5-4-3-2-1: Reinstall Yourself
A fist is a sign of resolve.
The photo shows a person with a fist in the air in a sign of triumph. I call it reinstalling yourself. Photo by Miguel Bruna at Unsplash.
Sometimes, energy can get scattered. It can happen when there is a feeling of being pulled in different directions, maybe wanting equal and opposite things, or maybe wanting too many things at the same time. I know this happens for me! Energy can scatter in ordinary life when there are many things happening at once. This is true almost anytime! Trying to get to a destination or end point and overcoming obstacle after obstacle and going from one thing to another with little or no breaks are the many things that can be happening at once and scattering energy. On a personal and human level signs of scattered energy include feelings of losing power or feelings of impatience, overwhelm, anger and frustration, or anxiety and helplessness. The eyes can feel glazed over, and the body can feel weak while the mind may complain. The remedy is to gather the scattered energy back— what I call reinstalling yourself.
Get your energy back. Bring energy back to the present moment and back to the body to center yourself. Take that little moment to check in before you make your next move. This way you can make progress on goals and projects in a way that feels better and more aligned with what is important to you.
Coming back to what is important is what is important.
Below is a mini practice for doing just that. This mini practice reminds me of a famous quote by a famous yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda:
“The minutes are more important than the years.”
I interpret this quotation to mean that what you choose to do in the minutes matters more than what happens in a year. Living as if the minutes are more important than the years for even a day can bring clarity of mind and heart. Hence, this mini practice below:
You can do just one of the exercises if you are short on time or do all of them as a complete mind-body sequence that you can do in five to ten minutes.
Bring Your Energy Back in 5 to 10 minutes
Take a few cleansing breaths to start and make gentle fists by encircling your thumb with all your fingers in each hand. This is a gesture of will and protection to establish bodily and mental intent. Relax your fists, and then do one or all the exercises below.
First the 5-4-3-2-1 Exercise
This is a beautiful and quick meditation you can use after meetings or interactions, or after being out in public, to get your energy back.
It comes from Mindfulness practice:
Five –sense the space all around you. If you are indoors, sense or look around the room and identify five things you can see or sense. It may be a ceiling fan or a window. Sunlight. If you are outside, sense the vast sky above, objects like trees or buildings. Let your awareness land on five things.
Four—identify four things you can touch or feel. These may be sensations and feelings in your body or the textures of the objects around you. Find four.
Three—identify three things you can hear. Let your ears extend to hear faraway sounds and sense sounds that are up close.
Two—sense two things you can smell. Wow. This can get hard. What do you smell when you try to smell something right where you are? Take your time on this one. It is surprising.
One—sense one thing you can taste. There may be a taste that lingers from a beverage or a meal. Sometimes, you can describe a situation as leaving a “bad taste” in your mouth. Certain medications or vitamins can just leave a taste that stays with you. Maybe it is like that. Take your time and don’t worry if the taste you identify feels like almost nothing. The slowing down to listen and sense is the point.
Go through the five steps in an alert and crisp way as you breathe deeply to direct your focus to yourself. You may notice that as you go through the list, it may feel more challenging to find the two things you can smell and the one thing you can taste. This is okay. Relax as you concentrate gently and trust your awareness. It is worth it.
Then, you have an option to get more physical with the two exercises below to complete your energy reset.
Crushing Stones
This full body exercise alternates a backward and then forward bend. Try it. You can do it seated, standing, or lying down.
Relax and breathe in as you raise your arms overhead and bend backwards slighty. Then, create tension on the forward bend as you imagine squeezing the air out of the body. Continue the movement: Breathe in to raise your arms overhead (notice the front part of the body stretches), and then breathe out as you bring your fists to crash in front of your chest and squeeze your muscles so that back of the body stretches. Repeat three times. You can even do it with just the eyes and the bodily tension: Relax, look up, and breathe in, and then look down to breathe out and squeeze and tense your muscles. Your heart rate my increase! Be fully embodied.
Gathering Breath
To finish and close out your little practice: Do a slow gathering motion that feels as if you are splashing your face with warm and healing water. Do this slowly, breathing in as your arms extend, and breathing out as your hands approach your face and you lower them with a smoothing motion from the head down to the belly. This movement is a rest period and transition movement. You can feel yourself ready for the next thing.
Let me know how it goes!