Calm And Centered AF

Calm in Action: Powerful Tools to Release Anxiety and Overwhelm fast

• Cheryl J Reynolds • Episode 2

Share episode

Ever faced a situation where anxiety leaves you feeling utterly helpless?

Join me,cheryl Reynolds, as I recount a transformative experience from my early days as a hypnotist that inspired me to master techniques for managing anxiety and panic. 
I share a personal story about encountering a client in a full-blown panic attack, an encounter that tested my skills and ignited a journey of learning and innovation.

Discover a powerful, yet easy technique to help you regain calm and control when anxiety strikes.

This episode is dedicated to all the intuitive souls grappling with overwhelm and stress. 

Through an emotional story and practical tips, I offer insights on living a calm and centered life. 
Learn how to clear your mind, reduce feelings of overwhelm, and embrace your brilliance. 
Whether you're feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or just seeking peace, this conversation promises actionable steps and a touch of humor to guide you toward a serene existence. 

Bad Mood Buster
Coaching Services 

Cheryl here, I'd love to hear from you, text me here!

If you find yourself overthinking like a distracted squirrel and your overwhelm is increasing then take a look at Frazzed To Focused.

This course is designed to work with your intuitive overthinking mind.

Let's get you feeling Zen AF

Frazzled To Focused Course

I appreciate you and the time you take to listen every week. Thank you.

When you have a minute, go on over to Facebook and join my Community. I provide a safe place to talk and share, plus I hold weekly live videos. ( It's free)

Calm And Centered Facebook Community

Speaker 1:

Many years ago, I had a situation that spiraled me into an uncomfortable feeling and it questioned my ability as a coach. At that time, I was a hypnotist and it made me decide I had to change my ways, and because of that, this is one of the techniques that I learned that can also help you. So let me tell you the story and the technique. Let's get started. Welcome to Calm and Scented AF, the podcast that guides you back to your path with a touch of serenity and a dash of sass. ChReynolds Reynolds, your hosting guide, and I welcome you. This pod is for my intuitive souls, who veered, off course, somewhere between overwhelm and anxiety. But not to worry, I got you, my friend. It's time to step up and bask in your brilliance, where you'll feel lighter, more relaxed and fully in control. And I'm going to help you do that by kicking overwhelm to the curb, ditching your anxiety, and help you stop chasing those shiny objects like a distracted squirrel. Here you'll find quick, actionable steps, insightful ideas, humor to light the way and a whole lot of zen. So grab your coffee and buckle up buttercup. It's time to get you feeling calm and scented AF. Are you in a cranky mood, annoyed as hell, frustrated, maybe overwhelmed. I have for you the five minute bad mood buster that is going to change your mood and you don't even have to meditate. Soon you're going to feel calmer and a little more settled and whatever you were worrying about or annoyed about or angry about is going to dissipate. Grab this free audio right now. Go on over to calmandcenteredaf. com/ mood.

Speaker 1:

Welcome everybody to the podcast. This is Cheryl, your host. So before I bring you on this technique to help you reduce and release your anxiety, I want to tell you this story because it's really important. Years ago I had my office and I was, at the time, a hypnotist and I was seeing clients regularly and it was a cute little office and it was a wonderful time anyhow, and I had this woman come in and it was on a Saturday morning, so the building was empty. It was a yoga studio, so I was waiting for her and the little alcove and when she came in she was on the verge of total panic and it threw me off. I knew she was coming in with anxiety. Her hands were shaking, she was wringing them, she couldn't sit still, she couldn't calm herself down and, as you hear my voice, you know I have a very calm demeanor and I'm also a nurse, so it's not uncomfortable for me to be around anxious people.

Speaker 1:

However, it was uncomfortable for me to be around an anxious person when I'm not in a medical setting at that time and I had my own anxiety and before I even met her, I got rid of my own anxiety by a lot of the techniques I did, but I didn't have specific techniques to help me to get somebody out of anxiety and panic right away and I didn't have specific techniques to help me to get somebody out of anxiety and panic right away. And I didn't know what to do with her. I brought her down to the office and you know she couldn't sit still. She was walking back and forth and I did not know what to do. And I was looking at her and I literally said to her I can't help you. And I let this woman walk out the door in this state. And let me tell you I have never felt so much hurt and pain for somebody and, on top of that, the feeling of knowing that this is what I do and I couldn't help her. And I resolve myself at that point that I will never disappoint somebody again and I will never allow anybody that I'm working with who has severe anxiety and panic have to walk away in the same state that they worked with me in Now, as a medical person. I did ask her if she needed some additional help and she said no, this is her anxiety and this is how she's always feels with her anxiety. This changed everything and from that point on I resolved myself that that will never happen again, because I have to be prepared for them. They're coming to see me. I will never forget the look on her face. It is seared into my brain.

