This is part information and part guided practice.

The suggestion is to listen or read this ahead of a challenge or stressful activity and then extract the three steps of the practice in the time immediately prior to it.

In this practice we're going to work through the responses in the mind, in the body and in the emotions, to stress. So, we're going to work with those responses, not against them.

As we begin, a reminder that stress and the stress response is on your side, and in this particular case you've identified something really definitive that's triggering, or will trigger stress. So, there's a reason for this stress and that's helpful to acknowledge.

It's also helpful to remember that stress is useful and we're going to try to use this attitude and view of stress to help us work more effectively with it.

Ensuring for the time being that you're as comfortable as you can be. Feeling your feet on the floor, dropping the shoulders a little.

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If you're sitting down, then feeling the contact with the chair. And we can allow our posture to be upright, dignified and alert.

Bringing your attention to thoughts that are arriving, allowing them to come into the mind.

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Maybe there are some patterns of thinking that are familiar to you. At these times of stress or challenge, the mind is likely to be in predicting mode, attempting to prepare you, a form of rehearsal. But these thoughts may not be completely accurate, they may have a negative bias, and again that's part of the stress response. It's designed to overestimate a challenge and underestimate your ability to respond to it.

So just tuning in now to thoughts, allowing them to come forward in the mind.

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You may even want to label them in this way. “I notice that my mind is attempting to predict what is going to happen”. So, stepping into the position of an observer, a watcher of your thoughts.

And when we focus on our thoughts in this way, it can sometimes be a little easier to see them for what they are: they're mental events coming and going in the mind, designed to create a laser focus to support what is needed as part of the challenge that you're facing.

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In the second part of this practice, we're going to move the focus of our attention to the body. This can really help if the mind is very tangled and caught up in thinking.

So, allowing the sensations of stress in the body to make themselves known to you.

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If helpful, you can scan the body in your own time, moving down from the head to the feet. Tuning into the sensations of stress in the body.

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Whatever you notice, you don't need to try and change anything. Remember that this is what stress is and what it does. These body responses are designed for fight or flight. We can just recognise that here is stress. This is what stress feels like in the body.

If you're about to go into your exam, presentation, or a difficult conversation, you may wish to harness this response in the body, feeling it as strength.

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In the final part of this practice, recognising any emotions, because stress also has a bit of an emotional impact as well, so maybe feelings of anxiety, fear or worry. And recognising that anxiety and excitement can sometimes be closely linked.

Emotions signal that something is important to us. Stress is also about supporting a performance, showing what you can do. You've worked hard and now you get the chance to deliver. If it's a competitive event, then the body in stress mode is giving you an edge, as are your emotions, that sense of excitement, pressure, and anticipation.

So, whatever the emotions are, whether it's excitement or fear or a bit of both, just recognise that this is how you're feeling right now. This matters, so feel it.

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And as we finish the practice, let's recognise that stress is a holistic response. So, the mind is working in perfect coordination with the body, the body is working in perfect coordination with the mind, and the emotions are responding to what's happening in the mind and the body. All three elements are working together in a mutually supportive way to prepare you for whatever it is you're about to face.

If it's possible for you right now, trusting that every part of this response is functioning just as it should, ramping you up for action. And as such, when the challenge is over, you will come back to rest and digest. The emotions will shift to relief, maybe elation, and the mind will ease. An invitation to recognise when this has happened. The moments when stress releases and subsides. Noticing the amazing ability of the mind to switch gears, to recognise safety, that the challenge is over, the task is completed, and stress and all that goes with it is no longer needed.

An invitation to embrace and savour this state when it arrives. But also, consider how ineffective this state would have been when facing your challenge. However much we craved not to feel the stress when it was here, we can probably, if a little reluctantly, acknowledge that it served its purpose.

I'll leave you with some encouragement to savour a sense of achievement once your challenge is completed, because however you judged your performance, you've faced it, you've completed it, and everything that unfolded during the experience can contribute to growth through learning.

I wish you all the best with whatever challenge you're facing. What you're feeling is a very human response and I hope that it's possible for you to appreciate the power and the usefulness of stress.