My services are not a replacement for licensed mental health care, but may be supportive in conjunction with them. Potential clients will be interviewed to determine that they are supported in their mental health care before training, and may be required to provide authorization from their current mental health care provider.
“There is deep wisdom within our very flesh, if we can only come to our senses and feel it.” -Elizabeth A Behnke
An unsettled or unsupported nervous system can look like:
- Feeling unsafe
- Difficulty trusting or connecting with other people
- Hyper-vigilance— feeling “on guard” all the time
- Difficulty sitting still
- Nervous/anxious energy
- Disrupted sleep patterns or insomnia
- Feeling “raw,” sensitive, or emotional
- Lethargy or dullness
- Difficulty breathing well
- Repetitive thought patterns
- Feeling helpless or powerless
- Inability to pay attention
Our bodies are designed to help us to adapt to our changing environment, and all of these (and more) are completely normal physiological responses to being alive in a challenging world.
There is nothing wrong with you.
You are an incredibly powerful, durable human being.
Even better: you can learn to work with your unique body to help recover your sense of well-being.
Each training session is an opportunity to play and learn with movement, somatic skills, and breathing techniques. Sessions are tailored to you and your physical and emotional state. We might play with balance or balls, or spend some time on the yoga mat. As a trauma-informed yoga teacher, personal trainer, and coach, my job is to help you to tap into your body’s resources through movement.
This approach teaches:
- A sense of wholeness, integration and vitality.
- Self-confidence as you recognize your own strength, power and embodied boundaries.
- An understanding of your body’s functions to facilitate well-being
- Increased ability to handle activating states while remaining in your window of capacity
- Techniques for greater embodiment and durability so that you can handle life’s challenges.
While I have completed extensive training in trauma-informed movement practices, I want to acknowledge that as a white-bodied, cisgendered, able-bodied person, I have limited cultural competency when it comes to working with trauma. I do not have the lived experience of being oppressed by systemic racism or structural oppression, and I continue to benefit from the privilege of this social position. A portion of the proceeds from my work is given to support the work of BIPOC folks who are doing work to dismantle oppressive systems.
Further, we need to name that it may not be possible to thrive or heal in a system that is sick. We can, however, validate our own experiences, recognize the effects of the system, and find ways to mitigate those effects by working with ourselves.