A New Way of Being Beyond Mindset: Why Your Body Needs to Feel Safe
Feb 21, 2025
In this engaging conversation, Emma Seppala, a best-selling author and Yale lecturer, delves into why your body needs to feel safe to combat stress and anxiety. She discusses the transformative effects of Sky Breath Meditation, particularly for trauma survivors. Emma emphasizes the importance of physical practices, like breath control, over purely cognitive methods for emotional regulation. She also highlights how stillness can unleash creativity and performance, encouraging individuals to achieve their true potential.
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Sky Breath Meditation Transformed Anxiety
- Emma Seppala's anxiety after 9/11 led her to try many methods before sky breath meditation helped her deeply.
- She used it daily for 20+ years and successfully applied it to veterans with trauma, showing its profound calming effects.
Body Calms Mind in Strong Emotions
- Strong emotions reduce our ability to think rationally due to less prefrontal activation.
- Calming the body through breathing or physical practices helps settle the mind and nervous system.
Breathing Over Therapy for Trauma
- Many psychologists in academia are mostly disembodied and focus on cognitive approaches.
- Veterans with trauma often reject therapy but respond well to breathing techniques as alternative regulation.