Hold your brain
A simple exercise from Somatic Experiencing
In this short article, I share a simple technique to help calm your thoughts and down regulate your body.
Introduction
I picked up this exercise from Dr Raja Selvam during my Somatic Experiencing (SE) professional training. He demonstrated it in two parts and, as I followed his instructions, I immediately found each/both parts helpful.
This exercise can be particularly helpful when your mind is racing, and you want to quieten your thoughts — for example, before going to sleep, or if you wake up in the middle of the night and are finding it difficult to go back to sleep because you’ve got thoughts going round and round in your head.
Because we can all benefit from using them, I’m committed to sharing such tools, both in my Somatic Experiencing (SE) work with clients and more widely. I shared an initial set of tools in an article I published in Mental Health awareness week in 2023, and I shared more exercises in Mental Health awareness week 2024.
Whilst SE was developed to help people resolve symptoms arising from anxiety, stress, shock, and trauma, these tools can help anyone — they are practical and deceptively simple exercises, which anyone can use time and again. The more people can use such tools, in their personal and professional lives, the better.
How to do it
Part one
- Get into a comfortable position. You can be sitting up, sitting back, you can be propped up, or even lying down, whatever is more comfortable for you. The idea is simply to be in a supported and comfortable position so you can relax and settle in to the exercise.
- Take one hand with an open palm to the back of your head.
It doesn’t matter which hand (left or right) you use.
You can experiment to find out what feels right for you. - Slowly slide the hand that is at the back of your head down to the base of the skull, to where your head and your neck come together, so that you have your thumb and forefinger on your upper neck and your other three fingers on your skull.
- You can have your eyes opened or closed for this exercise, whatever feels most comfortable for you. One option is to just lower your gaze and let your eyes start to relax and unfocus.
- Bring your attention to the area you’re holding with your hand.
- Notice the temperature where your hand is resting.
- Make any adjustments you want to the level of pressure.
- Coming inside from the contact between your head and neck, bring your awareness a bit deeper into your head and imagine your hand gently touching the back of your throat.
- You’re at the point where your brain stem and spinal cord meet.
Simply notice what is present there for you. - How does the rest of your body respond to you holding and supporting your brain stem?
- I noticed a nice internal calm, kind of like things inside were settled, at ease.
- Take all the time you want to notice how your body is responding. You can hang out there for several minutes if it feels good for you.
- When you’re ready, either proceed to Part Two (below), or gently release your hand and end the exercise.
Emily Winter, who is an SE Practitioner, demonstrates Part One in this video:
Part two
- Whilst keeping one hand at the back of your head, now place your other hand with an open palm on your forehead.
- It doesn’t matter which hand (left or right) goes in which position.
You can experiment to find out what feels right for you.
- Rest both hands where they are around your head. One hand is supporting your bran stem, the other is holding your pre-frontal cortex.
- It’s like your hands are a container around around your thinking.
- There is a light, very gentle compression that you can feel between your two hands. Notice what that’s like.
- Feel the sensation between your hands.
- Notice too the temperature of your hands — are they cool or warm?
- Notice how the rest of your body is responding to this self touch.
- Often, little by little, the level of activation decreases, which can lead to a state of ‘calm alert.’
- Take all the time you want to notice how your body is responding. You can hang out there for several minutes if it feels good for you.
- When you’re ready, gently release your hands and end the exercise.
Anxiety often pulls your mind into the future or the past, worrying about things that haven’t happened yet, or running repeatedly through things that have happened, often imagining how they could have been different. In contrast, this somatic exercise helps you be in the here and now by paying attention to how your body feels. Noticing how your body feels can bring your mind back to the present. This focus can help quiet racing thoughts and bring a sense of calm.
Supportive touch activates the parasympathetic nervous system to help us calm down and feel safe. The sort of physical touch in this exercise also releases oxytocin, providing a sense of security, soothing distressing emotions, and calming our cardiovascular system. So why not try it?
