One of my book clubs is reading Self-Reg by Dr. Stuart Shanker. It is an amazingly well written book outlining the 5 domains of Self-Regulation. Self-regulations refers to the manner in which an individual deals with stress, in all its many forms, and then recovers from the energy expended. What we are noticing more every year is that the level of stress and/or anxiety is increasing at a much younger age than ever before. We see a lot of fight-or-flight or freeze behavior in our schools and in the work force. Self-Reg helps us consider self-regulation and stress across five interrelated domains: biological, emotion, cognitive, social and pro social domains. Self-Reg is not a program, but rather a practical paradigm through which parents and teachers can better understand children’s stress, and enhance self-regulation.
The Shanker Method is a five-step Method for enhancing self-regulation in children, youth, young adults, and adults:
1. Read the signs of stress and reframe the behaviour.
2. Recognize the stressors.
3. Reduce the stress.
4. Reflect: enhance stress awareness.
5. Respond: develop strategies for responding to stress and returning to calm.
Mindfulness is one of the important steps to becoming aware of our thoughts, feelings, physiology and behavior.
