The Radical Power of Doing Nothing — How It Can Save You
- Brainz Magazine
- Jul 2
- 5 min read
Written by Nazoorah Nusrat, Holistic Life Coach
Nazoorah Nusrat is a holistic life coach, mind-body practitioner, and founder of Clarity Coaching Energy. Through NLP, somatic healing practices and heart-led alchemy, she helps people reconnect to their souls, release limiting beliefs, and heal from burnout, trauma, and toxic relationships.
We live in a culture that still glorifies hustle, praises productivity, and shames rest. But what if doing nothing, yes truly nothing, was the very thing your brain, body, and soul are crying out for? In this article, holistic life coach Nazoorah Nusrat explores the neuroscience and psychology behind stillness, and why embracing the sacred pause might be the most transformative act of self-leadership, self-love, you’ll ever take.
We are terrified of doing nothing
We have a tendency to fill every crack in the day with noise, motion, and input. We scroll while walking, answer emails while eating, and call it "lazy" if someone dares to sit in silence for too long. The modern world doesn't just praise productivity; it worships it. Anything that resembles regular stillness is seen as wasteful, woo-woo, or shameful.
I am pleased to highlight the insights from science, psychology, and ancient somatic wisdom, which suggest an alternative perspective. Engaging in deliberate inactivity can be one of the most intelligent and restorative practices for our mind, body, and soul. Here's why.
Your brain was never meant to be “on” all the time
There's a network in your brain called the Default Mode Network, it activates when you're daydreaming, reflecting, or resting. This state is important for processing emotions, storing memories, and making sense of experiences. Without time in this zone, you can't integrate, nor truly make sense of things. Most importantly, you can't heal.
Neuroscientist Marcus Raichle, who discovered the DMN, showed that the brain is far from idle during rest. We know that sleep is vital, but the DMN is the space where we find creativity, insight, and emotional recovery. Yet this natural rhythm has been buried under pressure, performance, and perfectionism.
Rest is not a luxury - it’s biology
Our nervous systems are built for cycles of effort and rest. The sympathetic system energizes us to act, while the parasympathetic system, activated by slow breathing or stillness, helps return us to a state of calm. Without that downshift, we stay stuck in activation, which could be a state of alert, anxiousness, or exhaustion.
Dr. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory explains that true healing only happens when the body feels safe. Safety can’t be faked; you could journal all day, but if your system never exits stress mode, your healing won’t land. This is why so many of us “do the work” but still feel stuck, because we’re doing it from survival, not regulation.
Doing nothing, real stillness, without an agenda, is one of the few ways to return to that regulated state. It’s the moment your breath drops, your jaw unclenches, and your soul starts whispering again.
The psychology of avoiding quiet
But here’s the kicker...
Most people would rather do anything than sit by themselves. In a study published in Science, participants were left alone in a room without distractions, just their thoughts. Many found the experience so uncomfortable that they voluntarily gave themselves mild electric shocks rather than stay silent. That’s how deep the discomfort goes.
Stillness is confronting. It unearths what we’ve been suppressing, our unprocessed grief, shame, and confusion, all the things we’ve kept under control through busyness. This is why the moment you stop, your mind floods with emotion. It’s not because you’re weak, it’s because your soul is finally getting airtime. In a society that rewards suppression, slowing down feels radical, borderline rebellious.
The gift on the other side
Something happens when you allow yourself to stop. Not scroll, not self-improve, just stop.
At first, it feels awkward, frustrating, boring even. But then a softening occurs as your breath deepens and your thoughts stretch out. Your inner voice, once buried under notifications and to-do lists, starts to rise.
This is when the insights come, the clarity and the creativity you thought had disappeared. The emotions you hadn’t realized were still asking to be held.
You don’t have to perform for this to happen. You just have to pause long enough for your body to come back to itself.
Slowly, you begin to realize this nothingness is not empty. It’s a sacred space where everything reorganizes. Your nervous system settles, your memory sharpens, and your energy has the chance to return, leading to your capacity expanding.
And maybe, for the first time in a long time, you feel whole.
Not all ‘relaxation’ is real rest
Many people believe that watching TV, listening to music, or even meditating counts as complete rest. While these activities certainly have value, they still involve a level of sensory engagement, intention, or expectation. Television stimulates the visual and auditory centers. Music often evokes emotional responses or memory pathways. Even structured meditation techniques can come with performance pressure, to focus, clear the mind, or “do it right.”
Neuroscience research distinguishes passive leisure from true mental rest. A study by Smallwood and Schooler (2015) highlights that intentional disengagement, such as allowing the mind to wander freely without input, activates the brain’s default mode network more effectively than structured tasks or externally guided activities. In other words, it’s not about zoning out or achieving peace; it’s about creating unstructured, open internal space.
True stillness, free from outcome or performance, is rare. But it’s in those in-between spaces that deep nervous system repair, emotional integration, and cognitive reset occur.
Doing nothing isn’t about numbing out. It’s about coming home without trying to fix, change, or even name the experience.
Final thought
Doing nothing isn’t an indulgence. It’s a return to your body and real presence, and to the part of you that exists beneath the noise.
So if the world has taught you that your value lies in what you produce, prove, or push through, let this be your permission slip to stop. Not because you’ve earned it, but because you were never meant to live any other way.
Ready to practice sacred stillness with support?
If the idea of doing nothing feels unfamiliar or even frightening, you’re not alone. In a world that rewards constant motion, stillness can feel like a threat. But you don’t have to figure it out in isolation.
In 1:1 coaching, we create the conditions for safety, nervous system repair, and emotional clarity together. Through guided somatic techniques, breathwork, energy attunement, and presence-based inquiry, we build the trust required to meet stillness without fear.
This work helps you:
Release burnout patterns from the root.
Reconnect with your inner voice and wisdom.
Regulate your nervous system gently and consistently.
Feel calm, clear, and recharged without needing to escape.
Curious or ready? Reach out or find out more about how I work. Check out my website at www.claritycoachingenergy.com.
Read more from Nazoorah Nusrat
Nazoorah Nusrat, Holistic Life Coach
Nazoorah Nusrat is the founder of Clarity Coaching Energy. With over 20 years of experience in health and wellness, she supports people moving through grief, burnout, or identity shifts to reclaim their clarity, confidence and inner calm. As a reflexologist as well, Nazoorah blends science, spirituality, and soul to help her clients reconnect to their truth. Having moved through and healed from narcissistic relationships and dynamics, Nazoorah is passionate about emotional alchemy, sacred leadership and creating spaces where people feel seen, heard and empowered.
Cited references:
Raichle, M.E. (2015). The Brain’s Default Mode Network. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 38, 433–447.
American Psychological Association. (2022). Stress Effects.
Porges, S.W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. Norton Series.
Wilson, T.D. et al. (2014). Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind. Science, 345(6192), 75–77.
Baird, B. et al. (2012). Inspired by Distraction: Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1117–1122.
Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J.W. (2015). The Science of Mind Wandering: Empirically Navigating the Stream of Consciousness. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 487–518.
