Cranio-Sacral Therapy - Healing from the inside out

17/08/2023

𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬

Practicing Mindfulness of emotions is a great tool that can really help with difficult emotions. But sometimes the emotions one is experiencing are really distressing and they feel too overwhelming to be present with. This is where distress tolerance skills come in handy.
There are many ways to practice this skill. Personally, the practice that has helped me the most belongs to the category of TIP skills which work by changing your body chemistry.

Suppose you are feeling frustrated about something, and stressed, and very uncomfortable in your body and you want to feel better but you don't know what to do. Enter in 𝐓𝐈𝐏 Skills which stands for:

𝐓 – Tip the temperature of your body using cold water. To practice this most effectively, taking a cold shower is recommended, though even going to the sink and splashing cold water on your face is good too. Or for more effect you can fill up a bowl with freezing water, and dip your head in for 30 seconds.

𝐈 – Intense exercise – such as jumping up and down or doing push-ups, or running. My favorite one of these and the one I found most simple is to put a minute and a half on my phones timer and jump up and down. It always surprised me how helpful this was in feeling more comfortable and calmer after only a minute and a half of exercise.

𝐏 – Paced breathing and Paired Muscle relaxation – we all know slowing down breathing by taking deep breaths is helpful in lowering stress levels. Also tensing up body muscles and releasing them is another way to help release tension. You can do this by breathing in and tensing up, noticing the tension and then breathing out as you let go of the tension.

Other ways of practicing this skill include different ways of distracting yourself. With other activities, for example.

Clean or organize a room in your house. Or read a book or a magazine.

Compare your distressing situation with someone else who may be suffering and doing so will put you in a better mood, by putting things in perspective.
Or remind yourself that this is how you are feeling now, but there are times when you felt different.

Turning on music that brings up other emotions can be helpful as well, or listening to music at a high volume.

Change your thinking, for example, by repeating words to a song in your mind or by counting to 10.

A whole other class of ideas that can help, involve using your 5 senses to sooth yourself:

With 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Look at nature around you.
Browse through stores, looking at things.
Be mindful of each sight that passes in front of you.

With 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠:
Pay attention to the sounds of nature. (Waves, birds, rainfall, leaves rustling)
Pay attention to the sounds of the city (traffic, horns, city music)
Sing to your favorite songs.
Be mindful of any sounds that come your way, letting them go in one ear and out the other.

With 𝐒𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐥:

Boil cinnamon. Make cookies, bread, or popcorn.
Open a package of coffee and inhale the aroma.
Open the windows and smell the other.

With 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞:
Eat some of your favorite foods.
Drink your favorite soothing drink, such as herbal tea, hot chocolate, a latte, or a smoothie.
Suck on a piece of peppermint candy.
Chew your favorite gum.

With 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡:

Take a long hot bath or shower.
Hug someone.
Wrap up in a blanket.
Notice touch that is soothing.
Take a drive with the car windows rolled down.
Put on a blouse or shirt that has a pleasant feel.

Another way of practicing this skill goes under the title of '𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭'.

𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐲:

Imagine everything going well. I've tried this one before and it can be difficult, but after putting in some effort, I have found it possible and very effective in improving my mood.
Imagine very relaxing scenes.

𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠:

Find purpose or meaning in a painful situation.
Focus on whatever positive aspects of a painful situation you can find.
Remember, listen to, or read about spiritual values.

𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫:

Open your heart to a supreme being, G-d, or your own Wise Mind.
Ask for strength to bear the pain.
Turn things over to God or a higher being.

𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 actions:

Breath deeply.
Change your facial expression.
Massage your neck and scalp.
Practice yoga or other stretching.

Focus on 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭:

Focus your entire attention on just what you are doing.
Keep yourself in the moment.
Put your mind in the present.

Take a brief 𝐕𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: (one of my favorites)

Give yourself a brief vacation.
Turn off your phone for a day. (or even a couple hours)
Take a blanket to the park and sit on it for a whole afternoon.
Take a brief vacation from responsibility.

With Self-𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

“I will make it out of this”
“I'm doing the best I can.”
Repeat over and over: “I can stand it.”
“This too shall pass.”
“I will be OK.”
“It won't last forever.”

There are many ways of practicing this skill so see what works for you best. And remember, the more you practice it, the easier it gets.

If you have any questions or are curious to know more about other ways of practicing this skill, feel free to PM me, or comment below.

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03/08/2023

Hello friends, I would like to share with you a tool that I found helped me deal with difficult emotions.

I did a behavorial therapy course a few years ago, and one tool I learned is to practice being mindful of difficult emotions. It took some courage to try it out, cause its not easy to accept and be mindful of difficult emotions. Its more natural as humans to try and escape and avoid these emotions when they come up. Anyway, I worked up the courage one day to try out the exercise when I was feeling sad, and as I allowed myself to feel it, it passed and I felt calmer and more freedom after. It was pretty awesome. I was like wow, this is a real powerful tool. It seemed like a great solution that I could use in so many situations.

Its easy to get excited about theses types of things, but then when it comes down to it, each time it takes courage to be willing to practice it again in time of need. I used it occasionally mostly for when I was feeling sad.

Then one day I was feeling uncomfortable about something and the way I had acted in a certain situation. And so I looked through my therapy workbook which had a section which described all types of feelings, the more enjoyable ones like, love, joy and happiness, as well as difficult ones, such as sadness, anger, and shame to try and figure out what I was feeling.

This part of the workbook was very helpful in itself, to understand each of these emotions, what causes them, physically how we feel and its after effects. It was really in depth. As the first step in being mindful of emotions is to notice which one it is.

Anyway back to the story, I became aware that I was feeling shame.
And so I did the exercise again following the protocol, which included observing the emotion, almost like from the outside, and then feeling it in the body, the sensations. Also one part of the exercise which really helped me and I found effective was the instruction to remember times I felt different, lets say memories of feeling happiness, or loved and to bring them to mind. It took effort but it really was worth it. Cause whenever I would feel a certain way, part of the difficulty was feeling like it was never going to end, as if I had always felt this way and always would, which is obviously a lie, but that's what I felt. So reminding myself and bringing to mind times when I felt different was powerful and helped me to detach from the emotion and help let go of it and for it to be released.

And it really worked. I was able to experience the shame, be present with it, and also become somewhat detached from it, and realize I am not the shame. Its only what I'm experiencing at the moment.

I used it when feeling frustrated as well, and that was really helpful as well. To recognize it, feel it in my body, and as a result, help it pass and be free of it. And then to be able to see things clearer and not over-react and respond to the person or the situation that had brought it up in me in a calmer way, assertively, but without expressing anger.

I am passionate about this exercise and so I created an audio/video track of the guided mindfulness meditation, based on my workbook, which is here below.

Hope it helps you as much as it helped me!

18/07/2023

Welcome to this page where I plan to share useful content that can help people become more self-aware of what's going on for them emotionally and to become more aware of their body and state of mind and share my personal experience of different tools that have helped me.
Looking forward to journey the road of healing together!