Welcome to the nourishing. Amy podcast.
I'm Amy Rankin. I am an emotional intelligence
and life coach as Speaker, a Creator, and a wellness.
Chaser, I have created this podcast for you to learn how
'but mindset changes and get really actionable.
Takeaways to find out who you are, what lights you up, how you
can love yourself again and how to live your best life.
Give yourself the space to welcome in more self-care and
confidence. Reduce feelings like overwhelm
and stress and let find your sparkle again.
Are you ready? Let's do it.
Hello and welcome back to the nourishing.
Amy podcast, welcome to episode 90, which I don't know.
That feels kind of big, it's kind of exciting, right?
90 episodes, that's a lot of episodes.
Today is a therapy Thursday episode.
So if you've been around for the last few weeks, you would know
that this is a new segment that I've decided to bring in.
And I discuss any takeaways or things that I've learnt or
action steps that I have decided to implement from Personal
coaching sessions that I have had myself or from any workshops
or seminars, that I attend. So, this week, I want to talk to
you about sensory self-care. And before I attended this
Workshop, I actually had never even heard of sensory self-care,
but I found it. Really cool and really
interesting. So I'm going to share that with
you. But before I jump into that, I
want to give you this week's recommendation or today's
recommendation. So you would have noticed that
I've been giving NG podcast either podcast series that I
listened to or specific podcast episodes that I listen to as
recommendations for the last few episodes.
Because that's a question that I get asked pretty regularly.
If I pop a question box up on my Instagram is what other podcasts
do you listen to? And I totally get it, I'm
addicted to podcasts, I love them.
I'm always listening to them, depending on my mood, is
depending on what one, I decide to listen to, and on Tuesday's
episode, if you've had a listen so that episode was Ten tips to
help you thrive in mum life and you know what?
Even, if you're not a mum, I feel like go and have a listen
to that episode because those tips can really be applied to
any body that feels busy, or overwhelmed or stressed.
So even if you're not a mom, go and have a listen.
Yeah, there's a few like mum chat things here and there, but
all of those 10 tips are going to be relevant for helping you
to feel more calm, more relaxed, less overwhelmed, and less
stress. Rest.
Now, in that episode, I did mention that I was going to tell
you about a specific Kylie camps podcast episode, and that
episode is, it's from the 5th of August and it's called food and
mood with Eliza. I absolutely loved this podcast
episode. I shared it on my Instagram and
a few of you have already, let me know that you went over and
listened and really enjoyed it as well.
It was really interesting, if you are an Subscribe, I will
listen our, you would know a bit of my back story is that, when I
went through big big Life Changes years ago, I was very
stressed. And when I get stressed, I can't
eat a lot. And so what I was really
focusing on back then and I mean it's a habit that's continued on
to this day is really focusing on well if I'm not going to be
able to eat a lot and I don't feel well, how can I best be
nourishing my body with Every single meal that I'm having
every ingredient that's going into this meal that I'm making
whether it's a smoothie or a salad or dinner or a sandwich
for lunch, how can I really make this nourishing for my body and
give my body the energy and fuel that it needs?
And I feel like this episode food and mood with Eliza over on
Kylie camps, podcast was really related to that as well.
Eliza talks a lot about the different nutrients that we need
to be feeling more like The best version of ourselves more
energy, less brain fog, less stress, less overwhelmed,
sleeping better, all that kind of stuff.
So look, I loved the episode. So I mean, Kylie camps podcast
is great in itself, but that specific episode, I really
loved. So go and have a listen, that's
my recommendation for this week. Now, let's talk about sensory
self-care. Like I said, it's not something
that I'd ever really heard of before and so when I was
learning about it, I was like, oh, this is kind of cool but
also, wow, this is something I really He needed to hear at the
moment, what I mean by sensory self-care is really getting back
in touch with your senses. Obviously, I guess it's kind of
in the name, but we've got our five senses and a lot of the
time when we're so busy and we're taking off all the boxes
and doing all of the things and, you know, focusing on multiple
things at once, we can kind of forget to focus on just one
thing at a time or just what one thing feels like or what?
Thing tastes like or specific sounds that we can hear and
really appreciating all of those things.
So this is exactly what sensory self-care is.
Now the activity that we had to do in this workshop for this.
So this was a workshop that I did as a group workshop with bu
coaching which is where I work. So you probably have heard me
talk about this before. But very quickly, we do
one-on-one coaching sessions when you are a client with us.
But you also have the option to To attend, we have weekly online
group workshops as well, and we go through all different topics.
So like everything from Health to social life, to Career, to
finances, to self care to, self-improvement self
development. Growth goal, setting, all of
that kind of stuff. Literally, like, pretty much
anything you can think of, if you have a question about it
and, like, thinking patterns and all of that kind of stuff, then
there's a workshop that we have for you, or we, You pray plan
them for three months in advance so we got some really cool ones
coming up as well so that's all included.
