Pause: Simple Grounding Exercises for Your Nervous System [Pause 66]

Welcome to another episode of I Thought I Was Over This with Dr. Kimber. 

In this episode, Dr. Kimber invites you to hit pause on your hectic routine and discover practical ways to reset your nervous system—whether you need a boost of motivation to get going or a moment of calm to ease anxiety and overwhelm. 

She guides you through gentle grounding techniques, mindful breathing exercises like box breath, and even a butterfly hug to help bring your mind and body back to center. 

Plus, Dr. Kimber shares why connecting with nature and tuning in to your body’s needs, even for just a few minutes, can make a world of difference. Tune in for a short, actionable episode designed to help you meet yourself where you are, find compassion, and move forward with greater clarity and ease.

Check out past episodes and more information here: https://www.drkimber.net/podcast-info

Please remember that this podcast is not a replacement for treatment by a healthcare or mental health professional. This content is created for education and entertainment purposes only.

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Book: Still: Making A Whole When Parts Go Missing

Transcript

0:01

Welcome to an episode of I Thought I was over this with Dr. Kimber del Valle. I am so grateful that you are here. There are many ways that you could be spending your time and it is a privilege to be here with you. It is my greatest desire to help you be able to change your nervous system. That is a fancy way of saying finding more calm, being able to shift out of go, go, go into rest. Or maybe you need to struggle with the idea of going because you're in rest and stop mode too much. Whatever your situation is, I got you. There is somewhat an all size fits all because your nervous system loves what's familiar. So every time you go into a meditation, a mindful practice, it helps you reset. It's an opportunity to reset whatever is happening. Now here's what I would say. Today's episode. It's gonna help you get aware, it's gonna help you get grounded. And if you are struggling to get up and be motivated, the fastest way to do that is go take a walk. Doesn't cost you anything. You need to get outside if it is sunny, you need to feel the sun on your skin. And there's that. If you're in a place where it's rainy, get outside if you can get wet. Like your body loves being outside. There is something about being connected to nature that isn't just woo, woo. There is a lot of science behind it. So that's your situation. Get off the podcast. Go outside if you need some motivation. However, if you find yourself here needing to reset, maybe you are feeling a lot of anger, maybe you're having a trauma response, maybe you are feeling so anxious, all of those things we call this sympathetic activation. Let's get you grounded and reset. And you might need to keep doing this, but I'm going to give you a quick reset because sometimes that works. And if I can help you reset in 10 minutes versus 20, perfect. If not, I want you to know if you are hot enough, if emotionally, you need to probably do this a couple times because for women, if we are flooded 20 minutes. John and Julie Gottman's love lab found flooding and flooding situations. Women, women's bodies need 20 minutes minimum to come down and men's bodies 40 minutes. So you know, wherever you are, this may not be enough. But with that said, I want you to settle in, find a place you can stand, you can sit, but wherever you are, I want you to take the tongue off the roof of your mouth, making a slight gap between your top teeth and your bottom teeth. I want you to Soften your eyes, if it's possible, close them, but if not, you can keep them open. But that where the eyeball is, where it's in the eye socket, soften that area. Even if you have your eyes open. Some call this a soft gaze. You're really trying not to take in details, but just soften that area. We hold a lot of tension there. Soften your forehead and let's even soften your cheeks. Finally, soften your hands. And let's just invite your mind to notice your breath. The temptation, when you have a lot of activation going on, is for your mind to grab a hold of it, to make sense of it. And right now we're going to anchor your mind with your breath. The easiest way, if your body allows, is to notice the breath coming in and out of your nostrils. So keeping that tongue off the roof of your mouth, start tracking your breath as it moves in and out of your nostrils. Now, you know your body better than I do. I am not independently individually directing you. So everything is an invitation. Ultimately, you are making the choice and knowing what is best for your body. So of course you can breathe in and out through your mouth. What I do know is if you are listening to this podcast, you are breathing. So you pick which one and ask your mind to hang out right at that spot. Again, it's going to be tempted to go away, but bring it back, bring it back. And now we're going to increase your attention by doing a box breath. This means we are going to take an inhale, then we're going to hold our breath at the top of the breath, then we're going to exhale and we're going to hold it at the bottom. I'm going to do a count of five, but again, feel free to do what is comfortable for your body. And so just ask your mind to keep coming back to the count. So let's inhale, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hold, 2, 3, 4, five. Exhale, 2, 3, 4,. 4, five. And hold at the bottom. 2, 3, 4, 5 dot Inhale, 2, 3, four, five. Hold. Keep everything loose. Five. Now exhale, 2, 3, 4th, 5. Hold at the bottom. 2, three, four, five. Inhale, two, three, four, five. Hold, two, three, four, Five. Exhale, two, three, Four, five. And now let's breathe normally. The temptation as you concentrate is to tighten your eyes, take the put the tongue back up on the roof of your mouth. So we're trying to rewire whatever you're doing, help you do just that. Because we try to pull in other parts of our body, our Minds to help us. And we are wanting to isolate the task at hand. So now let's just notice your body. If you are standing or seated, let's notice your feet on the floor. If you can notice your big toe, wiggle your toes, even if they're in shoes, noticing, if you can, each individual toe. And as you notice your little toe, go to the outer heel of your right foot, your inner heel of your right foot, and then switching your inner heel of your left foot, your outer heel of your left foot, noticing your big toe, noticing your little toe and seeing just whatever is making contact with your feet. See if by noticing all of the weight there, you can make it heavier. And let's just move up, loosen your quads, your hamstrings, all the way to your sits bones. Noticing where your hips are, you have these two sits bones. See if you can just notice the lovely weight of your body, the gift of gravity making contact with the chair. If you're standing, just notice the weight of your body on all, all the dimensions of your feet. So as you're noticing yourself sitting, noticing your back, whatever's being supported, see if you can notice all of it, whatever is touching. And maybe take this moment to stand a little taller, to sit a little taller, Imagining a string pulling your spine up into the heavens and straight down into the core of the earth. Play with your chin, putting it up, maybe all the way down, tucking it down and then up, seeing if you can be level, finding that Goldilocks space, taking your shoulders, bringing them up to your ears and then relaxing as you drop your shoulders again, taking the tongue off the roof of your mouth. And then let's do what I call a butterfly hug. It is where you are tapping, you're crossing your hands. So my right hand is hitting my left shoulder, it's going to tap there. And my left hand is going to tap my right shoulder. And then let's go back and forth again. We're redirecting your mind. And count. Play with the rhythm. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Now you go. What rhythm feels good? And as you're doing that, continue to take the tongue off the roof of your mouth and keep counting. It helps redirect your attention. The way that we go back to a situation that has been very aggravating or anxiety producing is we get grounded first and then we can go back and think about the situation. What have you? What have you? This is going to be a double negative. What haven't. I'll do that. What haven't you thought of? What are potential perspectives that you haven't thought of. Maybe you need to give yourself grace because you've made a mistake, you've missed a deadline. You know you've missed it. So how do you give yourself compassion? Get regulated and then notice what systems need to be adjusted. So I encourage you to just notice your surroundings. Pick textures, colors as you go throughout your day. Maybe do a couple more box breaths in an hour. But I wanted this to be short and sweet for you. Just these are very practical. Even if you're inside, look outside, you know, what do you see? If you see a building, that might not be the best thing, but maybe you can notice the sky. What color is the blue? During the seasons the sky changes according to the light variations. It has been good to be with you. If you would want find out more, you can always follow me overkimber on instagram. I am much more faithful though to my email list which can be found. The sign up can be found at D R K I m b e r.n e t drkimber.net you are a sacred being and you matter. Until next time.