TIPP Technique: Understanding Physical Crisis Intervention

TIPP Technique represents a physiology-first approach to crisis intervention. It consists of four physical interventions designed to change body chemistry and interrupt panic, rage, and intense emotional distress when the emotional brain has hijacked cognitive function.

TIPP stands for: Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, Paired muscle relaxation. Understanding what each component addresses and why physical intervention works when cognitive strategies fail helps coaches recognize when clients need this approach.

Why TIPP Works When Nothing Else Does

When crisis hits, your client's body is already in emergency mode. Heart racing at 120 beats per minute. Muscles rigid. Breathing shallow and rapid. Thinking clearly is impossible. The prefrontal cortex—the part that makes good decisions—goes offline. The amygdala takes over.

TIPP doesn't try to think through the crisis. It changes the physiology that's creating it.

This works in 5-10 minutes. Your client uses TIPP and the intensity drops from 9/10 to 5/10. Not complete calm—that's unrealistic in crisis. But enough to think. Enough to make decisions. Enough to use other skills.

How TIPP Relates to STOP for Crisis

STOP for Crisis creates the pause. TIPP uses that pause to calm the body. They're often used together: STOP prevents the impulsive action (freezing before sending the angry email), TIPP reduces the physiological intensity that's driving that impulse.

Think of it this way: STOP keeps them from doing something destructive. TIPP gives them a way to manage the intensity they're feeling during that pause. Without TIPP, the pause can feel unbearable—they've stopped themselves from acting, but the rage or panic is still at 9/10. TIPP brings that down to something manageable.

Learn the complete crisis navigation framework →

Understanding the Four TIPP Components

TIPP consists of four physical interventions, each addressing different aspects of crisis physiology. Clients don't use all four every time—they select 1-3 components based on crisis type, physical location, and what works for their body. Understanding what each component addresses helps coaches match interventions to specific crisis patterns.

Temperature uses cold exposure to trigger the mammalian dive response—an automatic physiological shift that slows heart rate and activates the parasympathetic (calm) nervous system. When cold hits the face or hands, the body cannot maintain panic-level activation. This isn't psychological—it's hardwired biology that interrupts crisis intensity through pure physiology. Most effective for panic attacks and extreme emotional flooding.

Intense Exercise burns stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) that flood the body during crisis. These hormones prepare the body for physical action—fight or flight—but modern crises rarely involve actual physical danger. The hormones accumulate, maintaining crisis activation. Intense movement channels those hormones into their intended purpose, burning them off through physical exertion rather than letting them fuel destructive behavior. Most effective for rage and agitated anxiety.

Paced Breathing manipulates the one automatic body function humans can consciously control. Slow breathing with longer exhales signals safety to the nervous system. The body interprets controlled breath as evidence of safety—predators don't chase prey that breathes slowly. The exhale specifically activates parasympathetic response, while the inhale activates sympathetic (stress) response. Panic cannot coexist with genuinely slow breathing. Effective for all crisis types, especially panic and anxiety.

Paired Muscle Relaxation releases the physical tension that accompanies and feeds emotional intensity. Crisis creates massive muscular bracing—clenched jaw, raised shoulders, rigid back. This tension signals danger to the brain, maintaining crisis activation. The systematic tense-release contrast helps the body recognize what relaxation actually feels like, breaking the tension-emotion feedback loop. Most effective for generalized distress and tension-based anxiety.

When Clients Need TIPP

TIPP addresses a specific coaching challenge: clients whose crisis intensity is so high that cognitive strategies fail. When emotions reach 9/10 and thinking becomes impossible, physical intervention provides a pathway to reduce intensity enough for other skills to work.

Different crisis types benefit from different component combinations. Panic responds fastest to temperature intervention. Rage benefits from intense exercise that burns stress hormones. Overwhelm responds well to breathing and progressive relaxation. Understanding these patterns helps coaches guide clients toward the most effective intervention for their specific crisis type.

The realistic goal is intensity reduction from 9/10 to 5-6/10 within 5-10 minutes—not complete calm, which is unrealistic during actual crisis, but sufficient reduction to restore cognitive function. At 5-6/10, clients can think, make decisions, and use other crisis skills effectively.

TIPP functions as crisis first aid rather than complete resolution. It creates the physiological conditions that make other interventions possible—STOP for Crisis for pausing before action, Pros and Cons for rational evaluation, or Distraction Techniques for maintaining reduced intensity.

TIPP in Action

Panic During Professional Presentation

Derek was mid-presentation when full panic hit—chest tightening, vision narrowing, hands trembling. Without intervention, he would have fled the meeting and hidden for an hour, missing his entire presentation and damaging his professional credibility.

With physical crisis intervention, he excused himself for seven minutes, used the techniques to bring intensity from 9/10 to 4/10, and returned to deliver his presentation. Not his best work, but functional. No one noticed he'd been in crisis. He proved to himself that panic doesn't have to derail critical professional moments.

Rage Following Public Criticism

Maria's boss publicly blamed her for someone else's mistake in front of senior leadership. She was seconds from barging back into the conference room to quit dramatically and publicly humiliate him. Without pause, she would have felt vindicated for five minutes, then unemployed and professionally damaged.

With crisis intervention, she took eight minutes to reduce rage from 9/10 to 3/10, then slept on the decision. The next day she addressed the injustice professionally, received an apology, and got proper credit for her work. Her reputation remained intact.

Coaching Considerations

TIPP requires physical demonstration in coaching sessions—this is body learning rather than intellectual understanding. Clients need to experience the dive response, feel stress hormones burning through movement, and recognize the contrast between tension and release. Talking about these sensations doesn't create the learning that physical practice does.

The skill feels awkward initially. Holding ice during crisis, doing intense exercise in a bathroom stall, or practicing breathing patterns can feel self-conscious and vulnerable. This awkwardness is predictable and temporary. Once the technique proves effective—once clients experience panic dropping from 9/10 to 4/10 in seven minutes—they stop caring how it looks. Effectiveness trumps elegance.

Clients face common challenges: believing they don't have time during crisis, strong reactions to cold exposure, location constraints for exercise, difficulty focusing on breath during peak panic, and intensity returning after intervention. These challenges have solutions, but addressing them effectively requires coaching support that accounts for individual body responses, available resources, and crisis contexts.

Successful implementation requires preparation before crisis hits. Clients need to know where ice is accessible, what exercise options work in their typical crisis locations, and which breathing patterns feel natural to their body. Planning during calm makes execution possible during chaos.

Integration with Other Skills

TIPP functions most effectively when combined with other crisis navigation skills. STOP for Crisis creates the pause that prevents impulsive action, then TIPP calms the physiology during that pause. After TIPP reduces intensity, Pros and Cons helps evaluate options rationally, or Distraction Techniques maintains the lower intensity.

The logical teaching sequence builds from pause to calm to decision: introduce STOP first, add TIPP second, then layer in evaluation and maintenance skills. This progression creates a complete crisis response system.

TIPP sits within the Crisis Navigation pillar as one of seven emergency intervention skills. It builds on body awareness from Mindfulness—clients must notice 7/10 intensity to know when intervention is needed. It protects interpersonal relationships by preventing crisis-driven damage. And it creates space for Emotion Regulation skills to reduce crisis frequency over time.

Important consideration: If clients use TIPP daily or multiple times per day for extended periods, crisis skills are being overused. This signals a need to shift focus toward prevention through emotion regulation or to consider whether clinical support is warranted. Crisis skills should function as occasional emergency interventions, not primary coping mechanisms.