If you are a client with us at bu and so I was on for one of
these group workshops and we were talking about the idea that
it was actually a deep work workshop and the kind of
overarching theme for this Workshop is that we get quite
distracted with the little things that we don't really
focus on. All the big things, the things
that are really going to move the needle because we can
procrastinate and this really resonated with me and I was
like, oh yeah, I definitely do this.
So more specifically, what I mean by that is say, for
example, you've written out your to-do list for the day and
you've got fifteen things on your to-do list out of those 15
things. There's probably three or four
or five that are really important, they really matter
and they might be kind of hard to like, they're Just the easy
thing. So when I say easy things, I
mean, let's say like, for my to do list, I write everything down
because I'm like, I got to get everything out of my head.
And I just want to close out some of these tabs.
So I feel less overwhelmed. So, I will put things on there,
like, having my cup of tea in the morning because that to me
is an achievement actually making that cup of tea, and
having it hot guys, that doesn't happen, that often things like
tidying, the kitchen making dinner, doing the washing-up,
you No, those miscellaneous things that it's like, yeah,
they're going to make a difference like, yes, that is
going to help me to feel less overwhelmed and more tidy and
just fresh. But also at the same time, what
I can tend to do is, I'm like, okay cool.
I've got these 10 things and they're pretty small there,
pretty easily achievable. So I'm going to do all of them
now and so I'll run around the house and do all of these things
and sit down and have my breakfast and you know, check my
emails message clients all That kind of stuff.
And then all of a sudden, it's lunch time and I'm like shit.
Okay, go back and have a look at my to do list.
I'm like, cool. I've got like, eight out of
those ten things done. So my kitchens tidy, I've had my
breakfast, my cup of tea. I've had my lunch, you know,
like all of the things but it's like I've still got those three
or four, big things that I really need to get done today
and now I feel stressed. Now, I'm like a whole God it's
halfway through the day. Like I feel like I don't have
enough time to do all of these. These things.
Now this is what I mean by doing the Deep work, it's not focusing
on the small things and getting all of them down first and then
stressing about the big things, it's actually feeling more
productive and procrastinating less and wanting to really focus
on those. Those important things that
yeah, they might be hard or yes, they might take a little bit
longer than what the other things would.
But how much more proud of yourself?
Do you feel? And you feel like you're
actually at Shaving things in moving towards where you want to
be, because yes, having a tidy house is all well and good.
But that's not actually really moving me towards the future
version of me and my goals that I have.
Right. I hope some of this is
resonating with you like I say in the Thursday therapy it's
pretty closely like it's all related to like my takeaways and
the things that I got from the workshops but my hope is that
you guys will get takeaways as well.
The lessons on these episodes have actually been really high,
so I'm Kind of going to assume that you're liking them, if you
are liking them, actually maybe send me a message and let me
know because I got no idea. I'm just, I'm just out here,
trying out some new things. So let's actually really dive
into this sensory self-care aspect that comes in here.
So the point of talking about the Deep work and the shallow
work, or the small things, and the big things is that a lot of
the time because our to do list can have so many things on them.
Kind of a just like one thing to the next thing to the next
thing. And the focus is a bit
everywhere and all over the place.
And so that means that we're not really as connected with
ourselves, as what we could be, we're not as present within our
world but also within our bodies, as what we could be.
And I know when Declan was talking about this, I was really
resonating and I thought yeah, I really actually need this
reminder at the moment because it's true.
I do feel like I'm just a bit all over the place at the moment
so What we actually did, he gave us an exercise to do and we had
to focus on something sensory. And this is what I mean, by
sensory self-care for 7 minutes so he set the timer for 7
minutes and this is the practice that I want you guys to do at
least 5 minutes, at least 5 minutes, you can't tell me, you
don't have five minutes in your day that you could do this for.
So what we did was set a timer for seven minutes and so the
thing that I focused on I lit a candle, And all and I focused on
the flame flickering. Now I also have a diffuser.
Something else that I find really calming.
If I put my diffuser, only is actually just watching the Mist.
Come out of the top. So you could definitely do that.
If you have a diffuser, you could be going for a walk
outside and feeling the grass under your toes or going for a
walk along the beach and feeling the sand under your feet.
You could actually do this exercise with food.
So this is a practice that we have actually done at bu a two
years ago now as well but it was so cool.
What I actually really encourage you to do with this is go and
grab a fresh raspberry. So go and buy a punnet of
raspberries. I think they're coming into
season now too and really focus on Actually eating this
raspberry with intention. Now you could do this with
anything. I know other people have done it
with things like chocolate and stuff like that before but let's
be honest. When was the last time that you
actually really were present with something that you were
eating whether it's one ingredient or a whole meal.
We're so often doing so many other things may be scrolling
social media or talking on our phones or replying to emails or
we're in a work meeting, like all of these things that we're
doing while we're eating when Actually paying attention to our
food, what it tastes like what it smells like, what it feels
like. So this activity with the
raspberry was really, really cool.
It gave me such a new appreciation for food and helped
me to become so much more present when I'm eating.
So what we actually did before we even put the raspberry in our
mouth, was we just sat and looked at the raspberry and
started to think about eating it.
