One spring morning…

I distinctly remember my internally chaotic drive to a yoga class. It was as if I’d drank 2 shots of espresso. There was a late snow falling and no one was out driving but I couldn’t stand the thought of being in my house at that time -I just HAD to move my body. It was that feeling like I needed to run or I’d implode. So as I was driving my mind was racing and my body hummed with energy.

I’ve practiced as a pediatric speech and language therapist for the last 10 years (which has taught me a lot about our sensory system), plus I’ve spent a lot of time focused on embodiment in yoga (noticing what is felt within the body), and I knew what was going on with me. I was “yellow zone” and ramping up - dysregulated, sympathetic nervous system engaging. I hadn’t exercised recently, I hadn’t had time to organize my thoughts, my home life demands had been constant without a sufficient break. So then where did that leave me spiritually? When I get so ramped up like that it makes it near impossible to find peace in my spirit and pray or meditate and seek the Holy Spirit. How do you think that left me with my family, friends, or co-workers?

Let’s contrast this with a story a friend told me. I’ll call her Becca. Becca was on a 2-3 hour drive, with her 2 kids in the backseat, to go visit someone associated with her ex’s family. She thought she was ready but this event was clearly triggering major anxiety within her. She was getting super irritated with traffic, and what-ifs were starting to overwhelm her and this nervous energy was making her feel like she needed to do something wild in order to find peace. She shared how she was blasting Christian music, trying to focus on the words and their meaning but she saw another driver on the road light up a cigarette and suddenly a woman who hasn’t smoked in a decade desperately wanted a cigarette. She described how she couldn’t believe all the other thoughts running through her mind of things she felt like she wanted to do.

So while both our stories had completely different triggers -what was the same?

We were both dysregulated. The sensory system in our bodies is responsible for “fight or flight” -that feeling of needing to move, it’s a survival instinct. It’s also responsible for “rest and digest”. Becca and I were tipping into fight or flight.

What we got right… what went wrong.

Well, in the moments of these stories, we both attempted something. I was stepping out, taking a break, seeking to exercise and calm my body through yoga. My friend was trying to refocus her thoughts and think of things within her control to calm herself. So why didn’t it work?

We were already ramped up. We missed the triggers. We didn’t build in a sensory diet for ourselves - a plan to calm our bodies and minds so that we were ready to face life’s daily challenges. We were reactive instead of proactive. We attempted to use tools but they were after we were already escalated - our bodies were already in fight or flight. Do these stories sound familiar to you in some way? Have you ever found yourself feeling similarly?

What can we all do?

Thankfully, there is a lot we can do. We can build a sensory diet into our lives. Build “you” time into your life. Think mentally and spiritually enriching activities to go alongside the exercise. Say, did you know that there is this great thing called Christian Yoga?! And that yours truly has free Christian yoga videos you can access right here on this site? ;) Anyway, the key is being proactive. Figure out your triggers. Figure out your tools. Talk about them with your close family and friends. Sometimes others close to us recognize our feelings before we do. If we’re on the same page, sometimes they can help us de-escalate.

Sensory Diet

Okay, I’m using speechie/OT lingo here. It’s what comes to my mind first. A sensory diet gives our bodies, our sensory system, what it needs to be calm and focused. So this is a proactive thing. If you’re someone with low energy all the time, build movement into your day that is alerting. Maybe walk the stairs at home or work several times. Maybe wake up in the morning and choose 3-5 exercises and stretches that your body going. Music helps me a lot here.

If you’re someone who tends to have high energy, you can of course do the same exercises but you may need to do some things that are calming. It’s not fun tapping your foot away and buzzing like a bee during a meeting at work unable to focus. So build movement breaks in your day to calm yourself. Calming exercises may be taking walks, and focusing on your breathing (name your inhale and exhales, slow them down). Yoga would be a terrific one to do here. I keep a yoga mat at work and close the door at lunch time and do ~10 minute of flows (vinyasas) that sync breath to movement.

Reactive V. Proactive

If you are reactive here instead of proactive, here is what is likely to happen - if you’re on the low energy side, you’ll be too low to exercise, too tired. If you’re on the high energy end, you’ll likely be plosive - going 100% until instead of feeling peace and calm afterwards, you feel worn out and crash. The idea is to balance yourself throughout your day so that you stay in that calm and focused zone.

*Another thing to consider, some people do well with figets- children and adults. Some need more movement than others to focus - standing desks versus using seated desks. Did you know they make cycling pedals to stow away under a desk at work? Children and adults can use wiggle seats to give your body feedback to where it’s at in space. Noise levels are a part of the sensory system too so perhaps consider whether you’d benefit from listening to calming tones (running water), white noise, or on the other side, upbeat energizing music.

Identify your triggers-

Triggers are things that make you feel overtly one way or the other. Triggers tip you off your balanced energy and emotional scale. Typically, a trigger is something that makes you feel angry. So perhaps you already know your triggers but if you’re new to thinking so much about this, here are some common ones:

• Tired

• Hungry

• Too hot/too cold

• Saying the same thing several times without being heard

• Feeling like things aren’t in your control

Can you think of some times that you commonly get angry, frustrated, or overwhelmed?

Tools - Build your “toolbox”

Tools are things you keep in your back pocket to help you find your zen - your place of peace and where you feel grounded. You’re neither high nor low energy, you’re balanced. It doesn’t mean you’re super sleepy or awake, it means you’re alert but calm. So if you tip down towards bored, sick, tired, low energy, there are tools to alert you. When you tip the otherway, and feel overwhelmed, frustrated, wiggly, or giggly, there are tools to help calm you.

What tools do you currently use?

This blog post has already gotten quite lengthy! I’ll be sharing a part 2 for building your toolbox :D

Have any thoughts or comments on this? Please share below!