[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. Happy July everyone. I’m on vacation this week. I’m taking time off to be with family, to recharge, to reconnect and to relax and I’ll be doing some self-care and I would like all of my listeners, all of you to do the same and do some self-care while I’m away. So I picked one of my favorite self-care episodes to share with you again from this past year. I use this tool over and over again myself, so hearing it two times over, three times over four times, it doesn’t matter. The more you hear it, the more it sinks in and the more you take it to heart. I will be back the first week of August with brand new episodes. So be well and remember that you are okay. Well, you’re halfway through April already. Can you believe it? Spring breaks are underway with many people going on vacations, holidays, traveling, spending time with family and summer is just a couple short months away, which is new this year. With the situation with the pandemic, changing to things opening back up and our lives changing once again, to adjust to a new normal or just a new way of living and trying to figure out what that looks like, what that feels like; for highly sensitive people, this may be overwhelming and a bit daunting to be back in person at work, at school, at community functions. Our nervous systems are coming down from a high alert or a low sadness from the last two years of the pandemic. Still adjusting to the new normal and jumping in with ease, or maybe just jumping in with both feet in or maybe one foot out or both feet, not in. So I want to take this time, this episode to offer a self-care tool that I learned a long time ago. I use it all the time with myself and I teach it to my clients. This self-care tool is called a safe place visualization, which is a mindfulness technique that relaxes your nervous system uses all five of your senses and explores sensations in your body just to come to a place of relaxation, calm, tranquility. As a certified resiliency model practitioner, this self-care tool would be called a resource and a resource is something that uplifts you, gives you joy, peace or strength. Doesn’t that sound good? It’s a tool that you can use at anytime and anywhere and the more you practice this tool when you’re not triggered in any way, the better. So that way you can practice it, really get to know how to use it, remembering the steps. Come back to it and use it as many times as you want so that you’re in a state of relaxation and calm. Find a place where you can relax or you won’t be disturbed and you’re not in a hurry. Please silence all electronic devices and don’t do this while you are driving. It’s not safe and please come back to this podcast episode as many times as you help guide you through this safe place visualization. So here we go, closing your eyes or just having a soft gaze where you’re not focusing on any one thing, feel your feet on the bottom of the floor. You can do that by either just tapping your feet lightly on the floor or scooching them back and forth on the floor. If you’re laying down with your feet up, just bringing your attention to the bottom of your feet. Take a few deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling, inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth, letting go of any tension, stress, anxiety, and fear. If you are noticing any brain chatter, scoop up that brain chatter with your hand and gently place it to the side of you, put it on a shell, acknowledge that you know that it is there, but now you are taking the time for yourself to relax. Allow your tongue to gently fall away from the roof of your mouth. Now, relax your body, relax your mind, relax your eyes, your mouth, your jaw, your cheeks, your face, your scalp in the back of your head. Allow the relaxation to down your neck and into your shoulders. Let your shoulders drop and let the tension go, relaxing all the muscles in your back. Let the relaxation fill your arms and hands and fingers. Let it fill your chest and lungs. Notice how it feels as it feels the inside of your body. Let it surround your heart. Notice how gentle and quiet your breathing is becoming. Let the relaxation drift into your solar plexes, the area right beneath your rib cage, relaxing your pelvis area and your lower back. The relaxation is now filling your hips, your bottom and thighs relaxing those muscles. It continues down to your knees and calves. Allow your ankles and feet to become relaxed. Wiggle your toes to let the tension out, let go of all the tension in your body and allow it to flow into the earth. As the tension is released from your body, find yourself in a beautiful place that is peaceful and safe to you. Perhaps it’s not a place you have ever seen before, except in the beauty of your own mind. Allow the image to appear. Feel free to take a few moments to scan through a few settings until you settle on the right one. Perhaps it’s an image or a setting of a sandy beach, a garden, a meadow, or even a scene from a painting. Once you have the place, hold it in your mind, develop a clearer picture of it. Look around at the surroundings, taking a 360 degree look all the way around and allow yourself to see what is here. Examine the richness of the colors. If it is a place at the ocean, is the sky as blue as the water? If it is a garden, what color are other flowers? Let the colors come alive for you in this beautiful and safe place. This safe place is created by you and is only for you. Now invite other senses into the experience. What sounds do you hear in your safe place? Are there birds flying overhead? Are there waves gently rolling onto the sand? Is there music playing? What about the smells? Is it salty? Is it fragrant? Is it mossy? Is there something cooking nearby perhaps on a camp stove or fireplace? Just allow your imagination to run wild. There is no right or wrong answer. Feel the textures in your mind, perhaps you take your hand and gently touch the rough bark of a tree. Or what about the gritty sand beneath your feet or the softness of a rose petal, or the tall grass that you’re standing upon in a meadow? Are there any tastes that pop out in your mind? Is there salt in the air from the beach? Are there juicy berries growing that are sweet? Remember anything that you put in your safe place is up to you. Take a walk around your safe place, notice more and more about it. Create special places for special kinds of feelings that need to be healed, special places to wash away the fear, the pain, the shame. Create a waterfall or healing pool, where you can wash away all of the feelings. Each time you come to your special places, more and more of the past will be washed away. Each time you come, you’ll be cleansed and rejuvenated. Now slowly walk around your safe place and find your favorite spot and have a seat and get comfortable. Take a look around, see, hear, smell, touch, and taste your peaceful, calm, and safe place that you have just created. Remember, you can go to your safe place any time. It is there for you. When you’re ready to leave your safe place, acknowledge the gratitude of creating this space for yourself. Gently, bring your awareness back into the room, which you’re by gently wiggling your fingers, wiggling your toes and take a big stretch overhead with your arms. Take a deep inhale and exhale, and just very, very slowly just start to open and close your eyes very gently. And just remember that you are worth it. It’s worth taking this time for yourself. It’s worth taking this time to create a safe place for yourself. It’s a very, very healthy way to take care of yourself and use it as many times as much as you want. It can take different shapes and forms as you go along and as time goes along and the more time you use it. Thank you for taking this time to be here, to listen, to be curious, and to go along on the journey with me. I appreciate you and thank you for tuning in today. Please let me know what you thought of the episode. I would love to hear your feedback, whether you liked it, didn’t like it, want to hear more, different techniques. Send me an email to lisa@amiokpodcast.com. And please, please remember to subscribe, rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. That means a lot to me. I’d like to hear from my listeners about how I can improve and remember to find out more about highly sensitive persons. Or if you would like to work with me, please visit my website, amiokpodcast.com. Feel free to 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 every one 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.