Stay Calm

06/11/2025

🌿 Why children get sore tummies when they’re anxious

The vagus nerve is like a superhighway that connects the brain and the body, especially the tummy. It helps send messages both ways, from the brain to the stomach, and from the stomach back to the brain.

When a child feels worried or stressed, their brain sends a “danger” signal down the vagus nerve. The body then goes into fight, flight, or freeze mode. This makes:
🌿the heart beat faster,
🌿 become quicker,
🌿 the stomach muscles tighten or digestion slow down.

Because the tummy and brain are so closely linked, children can actually feel their emotions in their stomach. That’s why anxiety can cause butterflies, tummy aches, or even a need to rush to the toilet.
💫 What can help
The good news is that the vagus nerve also helps the body calm down, we just have to help it switch back to “rest and digest” mode.
Here are some gentle, child-friendly ways to do that:
🌿Slow breathing – Breathing in deeply and slowly out tells the vagus nerve that everything is safe. Try “smell the flower, blow the candle.”
🌿Humming or singing – The vibration activates the vagus nerve (it runs near the vocal cords). Singing a favourite song or humming quietly can help the body relax. Some children naturally hum to self soothe
🌿 Gentle rocking, stretching, or walking can help release tension and bring comfort.
🌿 and touch – A warm drink, a cuddle, or placing a hand on the tummy can soothe both body and brain.
🌿 moments – Focusing on the senses (what can you see, hear, feel?) helps bring attention back to the present, reassuring the nervous system that it’s safe.

06/11/2025

🎥 Watch the video to hear a Year 3 teacher share his thoughts on the value of children learning this tool to help regulate their emotions.

He explains how adults find ways to manage challenges, and how important it is that children are also given tools to understand and cope with their feelings.

It’s inspiring to hear educators recognise the impact of emotional wellbeing in the classroom. 💛

A Year 3 teacher shares her thoughts on our recent emotional wellbeing workshop, describing it as a valuable tool to help children understand and express the...

03/11/2025

Stay Calm Wellbeing Workshops for Schools and Families

In a world where children are constantly stimulated, these workshops offer something truly different, a chance to pause, breathe, and reconnect through imagination.

Featured in Mindfulness Magazine, this creative, mindfulness-based approach helps children calm their nervous systems, build resilience, and rediscover their natural sense of calm and confidence.

Each session blends imagination and mindfulness to bring peace to the classroom, supporting emotional regulation, creativity, and focus.

Tailored to your school’s needs, with up to five workshops a day, every pupil has the chance to experience calm in action.

For a modest investment, your school will gain a lasting, evidence-based resource that supports emotional literacy, improves self-regulation, and enhances wellbeing across your community.

Available all year round, affordable and inclusive.

Visit my YouTube Channel and see all the amazing testimonials from teachers. https://www.youtube.com/

To book or learn more, contact Jacqui Cameron

29/10/2025

Teacher Feedback on My Wellbeing Workshops

I’ve had the privilege of visiting so many wonderful schools, both here in the UK and abroad, to deliver my wellbeing workshops. 🌍💚

After some of the visits, I’ve invited teachers to share their reflections, and I’ve gathered a collection of short interviews where they talk about how the children engaged with the sessions and what they observed.

You can now find all of these interviews on my YouTube channel. Hearing directly from teachers brings these workshops to life in such a genuine and meaningful way.

If you’d like to know more about how these sessions could support the wellbeing of children in your school, or in a school your child attends, please feel free to get in touch. I’d love to share more information.

🎥https://www.youtube.com/

29/10/2025

Last horse session of the year with our amazing teenagers 🐴✨

What a lovely group! We had so much fun with our activities today, including one where pairs worked together, with one person blindfolded and the other giving directions on where to go. I even joined in… and I have to say, it’s not easy being blindfolded while leading a horse! But it was such a great exercise in trust and teamwork.
Over the weeks, we’ve seen some really special friendships blossom. It’s been wonderful to watch as everyone slowly opened up, felt safe to be themselves, and showed their true character. The confidence, laughter, and care for the beautiful horses has been heartwarming to see. 💛
These sessions have been all about connection to the horses, to each other, and to ourselves.

