Category Archives: strategy

Juggling Jellyfish: The Delicate Dance of Leading a Multi-Talented, Multidisciplinary Team

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In the vibrant, colorful ocean of our business journeys, we often find ourselves amidst an intriguing spectacle of diversity – our multi-talented, multidisciplinary teams. Just like a mesmerizing school of jellyfish, our teams are graceful yet formidable, seeming to perform a synchronized dance despite their distinct individuality. The delicate art and challenge of leadership lie in ‘juggling these jellyfish’ – aligning these distinctive talents towards a unified goal.

A multidisciplinary team is a treasure trove of varied skills, perspectives, and ideas. It’s comparable to a jellyfish using its array of diverse tentacles to explore and survive. Your team’s array of talents is your superpower. Here at Kashbox Coaching, we underscore the need to acknowledge and appreciate this diversity. Each team member brings their unique flair to the table – be it the innovator, the planner, the executor, or the mediator. As leaders, our mission is to identify these strengths, ensuring they are fully harnessed and celebrated.

However, akin to a jellyfish balancing its movements to stay buoyant, we too must strike a harmonious balance among our team’s varied talents and roles. This task may seem as precarious as juggling jellyfish! But, with open communication, mutual respect, and a shared vision, it’s a feat well within our grasp. Foster an environment where your team feels encouraged to share their ideas, listen to each other’s perspectives, and work collaboratively towards your collective goals. Remember, a team is not merely a group of people working together, but a group of people trusting one another.

The jellyfish also imparts an invaluable lesson about adaptability. Just as it seamlessly adapts to the ocean currents, we too should maintain flexibility in our leadership style. Different situations may warrant different approaches, and different team members may require varied types of guidance and support. As we frequently emphasize at Kashbox Coaching, an exceptional leader is not rigid but adaptable and responsive to the team’s needs and the ever-evolving business landscape.

And let’s not overlook the transparency of a jellyfish. As leaders, transparent communication and actions forge trust, a cornerstone of any successful team. When team members understand the ‘why’ behind decisions and plans, they are more likely to feel valued, engaged, and committed to the collective vision.

Here at Kashbox Coaching, we acknowledge that ‘juggling jellyfish’ – leading a multi-talented, multidisciplinary team – can be daunting, but it’s also an exhilarating adventure. With the right blend of appreciation, communication, adaptability, and transparency, you can cultivate a team environment where everyone flourishes, and the whole truly becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

We’re here to support you in this intricate dance of leadership. As you embark on this journey with us, let’s acknowledge the diverse talents that make your teams unique, and together, we’ll master the delicate art of juggling jellyfish.

Mind-Melding with Moguls: How Telepathic Communication Could Revolutionize Business Coaching

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Imagine a world where leaders could communicate directly with the minds of their mentors, drawing on their vast experience and wisdom without the constraints of time or distance. This futuristic scenario may not be as far-fetched as it seems, thanks to the potential of telepathic communication. In this epic exploration, we delve into the realm of telepathy and examine how it could revolutionize business coaching, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for growth and success.

Unlocking the Secrets of Telepathy

Telepathy, the direct transmission of thoughts and emotions between individuals without the use of verbal or non-verbal cues, has long been a subject of fascination and speculation. Although still considered a fringe science, research into telepathy has gained momentum in recent years, spurred by advances in neuroscience and technology. As scientists work to unravel the mysteries of the human mind, the prospect of telepathic communication moves closer to reality.

The Telepathic Business Coach: A New Paradigm

The fusion of telepathy and business coaching could herald a new era of mentorship and professional development. Here’s a glimpse of how telepathic communication could transform the business coaching landscape:

Unparalleled Access to Insights and Experience

Telepathic business coaching would enable mentees to access the minds of their mentors instantly, tapping into their vast reservoirs of knowledge, wisdom, and experience. This direct connection would facilitate the rapid transfer of invaluable insights, accelerating the learning process and fostering personal and professional growth.

