FINDING PEACE IN TROUBLE
‘Emotional Hands’ technique to find peace during stressful times
AS soon as we let stress take over, we make poorer decisions, we can’t think things through and it is hard to find peace. Yet we are often at a point in life where we need to be clear headed and wise in our decisions and actions. Finding peace in trouble is very important and it is essential to be able to think clearly.
When life throws us curve balls, when things do not go to plan and we face a reallife crisis, how do we find our own inner peace? Have you ever found yourself in a situation like this? At home or at work? Finding peace in trouble times can be very hard.
So, as an mBIT (multiple Brain Integration Techniques) coach, I wondered how I could use some of the tools I am familiar with, in the stressful moment, to shift a state from trouble to peace. I developed the ‘Emotional Hands’ technique: a simple, short, ten step technique to bring you inner calm. It is a combination of mindfulness, mBraining, gratitude and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
THE EMOTIONAL HANDS TECHNIQUE INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:
1. Decide your intention to be calm inside.
2. Become aware of your breathing.
Next act to bring yourself into balance. It is likely you will be in a sympathetic dominant mode, where you are breathing
high in your chest, with shallow, maybe even jerky breaths. Take two gentle but deep breaths that extend your abdomen and then fully empty your lungs. Then focus on long and slow breaths for three breath cycles (a breath cycle is one breath in plus one breath out) where you breathe in for a count of four and breathe out for a count of six. You could say an affirmation to yourself while you are breathing out, ‘I am OK’, or a hum or sigh.
3. Consciously now bring your breathing into an even rhythm.
Work into an even rhythm of counting the same number in and out, for three breathing cycles.
4. Place your attention to your heart space.
Whilst doing this take both hands out in front of you. Then bring your little fingers together at the tips and focus on feeling happiness in your heart. Describe it in terms of colour, shape, size, pictures, feelings or sensations. For three even breath cycles allow the feeling of happiness to grow and expand in your chest.
5. Leaving your little fingers touching, bring your ring fingers together.
As you do, from the heart, feel joy. Again, describe it, in exquisite detail over three
even breath cycles and allow the feeling of it to grow.
6. Now bring together your middle fingers and from the heart, feel peace.
You may be surprised how easy it is to feel the difference between the emotions. Take time to truly feel the emotion in the chest.
7. Then bring your index fingers together and feel and describe appreciation.
8. Next bring your thumbs together and feel and describe gratitude. With each finger the key is to:
• Breathe evenly for three breath cycles. (count of four in & six out). However, it is more important that the rhythm is even, than the length of each cycle.
• Feel and describe the emotion from the heart. It is how you feel the emotion, not what you think about it.
9. At this stage all your fingers are touching tip to tip and now is the time to bring your hands together.
Your fingers can be flat, or entwined. Now breathing into your heart space, feel a sense of calm. Allow that to spread round your body with each heart beat as you sit for another three breath cycles.
10. Bring your attention back into the situation that you are in and give thanks.
Give thanks to the universe, God, yourself (whatever feels right for you) for this moment. This is a moment of calm in the storm. Feel the calm in your body. Notice the stillness in your head, your heart and your gut.
This can take as little as three minutes. It may take a little longer as you learn to deeply feel and describe your emotions. You may find that you enjoy the feeling and want to repeat the exercise or stay in that state of calm awareness for longer. You could even adapt it and add in different positive emotions that would be useful for you.
It is an exercise that can be done quickly, effectively, wherever you are (work, home or out and about). It really does make a huge difference to finding peace in trouble.
Dr Suzanne Henwood is the Director and Lead Coach and Trainer of mBraining4Success. She is also the CEO of The Healthy Workplace and a Master Trainer and Master Coach of mBIT (Multiple Brain Integration Techniques) and can be contacted via her website.