A Softer Way to Begin the Year: Gentle Nervous System Support for More Peace and Less Pressure
Why We Can’t Sprint into New Beginnings Without Nervous System Capacity
There’s an energy to new beginnings that’s incredibly compelling - it’s fresh, vibrant and exciting.
So many of us start the year feeling the pressure to sprint right out of the gate.
Yet, we might still be digesting the past year, and our nervous system might still be trying to soften the survival energy that has kept us going, perhaps for months.
New beginnings are like lines in the sand we choose to cross when the old seems outdated and we feel pulled towards embracing something different, recalibrating our compass towards ways of being, living, and leading that feel more aligned.
A spark begins to form beneath the surface, igniting more and more energy and drawing us forward.
Until the point where we feel mobilised to create change.
One key ingredient to embracing what is new and unfamiliar, which is often overlooked is this: having enough capacity and stability to move from comfort to stretch, from familiarity to newness, from what has been to what could be, from where we are to exciting new possibilities.
For many of us, these conditions don’t necessarily come together on January 1st, especially if we started January feeling tired, overwhelmed or already behind.
Nature teaches us that we cannot plant new seeds in arid soil.
But what we can do, is begin by gently tending to the soil. Creating the right conditions for the seed to grow, emerge and, in time, bloom.
For us, it means starting with tending to our body and nervous system, so the soil becomes enriched, fertile and supportive of growth.
Tending to Our Inner Soil: Living From Regeneration vs. Extraction
Nature knows how to operate in seasons of growth, expansion, and bloom, followed by seasons of rest, replenishment and stillness. And in the Northern Hemisphere, January is still deep winter. Nature is conserving energy, not expanding it: the trees are bare, the ground is not producing, blossoms are slowly forming, waiting to emerge… nature is regenerating through stillness and rest.
So why do we expect ourselves to be in full bloom all year round?
Tending to our inner soil means recognising that our pace isn’t designed to be linear (and always on), restoring our organic rhythms and offering our body and nervous system what they truly need to embrace new ways of being, meet our edge and thrive.
Care at the deepest level.
Care that unwinds our inner urgency and brings our nervous system back to its homebase.
Care that supports us to operate from stability, rather than survival.
This is what helps us live from regeneration rather than extraction.
It only takes a look at what’s around us to see how extractive systems are impacting this miraculous planet we live on … and sadly, they impact our inner ecology in much the same way.
A Gentle Path to Peace: Releasing the Pressure
At the start of a new year, society tells us to:
Start strong
Set big goals
Make a plan
Improve ourselves
Hack our health
Be better
But here is what our body might feel like if we have been operating from a place of survival:
Feeling ‘behind’ and weary on day one
Exhaustion that sleep alone doesn’t quite restore
A sense that our capacity is running low and that there’s no space for one more thing
Anticipatory dread at the thought of another year of endless striving
The familiar buzzing of inner urgency and guilt any time we try to pause or rest
A weariness from life, from the world
A sense of being on a hamster’s wheel, that our whole body is, oh so tired, of pushing forward
And yes - underneath all of this …perhaps we sense the subtle embers of a spark.
A longing to do life differently that doesn’t require to be met through dramatic goals or grand resolutions, but through gentle tending and nurturing (so it can grow from nourishment).
Perhaps a yearning to press pause on the fast and furious pace of life, to experience more peace, ease, spaciousness and lightness.
Maybe the inner knowing that resolutions, intentions, and goals rooted in ‘shoulds’ and guilt will smother the spark within us, instead of transforming it into a steady flame.
What Nervous System Care Looks Like (and Why it Matters)
So where do we begin?
We begin by slowing down enough to notice how we truly are, with an intention to care for our nervous system and trust that when the soil is nourished and fertile enough, seeds of change will naturally grow and blossom.
This means giving our nervous system what it needs:
Safety: in order to shift out of survival energy and begin to let down its guard, it needs to sense that it's safe enough to be where we are, as we are, and that nothing needs fixing or protecting in this moment. This isn’t a cognitive knowing (I can see I’m not in danger). Our nervous system needs to feel safety to let it know that it is safe to soften its vigilance.
Slowness: giving your body moments where it can experience and remember its organic rhythm so that slowness becomes more familiar and is no longer perceived as a threat - which means that it becomes more accessible.
Rhythm: rather than being in summer, expansion, high energy permanently, restoring our inner tidal waves of action followed by rest, expansion followed by contracting, movement by stillness.
Spaciousness : room to pause, breathe, to feel, to digest life and our human experience. Space between all our doing to come back to our homebase and connect with the essence of who we are beneath all the tasks, productivity and achievements. Remembering that busyness is here, but if we pay attention spaciousness might be here too, even in small ways.
Rest: meeting our body’s natural need for replenishment by allowing it to rest without having to earn it. Inviting our body to re-learn that rest is safe and that non-doing isn’t a threat.
This can be cultivated through simple daily practices that repeated regularly can shift our inner landscape from survival to more stability, ease and flow.
6 Simple Daily Nervous System Practices for More Ease and Less Pressure
We often underestimate the power of small practices done often, but when it comes to nervous system care, small moments of safety, slowness and gentle aliveness can have a profound impact.