Elimination of Barriers to Communication

Telepathy would eliminate language barriers, ensuring that coaches and mentees could communicate seamlessly, regardless of their linguistic backgrounds. This would open up a world of possibilities, as leaders could learn from the best minds globally without being hindered by language limitations.

Real-time, Unfiltered Feedback

Telepathic communication would allow for real-time, unfiltered feedback between coaches and mentees, enabling leaders to make swift adjustments and improvements. The immediacy of telepathic feedback would facilitate the rapid identification of blind spots and areas for development, fostering a more agile and responsive approach to leadership.

Enhanced Empathy and Emotional Intelligence

As telepathy involves the direct transmission of emotions, it could also contribute to the development of empathy and emotional intelligence in leaders. Through their telepathic connection with mentors, mentees would gain a deeper understanding of the emotions and motivations that drive others, honing their ability to connect with and inspire their teams.

Streamlined Decision-Making

The rapid exchange of information and ideas through telepathy could expedite decision-making, allowing leaders to respond more swiftly and effectively to challenges and opportunities. By tapping into the collective wisdom of their mentors, leaders could make better-informed choices, driving their organizations to greater heights of success.

Conclusion: Embracing the Possibilities of Telepathic Business Coaching

While telepathic communication may still seem like the stuff of science fiction, its potential to revolutionize business coaching is undeniable. As the frontiers of neuroscience continue to expand, we may one day witness the dawn of a new era in professional development, where mind-melding with moguls becomes a reality. By embracing the possibilities of telepathy, we can begin to imagine a world where leaders are empowered to learn, grow, and succeed like never before.

The Benefits and Challenges of Servant Leadership

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Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy that prioritizes the well-being and growth of individuals and teams over the personal or organizational gains of the leader. This approach to leadership has gained significant popularity in recent years due to its ability to create a positive and empowering work environment. However, implementing servant leadership effectively requires a deep understanding of the benefits and challenges that come with it. In this article, we will explore both the advantages and difficulties of servant leadership in detail.

Benefits of Servant Leadership

Increased Employee Engagement: Servant leaders focus on the needs and development of their team members, which creates a positive work environment that fosters employee engagement and job satisfaction. When employees feel valued and supported, they are more likely to be motivated and productive.

Improved Collaboration: Servant leaders promote open communication and encourage collaboration between team members. This fosters a sense of unity and cooperation within the team, leading to more efficient problem-solving and decision-making processes.

Increased Creativity: Servant leaders create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and taking risks. This encourages creativity and innovation, leading to new and improved products, processes, and services.

Stronger Organizational Culture: Servant leaders emphasize values such as integrity, empathy, and collaboration, which can help build a strong organizational culture that attracts and retains talented employees.

Challenges of Servant Leadership

Time-Intensive: Servant leadership requires significant time and effort to implement effectively. Leaders must be willing to spend time building relationships with team members, fostering a positive work environment, and providing support and development opportunities.

Balancing Autonomy and Direction: Servant leaders aim to empower their employees, but they must also provide guidance and direction. Finding the right balance between autonomy and direction can be a challenge for servant leaders.

Risk of Burnout: The empathetic and supportive nature of servant leadership can lead to leaders taking on more responsibility and workload than they can handle. This can lead to burnout and negatively impact their ability to lead effectively.

Resistance to Change: Some employees may be resistant to the change in leadership style and may have difficulty adjusting to the new work environment. Servant leaders must be prepared to handle this resistance and help employees understand the benefits of the approach.

In conclusion, servant leadership has the potential to create a positive and empowering work environment, but it requires a deep understanding of the benefits and challenges that come with it. Servant leaders must be prepared to invest time and effort into building relationships with team members, fostering a positive work environment, and providing support and development opportunities. The approach can lead to increased employee engagement, improved collaboration, increased creativity, and a stronger organizational culture. However, leaders must also be prepared to handle challenges such as balancing autonomy and direction, the risk of burnout, and resistance to change.

