6 Simple Steps to Reconnect When Depression Pulls You Under
Tools to ground your body, soothe your mind, return to self
Depression can make you feel like a stranger to yourself.
In this compassionate guide, fellow mindfulness mentor Derek, who has lived through the depths of depression, and I share our 3 simple steps to reconnect when depression pulls you under.
You will reclaim your power through body scans and daily rituals like making your bed; these practices aren’t just strategies — they’re lifelines.
You don’t have to be perfect or feel “ready”. Just begin. One step of self-connection and self-compassion at a time can spark a ripple of healing.
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Collab Well-Being Wednesday: Reconnect to Rise
Depression deep dive: Mental health awareness month special
In honour of Mental Health Awareness Month, this week’s Well-Being Wednesday Collaboration (just like last week’s) is free—a gift to support your healing journey.
Normally, these reflections and tools are part of a paid offering because they provide real, lasting change—but this month, we’re giving back in a bigger way.
Today, we explore small, soul-nourishing steps to RECONNECT with yourself, because depression is a BIG disconnect from your true self.
By the end of this piece, you’ll be:
Reminded of your strength
More connected to your healing path
Supported with daily tools for those heavy moments
And if you’re new here—hi, I’m Grace.
I’m a multidisciplinary, heart-led mentor who’s walked the path I guide others on.
I’ve broken down, rebuilt, and learned what school never taught us:
How to feel, regulate, and live an emotionally aligned life.
From leading yoga and group coaching sessions for the past seven years to teaching kindergartners, I’ve seen how our inner child still shapes our adult selves—and how reconnecting with them brings more joy, peace, and wholeness.
I don’t try to “fix” you—I remind you that you’re already whole.
Here’s how we can work together.
I am opening only three 1:1 spaces for those ready for real lasting change next month with a Mindful Mentorship, or join our community of fellow deep feelers in Healing Hearts Hub.
Let’s reconnect. You’re not alone.
Oh, and some of you missed out on a transformational weekend, so now you can restore your clarity and emotional resilience with our Nourished Inside Out Summit Replay dropping Monday, June 2nd.
You can sign up to be the first to know.
A self-paced, sacred 6+ hour digital journey to restore your mind, body, gut, heart, and spirit.
It’s your holistic healing toolbox designed to help you feel, deal, and heal from the inside out.
Today’s spotlight is , who has suffered with depression his whole life, but is now showing up to share how mindfulness can help heal you:
My 20+ year healing journey wasn’t easy, tidy, or linear. However, mindfulness has been the connecting thread that’s helped me keep my head above water.
Time and again, I’ve experienced the transformative power of awareness in my life.
I’ve also seen its energy transform the lives of those I work with, as they remember their light and use it to illuminate their paths toward healing.
I’m honoured to collaborate with Grace and share a few foundational practices that have been lifesavers for me, including:
Returning to your breath
Grounding yourself in your body
Showing yourself the compassion you deeply deserve
If you’re suffering, I see you. You are beautiful.
And I want you to know that you’re not alone. I know it’s dark now, but I promise that you will bask in your light again, soon.
These 3 simple methods quickly reconnect you to yourself
Use these fast, effective reminders when depression starts lying to you again.
I’ve been hospitalised for depression. Twice.
And I can tell you this: Small reminders help me breathe again and return to my body when I'm suffocating inside its fog.
Forget about complications or innovation.
These simple, tried-and-true tools are helpful anytime, anywhere.
And while professional guidance is ideal, they create the space you need to remember yourself in the middle of a crisis.
Method #1: Breath Awareness
Why it Works
Depression hijacks your mind. And focusing on your breathing settles the tornadoes swirling in your head.
It’s always available, requires nothing outside of you, and immediately anchors you to the present moment.
How to Implement
1. Place one hand on your chest, one on your belly, and notice how they move as you breathe naturally.
2. When dark thoughts arrive, switch to inhaling slowly for a count of four, holding your breath for four, and then slowly exhaling for a count of six.
3. Focus on longer exhales than inhales, which signals to your nervous system that you’re “safe.”
4. Remember: You don’t need to follow this exactly to achieve bodily regulation. When you can't leave your bed, simply pay attention to one breath at a time.
Common Stumbling Blocks
Depression makes concentration difficult. Therefore, when your mind wanders to dark places, don’t consider this a failure.
Instead, every time you notice you've drifted into despair and consciously return your attention to your breathing, you're interrupting depression's grip.
Method #2: Body Scan
Why it Works
In addition to seizing your thoughts, depression also disconnects you from your body. It's not unusual to feel like a ghost floating through life when you're under its influence.
Mentally scanning your body can help you “remember” your presence, identify where your depression has physically taken up residence, and regain a sense of agency over your body.
How to Implement
1. Lie down (or sit comfortably) and close your eyes.
2. Begin at the top of your head and slowly move down, paying attention to each body part as you go.
3. Notice any sensations, such as tension, warmth, tingling, heaviness, or numbness. Don’t try to change them; simply observe with curiosity.
4. Work your way down: head, face, neck, shoulders, arms, chest, stomach, back, hips, legs, and feet, spending 10-30 seconds on each area before moving to the next.
Note: Ideally, a full scan can take as long as 20 minutes. However, even a few minutes can quickly bring you back to your body from the brink of depression.
Common Stumbling Blocks
Sometimes, you might encounter intense emotions in certain areas of your body.
If your feelings become too intense, shift your focus away from your core and toward your extremities, such as your hands and feet.
Or if you feel completely numb, this doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Every time you practice, you move one step closer to realigning with yourself.
Show yourself the same compassion you would for a beloved friend.
Do you find this hard?
Method #3: Self-compassion
Why it Works
Depression amplifies your inner critic into a screaming voice that forces you to believe you’re worthless, broken, and a burden to everyone you love.
