Do this for Anxiety relief
I came across this simple body awareness exercise in the book “The Happiness Trap” by Russ Harris
It will help you calm your anxious mind and be more aware of the present moment. I bet it will definitely calm you!
Let's begin…
- Where are your feet?
- What position are your legs in?
- What is the position of your spine? Is it leaning forward or backward? Where does it curve?
- How are you breathing? Shallowly or deeply? Rapidly or slowly?
- As you breathe in, does your tummy move inward or outward?
- Is your back resting against something? If so, notice that area where your back is in contact with the supporting surface.
- What is the shape of that area?
- What are the positions of your arms?
- What can you feel in your neck and shoulders? Any tension or discomfort?
- What is your body temperature? Hot, cold, or comfortable?
- Which part of you feels the warmest? Which part of you feels the coolest?
- Can you notice the air on your skin?
- How does the inside of your mouth feel: wet, dry, warm, cool? Where is your tongue resting? Is it touching your teeth?
- Now take twenty seconds to scan your body from head to toe and notice if there’s any stiffness, tension, pain, or discomfort anywhere.
- Take another twenty seconds to scan your body from head to toe and notice if there are any pleasant or comfortable sensations.
- Do you feel any urge to change your position even slightly, such as by shifting a leg or an arm or even just a finger? If so, notice that urge, but don’t act on it yet; just notice which part of your body you want to move. Then move it and notice how it feels.
- Are you noticing any urge to eat, sleep, rest, drink, scratch, stretch or skip this bit and get to the point?
The point of this exercise was to make us aware of the distinction between the thinking self(mind) and the observing self.
The thinking self is responsible for thinking, in the broadest sense of the word; it produces all our thoughts, judgments, images, fantasies, and memories; and is commonly called ‘the mind’.
The observing self is responsible for awareness, attention, and focus; it can observe thoughts, images, memories, etc., but cannot produce them.
Our goal should be to become more aware of our thinking selves because that's the only thing that we are in control of.
We cannot control our thoughts but our awareness.
Question Everything
Sarthak Mirchandani
