On heatwaves, full moons, brain inflammation, and letting your body release without saying a word
Half term is drawing to a close here in East Sussex. And this week, something happened on my morning walk that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about.
I was on the Cuckoo Trail — the path behind our house that I have been walking most mornings, twenty to thirty minutes before the day begins. The heatwave has settled over everything this week. The air thick, golden, almost still. And as I walked, a dragonfly landed on a leaf just ahead of me.
It stayed there. Completely still. Just resting in the heat and the light.
And I stopped too. Two full minutes, we were both just there — the dragonfly and I, in that warm, bright air, not going anywhere, not doing anything. Just being.
Can you pause like that? Completely? Even for two minutes?
I am asking honestly — because this week I noticed something in myself that I want to share with you. Despite the beauty of the walks, despite the half term slowdown — my body has been acting up. Waking earlier than usual. Feeling emotionally unsettled. A restlessness I couldn’t quite name or explain.
And my first instinct was to wonder: what’s wrong with me?
But here is what I know, and what I want to say to you today:
Nothing is wrong with you. Your body is responding. There is a difference.
We are in the middle of a UK heatwave. And on 30th May — just days away — we have a full moon. Not just any full moon, but the second full moon in May. A blue moon. A moment of heightened energy, amplified feeling, the body and nervous system running at a higher frequency than usual.
Whether you are conscious of it or not — your body feels all of it. The heat affects your sleep, your lymphatic flow, your hormones, your emotional regulation. The full moon amplifies whatever is already present — the unprocessed feelings, the stored tension, the things you have been carrying without putting down.
Waking early. Feeling unsettled. Emotions rising without obvious reason.
This is not a malfunction. This is your body — intelligent, responsive, alive — doing exactly what it is designed to do. Responding to its environment. Trying to process. Trying to move. Trying to clear.
The question is not what is wrong with you. The question is — are you listening?
What your body might be carrying right now
When we experience ongoing stress, unprocessed emotion, environmental overload — heat, noise, the relentless pace of the world — something happens at a deeper level. The brain’s immune system activates. Low-grade inflammation builds quietly — not the dramatic kind, but the slow, persistent kind that settles in and starts to affect how you think, feel, sleep, and function.
Brain fog. Waking at 3am. Emotional sensitivity without knowing why. Fatigue that rest doesn’t fix. A feeling of being full of something that needs to move but can’t find the way out.
These are not character flaws. They are your body’s signals — physical, emotional, biochemical, mental — all speaking at once. All asking for the same thing.
To be heard. To be held. To be allowed to release.
And underneath all of it, your lymphatic system — the body’s primary waste clearing network — quietly waiting for you to move and breathe and give it what it needs. Because the lymphatic system has no pump. Nothing moves it except you. Your movement. Your breath. Your muscles contracting and releasing. In the heat, when the body slows and tightens — the lymph stagnates. And what needs to clear, stays.
Your body is not against you. It is waiting for your participation. It is waiting for you to stop — like the dragonfly — and trust.
Self-care tips for this week
These are the things I am returning to myself this week — in the heat, under this full moon energy, with my own body asking for attention.
Move gently every day — even in the heat
Not to push. Not to exhaust. Just to move the lymph. A slow morning walk before the heat rises. Gentle stretching. Even five minutes of soft bouncing on a rebounder gets those lymphatic valves opening and the fluid moving again. Move early. Move slowly. Move with kindness toward yourself.
Breathe — really breathe
Not the shallow breath that lives in the top of your chest. The kind that reaches all the way down. One hand on your chest, one on your belly — the bottom hand should move first and most. Three slow full breaths — in through the nose, out through the mouth — is one of the most powerful things you can do for your lymph, your nervous system, and your brain right now. Do it before you get out of bed. Do it when the restlessness rises.
Drink more water than you think you need
In a heatwave, dehydration happens faster than we realise. And dehydrated lymph is thick and slow — it cannot clear what needs clearing. The brain becomes foggy. Emotions amplify. Sleep deteriorates. Warm or room temperature water first thing in the morning, before anything else. Your body will thank you for it.
