If you’re exhausted, stressed, anxious, irritated or agitated, hang in there because we’ve got 50 ways to help soothe your nervous system.

Even before Coronavirus, many of us were spending our waking hours oscillating between fight, flight, freeze and please. Despite advances in science and technology, our primitive brains are still, very much, in charge (read more over here).

50 ways to soothe your nervous system 

1. PRIORITISE SLEEP Sleep is absolutely critical (it’s #1 for a reason) and the list could really stop here. But, in the interest of variety, here are a few more ideas to try.
2. Do a braindump– morning, noon or night
3. Start a ‘Morning Pages’ practice
4. Make an appointment with your doctor or allied health professional to discuss your concerns
5. Get a relaxing massage
6. Book a float or sauna
7. Give yourself permission to rest: 10-minutes in savasana really is the ultimate tonic
8. Reduce stimulants such as caffeine, alcohol and sugar
9. Reduce high-intensity exercise or balance it out with something more gentle
10. Take your shoes off and feel your bare feet on the grass, soil or sand
11. Journal as a way to understand and process your thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and feelings
12. Turn off notifications or, better yet, consciously take a break from technology
13. Sit and meditate using one of my free guided meditations
14. Stay hydrated (check out this blog post if you’re not sure how much you should be drinking
15. Practise slow, deep breathing
16. Massage your skin with grounding and calming essential oils such as lavender, cedarwood or vetiver
17. Savour a cup of herbal tea or creamy cacao
18. Take a long, warm bath with Epsom Salts or magnesium sulphate
19. Incorporate adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha and reishi into your routine. Consult a naturopath or acupuncturist to determine which herbs are right for you
20. Take a high-quality magnesium supplement
21. Practise restorative yoga or do some gentle stretching, including a stretch to pacify the psoas which is intimately connected to your fight or flight response
22. Read something completely unrelated to your work
23. Say no without guilt
24. Cry
25. Laugh
26. Go for a walk alone, and leave your phone and headphones at home
27. Listen to relaxing music, like this playlist. It seems the sweet spot for relaxation is a tempo of around 60 beats per minute
28. Relax with Yoga Nidra which, in my experience, even people who claim they can’t or don’t like to meditate find Yoga Nidra enjoyable and beneficial!
29. Reduce your exposure to blue light, especially in the hour before bedtime
30. Limit exposure to violent or suspenseful films and TV shows because your brain has difficulty differentiating between what is real and what is not
31. Get your hands dirty in the garden and enjoy the slow process of watching something grow
32. Do something creative: draw, knit, paint, cook, dance, rearrange a room… experiment with how you express your creativity!
33. Chaos breeds chaos so, take some time to tidy a drawer, organise a cupboard or deal with that mountain of filing
34. Watch cute animal videos on YouTube
35. Share your feelings with a good friend
36. Give someone a 20-second hug
37. Play with your pet
38. Edit your to-do list
39. Cook or bake something comforting and enjoy every bite
40. Buy yourself flowers for no reason
41. Dress in your most comfortable clothes
42. Do one thing at a time
43. Spend an hour absorbed in a fictitious world. Harry Potter is the perfect escape for trying times… even better if it’s the audio version which gives your eyes a break from visual stimulus
44. Spend time in silence
45. Buy or borrow a large or complicated puzzle
46.  Limit your exposure to news and media
47. Give your neck and shoulders some relief with this short yoga sequence
48. Listen to the sound of rain falling (not raining right now? There’s an app for that!)
49. Limit the time you spend – in person and online – with people who make you feel stressed, angry, impatient etc.
50. Create your own self care instructions

It takes conscious effort to bring the nervous system back into balance so if you’re physically exhausted, mentally drained, and just holding it together by the thinnest-of-thin threads, PAUSE: 7 Days of Self Care is for you.

You’ll receive daily emails, audios and cheat sheets to help you make small, uncomplicated changes to your everyday life. These shifts will help rewire your brain, recalibrate your nervous system and give you more time, energy and clarity!

See how great life feels when you give yourself permission to pause. Click here to purchase PAUSE: 7 Days of Self Care.