A Holiday Nidra-ish to Help You Stay Grounded (Even With Family)
This week, we’re officially entering “the holidays”-a season that can feel equal parts joyful and… stressful.
Every holiday season, I think of Ram Dass’ famous line:
“If you think you are enlightened, go spend a week with your family.”
Ha!
You can spend months meditating, regulating your nervous system, journaling, walking around feeling grounded and at ease, yet the moment you start hanging out with your family, you’re suddenly 10 years old again:
Trying to be the good kid… or the funny kid… or the troublemaker… or the one who never needed anything.
It’s wild how the brain time-travels and drops us straight back into old patterns.
And then add the actual holiday chaos:
We overbook ourselves, override our boundaries, overextend our energy, overindulge in all the ways—and inevitably end up feeling depleted, resentful, overwhelmed, anxious, lonely…or all of the above.
The holidays rarely go perfectly. And that’s okay.
But this is exactly the time when rest and resetting your system matter most.
So, I made you something.
I recorded a little gift—a Yoga Nidra–ish practice (“ish” because it doesn’t follow the exact traditional protocol) to help you ground yourself and breathe when the world feels like it’s sitting squarely on your shoulders… as you baste the turkey, mash the potatoes, or dodge your grandma’s commentary about your kids or your nose ring.
Inside the Nidra-ish is a simple mantra, something you can silently repeat the instant someone says that sideways comment that normally sends you straight into shutdown, spiraling, or wanting to hide in the bathroom with your phone (which might actually be necessary sometimes!).
And here’s the truth:
Stepping away for 14 minutes from your family, the cooking, the noise, and the expectations will not make the world implode. (If only we were that powerful.)
But it will give you the resource...the energy, the stability, the calm, the rest...to actually enjoy yourself, hold your boundaries, and make it through the holidays without losing yourself in the process.
Here it is: your Yoga Nidra-ish for Holiday Rest + Grounding.
Use it daily when things are calm… and especially when they’re not.
Now, if even this feels like too much, take small moments throughout the day to simply take a deep breath and feel your feet on the earth, asking, "Let me be ok with this moment, just as it is."
