Centering Exercise

Counselling towards Insight and Spiritual Reconnection in Hobart Tasmania

Home Counselling Service - Hobart Tasmania

When strong feelings emerge, and you want to react, take a few moments to do the following centering exercise working through your senses:

Sit down in a quiet safe place and take three deep breaths…….

Now take two more breaths more slowly…..more deeply……down into your diaphragm…

Notice where you are sitting…..on a chair…..a couch……a cushion on the floor……..

Centering Exercise

Touch the chair, couch, cushion….is it soft or firm…..supportive or do you need to balance? Feel the chair, couch, cushion…..is it rough or smooth?…..warm or cool?….notice…..

Breathe deeply…..what can you smell?....coffee?....trees?…..your perfumes?.... notice….

Listen……what can you hear?....a clock ticking?......music?.....wind in the trees?. .. notice…..

Look around you….what can you see?.....a colour?....a shape?....an object?.... notice….

Focus on your mouth….are there any flavors lingering?....can you taste coffee?... toothpaste?.... notice…

Breathe deeply………. notice your breath at the tip of your nose………..

Notice your thoughts…..how fast you think….how if you don’t react they are replaced by another thought…and then another….just notice them….don’t react….don’t make a story in your mind about them….just notice………………

Breathe deeper……..and again………notice your emotions…..how they feel in your body…..where in your body you feel them……don’t react to them….just simply notice……don’t make a story in your mind about them….simply feel them…. like waves on the beach….they wash in…….and they wash back out…..don’t judge them…just allow them to be……..

Stretch slowly now and rejoin the day…..what choices can you make now?......... From the place that notices…...

Like any other skill, centering takes practice, not just when things are tense but also when things are calm. Chose a time and place to practice this exercise every day, it only takes 10 minutes, you deserve that much, perhaps have your friend, partner, or child read it to you!