An invitation to listen

Let your body tell you what it's carrying.

I'm making my way through a teensy little book called Focusing by Eugene Gendlin. The concept of “focusing”—coming into contact with our bodily felt sense of things—makes up a big part of what somatic work is all about, namely, learning how to listen to our body in any given situation. In everyday life with it's normal stressors and challenges, this is a super handy skill to have. In resolving the effects of trauma, it's crucial. I teach people how to do this, and I practice it on the daily.

It's now been 4 months since we started our Release & Refresh classes, and it's clear that we're onto something good, based on the feedback we get from participants. We aim to make “nervous system work” accessible, by guiding people in listening to their body, tuning OUT distractions and tuning IN to their felt sense of a stressor/problem/challenge, gleaning information about what it is they need, and receiving nourishment for the journey. It naturally results in a release of tension and a refreshed capacity to deal with stress… hence the name, Release & Refresh.

small class sizes means a very personal experience, as you learn how to tune in to your body in the face of stress

I love planning the different elements for each class, which includes just the right music (I won’t even tell you how many hours/days I have spent sampling music LOL), guided meditations that I create/write myself, accessible explanations of how the body “speaks”, body positioning prompts (although this is the task of local yoga teacher Michelle Ester-Bode, my co-facilitator, who I’m so thankful to have alongside me), and lots of little ways that I seek to create a warm, inviting, safe atmosphere, capable of holding whatever big or small thing you are showing up to class with. For people completely new to this kind of thing, it meets them where they’re at and shows them the way. For seasoned body-listeners, it provides the structure to go deeper or in a new and unique direction with their “listening”.

This coming Wednesday we have space available in our 7:00-8:30 pm class. Come join us! Be brave and try something new! Listening to your body might just be the thing you never knew you needed, but that you've been craving. 😊

See you Wednesday?

Allie