My thoughts at the moment are on being with my own and others distress. This isn’t really a very usual subject for a December blog, but its where my mind is at the moment. There’s a great deal going on in the world that can feel really difficult to be with. We may also be struggling with difficulties closer to…
Category: Blog
Somatic Self Love Practice for Valentines
Valentines day can feel really money orientated and geared towards an ideal of romantic love, that is rarely very real. Many of us wont have someone to ‘do’ Valentines with and for those who do, it is often not a meaningful mirror of love, as it does or doesn’t show up in our real life relationships. The pressure on people…
VIDEO SERIES – Accessible Mindfulness
All videos in this 4 part series are accessible, inclusive mindfulness experiences. I use eye, hand, gentle body movement, breath, and other tools and hacks to settle the nervous system enough, so as to come into presence. Often we can find mindfulness meditation difficult to access, it might feel triggering, overwhelming, confusing, or just impossible to settle into on any…
VIDEO Self Care, Self Love – Mindfulness, Movement, Breathwork
A 45 minute live recorded workshop offering some movement with qigong, Feldenkrais and gentle yoga at the core, to move mindfully, offering kindness, gentleness and acceptance to your current state. The mindfulness is embedded throughout the session. Some gentle breathwork with a small counted guided breathing, a technique taught be Bessel Van Der Kolk. There is a short yoga nidra…
VIDEO Mindfulness, movement and breathwork session – pt 1 freeze response
This is the first part of a series of live recorded mindfulness, movement and breathwork sessions, dedicated to moving out of freeze response states in our bodies. Have a blanket and a pillow or two ready to get comfortable and enjoy getting to a place of calm in body and mind. No prior knowledge of mindfulness is required. Enjoy!
VIDEO Mindfulness, movement and breathwork session – pt 2 flight response
This is the second part of a series of live recorded mindfulness, movement and breathwork sessions, dedicated to moving out of flight response states in our bodies. Have a blanket and a pillow or two ready to get comfortable and enjoy getting to a place of calm in body and mind. No prior knowledge of mindfulness is required. Enjoy! If…
VIDEO Mindfulness, movement and breathwork session – pt 3 fight response
This is the third part of a series of live recorded mindfulness, movement and breathwork sessions. Today we are looking at how to respond to the fight response of your nervous system. Have a blanket and a pillow or two ready to get comfortable and enjoy replacing and resting your nervous system to get a to a peaceful place of…
Something a little bit different – Neuroscience informed ways to manage the stress of lockdown pt 1
Firstly let’s acknowledge reality. We are all being impacted by a global pandemic, it will be impacting us differently, but it will be impacting us.Being human, this will have an effect on us. That’s unavoidable, and if you’re feeling stressed, anxious, fearful, hopeless, bored, disconnected, angry, that’s all normal! We can’t change what’s happening out there in the world, and…
Something a little bit different – Neuroscience informed ways to manage the stress of lockdown pt 2
I’ve written previously on how we need to find ways to respond to how we feel, right now, not just squish prescriptive self care stuff onto ourselves, then wonder why it’s not working.I’d like to offer a few more suggestions. Some things we can do when the stress and distress of our shared global situation feels like it isn’t manageable…
Something a little bit different – Neuroscience informed ways to manage the stress of lockdown pt 3
So I’m writing again on stuff to do when stress and distress take hold. If it isn’t working it isn’t you, it’s the tool. Mindfulness, movement, breathwork and all that goes with that, is not built to help us all, all the time.What we need is state dependent. Sometimes sitting still is what we need most in the world, sometimes it…
Some links to research for those who like that kind of thing
Mindfulness Study shows mindfulness may change the brain in depressed patients Dan Siegel, M.D. – Discussing the science of mindfulness Jon Kabat-Zinn – “The Healing Power of Mindfulness” Trauma/Heal The Body with Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk Movement Integrating Meditative Movement for Improved Mental Health Meditative Movement for Depression and Anxiety How simply moving benefits your mental health The Influence…
VIDEO Quick nervous system reset
In this short video I will show you some quick but very effective exercises to bring yourself back into a state of feeling switched on and calm when you are experiencing anxiety or stress. These exercises can be done anywhere at any time.
Using Zoom – managing it feeling uncomfortable, anxiety provoking or exposing.
Using Zoom, Skype, Facetime or other video calling services is a wonderful way to stay connected, work and be active, especially whilst we are in lockdown. However, many people are talking about feeling exhausted, in really extreme ways, feeling anxious, getting headaches and finding the experience really intense and overwhelming at times.Here are a few ideas why that might be, and…
VIDEO Ujjayi breath tutorial and practise
In this 2 part video blog post I we are exploring a breathing technique called Ujjayi breath. Use the tutorial video to learn the technique and you can use the shorter practise video to deepen your own practise. TUTORIAL VIDEO PRACTISE VIDEO Ujjayi Breath, also know as whisper breathing or ocean breath is a type of yogic breathing. You might…
VIDEO Belly breathing tutorial and practise
In this 2 part video blog post I will teach you the technique of belly – also called diaphragmatic – breathing and you can use the shorter practise video to deepen your own practise. TUTORIAL VIDEO PRACTISE VIDEO Belly Breathing, also known as diaphragmatic breathing, because we are learning to stretch and move our diaphragm, involves pushing our in-breaths into…