Summer: it is a time for rest. A time for ease, and flow, and hush. The heat of this season has finally arrived and with it the dog days of summer, of laying out, of soaking in.

It is a time of year that reminds us to pause and seems almost antithetical to stress. But it’s not. Stress arrives anyways.

Work stress, daily stress, what-am-I-doing-with-my-life stress, worrying-about-things-that-haven’t-happened stress, but-oh-my-god-what-if-they-do-happen stress. It takes all kinds.

But what impact does this have on us? To me, good health and wellness is no longer measured by the absence of disease, but by how well we feel in a larger sense. Our bodies, our stomachs, our minds, our hearts. A holistic approach to health encompasses it all. And it has a lot to say about stress.

When I find myself stressed, the first signs are always physical. Before I’ve even internalised the tension, my body already knows. The body always knows. It is here that we must pay attention. Stress in short bursts can be a good thing – it pushes us, stretches us to achieve. But stress that never ceases wears us down and our body begins to put up blocks to protect us. It is telling us it is time to rest.

The trouble is listening to it. Sometimes we don’t want to hear what we need to do. Sometimes we just want to wallow in our pajamas and eat cookies. But if we stay in this space too long, then we begin to disconnect from ourselves. To drift too far away from our centre and purpose. It is in this space that stress takes over and the toxins build up. Our body goes into protective mode. It is telling us to stop hurting ourselves. It is asking us to love ourselves. And we’ll stay in this stand off until we comply.

So I stop and listen to my body again. I discover that it already knows what to do. It is telling me to pause, to detox, to reset. I listen and suddenly we are hearing each other again.

I return to balance. At the centre of it: green juice and rest; gut-easing kombucha and pause; chia seeds and gentle detox. Easy, whole foods. Veggies, fruits. Nothing excessive or rich. Simple. Clean.

This practice returns me to centre and I can once again take a holistic view of my health. The pause helps me to intuitively recognise what I need to do to ease the overwhelming consumption that stress has on my mind. I refocus my thoughts and once again my body and I are in unison. We’re in this together. We’re on the same team again. It really is amazing how often I am reminded that health is a journey. It is not static. We must continue to move with it.

We all occasionally need a reset and the only way to know is to listen to your body and follow its instructions. Because if you’re disconnected you won’t hear it, but your body won’t stop telling you. As with all things, the message will continue to repeat until we heed it.

And so I release the stress. I put my health above it all. My body is ready to work with me again. I flush out the toxins that have built up. Toxic cells, toxic thoughts, toxic people. And then I let it go.

Let it all go.

“let all go dear – so comes love”*

Ease. Pause. Head to mat, arms outstretched, feet folded beneath me. Breathe.

And once I step away from the stress and reconnect to myself: clear mind, clear thoughts. I can hear myself again.

I am brought back to centre where my focus on health comes easily.

And so I slip from my high heels to bare feet, back to earth and to myself. A modern day hippie. Returned.

*This is an excerpt from a poem I love by the incomparable e. e. cummings, “let it go”