How do you feel about the Matrix collapsing? I currently feel pretty stable but last month especially definitely tested my nerves. We’re collectively going THROUGH it. “It” being a dark night of the soul for humanity as we knew it, with all its associated emotions: grief, fear, anxiety, anticipation, hope – wherever you’re at, there are way fewer distractions filtering us from our emotions. If your emotions and nerves are shot and you need actionable info on ways to restore your nervous system health, this post is for you.
I originally shared the bulk of this post to my Twitter in October 2019. It’s organized as a loose chronology of my health journey, sharing each tool in the order that I incorporated it into my life, to provide context of what a journey it’s been. I was depressed, volatile AND high functioning through my teens and early 20s. Into my mid-20s I mostly felt numb and doomed, with a lot of anxiety. Now in my early 30s, I feel peaceful and steady even in the midst of stress or strong emotions the vast majority of the time. The tools and techniques shared in this post are a huge part of how I got here.
In this post we’ll discuss:
- Some of my favorite health books
- The magical powers of magnesium
- My favorite self-bodywork tools
- Abdominal vacuum technique
- How I make raw liver supplements
- My recent obsession with breathwork
- And more!
I’m not a doctor. Nothing in this list is health advice. It’s just what’s worked for me. That said, I have researched deep and wide, so if you have a question please feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to point you in a helpful direction.
Better Health Through Natural Healing
At age 16, I read my first book on holistic health, Better Health Through Natural Healing. At this point I was eating a standard American diet with some Japanese food, and a LOT of sugary snacks – but at least I learned how to heal common illnesses rather than just suppressing symptoms with meds:
Sugar Blues
At age 19, I developed eczema from neck to toe. A friend recommended I read Sugar Blues. I did and immediately eliminated grains and sugars for a month, subsisting on only meat, greens, and water. This cleared my skin 100%, and I felt long term peace for the first time since childhood — and had zero PMS symptoms for the first time ever.
Vipassana Meditation
At age 20, I attended my first Vipassana 10 day meditation retreat. I went 4 times in my 20s. I don’t attend anymore because I prefer solitary meditation, but they changed and saved my life. They’re free, global, and an amazing way to start meditating.
Weight Training
I started weight training when I was 25. It feels so different for me than cardio or yoga. I love how my legs feel anchored to the ground afterward. I keep it simple: warm up, lift as heavy as possible, stretch – in and out within an hour. I go 5 times a week unless I’m sick or menstruating.
Self Employment
At age 27 I became self employed, which works way better for my brain, peace of mind, finances and lifestyle preferences than juggling multiple jobs. Learn about how I became a digital nomad here.
Natural Calm
This does exactly what it says it’ll do. My favorite flavor is raspberry lemon. I used to keep one at home and one in my car. They also sell individual packets for traveling.
Magnesium Oil!!!
I am incarnated on this Earth to spread the gospel of Magnesium Oil. I use a local Balinese brand that’s not online but here’s what I use in the US. Spray it head to toe, avoiding cuts, eyes, freshly shaved skin etc. Leave it at least 30 min. Liquid xanax! The bath salts (next) are great too.
Magnesium flakes
See above. Bathing in general is so crucial for me, having grown up in Japan which is very big on bathing culture. Magnesium flakes are WAY more effective than epsom salts.
Epsom salts
Epsom salts are good in a pinch – I’d use a LOT, like a medium size bowl full, and add an entire box of aluminum-free baking soda, take a long bath, then go to bed without putting lotion or any products on. I’ve slept entire demons out of my system this way.
Sunbathing
Speaking of bathing, sunbathing. I moved to the tropics specifically so I could sunbathe for an hour at high noon (when our bodies can best convert the light to vitamin D) every day.
Bodywork
Especially shiatsu massage to help break up chronic neck tension especially. Another perk of living in Bali: easy to afford a 90 minute massage every week.
Acupressure Mat
Shoutout to Maryam Hasnaa for turning me onto this years ago, I use it every single day. I also travel with it. I’ve given several away as gifts. You just lay on it and let it detangle your nervous system.
Abdominal vacuum technique
If you deal with anxiety you probably are familiar with chest/diaphragm tension. I started doing this last year. It’s so relaxing! I also find that I now float more easily when swimming.
Neck massager
This is incredible. I’ve been using it twice a day. There was no brand name on the box. Best of luck researching “rabbit massager” trying to find it online.
Liver Supplements
Many of you know that I’ve been on an animal foods-based diet for 2 years, after cycling through the Standard American Diet, veganism, vegetarianism, plant based, keto etc etc. The first year I basically only ate animal foods – now I’m much more flexible. I still generally avoid most grains, legumes, and greens (especially raw and high oxalate) and am currently in better health than I ever even knew was possible.
Liver is an amazing superfood and I can’t recommend it highly enough especially to those who experience chronic stress and adrenal fatigue. According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, liver contains the following properties:
- “Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A
- All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
- One of our best sources of folic acid
- A highly usable form of iron
- Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
- An unidentified anti-fatigue factor”
“Unidentified anti-fatigue factor” – can confirm!
My favorite way to eat liver is super fresh – like, butchered the day of – and raw, sliced like sashimi. I know it sounds intense, but get this – when it’s that fresh, liver is literally SWEET. It has none of the metallic heavy taste most people associate with liver. In Bali, you can get high quality liver from Local Parts in Ubud. They deliver!
If I can’t get it that fresh, I usually just dehydrate it and eat it like beef jerky. In the US, I love Mother’s Best Liver Pills by Suuzi Hazen. As of April 27 she’s in stock! They’ll sell out so get on it. If you want to make your own, she has great instructions on her site. This is not an affiliate link, I just genuinely love her product and message.
When those aren’t available, or if they’re out of your budget, I recommend Natural Sources Raw Liver capsules:
I plan to add more to this post, specifically about my food journey, my recent experiments with blue light blockers on my tech, red lights in my bedroom, and what I learned during my recent 30 day breathwork challenge. Stay tuned and let me know if you have any questions!
If you’d like to support my blog and leave a tip, you can do so here:
To your health,
Kiki
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“Best of luck researching rabbit massager” 🤣🤣 Hilarious.
Lmao!
Still referencing this post long after you wrote it! Following your Twitter a couple years ago was a godsend – changed my life in terms of my physical and spiritual health. Thanks for sharing all that you do!
Thank you so much for the kind note 🙂 be well!
I would LOVE to read the article on how you became a digital nomad. It seems the link is broken…?
I have this article saved and bookmarked and come here when my nervous system needs support and I have already purchased magnesium (all 3 kinds), have the rabbit massager – it IS amazing (bought it in Korea in a random shopping mall so didn’t have to weed through internet pages of rabbit massager 😂), and lift weights.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you’re benefiting from the post. I took down the digital nomad post because I’m no longer in that line of work and the info became outdated 🙂 if you have any specific questions I’m happy to answer though.