3 Major Challenges Healthcare Executives Will Face in 2023

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The healthcare industry is currently going through some changes that can affect health institutions big and small.

These changes can put a lot of pressure on healthcare executives who may struggle with effectively preparing for the changes in the healthcare landscape.

Let’s quickly examine 5 major changes that healthcare executives will need to face in 2023 and beyond:

1) Price Transparency 

Lack of price transparency in the healthcare system has historically imposed great burdens on a patient’s ability to choose their provider (by analyzing costs) and especially paying off their medical bills.

Now the CMS has imposed new regulations to make hospital pricing more transparent and clearly publish the prices they negotiate with insurers for various medical treatments, medications, and even devices.

2) Patient Experience

People expect a higher level of satisfaction from their healthcare providers, fueled in part because of the high costs often associated with even basic health services.

Healthcare organizations will likely face a tougher time retaining patients if they do not increase patient satisfaction levels. Growing competition in the industry means the hospital can quickly lose even its long-term patients, especially if prices become more transparent and people can research providers’ different rates.

3) Introducing New Payment Models

New payment models are becoming more and more present in the healthcare industry. Systems such as bundled payments, shared savings, or even medical subscriptions are slowly becoming a necessity for every hospital to introduce at some point.

Of course, adding a new payment model comes with a lot of challenges, as executives have to balance current systems, integrate new ones, and effectively monitor their performance to determine whether this new model yields the desired results.

4) Staffing

Staffing will unfortunately remain one of the biggest roadblocks hospital managers and executives will face in 2023. Finding qualified individuals is made even harder for smaller practices that may not be able to offer the same incentives that bigger healthcare institutions have.

And the issue isn’t just about finding doctors. Hiring nurses, medical assistants, and auxiliary personnel can also pose some difficulties for managers.

5) Staff Satisfaction

Apart from patient satisfaction, managers need to care for the happiness of their staff, a lot of whom are still feeling the burnout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ignoring these issues can, unfortunately, underline the staffing issues as current staff may leave or retire early due to the unaddressed pressures of their work environment.

How Can Hospital Executives Prepare for These Changes?

Many hospitals are finding themselves in the midst of a much-needed transition. Apart from the 3 new trends discussed, many healthcare executives are also facing increasing pressure to respond to various consumer demands, such as more accessible eHealth services.

This is a time for transformation, and to effectively navigate all these changes, executives may want to collaborate with healthcare coaches that are trained to guide these institutions through new waters.

A healthcare coach’s role may be instrumental in helping hospital leaders effectively plan for these new trends and take their health institution further.

What Are Quiet Quitters Actually Doing?

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The latest and most polarizing trend in the workplace is “quiet quitting”. Leaders and managers hate it, while employees are jumping on it at rapid rates.

The term itself sounds scary, but it has nothing to do with job quitting. It refers to performing the role within its established bounds, such as not doing tasks outside of the job description or staying late hours.

So why are managers and team leaders not on board?

The Rise of Quiet Quitting Explained

You can say that quiet quitting is a response to the “hustle culture” born in the 90s. Back then and until fairly recently, the idea was that the more effort you put into your work, the better the rewards.

Employees who stayed late hours routinely and never said no to a task or challenge were often the ones receiving the most praise within a company.

Unfortunately, this culture created some toxic environments as companies started to expect more and more from their employees, without necessarily giving much back in return.

The rise of remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic meant that for a lot of people, the line between work and home was destroyed completely.

This led to massive numbers of employees reporting burnout and now its response: quiet quitting.

Your Employees Aren’t Slacking. They Are Setting Boundaries

It’s a mistake to assume quiet quitting will mean tasks don’t get finished anymore and your employees are wasting time.

Quiet quitters are still getting the job done – they’re just setting better boundaries for themselves.

Interestingly, many quiet quitters don’t necessarily now believe their job or work isn’t important. But they are realizing their personal life is equally important.

And, perhaps most importantly, they are realizing they should not overextend themselves for a job that doesn’t give anything in return.

