Find Your Calm, Regulate Your Nervous System, And Step Into 2026 With Hope

You ARE:
SEEN KNOWN HEARD LOVED VALUED

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And What Trauma Means
• 1:27 Why Breathing Calms The Brain
• 2:39 Grounding Your Body To Begin
• 4:03 Breath 1: Presence And Gratitude
• 5:13 Breath 2: Strength In Weakness
• 6:37 Breath 3: Sustained And Held
• 8:04 Breath 4: Daily Provision And Trust
• 10:05 Breath 5: Ongoing Work And Mercy
• 12:10 Breath 6: Hope Of Heaven
• 13:45 Breath 7: Perfect Peace
• 15:05 Breath 8: Gratitude For What Remains
• 17:10 Final Breath And Encouragement
• 18:20 Closing Updates And How To Connect

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:05

Hey everybody and welcome back to the Wednesdays with Watson podcast. It is December the 31st, 2025. My name is Dr. Amy Watson, and I am your host. If you have stumbled on this podcast for the first time, this is a podcast where trauma meets hope. And I spend my time giving hope and help to those of you who are walking the difficult roads of trauma. What is trauma, you ask? Well, we have come up with a very simple definition of trauma around here. And trauma is anything that took your safety and took your choice. And so that is almost 100% of the people listening to me. So today we're going to drop into this episode that I've been asked to do a couple times, which is a guided meditation. We're going to do this meditation to help calm down your nervous system, to focus in on gratitude and hope for the new year. This meditation is for any of you that are like me leaving 2025. You are both grateful, but you might be tired too. You are hopeful, but you're honest and uh maybe saying that this is a difficult year. We are all still here, even after whatever this year brought for us. So let's drop into this episode. If you are driving, maybe hit pause. And when you get home tonight, or when you get settled, enter in this exercise with us, is we are going to do some breathing exercises, and I'm going to provide a little bit of hope for you because, as you know, that is what I always do. So as you begin, I want you to just kind of get settled. If you're doing other things when you're listening to this podcast, take a time. Guys, it might take ten minutes what we're about to do. But if you got ten minutes for your nervous system, then your nervous system has a lot more to give you. So let's drop into this episode where we are walking through some breathing exercises that serves to calm down the nervous system. And when your nervous system is calm, your prefrontal cortex is online, meaning you can make good and appropriate decisions. When you flip your lid, you flip that prefrontal cortex, and nothing works for you. And so what I'm going to do for you today is you and me are going to do this together. We are going to do some breathing exercises. And so I'm going to give you just a second as we transition to the meditation part of the podcast. Okay, everybody. And so what I want you to do before we start the breathing exercise, I'm just going to kind of walk you through what we're going to do. What I want you to pay attention to right now is I want you to ground yourself where you are. And a real simple way of doing that is putting both feet on the floor. Pay special attention to how your feet feel on the floor. I want you to pay attention to the chair that you're sitting in. How does that feel on your back? And so first we're just going to do a breathing exercise. We're going to breathe through gratitude for the presence of God. And when we do these breathing exercises, you are going to take one deep breath in through your nose. You're going to hold it for seven seconds, and I will count for you. And then you're going to breathe out through your mouth. And so you're going to breathe in like you're smelling flowers, out like you're blowing out the candles. Alright, so let's do our first breath. Take one deep cleansing breath in through your nose. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, deep cleansing breath out through your mouth. As we lean into the presence of God, as we see in Psalm 145, 18, the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and faithful in love. Even in a hard year, you are not alone. We can be grateful for the presence of God that was always there. We can be grateful for the strength that carried us through this year. And so as we get ready for our next seven-second breath, remember you're going to take it in through your nose. Gonna hold it for seven seconds as I count with you. And out through your mouth. I want you to focus on one of my favorite scriptures right now as you do this, 2 Corinthians 12, 9. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. So take a deep breath in through your nose. You can hold it for seven. Five. Three. Focus on this scripture. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trust in him and I am helped. Therefore, my heart celebrates and I give thanks to him with my soul. God, you made it through this year. Strength sometimes looks like just not giving up. And not giving up is at the pinnacle of the things that matter. And so as we go into the breath three, the gratitude for those things that sustains you. Psalm 54, 4. God is my helper, and the Lord is the sustainer of my life. Deuteronomy 33, 27, the God of old is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He dries out the enemy before you and commands that they be destroyed. And so as you think about the things that could have taken you down this year, but didn't, because of that grace that sustains you, we're going to take our breath three. Hold it for seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Out through your mouth. You were held this year, sometimes without even realizing it. Never know about gravity until we fall, right? So you've been held this year. As we go through our next breath, I want you to think about how you can find some gratitude for the growth that you have sustained this year. Even if that growth was through pain. We see in Psalm 18, 19 that He brought me out into a spacious place. Even if you don't feel rescued this year, you are, you were, and you will be. Even if it doesn't feel like it, we know that God doesn't waste