When Did Your Mind and Body Last Feel Quiet?
Sometimes, it’s not discipline we’re craving. It’s presence.
There are days I feel like my mind’s running laps while my body stands still.
I’m thinking through everything — plans, people, parenting, purpose.
There’s always something that needs your attention. Something you’ve forgotten. A tab you forgot to close. A bill you meant to pay. A message you didn’t reply to.
And if you’re a mom, need I even list more?
Yet somehow, through all this, we’re expected to keep showing up — calm, capable, and perpetually composed. As women, we’re often praised for how much we can juggle. How well we manage. How gracefully we carry the weight of everything.
But under the surface, something else is happening. The repercussions of these demands erupt stealthily until it’s not so stealthy anymore.
There’s fatigue.
There’s disconnection.
There’s a body we’ve trained ourselves to ignore.
For a long time, I didn’t know how disconnected I was from my own body. I thought I just needed more sleep, energy, and discipline.
I created routines and made task lists so meticulously that my to-do lists had to-do lists.
It felt productive. It felt in control.
But, it wasn’t until I hit a severely low patch a couple of months ago, struggling with my mental health, that the truth became harder to ignore.
I didn’t realise how far I’d drifted from myself until things got loud — mentally and emotionally. My body was speaking, but I didn’t yet know how to listen.
And I couldn’t help but wonder — were all those compliments about how “well I managed” just a polite way to overlook the rising tide of overwhelm? A clever way to ignore a deeper need for tenderness, love, and care?
That care found me in an unexpected way — through movement. Not in the punishing, push-through-it kind of way. But through quiet, gentle presence.
What changed everything was not a routine, but a return.
To breath. To stillness. To body.
And for me, that began on the mat.
Pilates helped me hear my body again.
Pilates offered something I hadn’t felt in a long time: quiet.
Not the kind of silence in the room — but quiet within. A soft return to self through breath and focus.
Movements that asked nothing of me but to be here, now.
And I’ll be honest — that kind of presence felt foreign at first. Like I was meeting myself for the first time in years. But it was also exactly what I needed.
So if you’ve been feeling scattered or detached, I want you to know this:
nothing is wrong with you.
You’re simply moving through a world that rewards speed and overlooks softness.
Your body is not a flaw to fix. She’s simply asking for you to notice.
Not forever. Not perfectly. Just now. Just for this moment.
A gentle practice for the week:
Once a day, place your hand on your heart.
Close your eyes.
Breathe.
Let your exhale be just a little longer than your inhale.
You don’t need to fix anything.
You don’t need to feel a certain way.
Just notice what’s here.
Hi there, I’m Swathi — a mom, women’s coaching specialist and fellow traveller in the world of slow, intentional living.
Thank you for reading The Bloom.
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