So What Does This Mean for Managers and Leaders?

If you’ve begun to notice quiet quitting is making its way to your office, you may ask yourself how to approach it or even stop it.

But, quiet quitting may actually help your company in the long run.

Hustle culture, if anything, leads to burned-out and unhappy employees who will be not able to perform well at their jobs even if they want to. Employees who set healthy boundaries can do much more for your productivity, even if that productivity is limited to the 8-hour daily work schedule.

Employees are looking for a better work-life balance, so companies who wish to keep quiet quitting under control may want to look more closely at what they are doing to help their staff create this balance.

Leading Your Team Through the Quiet Quitting Movement

If you’re a leader or manager, it’s time you connect with the people you lead. Quiet quitting, if anything, is an opportunity for the company to do better at engaging its employees, and creating a healthier working environment that benefits everyone.

So talk with your people. See what’s working, and what isn’t. And don’t blame them for setting a healthy boundary.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership

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Around 65% of millennials believe they’re not equipped to be leaders yet as they lack the necessary employer support for management positions.

Leadership training and coaching are very much still necessary in 2022 and beyond, as people understand the responsibilities that such positions often require. And to be a good leader, it’s worth taking a look at the 7 deadly sins that leadership often faces:

  1. Not Knowing Who You Are

    It’s not uncommon for the image we have of ourselves to be vastly different from how others perceive us. Leaders who are not confident in their strengths and know their weaknesses can easily become their worst enemies.

  1. Avoiding Difficult Conversations

    It’s human nature to want to avoid difficult conversations. And yet, this is a luxury that leaders can’t always afford. To be a good leader, you have to be comfortable with opposing views and standing your ground.

    Difficult conversations are often necessary to facilitate change and improve operations.

  1. Focusing on “Being Liked”

    Speaking of human nature, we all want to be well-liked in any group: family, friends, and at work. However, while being well-liked is certainly important for a leader, this idea cannot become a guiding force in your decision-making.

  1. Avoiding Decisions

    There’s no other way to do it: leaders need to make decisions all the time. And some of them are hard.

    One pitfall here is trying to postpone or even avoid the process because of the fear of failure. This can hinder organizational growth and even impact your growth as a leader and professional.

  1. Not Facilitating Change

    A leader’s job is to help the organization and its employees grow. They are a conductor of change, which also means they need to be flexible enough to adapt to such changes.

    When the leader hinders change because they prefer the status quo, this is a huge issue for the entire organization.

  1. Ineffective Communication

    Communication skills can often make or break a leader. They must be well-versed in all mechanisms of language, be they verbal, non-verbal, or written. Often, they need to facilitate or encourage communication within the conversation, which is rather impossible without solid communication skills.

  1. Not Focusing on Your Potential

    People often view a leadership position as the prize in the career race. However, getting to the finish line doesn’t mean your journey of growth stops here.

    Good leaders know they must always grow their potential, and skills, and look outside themselves for assistance in leading a team or an organization.

How Can You Become a Good Leader?

We’ve seen that a lot of the time, people require specialized support to help them navigate the new challenges of leadership. One-on-one leadership coaching can help individuals get this support and navigate these 7 deadly sins of leadership.

As to whether the sins can be avoided entirely – that depends. To err is human, after all, but how a leader bounces back from these errors is much more indicative of their leadership abilities than whether they can avoid them altogether.

Wellness Programs: Are They Now Mandatory for an Organization?

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Society is forever changed after 2 years of being held in the grips of the COVID-19 pandemic. While people, companies, and industries are still figuring things out, we can already see some massive changes when it comes to the workplace.

Specifically, changes to how companies are starting to measure, retain, and even entice their employees.

Say what you want about the pandemic, but it has underlined the need for comprehensive wellness programs that can take care of a person from a holistic standpoint. Companies are also realizing they are not just the main factor that could influence a person’s financial life. They also play a huge role in their employee’s wellness.

