Do the 54321 exercise

Try tapping

Try bilateral stimulation: Keep your head still, and move your eyes back and forth slowly. Try this for 2-5 minutes

Try to shift your attention to something else for a bit

Engage your immediate environment through sight:

• Rest your hands in your lap and take a slow breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Notice how your body feels in this moment.

• Now, turn your head to the left, pick one item you can see, and count how many corners it has.

• Then, turn your head to the right, pick one item you can see, and state its color.

• Now look up at the ceiling and spell the color aloud.

• Finally turn your head around to look behind you, identify one thing you can see and describe it objectively.

• When you’re done with that, turn back facing forward to see how your body feels.

Engage your senses

• First, put down what you are doing and rest your hands in your lap. Then, take a slow breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. 

• Now, take a few moments, look around you, and identify five things that you can see. 

• Then look around you, and one at a time, identify, pick up, and allow yourself to fully feel four different things. 

• Now, take a few moments to identify three different things that you can hear. As you do this, try and only hear each of those things one at a time. 

• Next, identify two things you can smell. Similarly, as you smell them, breathe the smell in deeply. 

• Finally, identify one thing you can taste. As you do, fully focus on that taste. If you are short on time, you can also do a version of this where you just identify one thing per each sense.

Try deep or slow breathing

• In this practice, you’ll focus on taking slow, deep breaths while allowing and feeling your abdomen to expand and contract. 

• First, put down anything in your hands and allow them to rest in your lap. 

• Then, if you’d like you can close your eyes, or you can pick a point to let your eyes rest. 

• Now, inhale slowly through your nose. And then exhale slowly through your mouth. 

• Now, try going slightly more slowly than you just did. Inhale through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. 

• Then do it one last time, going slightly more slowly than the one you did before. Inhale through your nose. And exhale through your mouth. 

• After this third inhale and exhale, allow your breathing to return to normal. As you do, notice how your body feels. Notice your chest rise. Feel the air move through your nose or mouth. 

• You can repeat as much or as little as you’d like. If you are finding yourself getting more stressed about breathing, stop doing the exercise and move onto the next one.

Change your body temperature

• Splash water on your face or dunk your face in cold water, hold an ice cube in your hand or rub it on your neck or face, take a cold( but not harmfully cold) shower, or if it’s cooler outside go for a walk. 

• If your amygdala is activating more of a shut down, numbing response, you could warm your body up instead to see if that helps. Holding a warm drink, taking a hot shower, or using a heating pad are some ideas of how you could do this. 

• Deliberately cooling the body can help calm the amygdala by triggering pain-relieving pathways, release mood-related neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, and activating the periaqueductal gray, a key region for managing pain and emotional responses.

Brief, intense body movement

• If you are physically able, do high knees in place, do a plank, scream into a pillow, tense your abdomen and breathe outward in a forceful way, or punch the air until you feel fatigued. 

• These moments of brief, intense exercise can help calm the amygdala by discharging the stress neurochemicals, releasing mood-boosting chemicals and strengthening neural pathways related to emotional regulation.

Counting backwards: Counting backwardsin a slow, non-rushing way can also be helpful to your amygdala by redirecting its attention away from anxiety-provoking thoughts or stimuli, activating the prefrontal cortex for better emotional regulation, slowing breathing, and lowering heart rate. 

• Choose a Starting Number - you can start at 100 or any other number that feels comfortable. 

• Then count slowly, taking your time as you count down, focusing on each number. 

• You can count one number at a time or you can challenge yourself to count backward by fives or sevens. If it helps, visualize the numbers in your mind or write them down.

Category game: Similarly, sometimes playing the category game can help our amygdala focus on other topics, which can then help it sense that you are safe enough:

• This activity involves thinking of items within a specific category, which helps engage your brain and shift focus away from negative thoughts. 

• To practice, first select a category. Choose categories like fruits, animals, countries, or colors. 

• Then, list items verbally or write them down. You can list them silently in your head, and sometimes that's not as helpful to our amygdala as saying them aloud or writing them down because it doesn't require as much from the pre-frontal cortex.  

• Start naming items in that category one by one. For example, if the category is fruits, you might say "apple," "banana," "cherry," etc. 

• It can sometimes help to challenge yourself to try and name as many items as possible within a set time limit.

Visualize a safe place: This technique involves imagining a calming and secure environment that brings feelings of safety and comfort. It works because when we deeply imagine things, it can activate parts of our brain that would activate if we were actually in that place. Let’s practice together:

• First, try to minimize distractions around you. If you are in a place with lots of noises, pause this video and then move to a quieter space or play soft music or white noise. 

• Then, sit in a comfortable position and either close your eyes or find a point on which your eyes can rest. 

• Now, picture a place where you feel completely at ease—this could be a real location (like a favorite beach) or an imaginary one (like a cozy cabin). Do you have it in your mind? 

• Now, return to that place in your mind and recall what you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch in that place. Imagine the warmth of the sun, the sound of waves, or the smell of the trees. 

• Take the next few moments to totally immerse yourself in that place as if you were back there right now. You can stay in that place as long or as little as you’d like. 

• When you are done, take a slow breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Blink your eyes, wiggle your fingers and toes, and come back into the present.

Focus on a small positive in the present: During stressful periods, consciously look for small moments of enjoyment, such as enjoying a warm cup of tea, a friendly smile, or a beautiful sunset. This practice helps redirect your attention from stressors to positive experiences.

• Let’s try it right now. Look around you at this moment. Is there any small, positive thing that is present? Is there something you enjoy looking at or holding near you? Is there something you’re grateful for?

