This is a good, old fashioned wellness post and will probably be one of the most important posts I write!
These are my favorite ways of clearing trauma from the body & calming down the nervous system.
Because as highly sensitive people, everything just feels more intense for us, which is why it’s very important for us to stay calm.
So here are my favorite ways for calming myself down as a highly sensitive person:
1. Magnesium!
Magnesium is KEY (for me) for staying calm. I started taking it maybe… a year ago?
When I was in Mexico and swimming in the ocean everyday, I realized that the ocean water (which contains salt w/ high amounts of minerals including magnesium) would make me feel super calm for the rest of the day.
I was wondering why this was and my little sister said, duh… it’s the magnesium in the ocean water.
This is when I started to take magnesium regularly.
(Just think about this, if you live in North America, our soil is super depleted. We used to get our food from small family farms who would re-mineralize their soil with cow manure and organic fertilizer but these days, they don’t do that, large-scale, commercial farmers use synthetic fertilizers and re-use the same depleted soil over and over because they need to produce as much food as possible, it’s more about money than quality these days)
So, this is why it’s important to supplement with minerals. Specifically magnesium. nutritionelements (on Instagram) talks about the importance of magnesium a lot.
I take 3 magnesium glycinate pills per day (just spaced out throughout the day) from Pure Encapsulations (any brand will do though, as long as it’s pure magnesium glycinate, not magnesium oxide mixed in).
And, in the evening, I will use the magnesium spray from Life Flo:
This is the best brand I’ve tried (it’s the most concentrated) and best value for your money.
Keep in mind, magnesium spray might burn a bit when you spray it on, so…you can try mixing it with lotion and then rub it on yourself, or buy the Life Flo magnesium lotion.
Alternatively, you can swim in the ocean everyday for 30-40 mins or take a sea salt bath for 30-40 mins (put enough salt in so it’s the same saltiness level as ocean water).
I find when I keep up with my magnesium supplementation, I feel super calm! I swear. And when I slack on it, I notice that I more easily fall into anxiety. Try it!
2. Eating meat
Another thing that I find helps to calm the nervous system is eating fatty red meat.
And I know… that’s a bit controversial, because it’s not a “high vibe” food. But I find that the fat and gelatin in the meat adds this extra layer of nutrients I need and don’t get from anything else.
I feel like it’s protective for my nerves as well.
I find when I have a type of high-fat red meat for dinner like ox tail, beef shank or beef ribs, I sleep super deeply and feel very calm the next day. But I don’t get the same effect if I’m eating like… lean ground beef. If you know what I mean? It has to be bone-in red meat with the fat.
I find eating 2 servings per week really helps me stay calm! I dunno!…I can’t really help what I feel 🤷.
Also…
I find that it also helps to not eat sugar or starch on its own (without protein and fat). When I eat too much sugar, I start to feel tired, my heart will pound, and I will get anxious more easily. So…sugar and starch in moderation is important, for sure…
Generally, eating enough protein and fat is key for a calm nervous system. For example, for breakfast I will have 3 eggs (with whole grain toast w/ butter). I’ve realized that I oftentimes just don’t eat “enough” protein and fat.
When you’re getting enough nutrients and protein/fat your survival mechanism in your brain can turn off and you feel very happy and calm.
Check out my wellness routine post for more of “what I eat”:
3. Bilateral stimulation
Bilateral stimulation is (in my experience) the best way to clear deep-seated traumas from your body and subconscious mind.
Bilateral stimulation is basically stimulating both sides of your body in a back and forth motion. And when you think about it, it makes sense why it works…
We have a lot of wars going on in this world. It’s always male vs. female or blue 🔵 vs. red 🔴 (liberal vs. conservative).
We’re constantly battling with OURSELVES, and we need to bring the left side of our body (feminine) and the right side of our body (masculine) into one energy. And this is what bilateral stimulation does.
And there are a few ways you can do it.
EMDR
EMDR is basically moving your eyes back and forth 👀. It’s really THAT simple! I wrote a post a long time ago on my original blog on how to do EMDR on yourself at home. Here is the post.
Somatic exercises
I’ve been doing The Workout Witch’s trauma release course (I got the 3-course bundle)and yes, it’s like a full body bilateral stimulation thing, and it works!
It’s really cool how it works because you just do a little bit everyday and after maybe 30 days you feel like a huge weight has been removed from your body.
This is the stored trauma being released!
The 3 course bundle is long, I think 60 days, but each day you do around 10 minutes of trauma release and as every day goes by, you feel lighter and lighter (and more calm…)
Use code SPIRITSURFERS for 10% off her courses: Check it out here
Mirror work
Another way you can do bilateral stimulation and bring your body into 1 energy (coherence) is through this concept of mirror work which is literally…just moving both sides of your body in a symmetrical way.
I learned this in Sister Shanti’s Mirror Medicine course:
All you do is take your hands and make symmetrical designs in the air, focusing on making both sides perfectly even. And you’ll feel a shift in your energy from this. It’s pretty cool actually!
4. Stay warm
Another way to keep your nervous system calm, is to simply…stay warm!
When I am in a country with a really hot climate, I notice a difference in the people there. They walk a little slower, they’re looking around, saying hello to each other, they’re just in a more relaxed state.
Compare this to countries like Canada, Russia, Norway…the temperature is cold so the people are cold too, more serious and uptight.
I really noticed when I came back from Mexico, people in Canada walk in a very hurried, uptight way and they keep to themselves.
Being in the cold, I feel, activates a survival switch in the brain. It’s like you don’t have the energy to be friendly, so of course you won’t do it.
When you can’t be in a hot climate, you need to prioritize your temperature levels. One of the best ways to warm yourself up is to sleep with a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel at your feet.
I would imagine that hot baths and saunas would be good to heat up your body, but I don’t have access to a sauna or bathtub right now.
I would also recommend that you simply invest in warm clothes. Super warm socks, fleece sweaters, comfy fleece pants.
I talk more about staying warm in this post:
5. Detox your phone!
If you’re a highly sensitive person who posts a lot on social media or is always on your phone… you need to detox it!
The EMF waves from my phone actually really affect me! I will feel a buzzing all throughout my body if I have it on me for too long or if I’m watching a video on it (which causes a higher amount of EMFs to be emitted), I’ll feel the buzzing go up my arm.
To minimize the buzzing/EMF you can put some shungite plates on your phone.
I’ve tried the harmonizing plates you can buy on Amazon and they literally don’t work!? There' is still pretty much the same amount of buzzing. Shungite is the only thing that works for me.
This is what I use, and I put 3 on my phone:
I bought them from this store on Etsy. It’s pure Russian shungite and it blocks pretty much ALL the vibrations when I put 3 on my phone. 2 of them will block 80%, so I found I needed 3 to totally neutralize it.
Also…
Scrolling for long periods can activate an adrenaline circuit in your body and that adrenaline can make you feel kinda anxious and unfocused. Remember, adrenaline is a chemical!
Do not release this adrenaline! I got a one year subscription to this app called Freedom that lets me block certain apps on my phone (Twitter, Instagram etc…).
The blocking session will run a full 24 hours and then when it ends, I will hop on my apps, post what I need to post, respond to messages and then start another 24 hour session.
I swear that it’s those days where I don’t look at a screen at all that I feel so calm…so grounded and so spiritually attuned.
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