Exhaling longer than you inhale can slow down the heart rate and turn on the relaxation response. Our audio practice +2 Breathing (Respiración Extendida) can help you practice. Note: If exhaling 2 counts longer doesn’t feel comfortable, try 1 count or a brief pause. The breath changes day-to-day so find what you need.

This practice helps engage the cognitive functions of your brain, which can be helpful when strong emotions surface. Take two slow breaths. Then softly or silently name 3 things you can see, 2 things you could touch, and 1 thing you can hear. Take another two breaths.

With Willing Hands, we are opening our hands and ourselves to feel compassion and to connect with what is best in a situation. As you close your hands, notice what you feel and pause for five seconds. Then, open your hands and notice how that feels. 

Emotion regulation is like holding a stone – we don’t want to hold on too tightly to the emotion because that makes it hurt more, but we also don’t want to ignore it all together.  We want to practice holding it with awareness – observing it.  This is what mindfulness is – paying attention to what is happening in our bodies with awareness.  Investigate your emotions is learning to observe our emotions.  One strategy for this is taking a curious attitude towards them.