Online Resources
These videos aim to provide healing, resources, and education. These videos are to help during the COVID-19 crisis and are tools to provide relaxation and ease anxiety. However, these resources are not necessarily unique but are well-known and popular exercises to try in the comfort of your own home. I hope you find them helpful and healing.
Leaves on a Stream can be a helpful activity if your mind is having a hard time feeling settled and grounded. This exercise is a wonderful first step into practicing meditation. Just like when we are learning any new skill our brain has to get used to a new way of thinking. Clearing our minds does not come easily for most of us, so give yourself permission to focus on the practice of honing a new skill and allow for imperfection.
Our bodies can be amazing tools for regulation. However, many of us hold tension in our bodies, so much so, that our bodies can forget what rest feels like. The Progressive Muscle Relaxation activity aims to remind our body what tension feels like and, in contrast, what rest feels like. Sometimes we all need a reminder of just how relieving a sigh can be.
The Light Sourcing Activity aims to process the emotions we might be feeling via bodily sensations. A body scan is a way to discover where certain emotions are being held in the body. This activity brings awareness to those spots that might be feeling tension and invites us to actively begin the process of letting go.
Francine Shapiro is the founder of EMDR. Through my level 1 &2 EMDR training via the Personal Transformation Institute, I was able to learn resources to help prepare clients for the emotional processing ahead. Calm Safe Place is an activity I learned through this training to help regulation of clients participating in EMDR. However, I have also used this exercise with clients who experience sleep disturbances, experience higher levels of anxiety, and a simple way to provide a mental break. So feel free to take your shoes off, get comfy on your couch, and join me for a walk on the beach to explore a lighthouse, take in the view, and restore your mind.