By Heather & Jenny | Soul Sister | Women’s Wellness
Key Takeaways
What if you could shift out of anxiety, frustration, or overwhelm in 90 seconds?
Not suppress it. Not pretend it isn’t there. Actually move through it.
We’ve taught this technique at women’s wellness retreats and personal growth workshops across Ontario and online — and the women who practise it consistently say it genuinely changes things.
Think about the last time you snapped at someone you love, or spiralled into a worry you couldn’t shake. It probably didn’t arrive all at once.
There were signs first. A tightening in your chest. A jaw that started to clench. A low hum of irritability.
Your body almost always knows before your mind does.
And here’s the truth: it is so much easier to redirect a feeling when it’s small. Once a difficult emotion has built into something enormous, it takes much more to find your way back out.
The practice starts with awareness — learning to tune in to your own early warning signals and take them seriously.
The moment you notice you’re starting to spiral — whether it’s worry, frustration, sadness, or that heavy feeling you can’t name — start here.
Slow, intentional breathing sends a direct signal to your nervous system that you are safe. It interrupts the stress response in your body and creates just enough space for your mind to catch up.
Breathe in slowly. Breathe out slowly. Feel your body begin to settle.
This is a subtle but powerful shift that we teach regularly at our health and wellness retreats.
Your thoughts are not you. They are just thoughts.
When a difficult one surfaces, try looking at it with a little distance. Oh, there’s that thought again. You don’t need to fight it or fix it. Just notice it, and let it pass.
This is the step that gets you out of your head and back into your heart — and it’s backed by science.
Research shows that when you’re in a genuine state of appreciation, your brain and heart waves actually align. They stop working against each other and start working together.
It doesn’t have to be grand. The warmth of your coffee. A memory that makes you feel full. The sound of someone you love laughing in the next room.
The moment you genuinely focus on something you appreciate, your brain begins to shift from survival mode to something softer and more open.
For deep grief or real loss — no, 90 seconds won’t make it disappear. Nor should it. Some things deserve to be felt fully.
But what this practice does, even then, is give you a way back to yourself. A way to interrupt the spiral before it takes you somewhere you don’t want to go.
We’ve seen this work at our women’s retreats in Ontario, through our online Soul Full Woman Collective, and in our own lives — especially on the hardest days.
Think of something that’s been sitting uneasily in the back of your mind lately.
Now — place both hands on your heart. Breathe slowly. Notice what comes up without judging it. Then think of one thing, just one, that you genuinely feel grateful for right now.
Feel the difference? That’s not magic. That’s just your heart doing what it already knows how to do.
The 90-second rule — breathe, notice, appreciate — is a simple, evidence-informed technique for interrupting anxiety and stress before it takes hold. The more consistently you practise it, the faster it works.
Have you tried something like this before? Share your experience in the comments below. 💛
For deep grief or real loss — no, 90 seconds won’t make it disappear. Nor should it. Some things deserve to be felt fully.
But what this practice does, even then, is give you a way back to yourself. A way to interrupt the spiral before it takes you somewhere you don’t want to go.
We’ve seen this work at our women’s retreats in Ontario, through our online Soul Full Woman Collective, and in our own lives — especially on the hardest days.
Think of something that’s been sitting uneasily in the back of your mind lately.
Now — place both hands on your heart. Breathe slowly. Notice what comes up without judging it. Then think of one thing, just one, that you genuinely feel grateful for right now.
Feel the difference? That’s not magic. That’s just your heart doing what it already knows how to do.
The 90-second rule — breathe, notice, appreciate — is a simple, evidence-informed technique for interrupting anxiety and stress before it takes hold. The more consistently you practise it, the faster it works.
Have you tried something like this before? Share your experience in the comments below. 💛
Jenny McKee and Heather DelRosario are the co-founders of Soul Full Events and passionate community builders and retreat facilitators who help women reconnect with their authentic selves beneath the noise of everyday life, with no fixing or pretending, first through their own journeys past burnout and now through the intentional wellness gatherings they create.
