Page 289 - ConvinceThemFlip

the show must go on
would make me retch uncontrollably, and a British board-
ing school is no place to reveal a weakness like that.
I tried dozens of tricks to cope with the problem, but
none of them worked. Then one day, out of sheer despera-
tion, I imagined that my nostrils were in the middle of my
stomach, and magically, the smell seemed to disappear.
This morning in the car with Pippa, I gently asked her to
close her eyes and imagine the entrance to a huge cavern,
as big as she wanted, right in the middle of her forehead.
“And now, let all the air in the world come in and out
through the cavern, as much as you want.” I talked to her
soothingly, and within a minute or two my precious child
was calm and relaxed. The crisis had passed.
Let’s talk about breathing for a moment. Do you remem-
ber the last time someone really startled you? A time when
someone ran a red light right in front of you and you thought
a crash was inevitable? What was your breathing like when
everything was over? Fast, short, shallow—right? That’s
fight-or-flight breathing, and your whole body responds to
that cue—your heart races, your adrenaline surges, and
you imagine the worst. You’ve got to change the paradigm
and start from the belly—deep, relaxing breaths.
Before she could “move her nostrils,” Teresa needed
to start breathing deeper. To get her started with
belly breathing, I told Teresa, “Place one hand on your
chest and the other just below your navel, and practice
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