Speaker 1: 0:07

Greetings and welcome. Welcome back, beautiful souls. Welcome back to Self-Care Saturday. We've been doing an amazing week here on the power of body language. I'm Dr Derek Sweet. I've been your guide and your host.

Speaker 1: 0:20

It's been my pleasure to talk to you and go back and forth with you about this idea of our body language. Are we paying attention to our body language? Today is not about powering up. It's about powering down on purpose. You've been in high gear all week, projecting your presence, locking in your focus, walking with intention. But underneath all that, your body, your focus, walking with intention, but underneath all that, your body might be asking for something softer, and today we listen.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Here's the question where is your body holding stress today? On self-care Saturday? When was the last time you did a check-in with your body? Have you really listened to what your body is saying to you? Maybe it's in your jaw, maybe it's in your shoulders, your neck, maybe your gut, maybe your arms, your legs. Don't try to fix it today. I just want you to notice it. Let your awareness land gently on that one spot in your body. Now remember, you walk around in this body. It's your vehicle, it's what gets you from point A to point B. So it's super important to spend a moment thinking about what's going on with it and to hear it and to listen to it. So notice it, notice where you feel a bit of tension.

Speaker 1: 1:45

And now I want us to breathe, inhale through the nose for 4 seconds and then exhale slowly through the mouth for six. And I want you to repeat that as you pay attention to the body part or body parts that feel tense. You know, the moment you slow down and pay attention to your body and the moment you slow down and pay attention to what's going on, you literally begin to feel and understand that your body has a language. As you inhale in the nose for four seconds and then exhale slowly through the mouth for six, I want you to practice that for a couple of minutes. What you're doing when you do that is that you're activating your parasympathetic nervous system, the part of your brain and body that's wired for relaxation, wired for healing. This is the opposite of the sympathetic nervous system, the fight-or-flight nervous system, this parasympathetic nervous system that you're going to activate. When you inhale in your nose for four seconds, hold and then exhale slowly longer than you've inhaled, for about six seconds, you are activating the parasympathetic nervous system, the rest and restore system, and it's not passive, my friends. It is powerful and it's not passive, my friends. It is powerful and you can bring so much healing into your body if you would only slow down, unplug and allow this parasympathetic nervous system that's inside of you, this PNS, the parasympathetic nervous system, to get a chance to help you relax and let go.

Speaker 1: 3:39

When you breathe like this, you know what happens. You lower cortisol, the stress hormone, in your body, and guess what? Your heart rate? It begins to slow. Your blood flow returns to your core and your body gets the signal we safe, we can let go all because you're slowing down your breathing and you're making your exhale a bit longer than your inhale.

Speaker 1: 4:09

You know what nature moves like this too. Trees don't rush to bloom, they wait for the right moment, don't they? Rivers never force their flow, they just follow gravity and time. Your body, it too, knows how to reset itself If you'll pause long enough just to listen to it. You know the echoes of the ancients, the ancient wisdom. They always have something to say that makes sense, as we do these podcasts.

Speaker 1: 4:45

In Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, it says In returning and rest, you shall be saved, in quietness and trust shall be your strength, wow the return and the rest, saving us. This isn't retreat, this is reset. I want you to know. Your challenge is this Set a five minute timer, sit in stillness, scan your body and ask where do you need me? Body, breathe into that spot, slow, gentle, present, present. Let your nervous system do what it was designed to do Bring you back home to yourself.

Speaker 1: 5:45

Very beautiful soul. Very beautiful soul. Slow down, self-care. It's so important. And guess what? Guess what tomorrow is? Yeah, tomorrow is slow down. Sunday, we're going to do even more of this no scans, no steps, just silence. And we'll close this series, this body language series, out with one of the rarest, richest practices in high performance Stillness. That's it, and that's what's going to be on our menu tomorrow On the Sweet Spot Very beautiful songs. This is Dr Sweet. Thank you for listening, and if you enjoyed this entire week of body language wisdom, I would love for you to just subscribe to this YouTube channel and if that's not what you want to do, then share it. Just share it with a friend. Love and blessings, and we'll talk soon.