In estrangement, you can carry tension on a daily, even hourly basis. You get so caught up in not wanting to feel, that you stop noticing where you are holding your strain. This exercise might help you let down your load a little. Find a quiet place to slow down, if only for 5 minutes, and catch your breath.
The Brow Smoothing & Frontal Lobe Softening
Focus: Easing micro-tensions across the forehead and the corrugator muscles between the brows (the “thinking” center).
Why it works: When we are in hyper-vigilance or anticipating emotional conflict, our eyebrows naturally knit together. Direct tactile feedback helps your brain release that habitual armor.
The Practice:
Arrive: Place the pads of your index and middle fingers gently right between your eyebrows.
The Sweep: With feather-light pressure—as if you were smoothing a crumpled piece of silk—slowly slide your fingers outward across your forehead toward your temples.
The Pause: When your fingers reach your temples, pause and make tiny, slow, concentric circles in the skin, allowing the skin to move over the bone rather than sliding harshly across it.
Breathe: While you are circling, slow down your breath. Make sure you take a slow inhale and exhale at least once each cycle.
Release: Gently lift your fingers away, keeping your eyes soft or closed, and notice the sensation of space and coolness across the forehead.
Repeat 3-5 times.
Please let me know if this exercise helped you slow down.
Best,
Kathy
You can contact me through the Chat, the Comments, or email me: ksinsheimermft@gmail.com
This is the 11th in Dear Estranged’s Somatic Exercise Series
Love these positive and effective exercises!