However, by treating yourself with the same kindness you'd offer a friend, self-compassion directly and immediately counters these lies.
How to Implement
1. Recognize your inner critic when it begins attacking you with harsh, untrue thoughts.
2. Pause and place a hand on your heart or another comforting place on your body.
3. Ask yourself: "What would I tell a dear friend in this situation?"
4. Reply to yourself using the same tone you'd use with your friend.
5. Try phrases like “I am not my depression,” "Depression is not my fault," and "I deserve care while I'm struggling."
6. Reframe any harsh self-talk you encounter. For example, shift "I should be better by now" to "Healing isn't linear, and I'm doing my best."
Common Stumbling Blocks
Once it encounters self-compassion, especially the first few times, depression will fight back. Ruthlessly.
It will do everything possible to convince you that your mercy is undeserved.
When this happens, start small. Even admitting “This is difficult” helps you offer kindness without needing to believe you’re deserving first.
“If you pursue to pay attention to the small things, you will be able to train your mind to unearth enjoyment in daily life, whenever a fleeting moment or fluttering butterfly passes you” - Chill Out and Cheer Up: A Ten-Step Guide
As I believe small moments matter most, I am also a firm believer that small steps do too in your healing journey, especially when Mental Health issues are concerned…
When going through depression and being hospitalised for psychosis for half a year, I noticed it was these small steps of “self-care” that got me out of there…
Make your bed
Shower (hygiene comes first)
Eat something
Today I am getting us BACK TO BASICS.
That is where we start to soothe our hearts and become friends with ourselves again.
These simple tools were the foundation for everything.
I was bed-bound by my depression to the point that even brushing my teeth or showering became debilitating and would take so much energy because I didn't love myself.
Depression debilitates you in mind, body, soul, and heart.
So for me, it was about taking the simple starting steps to slowly love myself again.
It may sound crazy, but if you have suffered with depression or mental health issues, you will know that the tiniest of “to-dos” for yourself become the hardest chores of all.
From my side today, I am sharing the small, simple steps that will empower you to keep going and start seeing your worth again.
Let’s start with making your bed:
Sounds simple, but oh, it is a GAME CHANGER.
Think about it: the first thing you do in the day is get up.
You already gotta celebrate that! So make your bed and smile for actually getting out of bed and tackling the day ahead.
Back then, this was the hardest step for me to take when depressed. I felt like my body was heavy and became part of the bed. I was one with my bed, but in a bad way (aha!)
I would get up to go teach yoga and then return to my bed.
What was there to do instead?
I was rotting away.
But this step to make your bed and make a move to face the day is your first step to reconnect with yourself.
When you get up and make your bed, ponder on:
What am I grateful for today?
Give thanks for your moving body, shelter, and a bed (think about it: not everyone has a bed or a roof over their head)
As I said, one step at a time. Keep it simple.
Once you have made your bed, don’t lie in it (again, aha!), but feel proud of yourself.
Take a moment to feel like you are waking up to a new day and at least attempting to feel ok. Journal. Move your body. Move OUT of your head. Go outside into nature.
Clean your body
Just basic hygiene can be hard to keep up with when depressed. You don’t feel worthy.
From the inside out, you feel dirty.
I would shower and even feel guilty.
I didn’t want to live, so why am I showering?
One thing that helped me was this method while showering to centre your mind:
Envision the water running over you and releasing all your toxins and negative thoughts
When the thoughts arise, allow them to be washed away
Attune to this “cleaning away” to take you to the present moment
Shower your shame away and feel ok
Smell the shower gel and connect with all your senses (gets us out of our head and into now - aiding mindfulness)
When you get out of the shower, be present. No music. No thoughts. Just you showing yourself a form of love that may just feel like a must-do, but no, you are taking care of yourself.
You don’t have to shower, but you choose to.
When you take this mindset with you, you clean your body AND your mind.
More self-love -> less self-hate (that is the goal).
Nourish your body
Now you have woken up, made your bed, AND taken a shower, it is time to eat.
Look, you are doing so well and have already taken all these steps to take care of yourself, which can be so hard when depressed.
Back then, I didn't feel worthy of eating. I wasn’t even hungry because my depression clouded anything else I could even think about.
I was burdened with shame and guilt, so eating became a luxury I was not deserving of.
But then I could tell my energy was at an all-time low.
As an accredited well-being coach, I also did a course in nutrition. SO I knew what was good for me, but it didn't help in this moment.
Feeding your body with the wrong food is probably the BIGGEST step that many people forget about, and hence, suffer from mental health issues.
We all know the phrase:
“You are what you eat”
It stands true to this day.
What was the other thing they’d say?
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”
Ok, you get the gist? You feel how you eat.
It is not about restricted diets raised by our toxic society to make us feel even worse.
It is about a healthy, balanced diet (note: balanced).
I was gifted “Brain Changer by Professor Felice Jacka” by my dad when coming out of the mental clinic.
He was pretty certain that mental health issues arise from our diet culture.
Professor Felice holds a revolutionary space in research that aims to understand the connection between the brain, body, and mental health.
She points out how diet quality has a massive impact on mental health, and her book is well worth reading.
“Food does affect mood: highly processed foods increase depression risk, while a balanced, whole-food diet can prevent depression and improve mood” - Felice Jacka
This is what I do now: I help people heal from the inside out, taking gut, brain, body, heart, and soul into account.
We are living organisms, and everything is connected. Hence, we must become more aware to take care.
As a holistic healer and well-being strategist, I am here to find what is good for you.
Because remember, what may work for someone else may not work for you.
It is about finding our flow and respecting it.
May your mind be still,
May your heart be whole,
May your body feel lighter than before.
With gratitude
Grace and Derek
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Share with someone who requires these reminders — it could save their lives.
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