We might run a little Christmas special (weather permitting!), so keep an eye out for updates. ❄️🎄

28/10/2025

When I visit schools to share My Magical Garden or My Magical Tree, one part often sparks curiosity and sometimes a little scepticism.
At the back of the books are symbolic translations: gentle suggestions of what a child’s choices might mean emotionally. For example, a stormy sky, a locked gate, or a hidden path can all hint at different inner experiences.
Teachers sometimes tell me, “This feels a bit woo woo.”
And I completely understand. Schools are used to evidence, structure, and frameworks, not symbols and imagination.
But symbolism is actually deeply rooted in psychology.
Respected figures like Carl Jung taught us that the mind expresses itself through symbols, especially when words aren’t enough. Margaret Lowenfeld, a pioneer of play therapy, showed how children use imaginative worlds to communicate feelings safely. Donald Winnicott spoke about the importance of “transitional spaces” places where children can explore emotions through creativity and play.
When we see it this way, symbolism isn’t mystical, it’s a language of the heart.
Children often show us how they feel through imagery, colour, and story long before they can tell us in words.
The meanings I offer in the books are never labels or diagnoses, they’re invitations to curiosity.
A way to notice patterns, ask gentle questions, and offer the right kind of support.
Symbolism simply gives us another way to connect, and sometimes, that’s where the real understanding begins. 💚

Here's the flower page from My Magical Garden - which one do you feel drawn to today? What is the meaning for you? Put your choice in the comments and I'll give you the interpretation.

25/10/2025

Mirror Neurons and How We Feel Each Other’s Emotions
Have you ever woken up feeling great, but after spending time with others, you’ve walked away feeling sad, anxious, angry, or drained without really knowing why?
This often happens because of something called mirror neurons, special brain cells discovered by neuroscientists Giacomo Rizzolatti and later Marco Iacoboni. These neurons help us naturally connect with others by “mirroring” what we see and feel around us.
When someone smiles, our brain responds as if we are smiling too. When someone is upset or stressed, our mirror neurons can react in the same way allowing us to feel what they feel. It’s how empathy works at a biological level.
But sometimes, we take on those emotions and hold them as if they were our own. Over time, this can leave us feeling heavy, overwhelmed, or out of balance.
That’s why it’s so important to find gentle ways to release what isn’t ours, through music, dance, cold showers, breathwork, movement, mindfulness, or visualisations like the Magical Garden.
When we learn to return to calm and reconnect with our own energy, we not only feel better ourselves, we also help those around us to settle too.

24/10/2025

The Power of Imagination and Connection in the Magical Garden

In this video, you’ll hear some of the children’s beautiful thoughts and ideas about their Magical Gardens, each one unique and filled with imagination. At the end, one little girl shared her idea.

She said:
“If there was something wrong with me and my friend was leaving for somewhere else, I could put my friend in my magical garden so she can help me. My friend has left for Japan, and I send her cards every week.”

Her words perfectly capture the essence of what the Magical Garden offers, a gentle and imaginative way for children to express feelings and stay connected to what matters most to them.

When she’s missing her friend, she can simply close her eyes, take a deep breath, and step into her magical garden. There, she can spend time with her friend, talk to her, play, and feel comforted, reminding her that love and friendship live inside her, even across great distances.

As I suggested in the video, she could even share the idea of the magical garden with her friend in Japan, creating a shared space in their imagination where they can meet whenever they wish.

This is the beauty of imaginative work, it gives children a safe inner world to return to whenever life feels uncertain or change feels hard. Through creativity and visualisation, they find connection, resilience, and calm.

22/10/2025

FOR ANYONE LIVING IN THE KENT AREA.

