Tools for Calm & Clarity

Relaxation of both body and mind is essential for self-mastery. Once you've got the basics covered—adequate sleep, exercise, and nutrition—you're ready to train the subtle Inner Toolkit of the masters. This is body-mind training, and it begins with Relaxation.

Let's Honor Who We Are

As First Responders, we've already taken a stand on what are truly beautiful, even heroic, values. Even a brief look at our Codes of Ethics shows how high we aim. It's worth pausing and taking account of this; it's important to acknowledge and celebrate the incredible wholesomeness of our core professional values!

Pace without Aggression

Mind-body training in Inner Skills requires a patient, respectful, kind approach, You don't muscle thru it and you don't hurry it, because that doesn't work. Inner work responds to training, but not to commands. So we go slowly, steadily, and we start where we're at. We seek practices that are a best-fit for us and are something we can commit to.

Lean into Discomfort

It feels a little different to train our inner skills. But consider this: that is not a sign that something is wrong. It's just a sign that inner work is a bit different than outer work, such as mastering a new device. We can and should train both our inner skills and our outer skills.                        

Common sense suggests that a thing must feel different to be different. And that can be uncomfortable, initially. Most of us simply haven't made time, or taken time, to work on these subtle skills. We've been too busy growing up, making a living, solving problems, and distracting ourselves from much of the complexity, caring, and natural wisdom of our inner lives. 

Prepare for Whole Life

Our lives can be stressful, and we've chosen stressful jobs. But we don't need to be overwhelmed or distracted. Instead, we can systematically organize and sharpen our Inner Toolkit to achieve balance, peace, and joy. We can't rely on weak inner skills or expect to always be so lucky that we don't need to call upon our inner skills. Real life, especially the sort of big life events we First Responders voluntarily take on, cares nothing for luck. Professionals make their own luck thru preparation. 

A little discomfort and stepping into new territory is a small price to pay for such valuable skills. The things you'll learn will benefit your whole life, making it more interesting, flexible, and endlessly fascinating.

The 3 Foundations of the Inner Toolkit

We begin with relaxation. Relaxation helps us find stillness. Stillness helps us hold focus, to see more and to see steadily. Focus helps us achieve clarity, which is the very root of wisdom and self-control. 

Creating a foundation in physical relaxation is essential for stilling the mind because it:

1. Reduces Stress: lowering the level of cortisol, a stress hormone, improves decision-making and reduces impulsive reactions.
2. Enhances Focus: A relaxed body improves concentration and attention span, which strengthens self-discipline.
3. Regulates Emotions: Physical relaxation promotes emotional stability and lowers  emotional impulsivity.
4. Reduces Impulsivity: Relaxation provides the essential pause required for thoughtful responses instead of impulsive, knee-jerk reactions.
5. Aids Decision-Making: Improved cognitive function from relaxation supports rational decision-making aligned with long-term goals.
6. Promotes Better Sleep: Quality sleep resulting from relaxation replenishes mental resources, crucial for self-control.
7. Builds Resilience: Regular relaxation practices increase resilience to stress, fostering composed responses.

There are many ways to train the mind while physically moving the body. For some of us, who are used to being very physically active, and with busy minds, movement practices can be the best way to help still the mind. For some, it's just too hard to simply sit and focus the mind right away. Movement practices are a way in to the art of inner calm for such folks.

Moving into Stillness

There are two great movement practices that move the body to help train the mind: yoga and tai chi. They're good because they're easy to find and easy to learn: there's plenty of coaches and classes, both online and in-person. 

Here's how they can contribute to improving attention:

1. Mindfulness: Both yoga and tai chi emphasize mindfulness, which is our ability to sustain focus. In yoga, we focus on the breath, body sensations, and alignment. In tai chi, we focus on body positioning and balance during slow, deliberate movements. Once we can control our attention, we can either focus on or away from any thoughts, feelings, or bodily sensations as needed in the moment. We learn to tame the jumpy, runaway attention, thru simple, soothing, ancient practices.
2. Breath awareness: Breathing is a core part of both yoga and tai chi. Learning to regulate and control your breath helps sustain concentration. 
3. Meditation and relaxation: Many yoga classes include meditation or relaxation exercises at the end of the session. We learn to focus attention on a particular object (e.g., simple sensations or sounds) and to maintain that focus, and this translates to greater focus in daily life.
4. Stress reduction: Both yoga and tai chi are effective in reducing stress, which is known to negatively impact attention. By reducing stress, we create a better environment for training attention and improving clarity of mind.
5. Improved posture and body awareness: Yoga and tai chi promote better posture, body awareness, and balance. By paying attention to body alignment, muscle engagement, and movements, our body awareness peaks. This can also increase awareness of the mind, making it easier to recognize and release distractions and stressors.
6. Coordination and concentration: Tai chi, in particular, involves slow, deliberate, and graceful movements that require a high degree of concentration and coordination. 
7. Flow state: these practices can create a "flow" state, where we are fully absorbed in the activity. In a flow state, attention is naturally heightened, and distractions tend to fade away. This state can be a training ground for enhancing attention and focus in all other aspects of life.
8. Mind-body connection: Both yoga and tai chi reveal the power of the mind-body connection. By recognizing how our minds affect our bodies and vice versa, we develop more interest and potentially more control of the key dimensions of our selves.

Of course, these benefits of yoga and tai chi will vary from person to person. Regular and consistent practice is the key to deciding if they are a fit for you. They are great place to start your inner journey by helping you learn to release agitation, restlessness, and impulsivity, and then moderate and balance your energy. With this foundation in relaxation, you can move more easily into stillness and attempt the finer-grained practices mind training known as meditation.

Taking it into Your Day

Since we don't live in a yoga or tai chi studio, we need ways of taking these skills and lessons our into our lives. That's where they're tested and prove themselves.

A great way to extend these methods into everyday life is to practice brief moments of mindfulness many times during your day. Many small moments of little practice can add up to big understanding and big familiarity. Think of it as mindfulness "snacking." Sometimes, when we take care of the little things, the big things seem to take care of themselves.

You can experience moment mindful movement by choose one, simple yoga or tai chi move, and practicing it for just 10 or 20 seconds, many times thru the day. The key is to start small and keep it pleasant, rewarding—no big deal! Use some cue, like the top of the hour, or a frequent sound or sight in your day. Then commit to "snacking" (doing the movement) whenever you notice the cue. See how it adds up. You may surprise yourself!

Just Ground in the Moment

Another simple practice you can "snack on" in your day is called Grounding in the Moment. It's about pausing and shifting your attention into your body and down towards the ground. It's about shifting out of your head in into your body: that huge world of sensation and feelings that is often ignored. It's said, "The body keeps the score!" So this practice is about checking in, calming down, and knowing the score. It's a sort of situational awareness that we First Responders so highly value.

The practice is simple, guided, and can be accessed here.

Mindfulness of Breathing is a core meditation, the basis of most other meditation styles. It's indispensable and something we could all easily learn to do. It's simple, but challenging, like many core workouts! It's an ancient, highly respected and highly refined practice actually. Its simplicity can be deceptive: it has wide-ranging effects because it trains the mind to settle by focusing on natural rhythms in the body. Some call this the "bread and butter" of meditations. Here are two versions, one short, one longer. It's best to begin simply, with the short one, and build your endurance from there. See both versions (Levels I and II) here.