They support our system to experience something different than survival, a remembering of what safety, stillness, and rest feel like. With each practice, we soften survival as the habitual mode, and orient towards more peace and ease.
Here are six simple and short practices that you can begin with and easily integrate into your daily life.
1) Soothing the senses ritual (2–3 mins)
When the nervous system is on guard, it needs sensory safety. Simply hold a warm mug with both hands (or wrap yourself in a blanket). Inhale the scent for a few breaths (or feel the blanket’s softness and weight resting on your body), then lengthen your exhale as you breathe out through the mouth with a slow sigh (as if fogging a mirror). Gently soften your jaw and cheeks, and add a low hum on the exhale (“hummmm”). Let your body receive soothing through your senses: warmth, scent, and vibration are three direct pathways back to safety.
2) Gentle joy: glimmer landing (60–90 seconds)
A glimmer is a small cue of safety or goodness, like light or shadows on the wall, a small object reminding you of a happy memory, a sweet birdsong, a warm sip of tea, a kind message, a soft fabric on your skin, a moment of connection with a loved one. Choose one and stay with it for 10 - 20 seconds longer than you normally would. Let it land in your body: where do you feel the softening? Through this simple practice, you are teaching your body to recognise “safe enough” again.
3) Discharge movement: shake & slow (2–4 mins)
If you’re feeling anxious, buzzy or overwhelmed, your body may be holding excess survival energy. Begin by gently shaking out your hands, arms and shoulders (as if you were flicking off water). Then shake your legs in the same way. Finally shake your entire body. Let your breath stay natural. After 60–90 seconds, shift into slow, mindful, grounding movement: rolling your shoulders, circling your head slowly, moving as if you were underwater, pressing your feet into the floor - slow does it. Then stand still for a few breaths. The slowness and stillness help signal completion to the nervous system: the danger has passed.
4) Awaken aliveness: tea & scent ritual (3 mins)
If you feel flat, numb or depleted, rather than pushing yourself to do something, start by gently inviting sensation. Make a cup of tea (chamomile and lemon balm support the nervous system and are beautifully accessible). Before drinking, inhale the steam slowly and place one hand on your heart. Take the first sip as slowly as you can, letting its warmth spread through your chest and throat. This is aliveness medicine: a gentle awakening through warmth, scent and nourishment.
5) Sleep easy: legs up the wall (5–12 mins)
Lie on the floor with your legs resting up a wall (or on a chair). Let your arms soften and your belly be unbraced. Inhale through your nose for 3–4 counts, exhale for 6–8 counts. With each exhale, allow your face and shoulders to soften. This position helps downshift the nervous system and signals: the day is complete; you can stop now.
6) Rest: yoga nidra (for deep nervous system repair)
Yoga Nidra is one of the most powerful ways to support your nervous system. It’s a meditation practiced lying down, which gently guides your body into a state of profound rest and restoration, without any effort. Get warm and comfortable, choose a practice (here is one you can try), and let your body be gently held, soothed and replenished. Over time, yoga nidra helps the nervous system relearn that it is safe to rest.
The practice you choose will depend on how you feel.
If you feel anxious, overwhelmed, or restless, you might want to start with the discharge movement practice (3) and follow with soothing the senses (1).
If you feel flat, numb, or depleted, you might want to begin with the awaken aliveness tea & scent ritual (4) and add glimmer landing (2) to gently invite aliveness back online.
If you are running on empty or hovering at the edge of burnout, begin with rest. Yoga nidra (6) is one of the most potent ways to support deep nervous system replenishment.
If you struggle to settle down at night, try legs up the wall (5) and then finish with soothing the senses (1) to signal safety and gently encourage sleep.
If any practice feels too much, simply do less or pause. The body always sets the pace.
These practices will offer your nervous system what it’s longing for: a felt experience of safety, slowness, rhythm and rest. Even a few minutes can shift your physiology. And with repetition, your body will begin to trust that there is another way to live: less braced, hurried and urgent, more present, peaceful and easeful.
Why Starting the Year Softly Creates a Stronger Foundation for Growth
Sometimes new year resolutions, goals, intentions arrive just at the right time. We are eager for new ways and excited to lean into new year energy to take intentional steps in our life.
And sometimes, what we need most is giving ourselves permission to start the year with more gentleness, softness and care. Tending the foundation, within us, upon which everything else rests.
With a strong and nourished inner foundation, the seeds of new goals, dreams and visions can take root and bloom. Without this, they might remain ideas that we don’t quite have the capacity, spaciousness or energy to bring to life.
Tending our inner soil is what supports us to pursue what truly matters, not from a place of pressure or survival, but from inner stability, peace and ease.
When our inner landscape is cared for, our outer life can expand.
How Can I Support You?
If you feel like your inner soil needs tending, and you would like to be compassionately and skilfully supported to reorient towards a life that feels more sustainable, nourishing and easeful, Tending the Self might be for you. A somatic sanctuary, where together we will replenish your nervous system, soften the long-held patterns of overdoing and overgiving that have kept you in survival, rebuild your capacity for joy, presence and aliveness, and craft a new path.
If you would like to train with me, The Wisdom Within™ Practitioner Training is a professional training for women who desire to reclaim their own power and to ripple this tender but hugely potent work into the world.
Book a call with me here and we’ll explore together what the best path forward might look like.
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