Accessing your intuition in highly emotive situations

Gooooooooodmorning.

Welcome to blog post number two and today we are getting a little bit more ~educational~

Today we are answering the question: how do I know when to slow down and when to push through?

We will dive deep into how to remove the noise, access your intuition and make decisions about your training that are right for you in highly emotive situations. I will be condensing everything down to 4 basic steps that work for me.

You don’t need any fancy equipment, complex program or confusing formulas - just yourself.

But firstly, a bit of context:

I work with people of all backgrounds. They come with their own experience and perspectives. They may be risk averse, or risk seeking; whimsical, or laser focused; decisive or flaky; stubborn or docile.

Each quality comes with its own strengths and challenges.

When emotions are high it becomes difficult to make a balanced decision.

In the past I sought to find one answer to help everyone. But that was a mistake.

To tell everyone to pull back when they’re scared would do the risk averse individuals a disservice, as they need more of a push.

To tell everyone to push through when they’re scared would do the risk seeking individuals a disservice, as they may risk hurting themselves.

To solve this problem I have developed a strategy to help each person to create their own solution in highly emotive situations and when faced with overwhelming decisions.

The purpose being to slow down, reduce the urgency, and create space.

This formula does not tell you what the correct decision is, no one can do that for you - but it can bring you from a place of fear and overwhelm to a place of curiousity and peace and give you the space to make a decision that is right for you.

Because curiosity and fear cannot coexist.

Step 1 Remove The Noise. Get yourself to a safe space with low stimulation. Close your eyes, and be still.

Step 2 Slow Down. Take a 3 count inhale, and 5 count exhale. Repeat 3 times.

Step 3 Feel the Feeling. Bring your attention to your body, where the feeling sits in your body, it’s size, shape and quality.

Step 4 Get Curious. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does this potential experience feel like a challenge or a threat?

2. Does this feeling I am experiencing have a quality of compulsion, impulse, urgency and addiction?

3. Is there another way I can approach this that aligns with the values of the person that I want to be?

These steps can help:

- a person with a history of chronic back pain decide whether to try a movement which once caused them pain on a day when their back is feeling particularly stiff

- a person who feels their worth is tied to the weight that they lift, decide whether to increase the weight on the bar, when their last effort was already a 11/10 difficulty

- a person who struggles with social anxiety at the gym decide whether to get moving on a day when their brain is being mean to them

- a person who has had a really bad day at work decide whether to use their anger to max out their deadlifts on a day when they’ve already got a niggle in their hamstring

Using this process is a skill, like meditation or learning a language. The more you do it the more it’ll work for you.

Use it as a template and make it your own; as long as you’re creating space to check in with your body, you’re winning.

I really hope this helps you as much as it has helped me.

Thank you for being here,

B