Summer is ending. And the question nobody is asking is: how do you re-enter without letting September erase what the break gave you?
In this episode of Alignment by Tuva - the first episode back after my first ever podcast break - I share what two weeks of genuine, unscheduled rest uncovered about who I am when nobody needs anything from me. The specific things I found by a river, in mountains, in slow mornings without an alarm. And the science behind why those things matter so much more than we have been told.
This episode is personal, warm, and full of color. It is also grounded in three pieces of neuroscience that explain what rest actually does to the brain - and why the regulated, creative, alive version of yourself that showed up in summer is not a holiday version. It is the real one.
You will learn:
- What the Default Mode Network is and why unstructured time is when your brain does its best work
- The science of allostatic recovery and why genuine rest cannot be compressed into a weekend
- What awe does to the nervous system - and why mountains and oceans are not just beautiful but biologically regulating
- The 25 Things I Love practice from Julia Cameron's The Prosperous Heart - and why speed is the whole point
- How to read your own list as a nervous system regulation map - not a bucket list
- The four specific practices I am building into my September to protect the summer self I found
Plus: I read my actual 25 Things I Love list - written fast, unedited, completely honest. And invite you to write yours.
Topics: post summer routine, back to routine after holiday, how to stop feeling burnt out, nervous system regulation, default mode network, rest and creativity, slow living, awe and nervous system, allostatic recovery, morning routine September, how to stay regulated, Julia Cameron morning pages, slow living nervous system, how to come back to routines, seasonal reset
Connect with Me
Instagram: @alignmentbytuva
Website: www.alignmentbytuva.com
SCIENCE REFERENCES
Raichle, M.E. et al. (2001). A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(2), 676–682.
Buckner, R.L., Andrews-Hanna, J.R., & Schacter, D.L. (2008). The brain's default network. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1124, 1–38.
McEwen, B.S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation. Physiological Reviews, 87(3), 873–904.
Sonnentag, S. & Fritz, C. (2007). The Recovery Experience Questionnaire. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 12(3), 204–221.
Stellar, J.E. et al. (2015). Positive affect and markers of inflammation: Discrete positive emotions predict lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. Emotion, 15(2), 129–133.
Keltner, D. & Haidt, J. (2003). Approaching awe, a moral, spiritual, and aesthetic emotion. Cognition & Emotion, 17(2), 297–314.
Cameron, J. (2011). The Prosperous Heart. Tarcher/Penguin.
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