Don't let the news hijack your nervous system

Four ways to stay centered

In these chaotic times, it is so easy to lose your center of gravity, to outsource your equilibrium to the gyre, to the miasma, to the phone in your hands.

The world is fast, loud, and engineered to commandeer your attention. Which is why centering isn’t some nice-to-have; it’s a lifeline. Without it, you’re basically a sock puppet for your anxiety, your temper, or the latest alarming headline.

I recently spoke to a Buddhist nun, Ayya Anandabodhi, about four simple ways to reclaim your center:

1. Be in nature (and remember you are nature). Most of us know, whether from personal experience or the mountain of research, that spending time in nature can help reset your system. But if you’re stuck inside (say, mid-panic on a flight, as I sometimes am), Ayya says even remembering you’re made of the same elements as the earth can shift your state.

2. Drop into your feet. There’s a reason “grounding” starts with the ground. Shifting attention to your feet—where your body meets the earth—can help you get out of your head. As Ayya says, “There are no thoughts in the feet.”

3. Breathe into your belly. When we’re anxious, the breath stays high and tight. Ayya recommends resting your hands on your belly and breathing deeply into the center just below your navel—a grounding point known across multiple traditions.

4. Pause and feel your feelings. When you're overwhelmed—by panic, anger, fear, or just the chaos of the world—Ayya suggests starting with a pause. A pause can feel tiny, but as she puts it, it can help you “feel a feeling, know a thought as a thought, and not follow it.” In other words, it’s where your agency lives—the space between trigger and response.

You literally can’t hear this enough. I think of it as Mindfulness 101. Instead of running away from difficult feelings— self medicating with booze, shopping, denial—the move is to feel them fully, let them pass, and make a sane decision on the other side. Respond, not react. A decent recipe for becoming at least 10% happier.

You can hear much more from my conversation with Ayya Anandabodhi on today’s episode of the pod.

Paid subscribers also get a custom guided meditation, tailored to the episode. Today’s is called “Give Yourself a Moment” and comes from our July teacher of the month, Dawn Mauricio. It’s designed to help you step out of the chaos—headlines, notifications, the pull toward the next thing—and re-center from the inside out.

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Episode cheatsheet

The big takeaway:

Buddhist nun Ayya Anandabodhi shares her practices for reclaiming your inner stability during chaotic times. Through "centering," she explains how we can avoid being swept away by anxiety, anger, and the endless doomscrolling of modern life, grounding ourselves instead in the present moment, our bodies, and nature—while cultivating tools for resilience and compassionate action.

Reclaiming Your Center: Mindfulness Tools for Tough Times

Key takeaways:

• Centering is about returning your awareness to your body and the present moment, especially when life feels overwhelming.

• Instead of running from tough feelings, the path is to feel them fully—giving you more agency rather than leaving you powerless or reactive.

• Nature and mindful breathwork are simple but powerful ways to ground yourself and tap into a sense of peace that's always accessible.

• Pausing before reacting—especially when angry—can be deeply empowering and can totally change the outcome of difficult moments.

6 practical tips for centering and reclaiming your power: