Posts In: Meditation

I crept into my front yard under the cover of darkness and started pulling out tufts of overgrown grass.

I didn’t want my neighbours to see me – several of whom have offered to loan me their lawn mowers. The kind, compassionate monsters!

A few months back I’d made the decision to purchase an old-school push mower. I thought I’d save on petrol. I thought I’d get a workout. I didn’t think ‘This is going to make my lawn look like a three-year-old who’s cut their own hair.’

Equal parts stubborn and embarrassed, I turned down my neighbours’ offers, and sporadically attempted to sort the lawn out. (Side note: a friend once said to me ‘You usually end up making the right decision, but only after you’ve tried out every single wrong one along the way.’)

My haphazard garden maintenance came to a head yesterday when, after a day off spent trying to wrap my head around my uni essay (psychology, LOLZ), I received a very polite and reasonable request from my agent to tidy the yard. I spiralled.

The polite request became ‘I’ll never get another lease’ which became ‘I’ll be priced out of the area’ which became ‘And don’t even start on when my studio lease is up for renewal’ which became ‘I’m failing at life’. Which turned into the shame gardening…

The thing is, even as I was spiralling. And even as I got the scissors out and started cutting at particularly stubborn tufts of grass. There was a second, kinder voice (yep, it’s crowded up there) saying ‘This is an entirely appropriate response your body is having to stress and overwhelm.’

I mean, not the shame gardening. That’s weird. But the anxiety itself. I felt overwhelmed because I am overwhelmed. Uni, small business, COVID/flu/Monkeypox, social media, a tendency to medicate with caffeine. It’s a lot. My nervous system isn’t designed to function well in a near-constant state of activation. Your nervous system isn’t designed to function well in a near-constant state of activation.

And yes, yoga and meditation will help, absolutely. But it won’t make you immune to the human experience. Sometimes the most healing thing you can do is to validate your body’s response as it spirals.

This post is for anyone who’s feeling overwhelmed with life, who then judges themself for feeling overwhelmed.

For those who are anxious, chances are your body is having an entirely appropriate response. I hope you find your own shame gardening – if for no other reason than so you can have a giggle about it when the storm passes. And it will pass.

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Join me September 10th, 3-5:30PM, for the new event Meeting Your Energy Body.

**Early bird pricing available until August 27th. Instalments available. Link in bio.**

Are you interested in incorporating energy healing into your own personal yoga and meditation practice? Join Carry Om Yoga owner and energetics practitioner Natalie to learn how to sense your energetic field in a grounded, safe and boundaried way.

By getting better acquainted with your energy body you’ll begin to regulate your nervous system, connect to your deeper layers of consciousness, shift old stories, and even heal ancestral patterns.

This 2.5 hour event is designed for you discover your own unique way of sensing your energy body.

When: Sept 10 3-5:30PM
Where: Carry Om Yoga Wynnum
Investment: Early bird price $45, regular price $50

Limited to 10 attendees.

Lovely Humans! Come this Saturday Miss Cyndy & I are combining our energetic chops to bring you an afternoon of energy-led practices to help you ground. Between 4-6PM July 30th you can marinate in qigong, meditation, energy healing and sound healing, including the gorgeous gong.

If ‘grounding’ sounds a little woolly and woo to you, how does ‘self-regulating’ hit you in the feels? Same-same.

Whether energy-led or otherwise, grounding techniques help create space and safety around dysregulating sensations that can lead to anxiety, stress, depression, dissociation, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Learn more about practical grounding below. And, to book your place at this Saturday’s Energetic Grounding: Creating Safety in Your Body, 4-6PM, $45, visit our Events page.

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Outside of the yoga bubble, grounding techniques can include using your senses to help you navigate distress, practical mental exercises to bring yourself back to the present, and cultivating positive feelings to move through overwhelm.

Discovering the right grounding techniques for your unique make-up is like a love letter to your nervous system.

Let’s Get Physical

– Reach out and touch something. Notice texture, weight, temperature and get specific about colours.

– Breathe. Said every yoga teacher ever. If your brain needs extra homework to quiet down, count your inhale to four and your exhale to six.

– 5-4-3-2-1. Notice: five things you hear; four things you see; three things you can touch; two things you can smell; and one thing you can taste.

Mind Games

– Make a list. No, not a to-do list. Mentally create lists of random categories. For up to two minutes make mental lists of different cheeses, your favourite flowers, whatever!

– Do the math. Run through your times tables, count backwards from 100, do simple sums in your head.

– Describe your surroundings. ‘I’m sitting on a blue chair, there’s a yellow chair over there. The blue chair feels a little cold and smooth to touch. The air smells like eucalyptus. I hear water running and people laughing.’

Feel the Feels

– Practice compassionate self-talk. Whether out loud or in your head. ‘You’re having a tough time of things but you can navigate this pain like the Brene Brown of Wynnum-Manly.’

– Visualise something you love. Your bestie, your best pooch (assuming they’re different), your favourite donut.

– Plan something nurturing. You can enlist a loved one or roll solo. Plan an activity right down to the minutiae. What you’ll wear, when you’ll go, how you’ll get there.