Phase 1 skills are designed to be extremely short, simple, and effective ways to help us get through the stressors of the day.

I recommend reading the How to Use These Resources Wisely page for tips on implementing these. If you feel an internal blockage of some sort to doing any of these exercise, take a minute to relax your body (skill 1 above) then see how you feel about proceeding. If it remains blocked, don’t force it. Simply talk with your counselor about it in session to explore further options.

Page contents:

• Introduction (Why start with changing our state?)
• Skill 1 Notice and Relax Tense Muscles (2-3 seconds)
• Skill 2 Change Your Breath to Change State. (15 secs-3 mins)
• Skill 3 Move Your body to Change Your State (30 secs-5 mins)
• Skill 4 Power Postures to Change Your State (2 mins)
• Additional critical information about Phase 1 Skills
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Goal: The goal of these Phase 1 skills is to notice and change your physical state so that your emotional and mental state can follow suit.

If you were a counselor, what would be the four most important skills you would teach client’s first? Below I’ve identified four foundational skills designed to help people change their physical/emotional state quickly and in the moment. I think every client and for that matter, every human should have skills like this that can be used in seconds many times throughout the day to bring down stress levels enough to keep acting like yourself and thinking clearly. The on the go skills on this page don’t require setting aside extra time to calm down. They can be used in the moment dozens of times a day to keep stress at a manageable level. While they don’t necessarily resolve the underlying issue, (that is more Phase 2 Skills), they can give us the extra edge we need to make the next right choice or face into the next challenge in a more relaxed way.

Skill 1: Noticing and Relaxing Tense Muscles.

Below Eric Gentry provides several extremely simple and brilliant strategies for re-entering a relaxed body. To learn and practice skill 1 please watch from 30:05-34:05 on the video below. It is already cued to start at the correct time. I highly recommend watching this entire video. His conceptualization of in the moment self regulation is truly game changing.

For the full explanation of skill 1 and several additional skills for living in a relaxed body you can simply watch the full video. If you are a client of Andy’s and had difficulty with this skill, that is ok. You can talk with Andy and get some extra help to be able to complete this critical skill.

Skill 2: Change Your Breath to Change Your State.

Introduction: Tons of research shows that changing breathing patterns can be an extremely quick way to change our state. In-breaths speed up our heart-rate and give us more energy. Out-breaths decrease our heart rate and relax our bodies. Belly breaths (officially called diaphragmatic breaths) provide much more oxygen for the brain than shallow chest breathing. Therefore, if you want to calm down, take deep belly breaths with long out-breaths. Below are 2 simple breathing exercises. One for stabilizing, one for relaxing and one for calming. If you want guided help, I have attached a youtube link for each below.

5 In 5 Out Breathing to stabilize mood.

1. Breathe in deeply for 5 seconds.
2. Breath out fully for 5 seconds.
3. Repeat until you feel calm.
4. Follow along video: https://youtu.be/eRWtytSjKZs?si=LLgXV8aMPkxTqYoF

4-7-8 Breathing for calming.

1. Breathe in for 4 seconds.
2. Hold your breath for seven seconds.
3. Breathe out for 8 seconds.
4. Ideally do at least twice a day but DON’t do more than 4 cycles.
5. Please watch the 2 min guided video below by Dr. Andrew Weil

Skill 3: Move Your Body to Change Your State.

Exercise: Briskly walk or run at least one time around the block. (Do more if possible. Try to raise your heart rate for at least 5 minutes and you will almost certainly feel better afterward.)

Perhaps the fastest way to change our emotional state is some form of exercise that raises our heart rate. I encourage every single client who is physically able to walk or run at least one block a day to establish the habit and then to build from there. Here are a few of the reasons why. Exercise promotes a cascade of positive chemical changes in our brain and body. Bilateral movement helps our brain process experiences, being outside around anything green promotes calming. Shifting attention away from mundane ruts helps promote change and creativity.

Additional Exercises Inside: Below Jim Kwik outlines additional benefits of exercise and provides several simple exercises you can do at your desk to reset your brain.

Skill 4: Change Your Stance to Change Your State.

Steps of Skill 4:

Research has shown that so called power postures boost testosterone (which increases confidence) and reduce cortisol (too much of this at the wrong time causes high stress). Power postures involve sitting or standing in ways that take up space and make you feel powerful. For example, standing like Superman or Wonder Woman for 2 minutes. These can be done away from people, or there are ways to incorporate them subtly into meetings or moments when you need a confidence boost.

Standing in a power posture for just 2 minutes has been shown by research to increase testosterone which gives confidence by 20% and to decrease cortisol a stress hormone by 18%

Purpose of these skills

Note that phase 1 skills are not necessarily intended to fully resolve a problem or stressor. They are intended to help us keep moving forward in the middle of daily life when we may not have time to sit down and thoroughly work through a concern or problem.

Conclusion

I wrestled with whether skills for connecting with people, nature, or God might be the most foundational skills to start with. However, I’ve decided for the time being that skills for connecting to our own bodies is the optimal starting point for most people. There are at least three reasons for this. First, these skills are extremely simple that do not require outside people or technology which may or may not be accessible in the moment. Secondly, as people get the hang of these skills and start using them throughout the day, they often become much more courageous and start to engage life in ways that make it easier to build up skills for connecting to people, God, or the natural world. Finally, at least in Western cultures, people tend to have limited practice connecting with their body or recognizing their physical state as a potential wellspring of wisdom, guidance, and power.