Calm the Storm: Why Self Management Begins in the Body

• Written by:
  Louise Davidson — Stress Monkey Club CIC
  — Movement specialist
• Published: 8th January 2026

The somatic approach, from Louise Davidson, host of the Self Management Week event ‘Calm the Storm: Movement & Breath to Lower Cortisol’.

Taking part in Self Management Week 2025 was both grounding and energising for me. Offering Calm the Storm as a free community session allowed me to share something I believe in deeply: that self management starts in the body long before it becomes a plan, an app, or a clinical strategy. It begins with our breath, our awareness, our nervous system, and the everyday choices that help us meet life with more steadiness and less overwhelm.

As someone who has lived with several long term conditions, stress, trauma, and hypothyroidism, self management isn’t an abstract idea. It’s something I’ve had to practise in real time, in real life, during real challenges. That lived experience shapes everything I teach. It also made participating in Self Management Week feel meaningful. There was a real sense of collective momentum — a reminder that small community-led interventions do matter, and that somatic practices are becoming a valued part of the national conversation.

Keeping Self Management Alive All Year

One of the most powerful aspects of Self Management Week is the way it brings people together: organisations, practitioners, carers, people living with long term conditions, and those navigating invisible struggles. But the real transformation happens when that momentum continues between the annual campaigns.

This is why I’m delighted the ALLIANCE are keeping the conversation alive throughout the year. When we stretch the dialogue beyond a single week, we remind people that self management is not a crisis response or a January promise — it is a daily practice of listening to the body, supporting the mind, and creating conditions for resilience.

Somatic Approaches: A Pathway to Everyday Self Management

My work at Stress Monkey Club CIC blends somatic movement, therapeutic yoga, Qigong, dance, and nervous system education. I’ve spent over thirty years working with people with long term conditions, dementia, trauma, grief, and chronic stress. Across all these settings, I see the same truth:

People don’t need more pressure to “fix” themselves. They need accessible tools to come home to themselves.

The somatic approach is gentle but powerful. It teaches people to notice:

• Where tension is held
• When the breath becomes shallow
• How stress shows up in the gut, jaw, shoulders, or sleep
• What movements soothe the system rather than strain it.

This is self management in its purest form — not an external programme, but an internal skillset.

During Calm the Storm, we explored practical tools to lower cortisol and regulate the nervous system:

• Simple breath practices that downshift the body from fight-or-flight
• Slow, natural movement that restores joint mobility and reduces inflammation
• Somatic awareness techniques that help people recognise early signs of overwhelm
• Safe shaking, bouncing, and fascial release to discharge tension
• Restorative positions to support digestion, sleep, and pain reduction.

Every participant left with something they could use immediately, without equipment, cost, or complexity. That is the heart of my work: self management that feels doable.

Supporting People with Long Term Conditions

Across the Western Isles and mainland Scotland, I work with individuals who live with mobility challenges, grief, dementia, autoimmune conditions, long term stress, and the cumulative weight of caring roles. Many feel isolated, overwhelmed, or disconnected from their bodies.

Somatic movement gives them back a sense of agency. Not by pushing harder, but by teaching them how to tune in, soften, pace, and rebuild.

I often say:

“It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what brings you back to yourself.”

Whether someone attends for physical function, emotional regulation, or simply to feel safe in their own body again, self management becomes a shared journey — one that honours the person, not the condition.

A Call to Action

As we look towards Self Management Week 2026, I hope we continue expanding the conversation into areas that are often overlooked — the body, the breath, the nervous system, and the somatic patterns shaped by lived experience, trauma, and long term stress.

My call to action is simple:

Let’s normalise gentle, evidence-aligned practices that give people their power back.

Not as a replacement for medical care, but as a foundation for resilience, recovery, and daily self-support. Self management doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to be embodied.

—

Louise Davidson is movement specialist and hosted an event as part of Self Management Week 2025. With over 30 years’ experience as a movement specialist, Louise is based in the Outer Hebrides and runs a CIC dedicated to holistic health and wellbeing. Her work bridges somatic therapy, yoga, Qigong, and dance to support nervous system regulation, emotional healing, and long-term health management. For more information on her work and to get in touch, visit her website here.

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