Find your dragonfly moment
Go outside and let something stop you. A butterfly. A bee in the lavender. A bird on a wire. Give it two full minutes of your unhurried attention. Not as a practice. Not as a technique. Simply because you and that small living thing are both here, right now, in this one unrepeatable moment. And that is enough. That is everything.
Feel what is here — without rushing past it
If you are waking early, feeling unsettled, carrying something you cannot name — don’t try to fix it. Sit with it for a moment. Place your hand on your heart and ask quietly: what are you trying to tell me? The body always answers, when we give it space to speak.
Protect your energy
In heightened times — heatwaves, full moons, emotionally charged weeks — your energy is precious. Notice what drains you and step away when you can. Notice what restores you and choose it, as lovingly and as often as you are able. Protecting your energy is not selfish. It is how you stay available — to yourself, to the people you love, to the life you are already living.
✦ Naomi’s tip: This full moon on 30th May is a powerful moment to release something you have been carrying. Before you sleep, write one thing you are ready to let go of. Not to understand it fully. Not to fix it. Just to acknowledge — I have been carrying this, and I am ready to put it down. Then breathe. And trust that your body, given space and support, already knows how to clear what needs to clear.
But sometimes — the body needs more than self-care tips.
Sometimes what is stored has been there for years. Grief that never fully moved. Stress that never fully left. An experience that the mind has processed but the body is still holding — silently, deeply, in the tissue and the nervous system and the cells.
And here is something I want to say very honestly:
You don’t have to talk about it.
You don’t have to find the words. You don’t have to explain it or relive it or understand it fully before it can shift. In fact, sometimes the very act of trying to find the words keeps us circling — the mind working hard while the body waits.
There is another way.
Introducing something new at HomeWellness
This Saturday at HomeWellness, Primrose Hill, I am offering a therapy I want to tell you about — because I believe it is one of the most powerful and least understood things I do.
Trauma & Emotional Release — Facial & Neuro Foot Reflexology Using the Lone Sorensen Method
The face and feet carry something remarkable. They are neurological maps — reflex zones that correspond directly to the brain’s emotional centres, the limbic system, the amygdala, the vagus nerve. By working both simultaneously — face and feet together — this therapy creates a direct conversation with the parts of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, stress response, and the deep memory where trauma and unresolved emotion are stored.
No talking required. No explaining. No reliving.
You simply lie down, fully clothed, and receive. The touch is gentle and precise. And what happens — what I have seen happen again and again — is that something the body has been holding for a very long time begins, quietly and completely, to release.
This is for you if:
— You feel stuck, even after talking therapies — You are carrying something you cannot find words for — Your nervous system won’t settle, no matter what you try — You feel emotionally numb, or the opposite — overwhelmed — You are exhausted by the effort of processing everything through your mind — You simply want to stop — like the dragonfly — and let your body do what it knows how to do
The brain can regenerate. The nervous system can reset. The body can release what the mind alone cannot reach. And it does not require you to say a single word.
Come and trust your body again
If something in this post has landed for you — if you recognise that restlessness, that unsettled feeling, that sense of your body asking for something you haven’t yet given it — I would love to welcome you.
Come not because something is wrong with you. Come because you are ready to listen to what your body has been trying to tell you. Come because you love yourself enough to give it the care it is asking for.
Sessions this Saturday at HomeWellness, Primrose Hill, London. Also available Tuesdays and online.
Trauma & Emotional Release · Reflexology EFT · Emotion Code · Calm Coaching · Reiki · Craniosacral Therapy · Massage
📍 HomeWellness, Primrose Hill, London — Saturdays & Tuesdays 🌐 naomisato.co.uk 📧 naomisato1130@gmail.com 📞 07775 688246
Book directly with me for my personal rate. I am always happy to have a brief conversation first.
Bring a friend — you both receive 10% off your session together.
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Take action from love — not from fear or worry.
With warmth and care, Naomi 🌿 Naomi Sato Holistic Therapies & Calm Coaching · naomisato.co.uk