• This can even include noticing incredibly small things like how you have electricity that works or a computer with enough battery.

• Go ahead and take a few moments to try this.

Reminisce about past enjoyment: Intentionally remember that you haven’t always felt this way, and you won’t always feel this way going forward:

• Spend time thinking about happy memories or significant accomplishments.

• Looking through photo albums or recalling specific events can evoke feelings of happiness and gratitude, providing relief from stress.

• Is there something that happened in the past 24 hours, week, month, year that you enjoyed? It can be something big like a fun trip, or it can be something small like getting an item of clothing that you were excited about on sale. Take some time and return back to that moment. Remember what it was like to experience the moment and the enjoyment of that moment. Go ahead and take some time to try this.

Celebrate a small win: Acknowledge and celebrate even the smallest achievements during stressful times, reinforcing positive emotions. Let’s practice right now. In the past 24 hours, is there one thing that you are proud of yourself for doing? Or is there one thing that felt like a small win? This can be something like completing a project, or it can even be your decision to get out of bed this morning. Go ahead and take a few moments to try this.

Plan a future enjoyable activities: Look forward to upcoming events or activities that excite you. Anticipating these moments can generate positive feelings and help reduce anxiety about current stressors. This can be something large like going to a concert in the next few months. Or it can be something smaller like taking five minutes later today to listen to some music you haven’t listened to for awhile or to put on some lotion that really smells good and feels soothing on your hands. Go ahead and take a few moments to try this:

• What’s one, small enjoyable thing you can plan to do tomorrow?

• If it makes sense for you, is there a larger enjoyable thing you can start to plan in the future?

Recite a meaningful poem or quote: Sometimes it can help to recite a poem or quote that you find meaningful or to recall inspiring words or phrases that resonate with you, serving as a mental anchor during challenging moments. 

• Select a poem, quote, or mantra that inspires you. It could be something from literature, philosophy, sacred texts, or even personal affirmations. 

• Recite it silently or aloud, focusing on the meaning behind the words. As you do, consider why this particular piece resonates with you and how it relates to your current feelings. 

• It can also help to align the words with your breath, saying some of the words as you breathe in, and some as you breathe out. In moments of stress, it can be hard to recall the exact words so having it written down somewhere easily accessible can sometimes help.

Validation

Kindness/Compassion

Supportive Touch

Soften Your Critical Voice

Download the Finch app and try following its prompts for a few days

Laughter: Engage in hearty laughter, which can be a great stress reliever.

• Watch a comedy, try laughter yoga, look up jokes or funny videos on social media, share a funny moment with someone or recall a humorous memory.

Connect deeply with a trusted creature or coziness: A 20-second hug, a 6-second kiss, giving yourself a hand, head or foot massage, or snuggling with a creature or cozy blanket or pillow can be very effective in helping your brain activate the neurochemicals that signal safety and connection.

Allowing yourself to cry: Letting yourself cry or doing something that activates a crying response can help our body process the neurochemicals that are activating our emotions, even if it doesn’t change the situation.

• Tears can flow naturally or be encouraged by watching or listening to a movie or song.

Creating art: Engage in creative activities just for the joy of it, whether it's writing a song, painting, cooking a meal, or any other form of artistic expression.

Use your imagination: Visualize different scenarios, which can activate your brain similarly to real experiences. Immerse yourself in a book, watch movies or television in an intentional way( rather than zoning out), or play games.

Move your body: Move your body to activate the neurochemicals that signal safety. Activities like jogging, swimming, cycling, or even dancing at home for 20-60 minutes daily can be very effective.

• Simple movement is also helpful! Get up and walk to a different room, jump up and down, wiggle. Take a five minute stroll outside. Play some music you enjoy and move your body in a way that feels good.

• Being with nature: Spending 30 minutes savoring natural elements or immersed in nature can help reduce the activation of stress neurochemicals, as well as reduce cognitive fatigue by giving our brains a break from constant stimulation.

Is there someone you know and trust that you could send something to?

• It could just be a hello, or you could even distract yourself by seeing if you could help them

• Or, you could let them know you need some help (let them know if you need some help solving a problem or just someone to listen to you)

Call a Warmline: There are great phone lines with people ready to be present and listen to you. Find one in your state here.

Have a friendly social interaction: Have light, friendly conversations with others, such as exchanging a few words with a neighbor or greeting a grocery store employee.

Request a Brief Check-In with your therapist at Rootwise

If you’re really struggling, reach out to these resources:

• National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call 988 (for TTY users: use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988), chat online HERE.

• Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

• Mental Health Crisis Services and Resources - Warmlines that do not call the police, helplines, alternatives to suicide: https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/crisis

3×3 Check-In

ABCD exercise

Exploring Thoughts exercise

Distancing exercise

Surf the Urge exercise

Understand what Part of you might be present, and what they might need

Choice Point exercise

Try getting unstuck

Practice willingness

Remember what you can control & what choices you have

Meaningful connection with something/one you’ve lost

Improve your sleep

Try habit stacking or behavior replacement to add more good stuff to your life in an easy-ish way

Try the CAT-FAWN approach

Try a Plan of Action

1% Improvement exercise

Figure out what you need

Remember that you and other people have interpersonal rights

Work on being effective

Did you make a change and someone (or yourself!) is having a tough time adjusting? Get help navigating a “Change Back!” reaction

Do you need to make a change in your relationship?

If you’re doing Internal Family Systems Parts work, try one of Richard Schwartz’s meditations to help you through a tough moment.