Stress
If there’s one thing I think we can all agree on as the fall out from a global pandemic continues to affect us, is that our health is so important. We are all connected; our health affects our community and the health of our community affects us. Each of us has a responsibility to improve and maintain our health to the best of our abilities and I believe that helping others improve their lives is the reason we are here.
Which is why I have changed and pivoted my business structure. I want everyone to have access to helping themselves heal and be well and I want to help those who are committed to improving their health. While I continue to offer many of the same services, they will be offered within a new paradigm of nervous system healing and working toward a new tiered structure of support.
Getting healthy involves more than willpower, beating ourselves up or going on the latest diet or exercise craze. Science tells us that in order to make permanent changes to our long term health, we need to manage stress in a healthy way. This means having a resilient nervous system, one that is capable of tolerating periods of stress without ill effect on our health.
When we think of our nervous system, we often think of the 5 Senses and moving around. Our nervous system includes these along with sensing our internal environment, keeping us safe, keeping our internal organs functioning, assisting our immune system and being the main driver of what makes us human - planning, processing, dreaming and higher cortical functions.
One way we tend to our nervous system is through practicing nervous system downregulation, i.e. rest + relaxation, in a way that allows our nervous system and biology to heal while building our capacity to handle more stress. We have to make downregulation a habit, practicing new healthy skills from that downregulated state so that when we are confronted with that stressful situation in the future, we deal with it in a healthier manner that causes us less biological stress and wear and tear on our body.
My purpose is to help people like you with stress related issues, including pain, illness, difficulty sleeping, short tempers, and disconnection from self, learn new downregulating skills and learn how to rest + relax physiologically, so going forward you're better prepared for life, i.e. more resilient. I also help women during their reproductive years using a nervous system lens to assist the body with menstrual and fertility challenges, throughout pregnancy to balance the body + nervous system to promote optimal development, labor and birth, and post-partum to promote healing.
I do this through neuroscientific informed bodywork, yoga, breathwork, self-myofascial work, nervous system specific movement, mindful movement practices and Stress Resilience BodyMind Coaching, holding you in a safe container of support, committing to your health and healing, allowing you time to focus on yourself and heal, not just manage symptoms.
Nervous system healing and rewiring is slow. It takes time and a lot of repetition for new neural pathways, i.e. habits, to form. I recommend and ask you to commit to a minimum of 3 months* of focused healing, commit to focusing on rest + relaxation and bring that practice into the every day, not just when you are here with me.
It takes time, but commitment to this work makes a difference, allows you to heal and allows you to show up in this world the way you want to show up, not just reacting to things as they come up, then regretting it later.
Change can happen. It just takes a conscious mindful effort and the right tools and support to do it.
This is a space for healing and health. You are making a commitment to being better, feeling better, and healing when you are here with me. And I am here to support you on your healing path. It is my honor and privilege to assist you on your journey to health.
*Can you still come to class just when you want or schedule a massage here and there? Of course! I'm happy to work with you as long as you are committed to yourself in whatever capacity you have available!
Every stressful situation you've ever had results in a physiologic response designed to keep you alive. These physiological responses include the secretion of hormones and chemicals that keep us on high alert if we aren't allowed to complete the stress cycle. Over time, being in a near constant state of fight or flight causes a wear and tear on our body - we don't sleep well, our digestion is messed up, we develop aches and pains, our blood pressure rises, our heart rate remains elevated, and we gain weight around our middle. Eventually, we develop chronic disease.
Bodywork not only feels good, it is good for us.
As mammals, we require healthy human touch to maintain homeostasis.
Bodywork can identify and loosen restrictions, in our tissues and nervous system,
that may be preventing our bodies from working the way they should.
Bodywork is a profound nervous system down regulator,
allowing us to physiologically relax from a stressed out state.
The more time we spend under parasympathetic nervous system control,
the more resilience we have for dealing effectively with everyday stressors.
Your body never lies + it knows what it needs,
but sometimes it requires a little help.
That's where I come in.
I'm not your ordinary manual therapist.
I only work with people who are committed to their health + to making change.