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Taylor Somerville

@taylor__somerville

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- Founder of @symmetry.live ⁣
- @xptlife Master Coach
-Certified BreathScience Practioner
-@HHPFoundation Ambassador
Breath || Mindset || Stress

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Stress isn’t the enemy. And calm isn’t always the goal.

I was working with a sales team this morning and asked them what stress is. Almost every answer was negative.

But stress isn’t inherently good or bad. It’s how we respond to it, and whether we give ourselves the opportunity to recover, that determines a lot of its impact.

The same goes for breathwork. Sometimes we need to calm down. Other times we need to be more alert, focused, and ready to perform.

The real skill is learning to recognize your state and shift it based on what the moment requires.

Before your next meeting, workout, or difficult conversation, ask yourself:

Does the state I’m in match what I’m about to do?

#StressManagement #Breathwork #NervousSystemRegulation #Symmetry taken in Memphis, Tennessee by @taylor__somerville

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2

5 days ago

Her stress didn’t go away. Her ability to handle it changed.

I just wrapped up eight coaching sessions with a client who came in feeling overwhelmed, constantly “winging it and pushing through,” and easily derailed when life didn’t go as planned. Her goal was simple: find an inner calm.

Eight sessions later:

Max Exhale: 13 → 39 seconds
Well-being score: 17 → 32

But the numbers aren’t the most important part.

She’s actually in one of the most stressful work seasons she’s experienced. The difference is she’s recognizing stress earlier, regulating herself and responding differently when things get chaotic.

As she told me recently: “This time of year, I would be losing my shit…and I’m not doing that.”

You’re not getting away from stress.

The goal is to get better at what you do with it.

#StressManagement #Resilience #Breathwork #Leadership #Performance by @taylor__somerville

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1

a month ago

Your body usually knows you’re stressed before you do.⁣
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And there’s some fascinating research behind why paying attention to those signals matters.⁣
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Researchers studied high-frequency traders in London and tested how accurately they could sense their own heartbeat, a measure of something called interoception.⁣
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The traders who were better at sensing what was happening inside their bodies tended to be more profitable and had survived longer in the financial markets.⁣
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Having spent 15 years working in the markets, this study really caught my attention.⁣
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Most of us aren’t making million-dollar trades, but we are making decisions under pressure every day.⁣
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Your breathing changes. Your jaw tightens. Your shoulders creep up. You start talking faster. You become impatient.⁣
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Your body is giving you information.⁣
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The question is: Are you paying attention?⁣
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The earlier you recognize those signals, the more opportunity you have to do something about them before they start driving your behavior.⁣
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#StressManagement #Interoception #Stress #Resilience #Leadership by @taylor__somerville

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1

a month ago

You already know what to do. So why don’t you do it?⁣
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I suffer from the same problem.⁣
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We know we shouldn’t send the email when we’re pissed off. We know we shouldn’t snap at our kids over something small. We know we should pause, breathe, and give ourselves a second before reacting.⁣
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But under pressure, those tools become a lot harder to access.⁣
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That’s why managing stress isn’t just about knowing more. It’s about getting better at recognizing what’s happening as it’s happening.⁣
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Because the earlier you recognize it, the more choice you have about what happens next.⁣
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Over the next few videos, I’m going to break down how we can get better at catching stress earlier and responding differently.⁣
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#StressManagement #Stress #Resilience #Leadership #Symmetry by @taylor__somerville

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a month ago

I took this picture at a @kinggizzard concert at Forest Hills Stadium.⁣
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When you leave the venue and walk down into the concourse through the stairwells you see this sign. One second you’re surrounded by the noise of a concert. Then you step into this space and you can barely hear it.⁣
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It’s wild.⁣
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It also got me thinking about how rarely we get that kind of separation from the noise in our own lives.⁣
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Work. Kids. Emails. Meetings. Deadlines. Goals. The things we think we should be doing.⁣
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There’s always something competing for our attention.⁣
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As I’ve looked back at the goals I set this year, I’ve realized some still matter. Some don’t. Life changed, and so did my priorities.⁣
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Sometimes we need to step out of the noise long enough to ask:⁣
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Given where my life is now, what still matters?⁣
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Not what mattered in January.⁣
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What matters now?⁣
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For me, I’m coming back to my theme for the year: 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.⁣
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What’s still worth your attention right now? #connection #life #music #kinggizz by @taylor__somerville

