[LISA LEWIS] The Am I Ok? Podcast is part of the Practice of the Practice network, a network of podcasts seeking to help you market and grow your business and yourself. To hear other podcasts like Faith Fringes, the Holistic Counseling Podcast, and Beta Male Revolution, go to the website, www.practiceofthepractice.com/network. Welcome to the Am I Ok? Podcast, where you will discover that being highly sensitive is something to embrace and it’s actually a gift you bring to the world. We will learn together how to take ownership of your high sensitivity, so you can make positive changes in your life, in the lives of others, and it’s totally okay to feel this way. I’m your host, Lisa Lewis. I’m so glad you’re here for the journey. Welcome to today’s episode of the Am I Ok? Podcast This is Lisa Lewis, your host. It’s so good to have you here tuning in and listening today. I want to remind all of you that I offer a free eight-week email course titled Highly Sensitive People. My email course provides weekly tools that help you feel more whole in a world isn’t exactly made for us and I show you how your sensitivity can be seen as a unique gift and how many others are just like you. To find out more about my email course, please go to my website, amiokpodcast.com. So we are at the end of April already, and summer is just a couple of months away, which is new this year with the situation with the pandemic changing, things opening up and our lives changing again, to adjust to a new normal or new way of living and being in the world. For highly sensitive people, all 1.5 billion of us, this may be overwhelming and a bit daunting to be back in person at work at school community functions. I want to just mention that some people, whether they’re highly sensitive or not are experiencing this sense of like a, it’s like a reverberation, emotions and feelings that maybe we didn’t feel exactly during the pandemic. Maybe we did, maybe we didn’t, and it’s like this reverberation, like a wave that’s been far out in the ocean and it’s coming to shore now. It’s like this feeling of, oh, it doesn’t feel so good and you may be feeling anxious or sadness, both, maybe feeling other things coming up that you didn’t have the time or the space, or didn’t feel safe to feel those feelings during the pandemic. Now that the pandemic’s lifting now you are able to feel those emotions and feelings, especially if they’re uncomfortable. You may be just saying to yourself, wow, what just happened to me these last two years? What did I just go through? I don’t feel like myself and I know I’ve changed. I’m not sure if that changes for the better or for the worse, but what we do know is that there’s no going back, the last two years, that life keeps going forward, whether we changed or not. Also just to acknowledge that everyone’s life has been affected in some way by the pandemic, whether it was in a good way and, or not so good way. Whether you are highly sensitive or not, I want to teach you a short grounding technique that I use myself all the time and teach my clients. Remember, it’s good to have lots of tools in your tool belt. I, for one, like to have many options to choose from my tool belt, but this tool I’m going to teach you is I think the cream of the crop, the gold standard in many healing modalities. Please do not do this while you’re driving. I just want to make sure that you are safe. So do this when you’re not driving, when you’re in the place where you can relax, you can turn off the electronics, not get interrupted by anybody or anything. This technique I’m going to teach you. It’s actually a tree meditation and it’s one of my favorites because I just love being in nature. So I want to share this with all of you. There are 10 steps to help you stay grounded, centered and focused on what is predictable and certain in your life right now. So I recommend practicing this technique at least once a day, with as many times a day, as you wish to stay in the present moment. So we’re not going into the past and we’re not going into the future, but we’re just really staying in the moment. If you can practice this in the morning, when you wake up, you don’t even have to get out of bed. You can just do it laying down. You can do it right in the middle of the day and also at night, too, right before you go to sleep. It’s a great way to unwind and release any uncomfortable feelings or emotions. So let’s get started. I just want to say that all of these techniques that I share in my episodes and this technique that I’m sharing today on all the steps will be in the show notes. Step one, breathe by inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your nose as many times as you. So just taking your time to breathe by inhaling and exhaling through your nose. You can also close your eyes if you wish, or just have a gaze and just allow your eyes to