Hugging my inner child
This is how I tended to my nervous system today when a big emotion came up.
👀 Orienting to a safe environment (looking around the room + listening to the birds);
😮💨 calming, intentional breath;
🚶movement + bilateral stimulation (rocking);
🫂 that loving + affectionate squeeze that says ‘I got you’…
These are all ways to signal to our body / nervous system that we are safe — which is especially important for those of us who have learned to repress, ignore, belittle, + bypass our emotions as a survival mechanism.
The safer we can feel when an emotion comes up, the more fully we can allow + release it.