Come and join one of the sessions in November - there's something for all ages including:

🌸1st November a session for adults with the horses
🌸7th November the start of my Home Ed sessions for Teenagers which will run every other week
🌸28th November my first collaboration with Victoria McCrea a music therapist and she will be bringing her gorgeous therapy dog Syd for the session.

WhatsApp me for more details Jacqui 07452835784 or message me

For details and booking, visit www.stay-calm.co.ukLet’s make November a month of calm & connection.

20/10/2025

Our emotions are meant to move through us, just like water flowing in a river. When life feels calm, that river runs smoothly. But when we experience stress, pain, or trauma, it’s as if branches, stones, or debris fall into the water.

If we don’t take time to gently clear them away, the flow slows down… and eventually, it can become blocked.
When emotions get stuck, we might notice it in our body as tight shoulders, tension in the chest, or constant fatigue. We might notice it in our mind, feeling anxious, snappy, flat, or overwhelmed for no clear reason. And we might even feel it in our energy, like something inside us just isn’t moving freely anymore.

The truth is, emotions that aren’t felt or expressed don’t disappear; they simply move deeper into our system. Over time, this can lead to physical symptoms, mood swings, low energy, and a sense of disconnection from ourselves.

Learning to release those emotions is like clearing the river so the water can flow again.

It doesn’t have to be dramatic — it can be as simple as:
🌿 Taking a mindful breath and feeling what’s really there
🎶 Moving your body to music
🖊️ Writing in a journal
💧 Crying, laughing, or sitting quietly in nature

When we give our emotions permission to move, we make space for peace, balance, and vitality to return. The river begins to flow again, clear, alive, and full of possibility.

18/10/2025

Get Closer to Calm – Teenage Wellbeing Sessions

I’m excited to share that on 7th November I’ll be starting my first Home Ed teenage wellbeing session near Hothfield (just outside Ashford). These sessions will run every other week, offering a safe and supportive space for up to 8 teenagers to explore what helps them feel balanced, calm, and confident.

Each session we’ll explore different wellbeing tools — from mindfulness, visualisation, and breathwork to journaling, grounding techniques, and creative relaxation. Teenagers can drop in or come regularly, gradually building their own Wellbeing Toolbox of strategies that really work for them.

🕒 1-hour sessions
👥 Small group (maximum 8 teens)
💫 Relaxed, practical, and supportive environment
💷 £10 per session

If this sounds like something your teenager might enjoy, please comment below or send me a message.

Jacqui 🌸
Mindfulness teacher, wellbeing therapist, and inner child practitioner

16/10/2025

One thing I hear time and time again from schools is that there’s no time in the day for things like mindfulness, yoga or activities such as My Magical Garden.
I understand the pressure schools are under, the full timetables, the targets, the testing. But from what I see during my visits, I can’t help but disagree. Because what’s happening right now in classrooms tells a very different story.
So many children are not coping. Some shut down. Some act out. Others withdraw or run away, physically or emotionally. These behaviours aren’t signs of defiance; they’re signs of dysregulation. Children are living in a near-constant stress response, and it’s showing up in their bodies, emotions, and ability to learn.
We cannot expect children to access the curriculum when their nervous systems are in survival mode. Until they feel safe, calm, and connected, learning simply can’t happen.
Sir Ken Robinson once said that “schools are killing creativity.” I believe he was pointing to something vital, when we neglect imagination, play, and creative exploration, we neglect a core part of what it means to be human. These aren’t “extras” to fit in when there’s time; they are the foundation for emotional health, curiosity, and genuine learning.
Children need time to create, to imagine, and to reconnect with themselves. These moments help them move out of the stress response and back into balance, where calm, focus, and joy become possible again.
In my opinion it’s time for schools to start making time, because emotional regulation isn’t a luxury. It’s a prerequisite for learning, wellbeing, and life.

If you haven’t seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk click the link below

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.Sir Ken Robinson makes an ...