Step into the Doorway Overwhelm Recipe (2-4 minutes)

This recipe helps you interrupt overwhelm in the moment—when you’re triggered, harsh, or about to yell—so you can ground your body quickly and come back to connection.

Disclaimer
This recipe is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not medical advice, mental health treatment, diagnosis, therapy, or a substitute for professional care. Emotional embodiment practices may bring up strong feelings, memories, sensations, and/or physical reactions. You are voluntarily participating and are solely responsible for your own emotional, physical, and medical safety, decisions, and actions. Go at your own pace. Stop at any time. Take breaks when needed. If you feel overwhelmed, pause and ground yourself: feel your feet on the floor, place a hand on your heart, and breathe slowly. These practices are intended to help you move emotion through your body—not to reenact harm and not to discharge emotions onto others. Always listen to your body first. If you are in crisis or at risk of harming yourself or others, stop and seek immediate help in your area. READ FULL DISCLAIMER BEFORE YOU START IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY

Use this when
You’re mid-escalation and you can feel the “I’m about to snap” energy rising fast—especially during transitions (doorways, leaving the house, coming inside, bedtime handoffs, moving between rooms).

Ingredients

• 30–120 seconds (even 20 seconds helps)

• A doorway, counter edge, or wall to touch

• Your breath (longer exhales than inhales)

• Optional: a timer

Safety
If it’s not safe to step away (you need eyes on toddlers, a child might bolt, or the moment feels physically unsafe), modify: do this in the same room with your body angled toward your child. Keep one hand on the wall/counter and one hand on your belly. If you feel flooded, shorten this to 30 seconds, orient to the room (name colors/shapes/sounds), and stop if it becomes too much.

Opening: Self-awareness
As soon as you can remember, do this recipe.

The 3-Step Experiment

Step 1: Stop (10 seconds)
Put your hands up like a pause button (or one hand up if the other is holding a child/door).
Say out loud (or inside):
“Stop. I’m overwhelmed.”
Let that be enough. No explaining. No teaching. Just interrupt the escalation.

Step 2: Make a doorway boundary + long exhales (20–90 seconds)
Stand at a doorway (or in front of a wall). Put one hand flat on the frame/wall at chest height.
Press your palm in with steady, firm pressure—just enough to feel your strength without using it against anyone.
Take 3–6 slow exhales, making the out-breath longer than the in-breath.
While you exhale, feel: feet on the floor, back of your body, and the support of the structure you’re touching.
If your child is watching or asking what you’re doing, say gently: “I’m taking a body pause. I’m right here.”
Stay until you feel even 10–20% more space inside.

Step 3: Return with one clear next move (10–20 seconds)
Release your hand. Drop your shoulders once. Unclench your jaw.
Choose one next action only (one sentence, one move):
“I’m getting water and then I’ll help.”
“I’m going to sit with you.”
“I won’t let you hit. I’m moving your body back.”
Then do that—grounded, minimal words.

Closing: Put it in a container
Imagine placing what just happened (the trigger, the urgency, the control energy, the shame) into a container for now.
Say: “This is not the whole story. I can come back to connection.”
Place a hand on your heart and take one slow exhale.

Nurture and Integrate
If you can, drink water, look out a window, or step outside for 30 seconds.
Over the next day or week, notice: did the spiral shorten, did you recover faster, did you repair more easily? If you fall back into old patterns again, it’s not your fault—you’re learning, and practice counts.

Affirmation (Optional)
Choose one:
“I can stop. I can reset. I can return to connection.”
“When I’m overwhelmed, I’m allowed to come back to my body.”
“Repair is always available to me.”

Want to go deeper?
If there was a rupture, choose a Repair Recipe next (repair with yourself first, then reconnect with your child).
If you have time and space, follow this with an Emotional Release Waves recipe to help the emotion move through your body.

Peace & Love, Julie
Emotional Release - The Missing Peace