This exercise builds on the green zone exercise called 'Identifying Your Anchors'. If you haven't done that exercise yet, check it out here.
- Take a second to intentionally pause. You might be coming into this practice with uncomfortable sensations, emotions, or thoughts, and I'm here to remind you that this is okay. This is a nervous system response - and we can maybe thank our nervous system for trying to protect us, and just spend the next few minutes being curious about trying something new.
- Where are you right now? Find your list of anchors for this space.
- Notice your first anchor. Really concentrate on it. What can you notice about it? Spend at least 30-60 seconds really studying this anchor.
- Name two things that you notice internally when you stay still, with all your attention on this anchor. Are there any shifts, however tiny or subtle, in how your body feels?
- Now notice your second anchor. Again, see what you can notice about this one. Spend about 30-60 seconds paying attention to this anchor in the present moment. What does it feel like to shift your focus to a different
sense? - Name two things that you notice internally when you stay still, with all your attention on this anchor. Are there any shifts, however tiny or subtle, in how your body feels?
- Now shift your focus to your third anchor, paying attention to it for at least 30-60 seconds. Notice what it’s like to really concentrate on it.
- Name two things that you notice internally when you stay still, with all your attention on this anchor. Are there any shifts, however tiny or subtle, in how your body feels? See if you can put words to what you notice, always remembering that whatever comes up is okay.
( i ) Focusing on your sensory experience in the environment around you prompts you to orient to the here and now. Naming physical objects provide a contextual grounding in time and space that grounds our experience, and serve as the infrastructure for higher cognitive processes.
Finding specific sensory anchors that you know make you feel pleasant or neutral can become future touchstones for your nervous system that remind it to calm back down when it’s dysregulated.