Anxiety Relief: A Practice for Post-Crisis Recovery

This was created for a "Post-Storm Recovery" 

This episode offers a practical guide for recovering after a crisis or prolonged stress, particularly addressing the body's lingering alert state after a storm or any crisis. It introduces a mindfulness practice combined with aromatherapy to help calm the nervous system, manage anxiety, and aid in rest and recovery. Key techniques include breathwork, the use of essential oils like lavender and cedarwood, and intentional affirmations to signal the end of survival mode. The session is centered on creating a sense of safety and steadiness without forcing a return to normalcy, emphasizing the importance of gentle recovery.

00:22 Setting Up for the Practice

01:59 Breathing Techniques

05:56 Post-Crisis Aroma Cognition Ritual

🌿 Post-Crisis Aromacognition Ritual

“Marking the End of Survival Mode”

This ritual helps the brain encode safety after prolonged stress, which is often missing after events like extended outages or storms.

When to Use: Once daily for 3–5 days after the crisis. Especially helpful in the evening or before sleep

The Ritual (5–7 minutes total)

1. Choose One Oil (Intention Before Action)
Select one oil only—simplicity signals safety.

• Lavender → emotional safety, sleep recovery. Cedarwood → grounding after instability . Frankincense → mental clarity + reassurance. Bergamot → lifting heaviness and emotional fatigue

2. Anchor the Meaning (Neuroscience Step)
Before inhaling, say quietly:

This moment marks the end of survival mode.

This links the aroma to completion, not coping.

3. Gentle Sensory Pairing

• Apply 1 drop to palms or collarbone. Inhale softly once or twice. Pair with one long exhale

4. Body Cue of Safety
Place a hand on your chest or belly and notice: warmth, contact, weight

5. Close with Identity Language
Say one sentence that reinforces regulation:

• My body knows how to recover.
• I am allowed to rest after resilience.
• This chapter is closing.

Transcript

0:00

Welcome. This short practice is for after the storm, when the power is back on, but your body may still be on alert. You can use this anytime that you go through a crisis and you're trying to release that. Energy and to be able to process it appropriately, overcome the anxiety, and be able to sleep again at night. You can listen to this sitting, lying down or standing, whatever you're comfortable with, and you're invited to keep your eyes closed or open, whatever feels the safest to you. I am going to introduce some aroma therapy into this practice as well. And if you don't have essential oils, that's fine. During that time, you could grab something that, makes you feel calmer. An aroma. It could be a piece of fruit, it could be a flower, it could be, a candle. Some of these aromas that involve synthetic fragrances may not have the physiological impact, but it might bring that conditioning and that emotional support. Whatever feels safest to you, regardless if you do not have an aroma to use, just keep breathing. Just honor the breath in that. There's nothing to fix here, nothing to achieve. We're simply helping your nervous system recognize that this moment is different from what you just lived through. begin by noticing where you are right now. Name, silently or out loud. One thing that you can feel supporting you. A chair. The floor. Maybe it's the bed beneath you. If it feels right, gently say to yourself, the storm has passed and I am here now. We'll use the breath. To help your body complete the stress response If it feels comfortable, inhale through your nose for four. Pause gently, and then exhale through your mouth for seven. I'll guide the first few and then you can continue at your own pace. Inhale, 2, 3, 4, pause. Exhale, two, three. 4, 5, 6, 7. Again, inhale four. Pause and exhale seven. if counting doesn't feel good, release it. and simply let the exhale be longer than the inhale. Now if you have an essential oil nearby and only if this feels supportive, You may bring it in. Now. This is the time for oils that support, recovery and reassurance. Like lavender, cedarwood, bergamo, frankincense, place a drop in your palms or on a tissue. And hold it near your face. No need to breathe deeply. Just let the aroma meet you where you are. Now gently notice your body. You might feel tired or heavy tender, or you might feel a subtle sense of coming down. None of this is wrong. Now if it feels okay, place a hand where your body feels the most fatigued and say, thank you for carrying me through. Now as we close. Remind yourself, recovery happens in layers. Rest is not regression, it's repair. Take one breath your way. And when you're ready, return to your day. Gently Now, nothing has to happen in this time. If your mind wanders, that's okay. The purpose is to take a moment and acknowledge that the way your body is processing any trauma or any feelings, any nervous system dysregulation that's going on right now, and to bring that awareness forward, you may need to do this a couple times to be able to really be able to feel it. But if you're not feeling more relaxed right now or you're not feeling something, whatever you expect it to feel, that's okay. This is your body, this is your time, and you just let this be what it is. Still being able to rest in this moment, it takes some deep breaths. Now I'm gonna share a post-crisis aroma cognition. Ritual. If you want to take this to the next level, and you do have essential oils. this ritual helps the brain encode safety after prolonged stress, which is often missing after events like extended outages or storms. maybe it's an accident or you got some bad news, a crisis situation. when to use. This even just once daily for three to five days after the crisis, especially helpful in the evening before you go to sleep. So you're gonna choose one oil, intention before action. That means select one oil only. Simplicity will signal safety. Now since we already in our practice mentioned four of, of the oils, you obviously, if you are somebody who has a lot of oils and you have one that speaks emotional safety to you, you can use that. It's not really about that. Again, it's about intention. Lavender, which should signal emotional safety. All things calming. Sleep recovery cedarwood is very grounding. After some instability, frankincense brings mental clarity and reassurance, and bergamo is lifting, heaviness and emotional fatigue. This one has been studied a lot for PTSD in first responders, and so this is going to appear on any kind of trauma informed aroma, cognition, practice. you could even choose a wild orange or any kind of any of the citrus oils if you are needing to just lighten that heaviness and bring some clarity. All right, anchor the meaning. This is that neuroscience step. Before inhaling, say quietly to yourself or out loud, whatever fills the safest. This moment marks the end of survival mode. And this links aroma to completion, not coping. Okay, so this is releasing the tension and releasing survival mode so that you can move forward step three would be a gentle sensory pairing, and that's apply one, drop to the palms or collarbone, and then inhale softly once or twice. Pair that with one long exhale. You don't have to deep breathe in this situation, and no forcing the calm. Just breathe in the aroma and give yourself that thought that this moment marks the end of survival mode. Okay, this moment marks the end of survival mode. I release crisis mode and then just inhale normally, breathe normally. You might wanna place a hand on your chest or belly and just notice that warmth and the contact and the weight and let, just let gravity do that work. and then close with identity. Language. That would be, see one sentence that reinforces that regulation. My body knows how to recover. I am allowed to rest after resilience. This chapter is closing. Repeat the same oil and phrase each day for several days, because consistency creates safety faster than variety. So over and over again, you're conditioning your mind to automatically think these thoughts, my body knows how to recover. Now, why this works? Prolonged stress, often never completes neurologically So we have to be intentional at releasing it and managing it, acknowledging it, and letting it pass through. Aromas, bypass that cognition and they work directly in the with the limbic system. And then repetition teaches the nervous system. This is now over. this practice is for when the danger has passed. But your body is still holding onto the memory of it. You may be tired or wired, foggy, emotional, or all of the above. Nothing is, nothing here is meant to rush you back to normal. So remember that as well. This, is meant to gently address aftershock stress, exhaustion, and lingering hypervigilance that Can throw off our nervous systems, and it's very common after extended disruptions to safety and routine. So share this with someone who you might also think needs it. You come back to it when you think you need it. And remember, nothing here is meant to rush you back to normal. It is so important for us in these times to center on choice and agency and nervous system safety. Again, not forcing calm, but creating enough steadiness to just breathe again as you go out every day and default to yes, your extraordinary self.