Restorative Yoga- In Your Bed!

If you know me, then it goes without saying that you have been personally invited to take one of my restorative yoga classes or you may have even received a private session from me! Wherever, I go, I love sharing this practice with everyone I meet, because it is so...powerful!

One of the perks of restorative yoga is getting to use pretty much every prop imaginable and allowing your entire body to sink into and be supported by lot's of these blankets, pillows, and bolsters. 

This is wonderful if you have access to a yoga studio that offers classes with these props. I love teaching at studios and I even have a small group set that I use for private workshops with clients at my office and in their homes and offices. 

However, what happens if you like this practice so much but you don't have the props at home? 

What if there are no yoga studios in your area that offer restorative yoga in the first place? 

What if you want to develop your own practice so that you can have the amazing benefits of restorative yoga at your beck and call on a daily basis but you don't want to have to worry about bringing your props everywhere you go?

I created this class just for you so that you can practice restorative pretty much anywhere that you have a few pillows and a blanket and even more so if you are in the comfort in your own home. All you need is access to....your bed!

That's right. I laugh outloud as I share this because I think of how yummy, relaxing, and rejuvenating this practice already is and to think you can actually do it in your bed??! No, this is not too good to be true. 

This practice is actually good for you! In a culture where we permeate society with the message of always needing to be doing something and constantly busying ourselves with work, entertainment, chores, and endless distractions, restorative yoga helps us to slow down, settle into stillness, and access what its like to be just be here now, without any pretenses. 

Is This For You?

If you are a creative, sensitive, intelligent person looking for a holistic approach to address depression, anxiety, feelings of emptiness, chronic disappointment, dis-ease or an intense inner critic within any of the following areas: relationships, work, food, body image and life transitions, then you are in the right place!

If you keep repeating patterns over and over again and you can't understand why but you desperately want to stop, welcome! 

If you have found that you are tired of quick fixes that don't work, empty self help promises that leave you confused, overwhelmed and feeling worse about yourself, and you are someone who is willing, courageous, and just can't give up, then you are also in the right place!

My work teaches the information, skills, techniques and compassionate wisdom that we were meant to learn from the very beginning. This place is a safe haven for you to talk, trust, and feel.

It's Never Too Late to Open Your Heart

Opening my heart was something that came later in life for me. It wasn't

something that I ever knew how to do! I definitely didn't learn it at home.

And I didn't learn it at school or from watching tv.  

It didn't seem like anyone around me knew about it either. Actually, I spent a

lot of time learning how to close my heart. Yes, it was a survival mechanism,

yet in my adult life it was keeping stuck and in pain. 

By the time I found help, I wanted my problems to be fixed, but I had no idea

that the answers were within me. I'd been searching for so long, I never

realized part of the answer was to stop searching and to start listening.

For those of you who come by here often, and those of you who are just stopping by, I want you to know that you don't have to do this alone.

That even if you've been looking for answers for a really long time, there is hope.

There is more than hope, there is a solution.

That you are more resilient, strong, malleable, and whole than you've ever realized!

That this strength is within you, not outside of you. 

That even though when it feels like life is really hard, exhausting, and you don't want to go on any longer, that you are still making shifts beneath the surface.

That those longstanding patterns that seem like they will never change, WILL.

That timing is everything and it is one thing we have no control over. That letting go of it is one of the most powerful ways to finding peace .

That all of the feelings you have ever had have made complete sense and it is your acceptance of them that will allow them to soften away.

I want you to know I am STILL learning more deeply about how to open my heart each and every moment and that there is no doubt that I Iearn this everyday from you.      

Healing is an Art

Discovering our true aliveness as a creator and architect of our lives is a warrior's path. Because at every turn, we meet characters along the way that we must learn how to welcome and embrace in order to let our true inspiration shine. 

Healing is our greatest art and creativity is our true nature. I believe your creativity has little to do with creating actual art (though this may be your joy) and much more to do with embracing your strength to

I believe the heart of our creative genius can only come alive when we allow ourselves to talk, trust, and feel and get to know our inner friend and parent that is there for us unconditionally. 

Along the way, we meet our inner critic, worried, tense, hypervigilant, yet a true hero in survival that has protected our vulnerable child within for all this time. Opening our hearts gently and at our own pace, we allow the critic to resign his or her tiresome role and release the burden of carrying on an impossible job. 

This allows our inner child to come alive!

The F Word

Feelings....there I said it!

When did feeling our feelings become so taboo in this society?

I truly believe in the healing power of feelings our feelings and that the direct pathway to feeling greater peace is to develop emotional awareness. We are are hungry in this culture and yet we don't know what it is that will make us full. 

While we seek to find fulfillment and nourishment in so many ways on the outside, what we are really seeking is the emotional connection between our wisest self and the parts of us that are calling out for help .

Through a myriad of ways that alleviate the pain and tension of the inner critic that prevents us from being and continuously keeps us doing, we begin to soften protective parts of ourselves that are trying to keep everything together (unsuccessfully) and reconnect to the True Self (the Compassionate Leader) within which is the direct link to opening our hearts.

Coincidentally, moving through our pain is the process which brings us greater joy in our lives. Some of the ways I support clients in doing this is through the paths of psychotherapy, yoga, recovery, inner child work  and more. The common thread is that they all lead you back to the wisdom inside YOU.  

The wisdom of the heart is meant to be shared. Emotional Awareness, True Self Guidance, Wellness, The Critical Voice vs. The Loving Voice and How to Talk, Trust, & Feel. 

