Building confidence is an active pursuit that requires regular effort, which is why creating a so-called “brag file” can help. It’s an easy way to boost your mood when times get tough, or if you’re feeling down, jealous, or exceedingly self-conscious. Making a brag file is easy. Keep a running list of things that you […]
Anxiety Hacks
9 Free Guided Meditation Videos for Stress
In need of a good guided meditation? It’s hard to find quality apps and videos that aren’t locked behind a paywall. Fortunately, however, these free guided meditation videos on YouTube come from trusted sources who can effectively lead experienced meditators (and anxious newcomers) to experience calmness and relaxation through meditation. Below, after watching hundreds of […]
4 Mental Health Bath Recipes For Improving Wellbeing (& Why We All Need Hydrotherapy)
Baths are an ancient healing practice in almost every culture around the world, from the hothouses of Scandanavia and banyas of Russia to mud baths in Ecuador, hot springs in New Zealand, and ancient Indigenous parajes of the American Southwest. The therapeutic use of water to soothe mental and physical ailments (also known as hydrotherapy), […]
How Weighted Blankets Improve Sleep, Stress, and Anxiety (& The Best Ones to Buy)
The health benefits of sleeping under heavy blankets have been documented throughout history, but the trend has emerged again in the digital age as an antidote to insomnia, stress, anxiety. As it turns out, sleeping under a weighted blanket is a particularly effective treatment for people who find themselves struggling with an inability to “wind […]
The 9 Best Snacks for Flight Anxiety
Let’s be honest: most people are nervous flyers. No one likes turbulence– some of us are just better at coping with it than others. Finding healthy travel snacks for plane rides isn’t exactly hard, but finding snacks that also help fight flight anxiety can be. The best airport snacks for nervous travelers are fruits, nuts, […]
This is “The Most Calming Song in the World” According to Neuroscientists
Hunting for relaxation music and want to get really clinical about it? Marconi Union’s “Weightless” is literally the most calming song in the world– at least according to neuroscientists. Allow me to explain further. In 2011, British ambient band Marconi Union worked with sound therapists and researchers from Mindlab International to specifically design an 8-minute […]
How To Use Glimmers (The Opposite of Triggers) to Relieve Stress
I first heard about glimmers and the concept of a “glimmers list” when somatic coach Sarah Baldwin mentioned them both in a tutorial about how anxious people can learn to understand and regulate their nervous system. After 10 years of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and about ~3 years of Somatic Therapy, I was surprised that this […]
Read This If You’re Having a Panic Attack
Ok, here we are. Panic attacks are things that happen to people sometimes, and they are terrible. But you are going to be okay. Stay with me here and just breathe. First, stand up. Walk around slowly if you have to (assuming you are in a safe place to do so). You’re having a panic […]
Try This Genius Hack for Calming Spiraling Thoughts
Spiraling thoughts are easily identifiable as any obsessive, repeating, or circuitous thoughts that grip your attention in a negative way. You become obsessed, and can’t stop thinking about that thing. This is a thought spiral, and they usually weigh you down. Spiraling thoughts make it so that it’s hard to focus on anything else, and […]
25 Research-Backed Remedies for Meaningful Anxiety Relief
The latest statistics from the World Health Organization estimate that over 260 million people across the world struggle with anxiety and chronic stress– a figure that is projected to grow exponentially in an age of increased political tension, economic upheaval, and post-pandemic rebuilding. While shocking, this figure isn’t necessarily surprising. In the digital age, information […]