How to Feel Safe
COVID and the year 2020 have brought so many of us a feeling of being out to drift in the unknown. We may have felt a lack of safety, a sense of ungroundedness, or an underlying current of fear for months now.
For many of us, this means our fight-or-flight response has been consistently activated for a very long time, which feels like survival mode or simply trying to “get by.” With this consistent state of stress, our nervous systems have been thoroughly taxed and are greatly in need of a reset.
So how can we heal our nervous systems and give our bodies a much-needed feeling of safety? How can we learn to feel safe within ourselves?
Practical tips on how to feel safe:
Practice Yoga Nidra as often as possible. Download the “Yoga Nidra for Safety” deep relaxation practice below.
Develop a daily meditation routine. The peace and stability that come from daily self-connection are unmatched.
Practice being present. You can use a practice called orientating: find one single spot on the wall and stare at it until you enter FULL presence. It may sound simple or too boring, but presence is the key to dissolving anxiety about the future.
Follow the breath into the low abdomen for a three-count inhale through the nose. Then exhale through the nose for a count of five. Repeat this breath count: inhaling for three, exhaling for five, and notice its grounding effect on the body after just a few minutes.
Journal your feelings and allow them to be as they are. Recognize that you are more than the temporary emotions that pass through you, and that in this moment, you are safe.
There are many tools and techniques that can help you learn how to feel safe in your body, but above all we recommend the practice of Yoga Nidra Meditation. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system (the opposite of “fight-or-flight”), which allows the body to heal, digest, relax, and finally experience the relief that comes from feeling safe.
Try the Yoga Nidra practice below for a profound experience of inner safety.