Reduce suffering by challenging the beliefs that things are permanent, that life should be perfect, and that you are alone in your experiences; instead, remember that you belong to each other.
Apply the Buddhist characteristic of impermanence (anicca) to your suffering, remembering that discomfort, stress, and unpleasant feelings are not permanent and will eventually pass, which can be liberating.
When feeling overwhelmed by fear, quickly reach out to friends or your community to name the fear, as sharing it can make it vanish or become more manageable.
Avoid sitting in ‘a soup of chaos’ by actively choosing to talk to somebody about your issues, rather than overlooking this obvious solution.
Engage in open communication with family and friends about anxieties, especially regarding how to interact and show up together in uncertain times.
When observing others, mentally repeat ‘just like me’ to remember their shared humanity, struggles, and susceptibility to universal laws, which helps put things in perspective and cultivate compassion.
Apply the ‘just like me’ mantra even to those who cause harm, considering their potential past suffering or lack of support, to open your heart to compassion.
For high-stress professions, practice intensive self-care, mentally and emotionally preparing before entering stressful environments, and ritualize shedding that energy once you leave.
When faced with opportunities, especially in busy times, pause and ask yourself, ‘I can, but should I?’ to assess if there’s enough space and capacity for refueling and nourishing your body.
For those in direct service or constantly giving, it’s crucial to pause and replenish yourself (‘drink as you pour’) to ensure you have enough energy and capacity to continue giving.
When entering a new or potentially stressful environment, pause, feel your feet on the ground, notice your body’s response, then turn your head from side to side, observing colors, shapes, and textures to ground yourself and activate your animal brain for safety.
Before engaging in high-stress work, take five seconds to feel your feet, place a hand on your belly to feel your breath, and look around to get your bearings; this can transform your interactions and work.
To create a sense of containment and holding during anxiety, place one hand on your forehead and the other on the back of your neck, applying slight pressure.
When feeling anxious or self-critical (e.g., while writing), step away, place a hand on your chest, gently rub it, and give yourself a reassuring pep talk, acknowledging your feelings while offering encouragement.
When feeling tightness or gripping in your chest due to anxiety, bring your attention to it, hold it, acknowledge it, and try gently tapping the center of your chest to break up the sensation into more manageable pieces.
To skillfully work with breath and settle the nervous system, focus your attention on the breath low in your belly, placing hands below the belly button and feeling it expand and deflate like a balloon.
When trying to drop into your body and feel its sensations, rest your eyes (look down or close them) to reduce external information and allow your body to ‘wake up’ as a sense gate.
To access your gut intuition and primordial wisdom, rest your eyes (look down or close them) to reduce external sensory input, allowing your body to become a sense gate for internal information.
Settle anxious moments by bringing awareness to your body and getting out of your head.
If you know when anxiety will arise, engage in somatic activities like walking or biking beforehand to move the energy through and meet it before it escalates.
If anxiety arises unexpectedly, pause and feel into the experience by noticing your breath and body, then observe it move, flow, and eventually dissipate.
Pause and check in with the felt sensations in your body and the expression of your breath to gain information about what’s happening inside you.
Use the information from your body and breath to course correct in real-time or for future actions, ensuring regulation and a grounded starting point.
When anxiety stems from wanting to do things perfectly or say the right things, recognize it as your ego and consciously let it take a backseat.
When considering career changes or major life decisions, intentionally reflect to distinguish between ego-driven beliefs (’this is who you are’) and the subtle wisdom of your body signaling what’s truly right for you.
Avoid becoming fixed and rigid in your identity or work, and instead, give yourself the space to grow, transform, and move into new ways of working that align with your evolving needs.
Instead of just coping, integrate practices like resourcing into your daily rhythm, making them as routine as brushing your teeth, especially for high-stress jobs, so they become part of who you are.
Listen to your body for information on whether a job or situation is still the right fit, honoring that you move through different seasons in life and may need to transform your work or location.
Actively talk about your fears and anxieties to normalize them, counteracting the collective tendency to hide these experiences and helping others feel less alone or ‘broken.’
Counter the curated, photoshopped versions of lives on social media by presenting a more realistic view of your own life, including mundane or embarrassing moments, to foster a healthier collective perspective.
Be willing to share your struggles and imperfections, even when they are still raw, to normalize human experience and counteract the pressure of presenting a perfectly polished life.
Acknowledge, name, and talk about collective and historical traumas, such as those related to racism, to facilitate healing and prevent downplaying their ongoing impact.
To alleviate tightness from focusing breath only at the nostrils, try to feel the breath moving through your entire body, including the bottoms of your feet or palms of your hands.
Approach each breath with curiosity, noticing its unique qualities, beginning, middle, and end, and how it changes, rather than expecting it to be static.
By feeling the expansion, contraction, rising, and falling of the breath, you can flow into its rhythm, creating more space and capacity to be with whatever arises.
When feeling tense or constricted, pause to notice your breath, then allow a full, deep breath to enter your body to reset and restore rhythm, flow, and continuity.
Discover and engage in activities like riding a bike or cooking that serve as active outlets to nourish and replenish your body and mind.
Incorporate laughter, such as watching stand-up comedy, as a somatic rest strategy to shake and move energy out of your body, providing a sense of release and replenishment.