Wind-Down After Overstimulation Evening
Designed by Bearmore
Inspired by Dhivya @fossilisedflowersBedtime but your nervous system is still buzzing.
Bring the agitation down before sleep. An evening Burst inspired by Dhivya's tools for the overstimulated: slow exhale breathing, gentle music, a body scan, and twenty minutes with a book.
The runsheet
Slow exhales
Breath workDhivya names long-exhale breath as the most reliable lever for a buzzy evening. Ten minutes of slow nasal breath, breathing out longer than you breathe in. Nothing fancy; the chemistry does the work.
10 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing breath work before listening to music (mindful)
This works well because a calm, open state can help you listen more deeply and feel music more emotionally.
Music with no other distractions
Listening to music (mindful)Music as a softer kind of sensory input than scrolling. She often posts about chosen, predictable music as a way to take the edge off a buzzy evening. Fifteen minutes with something you already know.
15 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing listening to music (mindful) before body scan
This can be a good pairing because the sensory awareness from mindful listening can carry into tuning into the body with similar focused attention.
Scan through your body
Body scanHer body scan is for finding where the tension is hanging on. Fifteen minutes moving attention through the body, just naming it. Sometimes the noticing is enough; sometimes it is not, and that is also fine.
15 min activityBearmore’s thoughts on doing body scan before reading (mindful)
This works well because the relaxed, attentive state from a scan can carry into reading and make engagement feel patient and focused.
Reading
Reading (mindful)Twenty minutes of reading that is not work, not improvement, not productive in any way. She names this as the practice that settles her most on a buzzy, overstimulated evening. Fiction, poetry, something reliable enough to feel safe.
20 min activityTime well spent.
1h 12m spent doing something good for yourself.
The breakdown
Burst evaluation
Wellbeing focus
About this Burst
Dhivya is a writer, mother, and chronic-condition curator who shares practical tools for the overstimulated nervous system. Her content draws on lived experience of chronic illness and the daily practices that help when the system is already running hot. Posts on regulation, rest as practice, and the realism of small interventions. 193K+ followers on @fossilisedflowers.