The Stats on Corporate Wellness Programs

A Gartner Survey of 52 HR executives found that companies are doubling down on their wellness programs:

  • 94% invested extra in their wellness programs
  • 85% increased support for mental health
  • 50% increased support for physical health
  • 38% increased support for financial health

Wellness isn’t just the responsibility of the employee anymore. Companies are realizing that through comprehensive wellness programs, they can better predict and improve employee performance, and even increase employee retention.

Because it’s not just companies warming up to these programs: individuals are seeking services to improve their well-being in different ways.

What Should a Wellness Program Include?

If your organization is now looking to establish its first wellness program, the very first step to take is assessing the current well-being of your employees.

Wellness programs work best when they can directly speak to the needs, expectations, and individual circumstances of employees. For example, a company with many young adults may need family planning services. Notoriously competitive industries and high stress should strengthen their mental health services.

By asking your employees, you can effectively learn what they need from a wellness program. In general, such programs will take a holistic approach to help employees lead a balanced life, such as:

  • Physical health services – Such as adding health and fitness services to the program, providing tools and resources of education, or binding on a health coach to help employees improve their physical health;
  • Mental health services – Implementing stress-reduction protocols, educating employees about their mental health, improving their access to mental health services, etc.
  • Financial health – Helping employees plan their financial future, save money, invest, and even create safety nets in case of emergencies.

Of course, the wellness program can have many additional layers, depending on the needs and expectations of your employees.

Do Wellness Programs Work?

Helping someone improve their well-being isn’t a one-sided task: it takes 2 to tango.

But what wellness programs do is offer employees an easy, accessible way to take care of their health and well-being.

Whether at an individual level it will work or not, generally depends on the person. Some thrive better with 1-on-1 wellness coaching than with broad coaching programs.

But even so, wellness programs work towards improving the company-employee relationship and offer people all the resources they need to care for themselves and their well-being.

The “Human” Side Of Coaching

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Coaches can have vastly different approaches to helping their clients achieve their goals, be they on a professional, personal, or niche level.

However, what should never change in terms of how coaching ensues is the idea that the client’s needs always come first, before the books, the strategies, and the formats.

Call it the recipe for success in coaching, but when you don’t put the person’s needs at the forefront of your work, you miss out on the “human” component of coaching. And this component can often determine the success of the coaching.

What Is the “Human” Component of Coaching?

The human component simply refers to the fact that the coaching strategy should answer the specific needs of the client in need of help.

Let’s take two scenarios to help you see the human component in action:

1.  The General Approach

A person looking for coaching and support certainly has many options in 2022. In fact, you may even be inclined to sign up for a masterclass or course that can help you work on some of your issues to reach your goals.

These types of classes have a “general” approach. They tackle certain subjects in a way that a large group of people can have something to learn and gain from them.

The coach will likely prepare a set of videos, booklets, checklists, and other materials to offer their clients, and help them move through the course.

And you can learn a lot from this type of approach, especially if you’ve never worked with a professional to improve your skills and mindset to overcome challenges and reach your goals. But, with this approach, you are missing out on essential interactions with your coach.

2.  The “Human” Approach

The human approach to coaching essentially means your coach will build an actual relationship with you, instead of just sharing tips and tricks. For starters, the human approach involves identifying your unique needs and expectations.

You will meet with your coach and get support for your circumstances, instead of an overall approach to becoming more successful or socially open. The human approach puts you, as an individual, at the frontline of the entire process, and not a potential group of people.

Which One Is Better?

It should be said that both approaches have their time and place. The general approach, be it in the form of a class or a course can certainly help people achieve meaningful results and even clarify some questions they may have about their future.

But in most cases, people respond better to the “human” approach, simply because it is tailored to their individual circumstances.

So when you choose a course, a program, or a coach, always let your individual needs guide you. Ask yourself:

“Can this really help me? Is it appropriate for my goals?”

