Meeting your needs and nourishing your soul

Mindset Coaching

17 Sept

I can feel busyness starting to creep in. There’s a whirlwind of collaborations and events and welcoming in new clients! Ooh it’s exciting! But after a slower pace for 18 months, I can feel slight tinges of overwhelm at the edges. I feel that buzz inside me, as my nervous system lights up. My jaw is a bit tight, I am jumping from task to task, starting to work later and longer hours. These are all little signs that I need to slow down. To draw upon my own vast toolkit to help me rest, reset and restore.

This week’s Friday Feels reflects where I am at: slightly over-extended, excitable, stretching outside of my comfort zone whilst also being aware of that and trying to sloooow down, so I don’t get overwhelmed.

How are you?

1. Song of the week

Home by Imelda May (Spotify or YouTube)

This is more poetry than a song… think spoken-word. I’d warmly recommend popping everything to one side for just 3 minutes and sit in stillness and receive these words. Properly listen. Feel the words. And maybe listen to it again. You won’t regret it. Her words. Her accent. It’s tonic for the soul. “Can’t you feel me? I’m here.”

2. Quote of the week

“Just because no one else can heal or do your inner work for you doesn’t mean you can, should, or need to do it alone.” Lisa Olivera (see here on Instagram)

Us humans are sociable creatures. Human connection is a basic need – and the pandemic has really taught us that. All of my deepest healing work has always been through coaching, group courses or therapy i.e. actively working with other individuals to help me more deeply understand myself. It is deeply healing to be in the presence of other compassionate, conscious individuals who can hold space for you. I have 2x one-to-one coaching slots available at the moment – drop me an email if you’d like to find out more about working together.

3. Practice of the week

Face massage! I recently spent the weekend in Abersoch with a lovely friend. After a rich day of planning for her business and swimming in the Irish Sea, we finished with a 10-minute face massage before bed to unwind. This awesome video by Ksenija Selivanova of TheMoments is really worth bookmarking. We can carry so much tension in our faces and jaws (reflect on how expressive you face is!), it is really relaxing to do this. If – like me! – you don’t have any dedicated facial oil, you can use coconut oil or olive oil. Good greasy fun! I am definitely adding this 10-minute face massage to my self-care menu! Grease me up, woman!

4. Article of the week

HALT – meeting your basic needs – “Hungry – Angry – Lonely – Tired”. When you feel intense emotions or challenging thoughts arising, check in with yourself. Are your basic needs being covered? Can you tend to them? e.g. drink water, eat nourishing food, allow your emotions to be released, reach out to a loved one, move your body, rest, sleep, do something nourishing for your mind and body! We have an animal body. And when we meet its basic needs, it can really lift our emotional baseline. When we neglect our basic needs, we can struggle with low moods, short tempers, anxiety and depression. As the gut is our second brain, I have been focusing more on nutrition in recent years and it’s been an utter game changer for my mental and physical health. Check in regularly with yourself using HALT as a reminder to take care of numero uno: YOU! 🙂

5. A client win I’m celebrating this week

I invite my coaching clients to do “Soul Work” between sessions i.e. homework to expand on what we covered. I tasked a client with reaching out to people who knew her well and ask: “what are my natural skills, gifts and talents?” How would you feel doing that? It can feel a bit scary huh! But! It’s such a lovely exercise. The rich replies she received were filled with generous, honest and warm observations that really boosted her sense of self. That said, she found some of the feedback hard to accept… it was so glowing, some part of her rejected the positive statements. The observation of that block is also so valuable. How we are seen by others, and how we see ourselves are often very different. Deepening your self-awareness is the path to better mental health and freeing yourself of self-limiting beliefs and wounded narratives that keep you playing small. Yes, understanding how others perceive you – how you come across to others – is super important. But how you perceive yourself is what really counts… you matter x

Upcoming events

There’s no breathwork this coming Wednesday 22nd September, as I’m in holidaying in Scotland! See you Wednesday 29th September – register here to join my free weekly online breathwork sessions (it’s the same Zoom link each week).

Work with me

Wellbeing for Businesses

As it’s World Mental Health Day on 10th October, I’m nearly fully booked for wellbeing events for businesses. I have a few spaces left for meditation + breathwork workshops, so get in touch to see if it’s the right fit for your team. I have a lot of experience running these sessions. Want to see me in action first? Yeah you do! Check out this talk for “Search London” on managing stress and focus at work from May 2021 here.