First shared in my newsletter 29/05/2025
The other week I went to the coast with a friend and on our drive back I asked him what he finds the most interesting in his life right now. That’s the kind of conversations we often have, the ones that leave a bit more room for reflection and depth.
He shared for a while about his health and training, his relationship with his body and wanting to find out what else is possible.
And then he did something that always surprises me.
He threw the question back at me. I felt caught off guard because I hadn’t even thought about this myself.
I was a bit nervous actually and wondered if I would give a good answer. I am easy to ask these questions but don’t often receive them myself. So, it always feels a bit edgy and vulnerable for me. I took a moment to think about it and looked outside the window, watching the Australian hills rushing past.
After sitting with it for a while, something simple but steady came up.
I had been quietly in awe these past few weeks of a daily practice I had started. Something that had become a gentle checkpoint between me and myself.
The practice of checking in with my state and working with it.
The State Behind the Story
When I first left my previous job back in February, I was running on empty. Everything in my body, my nervous system, my breath, my energy, felt drained and exhausted. I knew the language of "self-regulation" and "nervous system work," but somehow it seemed really far away and not accessible. I was in quite a low. I had to take some time to just nourish my system. Every thought back to the job I had just left made my heart race faster, my eyes dart around, my breath become shallow, my chest tight and my throat closed up. I might even start tearing up from all the stress my body remembered. And when I tried to think ahead to the next job, my system put a big halt to that, too. It would not let me go there. So, I spent 1.5 weeks with some really basic nourishing practices to come from being in the minus with my energy back up into the positive.
I started reading a book about the nervous system and completed a trauma-aware breath coaching certification since then. They both were an incredible help to get me from drained to thriving again and got me interested in understanding my own state more in general.
So when one of my current favourite coaches shared a practice involving breath and state awareness, I leaned in.
A Quick Context on States
There is a well-known school of thought that says thoughts create emotions.
And yes, that is often true.
A comment, a glance, a missed deadline. These external triggers spark thoughts, and the thoughts generate emotions.
I discovered this for myself as a teenager. Sitting in class, I noticed how a judgment about a classmate would make me feel tense or frustrated, even icky in my body. But if I caught the judgment mid-thought, almost physically interrupting it in my mind, the emotion didn’t come up. It just wasn’t there.
But this isn’t the whole story.
Another perspective says: sometimes it’s the body that moves first.
The quality of your sleep. The tension you woke up with. A season of stress that has crept into your muscles and breath. A trigger in your environment that reminds your system of something in the past.
All of these shift your STATE before your mind even gets involved.
When your body feels strained, disconnected, or restless, it colours the STORY you tell yourself. Often without you noticing.
And based on that story, you unconsciously pick a STRATEGY to deal with it.
You might push through. You might numb out. You might work harder. You might spiral into self-judgment.
All depending on where you started from in your BODY.
The Practice
The practice is to pay more attention, to gain more awareness. The great pause. Noticing.
No rush.
No wishing anything was different.
No judgment.
Pure, real-time awareness.
The State Check-In
Michelle Florez' framework invites you to do exactly that. To pause and check in with your current inner state, not just mentally but viscerally.
It is a practice that builds self-awareness through the lens of your state first. It becomes the groundwork that connects your sensation, emotion, and the quiet undercurrents running through you.
These are the questions to go through:
1. What is my current STATE?
Check in emotionally, mentally, and physically (somatically).What is present in your body? Is there any softness? Is there any tension? Are you holding your breath, clenching your jaw, slumping your shoulders? How do you feel in your emotions? Are you grounded, spacious, joyful, neutral?How is your mind? Distracted, focused, gentle, quiet, loud? Be honest with yourself about what's happening internally.
2. What is my STORY about the present moment?
Notice the inner narrative. Are you interpreting your state as good, bad, wrong, right? What meaning are you layering over your experience?
3. What is my STRATEGY when I believe this story?
What do you tend to do when you accept this story as truth? Rush forward? Withdraw? Strive harder? Do you let it drive your actions and thoughts?
4. What is my RELATIONSHIP to this state right now?
Are you detached, attached, or feeling stuck in this state? Are you blaming yourself for feeling how you feel? Are you enjoying the state? Are you hoping it won’t change?
5. Can I bring full ACCEPTANCE to this state, right now, as it is?
Can you acknowledge and embrace this state without judgment, resistance, or comparison to how you wish it were? Try it.
6. What is the state I am CHOOSING to cultivate today?
What state would you like to experience more today? Choose a state that feels more aligned with your values and intentions. Maybe you want to feel more steadiness, openness, vitality, calm.
7. What is one thing I am CO-CREATING with life today?
What is one specific action or intention you can focus on to bring about the desired state and create a more positive experience in your day? And how can you trust in how life unfolds today?
The result?
Alignment.
Why This Changed Things for Me
I cannot promise that you will become quite as fascinated with this as I have. But I invite you to try it.
What I have noticed doing this practice like a daily protocol for a few weeks is that I find my way back to alignment faster.
Not by forcing it.
Not by willing myself into a better mindset.
But by slowing down enough to feel the first layer (the body's layer) and adjusting from there.
In the past, my intentions for the day came purely from my mind: what I thought I should do, even what I wanted to do consciously, or what looked good on a list.
Now, my intentions are rooted in a more honest place: where my breath, my heart, my body are already standing. The body is the unconscious mind and when we don’t work with it, life will be A LOT harder.
So, the State Check In gives me more self-awareness in the moment which allows me to deepen my self-mastery. It helps me bring acceptance to myself in a small accessible way. It helps me be even more intentional – now that I know where I am coming from. And my day feels a lot more true to me as a result.
They often say you need to know what your goal is so you can use a map to get there.
But remember how Google Maps will always ask you “From” before giving you directions?
This is your From.
Otherwise, your goal is just a floating pin.
How I Practise It
Do I journal my answers? No.
After a bit of movement and spinal work in the morning (I mainly work with spinal waves and connecting breath with gentle or invigorating movements), I sit quietly on the edge of my bed. I let my breath drop into my belly. I soften my hands. And I walk myself through these questions, using the written list as a crutch.
It is not performative. It is not rushed.
It feels like meeting myself where I am before the I ask myself to be anything else.
The beauty of the State Check In is that it does not stop at awareness. It uses awareness to build acceptance, and from acceptance, it helps shape the next right action. Even if the action is to simply rest.
If you are curious, I encourage you: try it right now.
Close your eyes for a moment.
Feel the chair under you, the floor beneath you, the air around you.
Take a deep breath.
Take a moment of stillness.
And just ask: What is my current state?
You might be surprised by what you find.
