The Myth of Normal: How Modern Life Dysregulates the Nervous System, and What Helps Sleep Recover
Annelies Basten · Saturday 28 February · 3:00 – 4:00pm · Upstairs
Modern life asks a great deal of our bodies. From pregnancy through schooling, careers, and digital overload, many nervous systems spend years adapting to pressure, speed, and constant stimulation. Over time, this state of ongoing alertness shows up at night. Sleep becomes lighter or fragmented. The mind keeps working long after the day ends. The body struggles to settle, even when rest is deeply wanted.
In this talk, Annelies, psycho-somatic therapist, meditation teacher, and founder of Project Pure, shares how cultural stress patterns shape our biology, and why so many people experience sleep difficulties despite doing “all the right things.”
Blending clinical experience with meditation-based somatic practices, Annelies explores:
- how stress responses live in the body
- why insight alone often falls short
- what coherence between mind and physiology actually feels like
- how regulation restores the conditions for natural sleep
- how working with the nervous system supports lasting change
Rather than overriding symptoms, this session focuses on helping the body return to balance. As regulation strengthens, breathing slows, muscular tension softens, and the nervous system regains access to rest. From that place, people often rediscover clarity, steadiness, and the capacity to create a life that reflects who they truly are, without cycling back into old survival strategies.
About Annelies Basten
Annelies Basten (MPsych) is a psycho-somatic therapist, meditation teacher, and the founder of Project Pure. Her work combines clinical training with deep somatic and meditation practice, offering practical tools for nervous system regulation and sleep support that address root causes rather than symptoms.