Once you do that, you’ll be able to effectively navigate the world of coaching and find the tips, tricks, and the people who can genuinely help you achieve what you want.

The Hardest Lesson: Saying “No”

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By: David Herdlinger

In professional and personal coaching, at one point you just have to find a way to help people say one, yet extremely powerful word:

“No.”

It can be daunting to do it.

People are so used to this idea that you have to always be available, a team player, and willing to go the extra mile to show your worth at all times. It’s thought of as the most effective way to move forward in your professional life.

But in reality, saying no can be very beneficial in your career.

When Should You Be Saying “No”?

Your career will present you with countless opportunities to say no:

  • Recruitment pitches that don’t work for your career path at all
  • Requests for free stuff (advice, labor, etc.)
  • Low-ball offers
  • Extra work that isn’t compensated
  • Colleague interruptions, etc.

Learning how to say no can give you a competitive advantage because you can use it to deter the events that aim to take you off your path toward reaching your career goals.

Doing someone a favor once in a while isn’t necessarily bad. It can be a way to strengthen your relationship with managers and co-workers. But if you have a habit of saying “yes” to everything, at one point you can end up:

  • Overworked
  • Underpaid
  • Frustrated
  • Exhausted
  • Confused about your future

So, How Can You Say ”No” Without Jeopardizing Your Career?

A lot of the time, the clients I work with have a problem in terms of mindset.

They see saying the word “no” mostly from the perspective of the other person, and how it will affect them. How they won’t get the help they need, the advice, or the task done.

But, it’s important to put yourself back into the story because saying “no” also affects you.

Here are a few tips that can help you figure out when and how to say “no” without it jeopardizing your career:

  • Take a few moments – You don’t have to accept or reject a proposal right away. Just say “give me a few minutes to think it over”;
  • Evaluate your priorities – Consider your goals, and how this proposal fits into your journey. Does it help? Does it distract you from your path? Does it prevent you from focusing on other things?;
  • Consider the results of saying yes – Now think about the scenario of saying yes. What would that look like? Would it be beneficial to you? Can you do it alone or would you need more support?
  • Rip the bandaid – If you analyze the proposal and want to reject it, then it’s best to rip the bandaid off, just say “no”, and add your reasoning.

I’m not going to lie, it will most likely still be difficult at first, even if you follow these steps.

You will need to give yourself some time to embrace the idea that saying “no” is not the end of the world, and that it can actually help you move forward with your career goals.

And eventually, it will happen!

 

 

Take Care: Ground Yourself

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How do you take care and ground yourself?

More than ever, it’s critical that we take care of our bodies and mind. After all, our success depends on being able to function in a healthy, productive manner.

So when your flight, fight, freeze, or fawn response is triggered, how do you respond? How do you signal to your body when you are in real danger, and when you are experiencing stress?

The term “stress” is overused and often misunderstood, as it’s bandied about to describe both cause and effect:

  • Cause: “There’s a lot of stress at work these days.”
  • Effect: “I’m so stressed that I can’t think straight.”

It’s interesting to note that while neuroscience has taught us a great deal about stress, we cannot always distinguish between the psychological state of stress and the physiological response to it. What is clear is that if we’re in a chronic state of high-level stress, emotional strain leads to physical consequences. The body responds with anxiety and depression, as well as high blood pressure, heart problems and cancer. Chronic stress eats away at the brain’s connective tissue.

We can’t completely eliminate stress. But, we can better manage our body’s natural responses to stress. We can take control, ground ourselves, and even improve our brain’s ability to function.

The Science

Severe stress activates the “emergency phase,” commonly known as the fight-or-flight response. It’s a complex physiological reaction that marshals resources to mobilize the body and brain to peak performance. Fortunately, it engraves the memory so we can avoid this stressor in the future.

Our ingrained reaction is essentially a three-step process:

  • Recognize the danger.
  • Fuel the reaction.
  • Remember the event for future reference.