relax. Step two, feel your feet on the floor by tapping your feet on the ground, by just slowly tapping your feet back and forth on the ground. This helps bring your awareness from your head to your feet. We usually have, when we’re feeling anxious, we usually have a lot of energy up in our heads. So we want to bring that all that energy down to our feet. Just let it go down to your feet. Step three, imagine your favorite tree. Imagine your favorite tree and take a good look at it in your mind’s eye. I have several favorite trees. I like to think of a Sequoia tree or Redwood tree or Deer Door tree. What is your favorite tree? Step four, notice how it’s base, of your favorite tree is firmly planted into the ground. Notice how it’s base is firmly planted into the ground. Notice how it’s trunk is tall and erect and reaches high into the sky. Notice how its branches and leaves reach far out beyond its base, reach really, really, really wide out from its base. Step five, allow your feet, legs, and hips to become the base of your tree. Allow your base to be firmly planted into the ground. So again, allow your feet, legs and hips to become the base of your tree. Allow your base to be firmly planted into the ground. Step six, allow your torso all the way up to your head, to become the trunk of your tree. Allow it to stand tall and erect like your favorite tree. I’m going to repeat that. Allow your torso all the way up to your head, to become the trunk of your tree. Allow it to stand tall and erect like your favorite tree. Step seven, allow your arms to become the branches and leaves that reach out far beyond the base of your tree. Perhaps a bird’s nest, a squirrel, a skunk or other animals live in your tree, allow your imagination to run wild. This is your tree that you have created for yourself. So again, allow your arms to become the branches and leaves that reach out far beyond the base of your tree. Allow whatever you want to live in your tree, whether it’s a bird, a squirrel, a skunk, a chipmunk. Allow your imagination to run wild. You have created this for yourself. It is for you. Step eight, allow tree roots to grow out from the bottoms of your feet and connect you to the center or the core of the earth. Take as much time as you need for this to happen. These tree roots allow you to walk freely amongst the earth, helping you stay grounded and connected. Again, allow these tree roots to grow out from the bottoms of your feet and connect you to the center or the core or the heart of the earth. They reach far and wide and deep. Take your time. There is enough time and these tree routes allow you to walk freely amongst the earth, helping you stay grounded and connected. They do not hold you down and they do not hold you back in any way. Step nine, your tree, just like your favorite tree can withstand the external conditions of the environment. No matter if it is a snowstorm, a rainstorm, a windstorm, no matter what is happening around you internally, you are calm at peace at ease just like your favorite tree. You allow the wind, the rain to pass through you not hold onto you. The storm will not take you down or knock you down. You stand tall, erect and grounded. Step 10, allow your tree to stand tall and erect centered and grounded. You weather the storm. You got this. Thank you for tuning in today. I hope you like the episode. Please let me know what you thought of this episode. I love hearing your feedback. Let me know what you want to hear more of. Send me an email to lisa@amiokpodcast.com. Remember to subscribe, rate and review wherever you get your podcast. And to find out more about highly sensitive persons, please visit my website at amiokpodcast.com and subscribe to my free eight-week email course to help you navigate your own sensitivities and to show you that it’s okay not to take on everyone else’s problems. This is Lisa Lewis reminding each and everyone of you that you are okay until next time be well, Thank you for listening today at Am I Ok? Podcast. If you are loving the show, please rate, review and subscribe to it on your favorite podcast platform. Also, if you’d like to learn how to manage situations as a highly sensitive person, discover your unique gift as a highly sensitive person, and learn how to be comfortable in your own skin, I offer a free eight-week email course called Highly Sensitive People. Just go to amiokpodcast.com to sign up. In addition, I love hearing from my listeners, drop me an email to let me know what is on your mind. You can reach me at lisa@amiokpodcast.com. This podcast is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regards to the subject matter covered. It is given with the understanding that neither the host, the publisher, or the guests are rendering legal, accounting, clinical, or any other professional information. If you want to professional, you should find one.