These are the topics I wish we would've learned in school. I teach what I've always needed to learn. To me, these teachings are the ways to remember the heart, to let go and love.

I hope if you've found your way here they are for you too."

How 12 Step Slogans Support Part Work

 Keep coming back-

To the abandoned ones, the exiles, the lost children who are in need of your attention,  over and over. They need to see that you are different, that unlike many before, YOU will come back.

To the protectors, the devoted, loyal, exhausted ones who have worked overtime with honor to keep you safe. Keep coming back to let them know how much they have helped you and that you couldn't have done it without them. They were how you survived and are able to breathe and read this today.

So all the parts realize now they don't have to do this alone

To the sensations in the body, this is where we hear voices in the form of wordless pain, tension. This is where the tissues hold burdens in and speak freely about what's still there. This is the language back to feeling.

To the deeper awareness that what's bothering you at the surface so intensely is really not about what you think it is. Keep plunging deeper, keep coming back to your core fears, beliefs, instead of believing that worry or rumination or obsessive thinking are your true self..

Keep it simple-

Start exactly where you are

Whatever is coming up is what is supposed to be shown to you

If you have a question ask

You can't think your way out of this one-

Start talking. One word at a time. 

Its not a complicated spiritual or existential philosophy, while interesting, its not going to get you there. It's simply talking, trusting, and feeling.  

Simple question, devoted consistency: Repeating over and over what does this part need?

Take what you hear and see at face value. No need to analyze which complicates things and is the opposite of keeping it simple. However taking things at face value means not just taking in the facts that the other person is showing you, it's including your own intuition and discernment based on what you are picking up. Keep it simple. You know. 

All parts have good intentions

All parts want to be heard

Simple gestures-a hug, a loving stance, eye contact, gentle asking, validation. 

Asking- What do I need right now and how can I give it to myself?

One day at a time

-parts that feel stuck have felt that way for what may feel like an eternity because they have been disappointed repeatedly, chronically and fear things will always be this way. We have to unblend the layers slowly, letting go of a time frame or an expectation that things should take shorter than they do. They take as long as they exactly need to. 

-Taking on all our suffering from the past and all our suffering from the future is impossible to do and incredibly overwhelming. Life with pain is painful enough. Take it one day at a time, one moment at a time.  

-All we have is today, the present, there is no past or future. When we've been really hurt, wounded, or traumatized we start to feel our pasts bleeding into our present and then we fear it's always going to be this way. This is a natural reaction to grief. Each day changes which is why one day at a time is so helpful.

-Therapy takes longer than we think because of therapy and healing myths perpetuated by society. That there's a quick fix. That we can speed up our own process. That if we are still feeling pain we are doing something wrong. Let go of the timing and simply come back to one day at a time.

-Sometimes the only trust we have to go one day at a time is that there is someone whose been through IT reassuring us this won't last forever.

Little manageable bites over overwhelming lumps! We need to chew through our experiences to get the proper nourishment. One day at a time breeds mindfulness.

Progress not perfection

-Worth repeating and mentioning because it is so important and our inner timekeeper and inner critic is always trying to steer us away from the process by focusing on timing.

let go of timing- parts that are concerned with timing actually keep vulnerable parts sheltered from healing bc we can only heal what we fully witness

-set realistic expectations for parts, many many parts will need to take time to build trust and come out of denial as well as go through the stages of grief. Protectors have been doing their jobs for so long that it is very terrifying to drop that role in an instant.

-progress is not a straight line, neither are emotions, and you can spiral over and over which makes it seem like you are going backwards or stuck but you are actually making progress with the level you are at of witnessing the pain and burden

-progress is also not comparable and you can't compare the timing of your healing journey which is why it's so important to keep it simple and take one day at a time. Some parts will be ready to surrender and you want to stay present with their progress and not compare it to other parts healing. This goes for other people and where they are at in the process! As a friend of mine says, this is a solo journey. We can share the journey but no one will be living uniquely as YOU.

-as long as you are improving in awareness of patterns that's a success

-it's not a black and white thing, you will continuously, though at the beginning you may not notice or it will appear slow, that you will increasingly come back to center more quickly over time.

-you are allowed to grow, there's no such thing as a mistake because everything you've done or experienced was with the highest knowledge you had at the time. As our consciousness deepens you can make amends but beating yourself up for where you've been is the critical part/shame part.

-it's all happening as it's supposed to  

Ask for help and get it

-we can't do this alone

-help from your higher power, friends, family, other parts, self energy, parts to self energy

-coming out of isolation is what heals, and what is revealed can be healed. Isolation keeps secrets and perpetuates shame and patterns with an inability to see when we are stuck or triggered clearly. 

-outside help allows perspective

-Unmanageability cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created it

-surrender takes time, don't beat yourself up

-asking for help can feel really hard when you are use to being self sufficient and doing things on your own. Or when feelings are coming up from an inner child from your past who never talked about these things....ever! It doesn't feel natural. 

-it's scary to ask for help when you have repeatedly done so and no one understands or is present enough or clear enough to get it. This perpetuates the abandonment and the neglect

-as a child the brain starts with the brain stem which is a nonverbal state and therefore if caregivers don't understand how to listen to cries, sounds, body language and facial expression (often due to their own lack of recovery, stressful life events, and addiction and dysfunction) the child learns to shut down asking for help and dissociates from their own needs (feeling shame and that their needs are bad and therefore I am bad). This is why it brings up a lot of shame to start asking for help

-reaching out to people who have been through what you have is helpful for them too

-it can be confusing the balance between taking stillness w your self (instead of reaching out to others) and If that's isolating or not. This takes time to discover.