Trent McEntire
Hi. I'm Trent MacIntyre. And in this session, I'm gonna teach you eye movement for stress reduction. Our eyes play such an important role in reducing stress and it's very easy. In addition to eye movements today, I'll be introducing a couple different breathing techniques. Now they're very simple and I want you to keep in mind that this isn't meant to be the deepest, biggest breath you can take. Work within a range of breathing that works for you regardless of how shallow or deep that might be. Just getting some kind of breath moving is gonna be very supportive in reducing stress with our eye movement.
So that combination together becomes really helpful. Now I'm using the brain speed ball today but if you don't have a brain speed ball you could always use your thumb as a target or you could make your own ball. I have a through z on my ball and 1 through 12 so you have targets to look at. So either your thumb or the ball. And I'll show both today so you get an idea. So the first thing I want you to do is just to have your thumb in front of you and see it as a target. So it's really clear. And then from here, you're gonna look beyond your thumb, across the room or across the yard, across the park, and find something to focus on.
So I've got a flower across the park here, and then take my eyes back to my thumb. And then back to the flower. And back to the thumb. So that's a near and then it's a far. It's a quick motion. So we're not drawing the eyes back out and drawing them back in, we're jumping out and jumping back in. And if I have the ball I'd find a number here. So I've got the number 3.
And then I'm looking across to find a flower. And back to the 3. Back to the flower. Back to the 3. Back to the flower. And back to the 3. Alright, if you've never done an eye exercise before, that can feel kinda weird and that's okay. You'll get used to it.
But your eyes play such an important role in how we regulate our systems that when you have your eye movements moving from one place to another, it helps to regulate your body. So that alone it becomes very powerful. Now if you were gonna combine your thumb and the ball together, I'll have my thumb here and I'll have the letter, let's see, let's do h over here. So together we can do this. Head's just kinda centered and relaxed, eyes are on the thumb, and the eyes are gonna jump over to the h. And jump to the thumb. Back to the h. Thumb.
H, thumb. H, now this tempo is kinda medium. H, if you need to go slower you can. H, thumb, and take a break there for a second. Alright, let's just check-in and see how you're feeling. So one of the things that's important here is that you work at a speed that makes sense for you. And I'm gonna invite you to come back to this video over and over again so you can build a regular practice with it. So just keep that in mind.
You might not get it all in the first time and that's quite okay. It'd be expected. Okay. We're gonna bring a little breathing with it now. So I'm gonna bring the ball up. I've got a w on my thumb over here. And I'm gonna go from my thumb to the w and hold it. Take a little breath in, a little breath out.
Whatever breath that is for you, it's fine. Whatever shallow deep breath it is, that's fine. Back to the thumb, W. Take a little breath. We're gonna go twice now. Thumb, w. Thumb, w hold. Take a breath.
And again, thumb, w. Thumb, w. Hold, take a breath And rest right there. So check-in with yourself. If you came into this session with some stress, then you might notice that that stress start to decrease. You might feel a little more grounded, a little bit more relaxed. And that's something to start to become aware of is what's happening after you move your eyes like that. After you combine the breathing.
Do you feel more settled? Do you feel more relaxed? So let's change it over. I'm gonna bring it into my other hand here. Let's find the number 10 and I'm gonna go from the 10 and I'm gonna go into back to my near and far version with the breathing. So let's do this together. If you don't have the ball number, you can use your thumb. 10, flower. 10, flower. 10 and hold it.
Take a breath. And again, flower, 10. Flower, 10. Flower, 10. Take a breath And relax right there. Alright. Check-in with yourself. Sometimes what it can feel like is you start to talk a little bit softer, your shoulders might feel a little more relaxed, you might feel a little more grounded, you might just feel a little bit less brain fog as well.
It's really that simple. It's meant to be 5 minutes or less. And it's meant to be a practice that you can use throughout your day. So if you feel like you have high stress levels throughout your day, you can do this 2, 3, 4, 5 times a day because it's really quick. It's really easy to do. So use this video again as practice. Come back to it often so you can improve your technique and you can learn more from it. That regular practice is gonna build up and help you develop more awareness of what's happening and how you feel before and after you track your eyes and you have that breathing combined in there.
Remember to work at a level that suits you. Not too deep of a breath if that's not gonna work for you. Keep it at a level that you feel like this is doable. This doesn't make me fearful, I don't feel afraid. This doesn't feel scary. But it feels doable. It's all it has to be. It's a powerful connection that your eyes and your nervous system have together.
So you wanna tap into that in a simple and safe kind of way. So make sure you keep it fun and you keep it light. See you next time.
And remember, you are strong and resilient and the small moments matter.
