11/29/2025
🌿 Feeling tense, overwhelmed, or “stuck” in your head?
Your nervous system might just need a gentle reset. 🌀
Here are 5 simple ways you can soothe your body, calm your mind, and reconnect with the present moment.
Lengthen Your Exhale
How: Inhale for 4, exhale for 6–8. Repeat for 1–2 minutes.
Why it helps: A long exhale activates the parasympathetic (rest + calm) system, signaling to the brain that you’re safe. It lowers heart rate, releases muscle tension, and reduces fight-or-flight activation.✨
🤲 2. Hand on Chest + Belly
How: Place one hand on your chest, the other on your belly. Breathe slowly and feel both hands rise and fall.
Why it helps: This creates felt safety through gentle pressure and co-regulation with your own body. The vagus nerve responds to soothing touch, helping downshift anxiety.✨
👀 3. Orient to the Room
How: Look around and name 5 things you see, 3 things you hear, and 1 thing you can touch.
Why it helps: Orientation pulls your brain out of looping thoughts and back into the present moment, interrupting survival-mode patterns and grounding the nervous system.✨
💧 4. Sip Water Slowly
How: Take a slow sip of water and notice the temperature and the sensation.
Why it helps: Slow hydration engages interoception (awareness of your body’s internal cues), helping regulate the stress response and bringing you back into your body.✨
🌼 5. Unclench Your Jaw + Drop Your Shoulders
How: Breathe in, soften your jaw, let your shoulders fall, and relax your tongue from the roof of your mouth.
Why it helps: These are the first areas to tense during stress. Relaxing them sends a direct signal to the brain: “We’re safe now.” Muscles release → breath deepens → nervous system calms.✨
Taking just a few minutes for these small resets can help your body and mind feel safer, calmer, and more grounded. 💛
Remember: healing and regulation are practices, not instant fixes. Be patient with yourself—and know that support is always here.