‘Resourcing’ to Regulate Your Emotions

Body-centered emotional regulation can improve our ability to support ourselves in stressful times, and to know what we need to feel centered and calm. With this therapeutic approach, we move our attention from our emotions and thoughts to physical sensations.

One specific technique is called resourcing. Resourcing involves strengthening our “observer” self – think of it like having a placid captain at the helm of a ship – and intentionally noticing sensations that increase curiosity and pleasure, instead of those that focus on pain, anger or fear.

It’s easy to become fixated on unpleasant sensations that increase our anxiety and contribute to overactivated physiological states. We lose the “observer” perspective when we get emotionally overwhelmed. In other words ... there’s no captain steering the ship.

While observing your physical experiences in the practice of resourcing, you might ask yourself the following questions:

1. What am I seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, or touching right now that feels pleasurable or calming?
2. Where in my body am I feeling that?
3. What are the qualities (e.g., color, size, shape) of the sensation? Is this pleasurable experience “warm”? Does it have a texture? Smooth or rough? Is it constricted or open? Where? In or on my chest, perhaps?

As you focus on the pleasurable sensation with curiosity, savor the moment, much in the way you enjoy feeling warmth from a fireplace on your hands. Notice your breathing becoming more regular and your heart rate slowing.

Observe and savor this physical experience for 10 seconds. Take a mental snapshot, and return to noticing the area around you. After 10 seconds, return to connecting with the original pleasant experience. Savor it again for another 10 seconds. Reflect on the physical experience and ask yourself, “Does this feel the same, or different in some way?” Do this this three times in a row, and just notice how you feel.

Remember, less is more. That is why you limit each phase of this practice to 10 seconds at a time, and each set of observations to three. You might practice a resourcing set two or three times a day.

As the captains of our ships, we all can see ourselves through distressful circumstances. We can feel safe, and we can set priorities that help us ride the waves of uncertainty instead of becoming flooded by them.