Verbal First Aid

Words are the most powerful drug we can use; they change how the body responds to everyday life.  Have you ever thought you find one person your “Go To” in a time of crisis? Is it the words, the ways they make you feel with the words they speak? 

Situations can be changed with a matter of words; how the body responds to the tone, the volume and the speed at which something is spoken can change how the body reacts.  Words are so powerful that they can affect your heart rate, breathing, and response to specific systems within the body like your cardiovascular, respiratory and endocrine systems. All of these place the body back into homeostasis, the place of healing, growth and creation. 

Words can change the energy of a situation, the response to the words spoken, and their delivery. The importance of the way you speak can be how you change a crisis into a comfort zone. Moving the body from an altered state of consciousness into the “healing zone.”   The right words can emotionally and physiologically change the outcome, and it is called “Verbal First Aid?  It promotes healing, reduces anxiety, eases pain, and even saves a life.  

Think how the words spoken can facilitate relief for another person; you are speaking to their autonomic nervous system, which evokes change.  This can be done with redirection and reassurance that you can help; they are not alone in this situation, and you can move the moment from feeling negative into a more positive feeling. 

Communicating positively in a way that creates change; words can create a mental image, a vision, that creates change.  It is like planting a seed; you watch over it, water it,  talk to it and wait for it to grow and blossom.  The simple interaction with another is like planting a seed, watching the emotional and physical change come about.  

The environment or atmosphere also changes how a person feels; noise can be heightened, creating panic.  Making an area quiet and dimly lit can slow the mind down, which slows the body down.  The tone goes from loud and sharp to soft and quiet; this alters the mind and creates a feeling of calm, evoking relaxation.  

Think about how you can create change in your everyday environment with “Verbal First Aid.” 

Melinda Webb is a Dr Chinese medicine, Buteyko Breathwork Instructor and Birth Doula who works with others to create the change people want to see.