* On mental health * I just wanted to share some things I have been doing to stay sane this year. In the summer I realised that if I didn’t start caring for myself, I wouldn’t last long. So here are some tips for you if you have had a stress-filled year or a gift idea for a fellow Ukrainian/Iranian/etc who has experienced trauma this year. ⁣ ⁣ • A friend @ki.kefir got me a breath work session with @inmi.space Pei Chan, and I have not looked back. It was life-changing. The sessions are intense but we don’t do any hyper-ventilation stuff. It’s measured and the last 10 minutes when I lie and meditate - I feel like I am flying. It also made me realise how often I hold my breath during the day. If you get a chance to explore breathwork, I cannot recommend it enough. ⁣ ⁣ • I tried the float. You get into a latge bath witht a lid and then all the lights go off and you float in lots of Epsom salts for an hour, in a sort of a sense deprivation chamber. There is so much information in the modern world all the time, our brains are not equipped to deal with it. Floating clears my mind so much. Check for one near where you live, I feel like they help a lot. ⁣ ⁣ • I have been taking @bristolfungarium 🍄 tinctures. It’s harder to gage how much they’d helped but I feel like they have. I take lion’s mane and reishi and have been feeling sharper and more creative. ⁣ ⁣ • I have been doing osteo and acupuncture with @julesempo Julia. She is amazing and I cannot recommend her enough. ⁣ ⁣ • and finally the cheapest, most accessible therapy is neurographics - the idea introduced to me via my psychologist cousin @iratvelih - it’s about slow drawing essentially. Mindful, therapeutic doodles. I am obsessed. Get Draw Yourself Calm for a bit of guidance and do it every night instead of doom scrolling. I feel like it really helps - and you can draw on greeting cards so they can be given to people as gifts after. ⁣ ⁣ Thank you to everyone who has cared for me since the war started, for the vouchers for treatments, they have been so helpful. Thank you Sarah for the therapy sessions ♥️ Thank you @amy__poon for all the medicinal Chinese broths and dumplings. It felt so lovely to be cared for.