The Shake It Out
My favorite move ever! THE SHAKE IT OUT.
When you are feeling stressed, take a second (try 30 seconds) to shake out your whole body. This decreases your cortisol levels, the hormone that pulses through you when you’re feeling overwhelmed, in flight or flight mode.
Cool fact: Imagine a predictor animal hunting a possum. To avoid becoming dinner, the possum freezes, and plays dead.
The predictor then sniffs the prey to confirm that it is dead (predators typically don’t go for dead prey). Once the predator decides that it’s uninterested, the possum gets up when it perceives it’s safe and checks the space around it (orienting).
Once the possum has confirmed that it’s clear, it then starts to shake (discharge/ deactivation), and then runs off. This is why animals don’t carry trauma like humans do.
Be like the possum, and try the Shake It Out to deactivate and calm the body.