3 Quick Skills to Calm Emotions in Your Body
1. Slow Down with Cold Water
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Ice pack, cold cloth, sink, or bowl of cold water.
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Cold water on your face stimulates the Mammalian Dive Reflex, to quickly calm the nervous system.
2. A Spurt of Intense Exercise
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Nothing.
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Strong emotions are body impulses that urge us to DO something (E.g., avoid, attack, withdraw). Intense exercise replaces urges to act on regrettable urges.
3. Calming Breathing
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Nothing.
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When we exhale longer & slower than our inhaling, the parasympathetic system is activated, which calms immediately.