38. Break Free from Fear: Grounding, Breathwork, and HeartMath Tools for Caregivers

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Fear can be paralyzing—but it doesn’t have to run your life. In this episode of Becoming Your Best with Jenny Lytle, RN, Jenny shares personal insights on how fear once silenced her voice—and how she reclaimed her confidence through small, consistent actions.

If fear, stress, or burnout are keeping you stuck, tune in to discover easy, science-backed tools to calm your nervous system and take back control.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What fear does to your brain (and how to shut off the alarm)
• Simple breathing techniques (Box Breathing, 4-7-8) to regulate stress
• The HeartMath Quick Coherence® technique for emotional reset
• A powerful grounding practice to get out of your head fast
• How movement, connection, and journaling can shrink fear and build resilience

Takeaway Action Step:
✅ Choose one calming technique from this episode and try it today.
✅ Text or email Jenny to share what worked for you!

🧠 "Thinking will not overcome fear—but action will." – W. Clement Stone

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Nurses Break Room with JennyLytle, rn, and today we are
going to focus on the topic offear and the way that it can
keep us from living our bestlives.
So this morning I was readingmy devotional and fear was one

(00:24):
of the topics and it caught methinking.
There's a lot of areas in mylife where I've really stepped
outside of my comfort zone,where I've really stretched
things and I don't feel likefear is holding me back nearly
as much as it used to, and Iused to be terrified of public
speaking and I would actuallylose my voice a bit when I had

(00:47):
to speak in front of others forvery long, but what I found is
that the more that I do it, themore comfortable I get.
I don't lose my voice anymoreand I found that I really enjoy
it.
And am I the best speaker?
No, but I am getting bettereach time and I'm getting more

(01:08):
comfortable and more confidenteach time, and none of the awful
things that I was so afraid ofhave ever happened, and so I
know that we can overcome fears.
But there are still some areaswhere I do find myself holding

(01:30):
back a little bit.
Now that I really think aboutit and I know I'm not the only
one going through this.
Some of the clients that I workwith get stuck in that fear mode
and are afraid to take action.
So let's just break things downa little bit.
And are afraid to take action.
So let's just break things downa little bit.
So fear in terms of what'sgoing on in our brain.

(01:56):
We have the amygdala, which isthe brain's alarm system, and
that is where emotions like fearreally pop up.
And then we have our prefrontalcortex, which is the logical
part of our brain, and it makescalm, clear decisions.
But when we're stressed, thenthose logical, calm decisions

(02:17):
can get shut down and our paniccan amp up.
And when we have repeatedstress, like in nursing or
caregiving or so many otherroles, our brain can stay stuck
in survival mode.
When we have a lot of trauma orgrief or burnout, then that

(02:39):
keeps the alarm system stuck on.
But the good news is we canrewire it because our brain is
changeable and that's calledneuroplasticity, and we can
learn and incorporate newcalming habits to help shrink
the fear response and buildresilience.
So here are some tools thatwork in the real world Slow

(03:02):
breathing when we slow down ourbreathing a bit, especially when
we focus on the exhale a littlemore, that helps to reset our
nervous system.
So I like to do box breathing,where you breathe in for four,
hold for four, exhale for four,hold for four.
That's a nice simple one thatyou can do.

(03:27):
Or I also really like the four,seven, eight breathing, where
you inhale for four, hold forseven and exhale for eight, and
so that goes like this Inhale,hold, exhale.

(03:50):
So when we have that prolongedexhale, that really helps to
reset things.
Now the heart math, quickcoherence technique is something
that we've talked about before,and the power of the quick
coherence technique comes frompositive emotions about before.

(04:11):
And the power of the quickcoherence technique comes from
positive emotions and when weengage in positive feelings,
then we're able to replace thosedepleting or negative emotions
with ones that can really renewour system.
And it's an easy technique.
But each step is important, andso, step one focus your
attention in the area of theheart.

(04:32):
Imagine your breath is flowingin and out of your heart or
chest area, breathing a littleslower and deeper than usual.
You can inhale for five seconds, exhale for five seconds, or
whatever rhythm is comfortable.

(04:52):
Step two make a sincere attemptto experience a regenerative
feeling, such as appreciation orcare for someone or something
in your life.
You can try to re-experiencethe feeling you have for someone
you love, a pet, a specialplace, an accomplishment, etc.

(05:16):
Or just focus on a feeling ofcalm or ease, and this is a tool
that you can use anytime todecrease stress and regulating

(05:40):
your own emotions with thistechnique.
But because we areelectromagnetically charged
beings, the people that arearound us are also brought into

(06:03):
a more coherent state, even ifthey have no idea what you're
doing.
This isn't anything that anyonehas to know that you're using.
It's something that is sosimple but so effective and can
be used to really help settlethings down when fear or anxiety
start taking over.

(06:25):
Now the next technique is agrounding technique.
Technique is a groundingtechnique, and when we get
caught up in fear or in anxiety,then we can get very in our
head and it's hard to.
It's hard to get ourselves tocalm down by telling ourselves
to calm down.
That really can make thingsworse, and so looking outside of

(06:46):
ourselves can be effective toto reset things and take our
mind off of our inner turmoil.
So with the 5-4-3-2-1 groundingtechnique you're going to
identify five things.
You can see four things, youcan touch three things, you can
hear two things, you can smelland one thing you can taste.

(07:12):
And that helps to get yououtside of your head a little
bit.
Doing something like chair yogaor some sort of movement that
allows for that stuck energy tomove through you can be very

(07:33):
effective.
Connecting with others can alsobe very effective, because as
we're connecting with others whoare calm and who feel safe,
then that can help alleviatesome of our fears.
And one of my favorites, when Ihave a little more time, is
doing some journaling around thefear or anxiety that I'm

(07:56):
feeling and just getting curiousabout what is going on.
And none of it is meant to be ajudgment, but it's just to
explore the fear, the thingsthat I'm feeling, a little bit
more, to explore the fear, thethings that I'm feeling, a
little bit more.
So what's one fear that you'dlike to let go of or at least

(08:21):
loosen your grip on?
And I encourage you to try justone of these calming tools
today and I'd love for you toshoot me a text or email and let
me know how that went for you.
I want to finish with this quoteby W Clement Stone Thinking

(08:42):
will not overcome fear, butaction will.
Until next time, rememberself-care isn't selfish.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and
live our best lives.
Have a great week.