Deactivating Stress Mode

Healthy Coping

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

5 Step Grounding Strategy to help deactivate my fight / flight operation

Reorienting To The Present Moment

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

Reorienting Ourselves Into The Present Moment

Grounding

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

25 Healthy Coping Skills

Grounding

25 Healthy Coping Skills

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

25 Healthy Coping Skills

25 Healthy Coping Skills

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

Rachelle McCloud, LCSW

Healthy Coping

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

Peggy Oliveria, MSW

Vagus Nerve

Healthy Coping

Vagus Nerve Activation

Healthy Coping

Renee Ostertag

Does My Survival System Feel Activated Or Calm?

-Do I feel a sense of Urgency, or do I feel a sense of Presence?

If I detect a sense of Impatience or an agitated sense of Urgency? = Survival Mode

Am I Present and able to Observe my thoughts and emotions? = PreFrontal Cortex

-Do I feel Apathethic or Empathetic?

Do I feel Apathetic toward myself and the world? = Survival Mode

Do I feel Empathetic toward myself and the world? = PreFrontal Cortex

-Am I Breathing Fast, Rapid, and Shallow (from my Chest) or Slow, Smoothe, and Deep (from my Belly)?

Am I breathing Upper Chested fast, rapid, and shallow? = Survival Mode

Am I breathing from my Belly slow, smoothe, and deep? = PreFrontal Cortex

-Do I feel the temptation to impulsively react and neutralize the tense emotions?

Does pressure knock my mind Unconscious and Familiar Action happens? = Survival Mode

Am I holding my mind awake Curiously Observing thoughts & emotions? = PreFrontal Cortex

-Are my muscles tense or relaxed?

Are my muscles Tense? Thoughts running in the future/past cause it = Survival Mode

Are my muscles Relaxed? Presently observing allows my muscles to relax = PreFrontal Cortex

-Do I feel a sense of Dissociation or a sense of Presence?

Has my mind been getting lost in Dissociation in Fear or Anger? = Survival Mode

Am I Observing my thoughts and emotions with a sense of Curiosity? = PreFrontal Cortex

-Do I Feel Reactive Or Objective?

Do I feel Reactive? Am I reacting to something? = Survival Mode

Do I feel Objective? Am I thinking objectively?= PreFrontal Cortex

-Do I feel angry / afraid or do I feel grateful / curious?

Do I feel Angry or Afraid? = Survival Mode

Do I feel Grateful or Curious? = PreFrontal Cortex

-Do I feel an overly emotional need to explain myself?

Do I Feel the Need to Explain a past event to someone else? = Survival Mode

Am I Catching and Releasing the felt Need to Explain anything to anyone? PreFrontal Cortex

1. Down-Regulate Sympathethic N.S. / 2. Up-Regulate Para-sympathethic N.S. / 3. Soothe Enteric N.S.

5 Step Grounding Strategy

At any given time I want to reduce a sense of uncertainty and / or overwhelm.

Countering changes in breathing, muscle tension, thoughts racing, vision collapsing, and perspective

1. Patterned Breathing - Mechanically breathe to operate my body in rest / digest mode

2. Muscle Relaxation - Releasing stress stored up in the body as muscle tension

3. Thought Maintenance - Emotions produce thoughts, thoughts produce emotions

4. Divergent Focus - Stress collapses perspective / consciously toggling it back divergently

5. Hope and Gratitude - We can feel hopeless or hopeful as well as entitled or grateful

1. Patterned Breathing

1a. Diaptragmatic Breathing

1b. Physiological Sigh

2. Muscle Relaxation

2a. Progressive Muscle Relaxation

3. Thought Maintenance

3a. Bring thoughts back into presence

3b. Directing the flow of the next round of emotions to neutral

4. Divergent Focus

4a. Keep eyes directly forward not R/L

4b. Keep eyes at eye level or above

4c. Toggle vision from a zoomed in view of the world to a zoomed out view of the world

5. Hope and Gratitude

5a. I'm allowing myself to realize a greater sense of hope

5b. I'm consciously choosing gratitude over entitlement

1:Patterned Breating 2:Muscle Relaxation 3:Thought Maintenance 4:Divergent Focus 5:Hope & Gratitude

Benefits Of Each Step

1. Breathing In Through The Nose

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

Benefits of nose breathing

1. Helps stop development of forward head posture

2. Helps body use oxygen in blood stream more efficently

3. Activated the parasympathetic (higher mind) nervous system

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

Diaphragmatic Breathing combined with a Physiological Sigh

1B. Physiological Sigh

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

Dr. Andrew Huberman, PhD. explains the health benefits of the Physiological Sigh

2. Muscle Relaxaton

1B. Physiological Sigh

3. Thought Maintenance

Dr. Tracey Marks, MD

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

3. Thought Maintenance

1B. Physiological Sigh

3. Thought Maintenance

Bringing my thoughts back into presence

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward

Left Memory / Right Imaginaton / Center Presence

4B. Divergent Focus

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward

Looking up is shown to produce more optimistic feelings and looking down is shown to produce more pessimistic feelings

Coping Mechanisms

Healthy Coping

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

Reorienting To The Present Moment

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

Grounding

Recovering Present Moment Awareness

25 Healthy Coping Skills

25 Healthy Coping Skills

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

25 Healthy Coping Skills

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

Healthy Coping

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

Calming Out Of Survival Mode

Vagus Nerve

Healthy Coping

Healthy Coping

Healthy Coping

Healthy Coping

Healthy Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Dissociation

Maladaptive Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Maladaptive Coping

Does My Survival System Feel Activated Or Calm?

-Do I feel a sense of Urgency, or do I feel a sense of Presence?

-Do I feel Apathethic or Empathetic?

-Am I Breathing Fast, Rapid, and Shallow (from my Chest) or Slow, Smoothe, and Deep (from my Belly)?

-Do I feel the temptation to impulsively react and neutralize the tense emotions?

-Are my muscles tense or relaxed?

-Do I feel a sense of Dissociation or a sense of Presence?

-Do I Feel Reactive Or Objective?

-Do I feel angry / afraid or do I feel grateful / curious?

-Do I feel an overly emotional need to explain myself?

Stress Response Deactivation

1. Down-Regulate Sympathethic N.S. / 2. Up-Regulate Para-sympathethic N.S. / 3. Soothe Enteric N.S.

5 Step Grounding Strategy

At any given time I want to reduce a sense of uncertainty and / or overwhelm.

Countering changes in breathing, muscle tension, thoughts racing, vision collapsing, and perspective

5 Step Grounding Strategy Print Out

1:Patterned Breating 2:Muscle Relaxation 3:Thought Maintenance 4:Divergent Focus 5:Hope & Gratitude

Benefits Of Each Step

1. Breathing In Through The Nose

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

1B. Physiological Sigh

1B. Physiological Sigh

1A. Patterned Breathing / Diaphragmatic Breathing

2. Muscle Relaxaton

1B. Physiological Sigh

3. Thought Maintenance

3. Thought Maintenance

1B. Physiological Sigh

3. Thought Maintenance

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward

4B. Divergent Focus

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward

4C. Divergent Focus

4A. Divergent Focus Holding my my vision directly forward