Speaker 1:

Now I don't know her name and trust me when I say there's something that happens when you first start off in any kind of business, or even if you're becoming a first-time mom or you're going to college or whatever you're doing. The first couple of times you do something, you're awkward, you're uncomfortable, you're not prepared, you don't know what you're doing, you're new, you're green, and that's where I was. But I thought I had all the information and everything I needed to help somebody because I was a nurse. But see, nurses aren't taught these techniques. We are not taught how to take care of an anxious brain in the most natural state. You know what I was taught as a nurse Go grab some medication. Here you go. You'll feel better in a couple minutes.

Speaker 1:

I didn't have any of my tools, so, that being said, this is what drives me, and because of that situation, I learned about 10 different ways of helping somebody to get out of that state, and I want to share one of those ways with you now. All right, so what I want you to do for this one and this works when you're starting to get anxious, you're feeling off, you want to settle your nerves. So what I want you to do for this one, and this works when you're starting to get anxious, you're feeling off, you want to settle your nerves. But I want you to go grab yourself something you can put in your hand and hold onto A bottle or a phone. Something's not too heavy If you use a bottle. Put the cover on, the cap on and did this with the client once when I had my office and water went flying everywhere. So just put a cap on First off.

Speaker 1:

Imagine that you have a string going through the middle of your body up to the top of your head. So think of it as you have two halves of you. You have a left side and a right side, and right down the middle is a string. So that string is the plane. Okay, think of that as a plane Plane, as in fly plane, but a plane, a vertical plane, and you're going to have to cross that plane. So how this works is I want you to bring your arms out with your bottle in your hand. Let's start off with the bottle in the right hand. Most people are right-handed, although I am not and you have your bottle in your right hand and I want you to put your left hand up in the air on the opposite side of that plane. You are going to bring the bottle across that plane, across the middle of your body, over to your left hand. Now you're holding the bottle in your left hand. Now your right hand is again on the right side of the plane. You bring your left hand all the way across the middle of that plane to your right hand and you keep passing the bottle back and forth, making sure that bottle and that hand crosses the middle plane. You keep doing that back and forth, slowly passing the bottle, slowly passing the bottle back and forth.

Speaker 1:

This is a form of what's called bilateral stimulation, and I'm going to explain what it does. But as you do this, you're going to start to calm your nerves down, you're going to start to reduce your anxiety, and there are a few reasons why. So when you have anxiety, it usually kind of gets triggered in one part of the brain, and when you do this, you're engaging both sides of the brain, so it tends to dial out the anxiety. That is one reason. Another reason is it helps you to regulate your emotions and calm you down. It also is rhythmic. It's a rhythm and rhythms tend to be very calming. They're very grounding.

Speaker 1:

This kind of bilateral stimulation is similar to EMDR, but EMDR is different. Emdr but EMDR is different. It's also similar to tapping. When you do tapping on both sides Anything. When it comes to bilateral stimulation, when you are stimulating both sides of the brain at the same time, that is what you're aiming for. There's a couple of other ways that you can use bilateral stimulation. Believe it or not, walking and running also stimulates both sides of the body at the same time. That's why when you go for a walk, it calms you down. It is basically bilateral stimulation. You're making your brain work both sides at the same time. This also helps you because it increases the good neurotransmitters in your brain, dopamine and serotonin, which those help to increase happiness and wellbeing.

Speaker 1:

Now there is another variation. If you don't have a bottle and say you're in an office meeting and you're getting nervous and you can't move out of your chair and you don't have a bottle or anything to toss, you don't want them wondering why you're tossing your bottle around. What you can do put your hands down on your lap but cross your arms on your lap and start tapping on your knees. So basically, left hand is tapping on the right leg, right hand is tapping on the left leg. You want to go back and forth, just tapping back and forth gently. Your hands are under the table. Nobody will know what you're doing and you're tapping. There's also another one, which is the butterfly hug is when you crush your arms over your chest, putting your hands on your shoulders, and you start tapping on your shoulders left hand tapping on right shoulder, right hand tapping on left shoulder and just keep doing this. But as you're doing this, I want you to breathe in, slowing your breathing down, nice and easy. This will help you. I want you to practice this more than once.

Speaker 1:

Remember when I talked about the first episode curiosity. Now I know I explain things. So if you go to the show notes, you will see some images of how these look. You can look at the images on the show notes, and that would be episode number two. Also, if you want to actually see a demonstration of this, go on over to the Facebook community, because there is a video there of this exact process. When you enter the group, just say bilateral stimulation or bottle, anything like that, and I will know. Make sure I tag you in the link.

Speaker 1:

All right, so that is my emotional rant and some information to help you to calm down your anxiety, settle your mind, decrease your overwhelm, decrease your stress, because I want you to feel calm and centered. Af. Thank you for listening to the episode. I will see you next week. I thank you for listening all the way to the end of this podcast. I appreciate you more than you know. For more information and access to show notes, go on over to calmandcenteredaf. com and if you're looking to work with me one to one, you can find the information there as well. Remember, once you clear your mind and become calm and centered, no-transcript.