6 Steps to Stand In Your Power and Stop the Overwhelm

image courtesy Chattra
by guest contributor Melanie Salvatore-August Round and round it goes, where it stops no one will know! LIFE! It is a circus of experiences and adventures. Each day, each interaction, all the responsibilities and expectations can place us in a seemingly never-ending state of overwhelm, a run on reaction or gerbil’s wheel. It can leave us feeling helpless and exhausted. You may believe that you are a victim of a forever-accumulating pile-up of circumstances and to-dos. How many times have you heard yourself exclaim, “I am so overwhelmed!”? It doesn’t have to be that way. We can kindly without drama, step off of the wheel of reaction and consciously step into the platform of love and power. As a full time mother of 3, a wife and teacher, here is a 6-step process that works to stop overwhelm for me every time. #StopDrop&Breath When you feel or say, “I am overwhelmed!” it is time to STOP. Stop whatever you are doing and take a pause. Take a pause, stop moving and talking, take an upright seat with both feet rooted to the ground and DROP whatever agenda you have for that moment. Slow down your BREATH balancing your inhale (3 slow count inhale equal to 3 slow count exhale- I like to use the place holder of OM to slow the timing down like this: Inhale count OM 1, OM 2, OM3 and then Exhale OM 1, OM 2, OM3) and repeat until you feel you have jumped ship from the gerbil’s wheel. #RememberIAM Stay exactly where you and REMEMBER that you are not the circumstances that overwhelm you. You are not your body, you are not your mind, to do list, cleanliness, mental prowess, and you truly are not any of these things. You are I AM. You are a changeless essence, love, spirit or soul; choose the semantic that works for you. You are the observer underneath all of the busy-ness. So for goodness sake stop and breath to take inventory of all that you are, all that you have seen and survived. How far you have come in these many years of life on earth! Get some perspective and how you have what you need so you don’t have to wig out, you can breathe and then… #CelebrateYourGrowth You have lived thru so much and here you still stand! Look how far you have come, all that you have learned and CELEBRATE! OMG you have survived all of those past challenges and you can do it now. No grow, achievement, awareness is too small Celebrate it all! #LetGoOfDoubt (and breath it out) OK but there was that one time and that one thing and what if it happens again? That doubt just keeps haunting you? LET GO Of DOUBT and breath it out with an Exhale twice as long as your Inhale: Inhale OM 1, OM 2, OM3 Exhale (with or without a sigh) OM 1, OM 2, OM3, OM 4, OM 5, OM6. Repeat until you feel better.
image courtesy Chattra
#BeGrateful Now BE GRATEFUL for something, anything and everything. Say it out loud or simply just repeat, “I am Grateful.” Count as many blessings as you need to feel lighter and more contented. Fake it until you make it, so if your mind whines “I have nothing to be grateful for” serve yourself some fierce kindness or tough love and just repeat it until you feel the shift. #ChoosetoCreateLove Now that you are fully off of that wheel of reaction, CHOOSE your next moment, your next action and choose to CREATE it with the vibration of LOVE and gratitude. What will be of the greatest service to you, your loved ones and the world? Is it space for self care? Silence or simply just choosing to be contented in whatever task is needed next. Choose the next action with a desire to do it and a commitment to be powerful in that choice. Repeat these steps as necessary and then stand and move from your most loving power. When we live our life in our power and help ourselves then we become a greater power of goodness in the world. Melanie Salvatore-August, E-RT 500 | RPYT Is a YogaWorks Teacher Trainer, Teacher Mentor, Birthing Coach and CTA- Yoga-based Life Coach. She is the Author of Kitchen Yoga; Simple Home Practices to Transform Mind, Body and Life Yellow Pear Press April 2015 (8 weeks on top 10 Amazon’s US and Canada New Yoga Releases). Her next book FKit: Turn Fear to Love; A Manifesto For Power To Get What You Want is due for release Autumn 2016. She is the creator of FK FierceKindness.org a nonprofit movement of non-violence and yoga anti-bullying for adults and kids. She is a long time lululemon ambassador and happily lives with her husband, 3 little boys on their family homestead in the SFBay. www.melaniesalvatoreaugust.com / MelanieSalvatore-AugustYoga FB