Unfortunately, any amount of stress triggers neurological systems that manage attention, energy, and memory. Moreover, we can find ourselves in a constant state of stress. You see, the mind is so powerful that we can set off a stress response just by imagining ourselves in a threatening situation. It’s time to take good care and ground ourselves.

Grounded is a state of being when you’re feeling your emotions and you’re aware of your present moment experience. Being grounded also means that you’re feeling responsible for your safety and well-being. Grounding is an effective therapeutic approach for managing stress, anxiety, and improving overall mental health.

Stress and Your Autonomic Nervous System

The human body is pretty amazing. Not only can most of us choose if, when, where, how, and why to use it, there are systems that automatically work for us. Our autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulates our breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and many other functions that allow us to survive.

The traditional view of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is that of a two-part system:

  1. Sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which is more activating, and can be triggered by stress to fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. The burst of cortisol may cause our hands to sweat, voice to shake, and stomach to clinch as our pulse rate and blood pressure rise. These are the physical manifestations of anxiety.
  2. Parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which counter-balances our SNS and supports health, growth, and restoration. When our brain believes we are safe, we slow down and our systems reboot.

The Vagus Nerve

Our vagus nerve (pneumogastric nerve) is difficult to track, but we know that it is the longest nerve in the ANS. It extends throughout our thorax (esophagus, trachea, heart, and lungs; respiration and circulation) to the abdomen (stomach, pancreas, liver, kidneys, small intestine, and portion of large intestine; digestion and elimination). The vagus nerve can be very powerful, especially when we are feeling stress:

  1. It can trigger the parasympathetic response.
  2. Communicates from the brain to the body and from the body to the brain.

Dr. J. Eric Vance, MD, writes in Psychiatric Times (May 2018) that we are in a constant state of surveillance for risk, safety, threats, and opportunities to respond. He refers to this process as “neuroception.” Fortunately, we can practice calming techniques that send a signal from our body to our brain that we are safe.

Activate Your Parasympathetic Response

Your parasympathetic response (PNS) is your body’s way of returning to rest or calm. Think of it like this: the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) works to stimulate fight, flight, freeze, or fawn—ways to keep us alive when in danger. The parasympathetic response system is our parachute out of danger: this system regulates our emotions in stressful situations.

Fortunately, there are ways we can strengthen our parachutes:

  1. Practice deep-breathing (engage vagal tone). Your vagal tone is a measurement of your heart rate variability when practicing slow, deep breathing. A stronger vagal tone leads to better blood sugar regulation, heart health, and digestion; a reduction in migraines; and greater emotional stability and resilience. Lower vagal tone is associated with mood instability, depression, PTSD, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, cognitive impairment, and inflammation. Fortunately, deep, slow breathing can increase your vagal tone and trigger parasympathetic response.
    1. To determine your vagal tone, find your pulse. Notice any change as you slowly breathe in and out. If it increases as you breathe in and decreases as you breathe out, you have a stronger vagal tone.
    2. To strengthen your vagal tone, practice slow, deep-breathing.

  2. Soften the eyes/gaze (use peripheral vision). Softening the gaze, or focus, relaxes nerves in and around the eyes. This often occurs naturally when you are lost in thought or daydream. Conversely, when your SNS has been triggered you may experience tunnel vision. When we use peripheral vision, we signal the brain and trigger the PNS.
    1. To soften your gaze, squeeze and relax your eyes. Expand your vision to the sides: notice what is at the outer edges of your vision.

  3. Valsalva maneuver (increase chest cavity pressure). This practice can trigger the heart to slow down.
    1. To practice this, bear down to compress your stomach to your pelvic floor. Alternatively, you can close your mouth, pinch your nose, and try to exhale as you would to alleviate ear pressure. My favorite practice is to breathe in slowly for five second, hold the breath while bearing down, and then slowing exhaling. I do this once or twice, then breathe normally for 30 seconds, and repeat the cycle.

These are just a few of the grounding techniques that we can use to activate our parasympathetic response. If you’d like more information, a qualified coach or therapist can help.