anything. Romans 8.28, we know that all things work together for good for those who love Him. Good does not mean easy, but it does mean that your story is still unfolding. As we go into our next breath, this time instead of counting, I'm going to read a scripture for you. And so if I am longer than seven seconds, then just breathe out. But I believe this passage of scripture is so powerful for those of us trying to calm down our nervous system, remembering that God provides for us daily. And so I want you to take a deep breath in through your nose and count as I read. Therefore, I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky, they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to your life by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe the wildfires of the field, how they grow. They don't labor or spend thread, yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that's how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you, you of little faith? So don't worry, saying, What will we eat, or what will we drink, or what will we wear? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has trouble of its own. And it still is. Your heavenly Father will provide for you even if it doesn't seem like it. And that, guys, can calm our nervous system. The next breath that we're going to go through is gratitude for what God is continuing to do in us. As we move in 2026, we have no idea how He may use us, who He may help us to help, or what growth is coming for us. Philippians 1.6, one of my favorite verses. He who began a good work in you will carry it to completion, or another one of my favorite verses, Psalms 138.8, I will perfect all that concerns you. This year did not finish you, God is still at work. And so we're going to take a deep breath in through your nose. Hold it for seven seconds, six, five, four, three, two, one, out through your mouth. Next, we're going to do a breathing cycle that gives us gratitude for the mercy that met us in this year, and that will continue to meet us in the next one. Remember, if grace is unmerited favor, mercy is the withholding of deserved punishment. And boy can we be grateful for the mercy that met us every single day of 2025. We know that the Bible says, because of the Lord's faithful love, we do not perish, and his mercies never end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. I say the Lord is my portion. Therefore, therefore I will put my hope in him. That is Lamentations 3, 23 and 24. Therefore, I will put my hope in him. Let's take another breath through our nose. Hold it for seven seconds. Seven. Mercy carried you. Mercy was enough. Mercy will be enough. Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you hope in a future. Psalms 33 22. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you. And so as you do this next breathing exercise, I want you to close your eyes and dream of the hope of heaven. Dream of the hope of seeing those that have gone before. Dream of seeing Jesus. Take a deep breath in through your nose. Hold it for seven seconds. Six, five, four, three, two, one. Hope does not erase the pain, but it opens our future. Don't forget that. As we're nearing the end of the breathing exercises, now we're going to breathe through gratitude for peace that is still there. You know, if you've listened to this podcast at all, that Isaiah 26 3 is one of my favorite verses where the Bible says, I will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Romans 15 13, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. Jesus said when he left this earth on in John 14, 27, Peace I leave with you. Alright, so we're going to do another breathing exercise. And through your nose, you're going to hold it for seven seconds. Six, five, four, three, two, one. Rest in that perfect peace. Lastly, gratitude for what remains. We don't know. What remains, we don't know what the next second has for us, we don't know what the next year has for us. But we know that the Bible says, what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived. The things that God has prepared for those that love Him. As we do this last breathing exercise, I want you to remember the words of Psalm 136, 1. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Guys, one last breath. You're paying attention to that chair on your back and the floor on your feet. Maybe look up and see a roof on your head, over your head. Look at the clothes on your body, the coffee that might be sitting in front of you, the food that you're going to eat. We have so much to be grateful for. The Bible Paul said in Philippians 4, I know what it's like to have a lot, I know what it's like to have a little. But what I have learned, that in whatever state I am, to be content. And then there's that verse that is on so many locker room walls, which doesn't mean sports at all. But Paul says, I know what it's like to have a lot. I know what it's like to have a little. But in all things I have learned to be content because I can do that because I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so if you're struggling today with that, you can wake up tomorrow. There is hope for you because you are seen and you are known and you are heard and you are loved and you are so valued. So we're going to take one final breath together and through your nose. Hold it for seven seconds, six, five, four, three, two, one, out through your mouth. I hope that this has served to help some of you regulate your nervous system. I hope that you will come back to the episode, maybe download it on your phone and listen to it often. I am looking forward to what 2026 has for us here at the podcast and has for me personally, having new uh recently earned my doctorate degree. And so we will be back more regularly in 2026 every two weeks again. And so stay right here. If you're not subscribed to the podcast, please do that. And as you go into your day today, I hope that it's a little bit more rusted. If you have any questions for me, you can reach me at amiwatsunauthor at gmail.com or Instagram, drAmywatson. I will see you guys in two weeks, but before that, you know what I'm gonna say. You are seen, you are known, you are heard, you are loved, and you are so so valued. See you guys in two weeks.