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2

a month ago

When someone is overloaded, distracted, reactive, and not recovering, telling them to work harder doesn’t solve the problem.⁣
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We keep increasing the demands on people.⁣
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But we spend far less time helping people recognize when that pressure is starting to affect them, and what to do next.⁣
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That’s one reason I’m interested in what CuesHub is building. It creates visibility into your stress while it’s happening, when there’s still an opportunity to respond differently.⁣
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Because you can’t regulate what you don’t recognize.⁣
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Pause. Regulate. Recover. Get back to the work.⁣
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We don’t need people to simply work harder.⁣
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We need to help them perform better under pressure.⁣
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#PerformanceUnderPressure #StressRegulation #Leadership #WorkplacePerformance by @taylor__somerville

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2 months ago

What if I could help you manage your stress when it’s actually happening?⁣
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That’s what I’m testing with Precision Stress Coaching.⁣
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See your stress in real time. Get reminded what to do. Then we look at the patterns together.⁣
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Think of it as game film for your stress.⁣
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I’m looking for 5 people with a compatible Apple or Samsung watch to test it with me.⁣
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Interested? Hit the link in my bio to set up a call. #stressmanagement #breathe #performance #coaching by @taylor__somerville

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2 months ago

Recovery isn’t something you earn after the work is done.⁣
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It’s part of doing the work well.⁣
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We go from meeting to meeting, decision to decision, problem to problem, and expect our focus, patience, and performance to stay the same all day.⁣
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It doesn’t work that way.⁣
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And recovery doesn’t have to mean taking a vacation, leaving work early, or finding an hour to meditate.⁣
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Sometimes it’s a few minutes between meetings.⁣
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A walk outside.⁣
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A breathing practice.⁣
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A deliberate pause before moving on to the next thing.⁣
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The goal is simple: stop carrying the stress from one moment into the next.⁣
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Recovery isn’t the opposite of performance.⁣
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It’s part of performance.⁣
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What are you doing during your day to actually recover?⁣
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#PerformanceUnderPressure #StressRegulation #Recovery #Leadership by @taylor__somerville

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2 months ago

The goal isn’t to never feel stressed, frustrated, or overwhelmed.⁣
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The goal is to recognize what’s happening before it starts determining what you do next.⁣
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Before you send the email.⁣
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Before you snap at someone.⁣
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Before you carry the stress from one meeting into the next.⁣
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That space between what you feel and how you respond is where regulation happens.⁣
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And it’s a skill you can practice.⁣
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I put together 3 simple breathing protocols you can use when you need to pause, recover, or reset.⁣
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Comment REGULATE below and I’ll send them to you. by @taylor__somerville

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2 months ago

“Just stay positive” sounds like good advice.⁣
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Sometimes it’s exactly the wrong advice.⁣
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Stress, frustration, anger, and fear aren’t signs that something has gone wrong. They’re information.⁣
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The goal isn’t to suppress those emotions or pretend everything is fine. It’s to recognize what’s happening, regulate your response, and decide what to do next.⁣
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That distinction matters, especially for leaders.⁣
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You don’t need to always be positive. You need to know how to regulate.⁣
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This idea was inspired by Myth #5 in my friend @coach_brettb upcoming book, The Antihero Advantage. His point about emotional range and the limits of forced positivity really stuck with me.⁣
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#PerformanceUnderPressure #StressRegulation #Leadership #EmotionalRegulation by @taylor__somerville

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2 months ago

We expect people to perform under pressure every day.

To make better decisions.
Communicate more effectively.
Lead through uncertainty.
Adapt to constant change.

But how often do we actually teach them the skills to do that?

We invest in leadership development, technical training, and communication skills. Yet when it comes to stress, we often assume people should simply figure it out.

The reality is that chronic stress changes how we think, communicate, and perform. That’s not a character flaw. It’s physiology.

Stress regulation isn’t about making work easier.

It’s about giving people the skills to recover, stay clear, and perform when the pressure is on.

I’m curious...

Do you think organizations spend enough time teaching people how to handle pressure, or do we simply expect them to figure it out?

#Leadership #StressRegulation #FutureOfWork #WorkplacePerformance by @taylor__somerville

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2 months ago

It’s June 25th. Half the year is gone.⁣
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Think back to January. The goals you set. How many actually happened?⁣
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Now think five years out. Do you want the same stresses, and the same excuses?⁣
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The choice is yours. It always has been.⁣
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#stress #mindset #leadership #symmetry #accountability breathwork by @taylor__somerville

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4 months ago