

13:42

about any of the other martial arts. I don't

13:44

even know them all to list them. Swimming.

13:48

Water aerobics. Take

13:51

the kids and the dog outside. Go to

13:53

the park. Even just for a walk. Or

13:56

go take a hike. Walk

13:59

the nature chair. trail or explore the

14:01

woods. Move your

14:03

body. Get

14:05

it up out of that chair. Move

14:08

it. We spend

14:10

a lot of time sitting. And

14:12

I don't think just standing in front

14:14

of the computer is the answer. Although

14:18

moving from sitting to standing many times a

14:20

day is a good thing. Maybe

14:22

you could do a little stretching in there

14:25

in between or some

14:27

tai chi warm ups. Now

14:30

another way to be able to

14:33

soothe yourself and

14:35

maybe change the direction that

14:37

the mind was going is

14:40

through relaxation. The

14:42

breathing, the belly breathing can be a

14:44

remarkable shift and it's so easy to

14:47

do. You can do this even in

14:49

the middle of a business meeting. No

14:51

one needs to know. But if

14:54

you practice it at home, if you practice

14:56

it with your meditation practice, you will

14:58

be able to call it up at

15:00

any time during the day that you

15:02

need it. But please

15:04

practice, practice, practice during your

15:06

meditation. It relaxing the

15:09

belly and letting your exhale be

15:11

longer and slower. Until you try

15:13

it, you don't know how remarkable

15:15

it can be. You could do a

15:17

body scan. I mentioned my body scan earlier.

15:19

You could do progressive

15:22

muscle relaxation, which is a

15:24

beautiful thing to be able to do. And

15:26

Herbert Benson really laid

15:28

all that out back in the day

15:31

with the start of

15:33

relaxation. Mindfulness or

15:35

other meditation. So again, I'm hoping

15:37

that that's part of your daily

15:40

routine, but you could try prayer

15:42

and reading and even just being

15:45

with a relaxing cup of

15:47

something warm, being there with

15:49

it. Just relaxing

15:53

and using any of your

15:55

aromatherapy, your lavender, let's say,

15:57

as you are at your desk. You

16:00

could have that be a part of

16:02

either your breathing or just

16:04

something that you like to wear to remind yourself

16:07

when you smell that beautiful lavender that,

16:09

yes, I can relax. Talking

16:13

is another thing that you could do. You

16:16

could be venting your feelings. You could

16:18

do that in our Anxiety Coaches Podcast

16:20

Facebook group. You could talk to a

16:22

friend. You could talk to a coach

16:24

or a counselor. You can call

16:26

a hotline. You can speak out

16:28

on the behalf of others. If

16:31

you feel the urge for your voice

16:33

to be heard, that may be your

16:35

mode of switching off

16:38

from distress into self-soothing and

16:41

taking care of yourself. And

16:44

finally, music. Listening to music,

16:47

singing, playing

16:49

music, writing music, compiling

16:51

playlists, whistling,

16:55

humming. These are remarkable

16:57

ways of shifting

16:59

your nervous system into

17:01

a self-soothe state. So

17:05

write out your action plan for using your senses

17:08

and keep it handy. Keep it on your

17:10

phone or in your notes or whatever.

17:13

Keep it on the fridge and use

17:15

it. Again, we

17:18

just need to keep practicing

17:20

these things. You guys got

17:22

it. Thanks for being here with

17:24

me. And

17:27

now for today's quote. Learn

17:33

to be calm and you will

17:35

always be happy. And

17:37

that's from Paramahansa Yogananda. I'll

17:40

be back in a few more days with another

17:42

podcast. Until then, be well

17:45

and aloha. Thanks

17:49

so much for joining us

17:51

for today's episode of the

17:53

Anxiety Coaches Podcast. Find more

17:55

information at theanxietycoachespodcast.com. you