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You’ll often hear me say in mindfulness and somatic experiencing workshops and lectures that a lot of what I teach is the most basic stuff we already know—drink water, eat real food, get some decent rest. The problem? Our society isn’t built for that. It’s built for constant stimulation, non-stop overworking, and a culture of ignoring your body until it finally screams for help.
And, if you’re swimming in the industrial wellness machine, it’s easy to label every ache, foggy thought, or wave of exhaustion as a dysregulated nervous system. That blanket diagnosis often trends toward a misaligned chakra, or a sign you need expensive energy healing. But, could it really just be that you’ve been living on coffee, skipping lunch, and scrolling until 2 a.m.?
When I first dove into yoga and energy work in 2006, I fell for it, too. Every wave of exhaustion or irritability felt like “bad energy.” I thought I needed more meditation, more movement, more breathwork, more everything to fix it. Surely full-on bliss was just one more ritual away.
After weeks, I found that maybe I didn’t need another ritual. I needed a nap.
People come to me all the time convinced their energy is “blocked.” Because they can’t focus in meditation and feel anxious and ungrounded, they immediately assume they’re spiritually broken. My first question is always, “How are you sleeping?” Nine times out of 10, the answer is “not much.”
We tend to complicate self-care into a production, like it requires a curated experience, special tools beyond what we already know, and endless time. But your body doesn’t always want something profound—sometimes it wants the basics. Real food. Water. Eight hours of actual rest and less than eight hours on your phone. Those entry level elements, ironically, can be the hardest things to honor in a society that celebrates burnout like it’s a badge of honor.
So yes, meditate. Breathe. Do the yoga. But also? Stop overcomplicating what your body is already asking you to give it. Sometimes the most sacred thing you can do isn’t a ritual at all—it’s closing your laptop, drinking a glass of water, and going the hell to bed.
