I offer The Soothe Programme, a 12-week programme of tailored private sessions to help you shift away from a fixed state. Typically, clients come to me with chronic issues such as anxiety, stress, burnout, and trauma.
This programme gets clients astonishing results: sleeping peacefully for 8 hours a night, interrupting their anxiety loop and learning calmer ways to be, interrupting regular seizures before they take hold, and releasing trauma patterns from the body are just some of the changes.
The first step is to fill out a form, and then we have a call. I get to know my clients and understand their challenges during this call. I often find that women describe themselves in terms of failure, while men focus purely on their physical symptoms. It's interesting to see how quickly women condemn themselves!
I don't teach affirmations as a standalone tool, as I believe that a cognitive mind approach alone won't be able to shift a feeling state. However, for some clients whose self-talk hinders the somatic process, I will teach them a somatic meditation with a bespoke affirmation to smooth the process.
What are affirmations?
Affirmations are positive statements that you repeat to yourself regularly. They can be about anything you want to improve, such as your self-esteem, relationships, or career.
How do affirmations work?
There are a few theories about how affirmations work. One theory is that they help to create new neural pathways in the brain. When you repeat a positive affirmation, you essentially signal to your brain that this is something you believe to be true. Over time, this repeated signal can help to create new neural pathways that support this belief.
Another theory is that affirmations help to change our self-talk. When we repeat positive affirmations, we essentially talk to ourselves more positively. This can replace negative self-talk with more positive thoughts, which can change our behaviour.
My experience
In my experience, you need more than positive self-talk if you are stressed, anxious, or burnt out. You need to address the physical sensations of your stress or anxiety first, and then you can layer in affirmations if they are helpful to you. I find it useful to have a conversation in my head when my negative internal chatter gets noisy. For instance, if you tell yourself that you will fail at something before you have begun, you could respond by hushing your internal voice and reminding yourself of all the hard things you have achieved. And remind yourself of the plan that you put in place to achieve it. I often have an internal conversation where I will "correct" a wrong assumption with proof to the contrary.
Tips for using affirmations effectively
If you are stressed or anxious, deal with the physical sensations themselves by moving, shaking out the tension from your body first.
Make sure your affirmations are specific, positive, and believable. For example, instead of saying, "I am happy," you could say, "I am grateful for the good things in my life." Instead of saying, "I can't do this," say instead "I am capable but need to prepare for this."
Takeaway
Sappy positive affirmations are more irritating than they are helpful, especially when you are in the grip of your anguish. I don’t believe that thinking positive thoughts alone can resolve complex issues. A positive mental mindset, however, is built on good habits and that feels far more sustainable to me.
This is worth a read The cult of confidence: could positive thinking be making us feel less secure?
Let me know what you think.
What I’m up to:
The Soothe Programme -12 weeks of tailored private sessions to rewire your brain and change your self-image.
Monthly membership - 5 x fresh classes including 3 x LIVE Somatic Movement classes, 1 x Somatic Yoga class, and 1 x Somatic Restorative or a breathwork class. Classes are 20 - 60 minutes for more profound practice.
The Soothe September Weekend - 8th - 10th September, only 2 rooms left! The Human Method is a powerful practice of brain-body re-education, breathwork, anatomy in movement, somatic yoga flow, and deep rest.
You will enjoy carefully designed practices to help you let go of unhelpful patterns in the body and mind and lay down new possibilities for movement and your life.
This week’s lesson is a 20-minute NSDR ( non-sleep deep rest) with an affirmation, you can practice it sitting or lying down. Let me know how you get on with it.