Nurturing Touch is designed to help you settle using a source of comfort you always have with you: your own hands. Squeezing your shoulders, neck and arms, then resting a hand over your heart, gives your body the same kind of reassurance a hug does.
The phrases you say along the way, like “I am here, I am with you” and “I am safe,” put into words what you’re offering yourself. Research on self-soothing touch has found it can lower the body’s stress hormone response in much the same way a hug from another person does.
Many people find this is the easiest exercise to reach for in a hard moment, because it needs no space, no equipment and no explanation.