How to Demos

The video demos are a select group of demos from The Paper Tiger Syndrome that will help clarify some of the nuances that are more challenging to understand without a visual demo. Some videos also have a companion guided meditation in audio format. 

AUDIO:
Guided Meditation: Voo Breathing Method

Advanced Level Ritual:
Voo Breathing Method

By far the most important practice you can learn to regulate your nervous system is the “Voo” breathing method.

This vibrational breathing practice was originally developed by Dr. Peter Levine, as part of his Somatic Experiencing® model and I have modified the practice by engaging the brain’s language center, sealing the relationship between the nervous system and the higher-order thinking brain (prefrontal cortex).

“Voo” breathing vibrates the 10th cranial nerve in your body, otherwise known as the Vagus nerve, which is the primary communication network between nearly all your critical organs and the primitive (ancestral) brain.

Vibrating this nerve has massive benefits, including boosts your immune system, increases resilience, encourages speaking up, improves confidence, connects to oxytocin receptors that release your “love hormones” and balances 95% of our supply of serotonin that resides in your gut to balance mood and digestion.

In this video, I demonstrate the practice for you and incorporate the “I am safe” mantra to seal the relationship between mind and body.

Recommendation: Make this a daily practice in the morning or at night. Repeat the “voo” breathing up to 4 times, followed by the “I am safe” on the final outbreath.

AUDIO:
Guided Meditation: Advanced Level Ritual: “I Am” Mantras

Advanced Level Ritual:
“I Am” Mantras

Taken from Sanskrit, mantras are affirmations you say to yourself that motivate and inspire you. In this video, I demonstrate how to use mantras to speak into the present moment what you want more of in your life.

Mantras begin with the two most powerful words ever spoken: I am. “I am” should be spoken from a sacred part of you—right in the center of your heart space—that is aligned with your highest self and your Infinite Source.

With your mantra, you are speaking your wishes into existence, into the present moment, as if you are already “that”. In speaking what you wish for into the present, what you desire is already your reality.

So, what is “that” for you?

Repeat this ritual at night until you notice yourself fully inhabiting the mantra (when the mantra feels 100% true).

Using Mala beads, whose origins date as far back as 3,000 years ago in the traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and yoga, you can slowly repeat your mantra, using your thumb and index finger to count each of the 108 beads until you come back to the start.

If it’s a mantra one you are passionate to have fully integrated in you, try repeating it 10-15 times daily until you reach muscle memory (300 repetitions) or embodied (3,000 repetitions) or stop when you trust yourself that you’ve got it!

Advanced Level Ritual:
Orienting

Experiencing social anxiety, aggression, or irritability? This practice will help resolve these reactive emotions.

Orienting engages the upper part of our vagus nerve (watch the “Voo” Breathing Method to learn more about this critical bundle of nerve)—the social aspects of all human beings.

This social part of our nervous system supplies nerves to the facial muscles and throat, among other organs. In primitive times, our ancestors were constantly scanning their environment to identify threats lurking in the tall grass.

We still have that same threat bias that drives our reactions when we’re under stress, but in modern era, our bodies aren’t naturally designed to distinguish between real threats and paper tigers (false alarms).

That means we may at times overreact to perceived danger.

Orienting is a ritual we should be repeating to help soften our threat bias and strengthen our felt sense of safety. If you have any form of social anxiety—whether that’s in intimate relationships, one-on-one, in groups or presenting in front of a crowd—you get anxious because this part of the vagus nerve perceives threat instead of recognizing a social situation where you are welcome, safe and supported.

Orienting is how you change your experience in social situations and shift from threat to safety. As with all the rituals you’ll learn in my book—The Paper Tiger Syndrome— slow yourself way down. The slower the pace, the better. That’s what’s going to support you in coming back into your body, regulate your nervous system and enjoy your social life again!

Intermediate Level Ritual:
Ragdoll Shake

We are the only animals on the planet that have cut ourselves off from our innate ability to shake off stress. There are voluntary and involuntary ways we can release stress and both involve shaking our bodies.

This ritual from my book—The Paper Tiger Syndrome: How to Liberate Yourself from the Illusion of Fear—gives you a simple but powerful way to shake off stress.

It is by far, one of my favorite ways to do it! Enjoy and feel free to comment or ask me questions!

AUDIO:
Guided Meditation: Interoception—Beyond Sensation

Interoception—
Beyond Sensation

In this video, you will see one of my clients who generously offered to demonstrate the practice of interoception.

From my book—The Paper Tiger Syndrome: How to Liberate Yourself from the Illusion of Fear—you will learn that interception is the most essential practice to regulate your nervous system.

Interoception is the mind’s ability to notice what’s happening inside the body; it is how you engage your brain’s medial prefrontal cortex (known as the “third eye” in eastern philosophy)—the observing part of our brain and connect it with your body and specifically, your nervous system.

Over time, rituals that support interoception will dissipate stress and anxiety, so long as our attention is down in our body (and not in our thoughts).

This takes repetition and practice but it is—by far—the most profound way to liberate yourself from fear, stress, and anxiety.