Limbic Calm: Stress Resiliency Techniques for Everyday Life

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1 Limbic Calm: Stress Resiliency Techniques for Everyday Life LifeWork Summary Quick Points: Webinar Overview Your Two Brains 5 Categories of Limbic Calming Techniques Personal Warning Signs Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 1

2 Calm Amidst the Storm: Stress Resiliency Techniques for Life Your Replenishing Toolkit This week, give yourself 2 minutes each day to practice one of these calming techniques. Practicing each day can help these become second nature in stressful situations. (Watch this week s video demonstrations for a visual of how these work.) Monitor your Inner Biochemistry: Begin to check in often and identify your personal markers that tell you whether you are in a calm or stress biochemistry -- watch your body, your breath, your thoughts, your emotions. Get curious and learn your personal fingerprint around how your inner biochemistry manifests outwardly. Long Exhale Breath: 4 counts in through nose, 8 counts out through nose or mouth. Calm Hold: With palm of one hand on forehead & palm of other hand on the nape of your neck, hold for 30 seconds. Calming Taps: Tap the neuro-vascular points that release stress and bring your biochemistry back to a calm state. Setting Your Intention My intention this week is to deeply care for myself in these ways: To help me, I can seek out support or prioritize my time in these ways: Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 2

3 Quick Points: Webinar Summary I. Chronic stress is a huge underlying issue in our lives today. And the large majority of our experienced stress begins in our minds. II. Your thinking brain, which is your frontal cortex, can very effectively send messages to your limbic brain to turn on the stress response. Unfortunately, your thoughts are not as effective to turning the stress off, once you are already engaged in the stress response III. To effectively turn the stress off a much better strategy is to turn the calm ON by tapping directly into the limbic part of your brain using limbic calming techniques. IV. There are five categories of limbic calming techniques we ll explore: I. Breath II. Olfactory nerve III. Energy system IV. Nervous system V. Nature Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 3

4 Webinar Notes: Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 4

5 Hot Towel Scrub Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. Body scrubbing can be done before or after your bath or shower, or anytime during the day. All you need is a sink with hot water and a mediumsized cotton washcloth. Directions: 1. Turn on the hot water and fill the sink. 2. Hold the towel at both ends and place in the hot water. 3. Wring out the towel. 4. While the towel is still hot and steamy, begin to scrub the skin gently. 5. Do one section of the body at a time. For example, begin with the hands and fingers and work your way up the arms to the shoulders, neck and face, then down to the chest, upper back, abdomen, lower back, buttocks, legs, feet and toes. 6. Scrub until the skin becomes slightly pink or until each part becomes warm. ~ John Muir 7. Reheat the towel often by dipping it in the sink of hot water after scrubbing each section or as soon as the towel starts to cool. Benefits: Reduces muscle tension Reenergizes in the morning and deeply relaxes at night Opens the pores to release stored toxins Softens deposits of hard fat below the skin and prepares them for discharge Allows excess fat, mucus, cellulite and toxins to actively discharge to the surface rather than to accumulate around deeper vital organs Relieves stress through meditative action of rubbing the skin Calms the mind Promotes circulation Activates the lymphatic system, especially when scrubbing underarms and groin Easy massage and deep self-care Can be a sacred moment in your day, especially if done with candlelight and a drop or two of essential oil, such as lavender Creates a profound and loving relationship with the body, especially parts not often shown care, and especially for a person with body image problems Spreads energy through the chakras Information about the Hot Towel Scrub is from Institute for Integrative Nutrition Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 5

6 Essential oils feel and work differently on the body than vegetable oils (like olive oil or sunflower oil). Vegetable oils are pressed from the seeds of plants. They have long straight chains and feel greasy and slippery to the touch. Essential oils, on the other hand, are distilled which means all the parts of the plant are mashed and a low temperature steam is passed through it. This steam carries with it small fat-soluble molecules. Many are structured like a ring which is why they are called aromatic compounds. These molecules are then separated from the water and you are left with highly concentrated extracts from all the parts of a plant called essential oils! We can consider essential oils to be like the blood of a plant because they act to a plant like our blood acts for us. They exhibit significant and immediate anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and hormone balancing effects. In clinical studies, these powerful plant extracts have been shown to have a profound calming influence on the central nervous system, aiding the reduction or elimination of pain, the release of muscle tension and providing a strong emotional uplift. An essential oil can be 100 to 10,000 times more potent than the dried herb of the same plant. So even a couple of drops can go a long way. The chemicals that are responsible for scent are very small and often come in a ring shape. (In chemistry terms, they re called aromatic structures.) seat and controls our moods, emotions, memory and learning. It s no wonder that smell is strongly related to all those experiences. Scientists have found scents like lavender increase our alpha brain waves (which is associated with relaxation), and scents like jasmine increase our beta brain waves (causing a more alert state). Nature is chock full of thousands upon thousands of scents, each composed of many different molecules that can impact our well-being simply by breathing them in. Simply getting out in nature and turning our attention to the variety of smells is a calming and balancing act. As you walk around your backyard, try taking some leaves and crushing them in your fingers to release their odor. Begin to sharpen this underused sense. Beginner s Mood-Scent Menu Relaxing and Calming :: Lavender, Roman Chamomile, Sandalwood Invigorating :: Peppermint, Sandalwood, Lemon, Orange Balancing :: Cinnamon, Basil, Parsley Uplifting :: Rose, Bergamot, Geranium Focus :: Cedarwood, Frankincense These small airborne molecules travel into our noses when we breathe in and can pass through the olfactory nerve into the center part of our brain. This place in our brain is called the limbic Essential Oils Background Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 6

7 Ideas to Get Started with Essential Oils There are many ways to engage your sense of smell and benefit from the healing powers of specific scents in nature. Here are just a handful to get you started. 1. If you are using an essential oil, start with just a drop or two in your palms, cup your hands over your nose and breathe in for a few seconds. 2. Dab some essential oils on your neck or wrist as a natural perfume. Sometimes I even run a bit through my hair there is something romantic about perfumed hair. 3. Freshen a whole room by using a diffuser or add a drop or two of an essential oil on a tissue and place in a vent of the room. The forced air will circulate the smell throughout the room. 4. Start an aromatherapy garden. Growing these plants and herbs, even in a window sill, can bring their natural scents into your home all day long, a natural way to infuse your home with nature s healing smells. You will also have them on hand to crush a few leaves in your fingers for a deep breath. 5. Add scents to your daily routine with children. Before nap or bedtime, bring out a calming or relaxing aroma. Before homework time, bring out a scent that helps with focus. Children tend to respond well to natural scents used in moderation, but always be sure not to overwhelm them with aromas that are too strong. 6. Use essential oils in your nighttime routine - put a few drops in a warm bath, use them while you do a hot towel scrub or foot massage, or dab a drop on your sheets or pillow. Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 7

8 Personal Warning Signs For this assessment you will simply want to turn your awareness toward how your body, moods and emotions process and hold excess stress in your life. Take note of what is happening in your body and mind when you are feeling highly stressed, and then begin to work backward and recognize what early warning signs your body gives you to alert you something is off. Intense stress shows up In my body as In my thoughts as In my moods and emotions as In my relationships as Early warning signs show up In my body as In my thoughts as In my moods and emotions as In my relationships as A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. ~ Aesop, Fables Lisa Byrne 2015 Replenish 365, page 8