Between clients I have done all sorts of weird and wonderful things in the name of being a happier and better physio that day. Often it includes playing with my dog Reggie but I heard therapy dogs don’t live as long so I’ve had to limit myself (dammit)!
Luckily there are endless options that don’t require a fur baby. This blog is to outline what you might try, and why you might try it.
Why do I do this?
Because it makes my day easier, my work better, and it centres me at the heart of my practice which is something I believe we need to do more of.
“makes my day easier, my work better, and it centres me at the heart of my practice”
It can be so easy to be on autopilot. Often we don’t realize how stressed, out of it, disconnected or tired we are until waaaay after we slid there. What that means for me at work is the difference between a good work day where I felt my brain is online and my reasoning firing well, or a blah work day when I feel sluggish and go into clinical autopilot. Emotionally in a good day I feel I connected well with clients and felt nourished and energized by these connections, versus a blah day where I feel drained and annoyed by people.
Obviously there’s a gazillion variables which affect these days, but one variable that I have control over is being proactive in regulating myself as much as my nervous system will allow me to in that moment.
There are 2 steps to a regulation snack
- The check in
- The intervention
“how am I feeling in my mind, body, and emotionally?”
The check in is actually sometimes enough. You’re asking yourself;
“how am I feeling in my mind, body, and emotionally?” For example, is my mind calm, spiralling or offline? Is my body relaxed, tense or flat? Are my feelings here and ok, overwhelming me, or am I cut off from them?
Sometimes it’s helpful as a reflective practice to connect your feelings on your check in to how you’ve been behaving.
For example, when I’m in shut down I feel tired and apathetic and this shows up with me getting impatient with clients and being sloppy with my admin. If I’m feeling activated I talk too much, repeat myself and forget things.
It’s helpful to understand because knowing these behaviours, such as noticing I’m starting to get annoyed by a client, can also help signal to me that I need to stop, check in and snack (more on this in another blog).
When you have done your check in, you hopefully have some idea of if you’re A-OK and can just appreciate feeling good, or if maybe you’re not great and you could do with taking a moment for yourself. If you’re not great you need to identify if you’re activated and in sympathetic dominance, or shut down in parasympathetic dominance.
If activated you might feel anxious, stressed, agitated and feeling it’s hard to pause and slow down your brain and body. If you’re shut down you might feel tired, sluggish, disconnected and finding it hard to focus.
“Sometimes the check in alone can make a big difference (name it to tame it).”
Sometimes the check in alone can make a big difference (name it to tame it). But if not, the next step would be to use a “regulation snack” to help balance you out.
If you’re activated you might want to try something that calms you like
- slower diaphragmatic breathing
- lying down (maybe with a bolster or weight on you)
- holding a heavyish weight and connecting to your feet
- pushing into the wall and focus on the wall
- name colours and objects in the room (out loud) aka “I can see a green cushion, a blue pen, a cream blind”
- hug yourself, rub your legs, name how your body feels
- check 5 senses; what can you see, hear, smell, taste, touch?
If you are feeling more shut down you might want to try and bring yourself up by
- bouncing a ball on the floor
- balancing on a foam roller (no hands!)
- big apical breaths, not too slowly
- shaking your body (try and get EVERY part to shake in turn)
- bounce on your heels
There’s no one right way, for example sometimes when I’m really shut down I find a 2 minute power nap on the treatment table rather than doing something activating is the cure. What works is to try things and check in as you try to see if it’s making a difference. Essentially are you feeling better from it or not. If not, try something else.
Taking proportionate measure
“Sometimes we need a more proportionate intervention”
If we’re a little bit off, we can do a little regulation snack, bounce back, and feel great. If we’re a lot off, sometimes we need a more proportionate intervention which might mean a process of a few snacks and some time to find your way back.
Most of the time in clinic items from this list really help me. But I’ve had times when I’m super super dysregulated after a trauma client and nothing was working. So I found I had to go big, and often this meant grabbing a buddy to help regulate me. This has been things like throwing a ball between us, getting someone to press down on my shoulders, having a hug, basically any adaption of an activity so there’s some social engagement to use their nervous system to help regulate my own. This is often what we’re doing when we offload verbally to colleagues, which is also great. But I think it’s more helpful if we are conscious about it and make sure we are addressing our whole nervous system (remembering the body and not just offloading verbally from the mind!) when we do it.
Last bit of advice..
Please know that this concept is not about getting right, or always being regulated. It’s about having tools to help us feel better when we feel off. Try different things, learn what works for you, and leave the rest. As with all good things, they can take time to learn and integrate, so explore and be creative and see how it goes. I’d love it if you let me know what weird and wonderful things work for you!