A printable version of "Sensory Awareness" from http://www.stardrift.net/survivor//senses.html
[This was posted by Adagio on ASAR, it is what she does as a healing exercise.]
Here is a healing exercise I learned last year. I learned this while in the hospital and from a very kind nurse who befriended me when I thought there was no more hope.
It works for me when I know I have been triggered and catch myself in time.
When I was triggered, she would teach me to put something tangible within view. So she told me to trace my hand on a piece of paper and to label each finger as one of the five senses. And on each label to name something special and safe representing those five senses.
Here is my personal example:
| Thumb: sight
Butterflies |
Index finger:
touch a nice soft blanket |
middle finger:
smell Lilacs |
| ring finger:
taste mint tea with a touch of honey |
Little finger:
hearing Pachelbel's Canon in D |
After writing and drawing all this on paper I was told to post it on my refrigerator or other safe place in the home where it could be easily seen so I could memorize it.
Anyway then she told me whenever I am triggered, to breathe deeply and slowly, and to put my hand in front of my face where I could really see it - to stare at my hand and then to look at each finger and try to do the 5 senses exercise from memory.
This exercise has helped bring me back to
the present and to the here and now when I felt that the past
would not die.