Women Helping Women – Calm & Relaxation
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Calm & relaxation
A 1-week guided program — practical tools to calm the body and quiet a busy mind.
By Roxanna D.
Diaphragmatic breathing for calming oneself
Day 1: Diaphragmatic Breathing for Deep Calm — By Roxanna D. & John-Paul Andersen, PhD Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as belly breathing, directly influences the nervous system. By engaging the diaphragm fully, the body shifts out of shallow chest breathing associated with stress and into deep, rhythmic breathing that signals safety. This increases oxygen exchange, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, reduces cortisol, and enhances vagal tone.
How to ground yourself in stressful moments
Day 2: How to Ground Yourself in Stressful Moments — By Roxanna D. & John-Paul Andersen, PhD Grounding techniques bring attention back to the present moment when stress spikes suddenly. Redirecting focus to sensations — the feeling of your feet on the ground, the rhythm of your breath — calms the sympathetic fight-or-flight response, regulates heart rate, eases muscle tension, and engages the prefrontal cortex's regulation of fear signals from the amygdala.
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR)
Day 3: Progressive Muscle Relaxation — By Roxanna D. & John-Paul Andersen, PhD Stress is carried in the body: muscles tighten, posture becomes rigid. PMR releases this tension systematically, one muscle group at a time. By tensing and then relaxing the muscles, the body learns to recognize the difference between strain and ease, enhancing interoception and shifting into a parasympathetic state of rest. Music: “Smooth Relaxing Meditation Music for Concentration & Yoga” by Oleksandr Chukhlib.
Accepting difficult feelings
Day 4: Accepting Difficult Feelings — By Roxanna D. & John-Paul Andersen, PhD The harder we resist difficult feelings, the stronger they become. Acceptance means allowing them to exist without judgment — observing them as a passing state rather than an identity. This reduces the struggle that keeps the sympathetic system activated, allowing the body to calm naturally even while uncomfortable sensations are present.
Cognitive defusion
Day 5: Cognitive Defusion — By Roxanna D. & John-Paul Andersen, PhD Worry intensifies when we fuse with our thoughts, believing every one as fact. Cognitive defusion separates you from these thoughts, seeing them as mental events rather than absolute truths. Observing thoughts without attaching weakens the automatic link between worried thoughts and bodily stress responses.
Guided visualization
Day 6: Guided Visualization — By Roxanna D. & John-Paul Andersen, PhD By imagining a safe and peaceful environment, the brain responds as though it were actually in that space, replacing stress signals with sensations of calm, safety, and stability. Repeatedly imagining safety encodes these experiences as real possibilities, engaging the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
Mindfulness meditation
Day 7: Mindfulness Meditation — By Roxanna D. & John-Paul Andersen, PhD Mindfulness interrupts cycles of worry about the future and regret about the past, anchoring you in the safety of now. It quiets the amygdala while enhancing prefrontal function; over time, mindfulness reshapes brain pathways and builds lasting resilience.
From the circle
We're women supporting other women here — a tight-knit circle of friends. Share what this course meant to you, or a word of encouragement for the next sister starting it — email support@andmind.com and we'll post it here.
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