What that actually does is activates your saliva glands,
which was really cool. All just to notice like wow,
it's so interesting, the changes that my body goes through
automatically that I'm not even like I have no control over
this, it's just happening because it knows I'm going to
eat something. So then what we did was we felt
the raspberry in our fingers and were really present with that.
And then we put the raspberry in our mouth.
Before we chew, we actually just let it sit in our mouth, just
feel it. Maybe on the roof of your mouth
on your tongue. Beyond the sides of your mouth,
it was really cool because I don't know if you've ever really
paid very much attention to a raspberry before but they're
like squishy. And I don't know, it was just so
interesting. Then we proceeded to eat the
raspberry so we started chewing, we were really focusing on.
What can I feel in my mouth at the moment?
What does it taste like? And I smell anything.
All of that kind of stuff. It was such an amazing and like
I said, interesting exercise to do so you can definitely Do this
with food as well and I really encourage that raspberry
exercise just be really slow and intentional with it and just see
kind of what comes up for you and what you start to notice.
But like I said, setting your timer for 5 minutes, minimum
five minutes. I'd love you to do seven and
just be present with that thing. Now guaranteed, your mind is
going to wander. I know mine, did I started
thinking about all the work staff and the food shopping and
the meals I was going to call can You know, all the life
things that's going to happen, and it's okay.
But the point is, when you notice your mind starting to
wander, bring yourself back, just bring yourself back into
the moment. Refocus back on that thing, and
just see what comes up for you. Now, you can have a pen and
paper with you. If you want to make some notes
after the seven minutes is up. And there's a few things that
have come to mind that you don't want to forget or some thoughts
that have come up that you want a journal on, you can definitely
do that, but it's just so, Such a good exercise for your mind
because what we're actually doing is really starting to
bring the focus back into the present moment.
And by doing this more regularly, it means that your
brain can be more present more often and eventually what you'll
find is you don't actually need to set yourself a timer.
You actually just start to train your brain to be more present
and that is the cool part. That's the massive takeaway
here. Now, something else that we My
other takeaway from this is that we just spoke about the idea of
letting ourselves just be bored. And really thought about, when
was the last time that I let myself just be really bored.
I had nothing on like, I set aside time in my calendar, that
I just did. Absolutely nothing.
I didn't have my phone with me, I wasn't making notes for
anything replying to emails having a conversation with
anybody texting anyone. All of the Things that we busy
ourselves with and distract ourselves with what is that
actually doing to our brains. Like, I know that our attention
span is so much less and we want that instant gratification of
information, we have Google, we have information.
So, ready at our fingertips, these days that if something's
not happening really quickly, then it's just not happening at
all, or we can start to feel frustrated, and this is what we
On to really start to focus on moving past is like it's
actually. Okay and it's actually a really
good thing for me to just give my brain some space.
Just give my brain a chance to just switch off for a second and
just be bored. Like, what's wrong with that?
There is nothing wrong with being bored but as a society,
we've really started to condition ourselves.
That being busy is important. And multitasking is important.
And yes, being busy and multitasking.
Getting a lot of things done, does serve a purpose and it does
help us to move towards where we want to be.
But there is such a beauty that can come with being bored.
And for a lot of us on that Workshop.
What we started to notice was that?
Yeah, I can think back to moments where I have just let
myself be bored and I've actually come up with a really
good idea or I've solved a problem that I couldn't get past
in my relationship or with my kids or I've come up with this
really good idea for this thing that I've been.
Stock on or I've come up with an idea for a work meeting.
Or I realized that, you know, maybe I over exaggerated or
sorry. Not over-exaggerated, what's the
word? I'm trying to think of
overreacted in this situation and I would like to maybe do
this differently and you just give yourself a chance to just
think about things that are normally pushed to the side of
your mind. This is the really beautiful
part that aspect of just giving your brain some space too. just
slow down and just focus on, you know, hopefully just one thing
at a time, you're not distracting yourself with
Netflix or your phone or conversations or other things
and other people and giving yourself the space to just be So
this is the idea of sensory self-care.
We've got either focusing on something with one of your
sensors for 7 minutes or just letting yourself be bored.
And I'm really interested to see what one of these things really
resonates and sits well with you.
And if you give yourself a chance to do them let's come and
have a chat about it in the Facebook group.
Let's come and talk about some things that help you to feel
really good that help you to switch off your brain and reduce
that overwhelm because Really, what we're aiming for.
We want to feel overwhelmed less, we want to feel stressed
less. We want to feel more calm, we
want to feel more relaxed. We want to give your brain that
space to just be And that's it. I hope you've enjoyed this
therapy Thursday episode. I'll talk to you soon.
If you liked this episode, I would love for you to screenshot
and tag me on Instagram. You guys have no idea how much
that absolutely makes my day. I get such a big smile on my
face. Thank you so much for hanging
out with me today and I hope that you have got them something
from this episode. If you want to hang out more you
can search the nourishing, Amy podcast community in Facebook
and come. And join our group where Talking
all things. Life.
Love overwhelm and everything in between, you can share your
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If you would like to get in contact with me, please don't
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