Guided Orienting Practice: A Simple and Powerful Way to Soothe Your Nervous System

Have you ever found that you were feel stressed out, worried, or down and looking out of the window of your car, a train, or a bus as the scenery passed by helped you? This might have been because of the orienting response! The orienting response is your bodies naturally ability to be soothed by taking in through intentionally taking in sights, sounds, and smells in the environment around you, noticing, changes, basically really noticing where you are and what is going on around you. One way that we can engage in orienting is through our sights. In the video below, I guide you through a 5-minute orienting practice.

Try this practice out when you find that you:

• need a reset

• want to re-energizing

• are experiencing stress or distress

• want to calm before going into a challenging situation

• are craving a boost in your wellbeing

Just like any somatic practice, orienting gets stronger the more that you use it. Approach this practice with curiosity the first time, just seeing what it is like for you. Then start to notice the impact it has on your nervous system as you continue to practice it.