The Deep Breath Out
Month 1
I don’t know about you but whenever I see or smell the ocean, something in my chemistry shifts. I realise I’ve been holding myself just so tightly and suddenly out of nowhere comes the biggest deep breath out. I can feel the tension and stress leaving my body and a sense of space and wellbeing coming back.
That is what we are here for this month. A little chemistry shift away from stress and back into ourselves.
What we will discuss, think about and explore this month
Dropping out of the stress buzz and into ourselves
Soothing the system
Finding calm
Doing less
Resting more
Exploring what it feels like to create space
Experiences and learnings from burnout
Busy culture
Our busy bee conditioning
So where do I start?
Watch the videos below, check out the reading list to see if anything appeals, note down the live session times and then, simply, breathe a little. We will be building out our de-stressing toolkit throughout the month, but first you need to take a breath and start searching for more space.
Here is your challenge this month: how can you be less busy? How can you find pockets of space? One minute, five minutes, 15 minutes. Get used to doing less. Take the podcast out of your ears. Put your phone down in evenings. These are little dull things that make the hugest difference.
Do I get a workbook you ask?? You know what, very purposefully this month, no you don’t. I suspect we are all very good at ‘doing our homework’ and filling things in. Does this really bring about change? Hmmm. No, this month we are doing something counterintuitive. It is called…doing less.
Can I suggest you get a beautiful new notebook that becomes your Corporate Recovery reflection space. If you’d like a little bit of homework, start with something simple. 2-3 pages of just downloading your brain for as many days as you can. Keep a little check on what feels hard and what doesn’t. Honestly, I still find this tough to maintain to don’t be too hard on yourself if it is hit and miss.
For those high achievers who want more, start reflecting on what takes up your time. Do a stocktake of your week. How did you feel? What kept you busy? How much of that busy list were things 1) you had to do 2) wanted to do or 3) felt you ‘should’ do.
How much time did you find just for you? To do things that make you feel good? Note that down and let’s discuss soon!
Let’s talk!
Here are some concepts, themes and insights to work your way through this month. No rush. You can come back and forth around this content for as long as you like. Our recovery is not linear, our life is not linear!
Reading List
Let me be clear! None of this is required reading. I am not here to add to your load. But! If you are looking around for beautiful things to read, I wanted to share some things that contributed to my new found wellbeing and sense of space. Enjoy. These are not all standard self help texts (great!). I will share a little bit about why each one is included on our first group call.
Burnout: the secret to solving the stress cycle - Emily & Ameila Nagoski
Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown
The Creative Act - Rick Rubin
On our best behaviour - Elise Loehnen
Daily Rituals 1 & 2 - Mason Currey
Mirrors in the Earth - Asia Suler
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
Live Sessions
Here are the dates and links for this month’s live sessions. If we find that the vast majority can’t do a particular date/time we can change this. All sessions will be recorded and uploaded here afterwards so don’t stress if you miss anything live.
Coming soon…
A gorgeous daily rest practice from one of my favourite rest practitioners. There will be one for each month that you can use again and again.
In the meantime, here is a deep rest playlist - consider is the sountrack for your month of breahting out, creating space and settling down your nervous system. I used this as part of a restorative practice - 20 minutes with something over my eyes, listening to this. I go deep very quickly and come out refreshed and restored. We will be talking much more about rest so give it a try!