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TLDR: In next Tuesday's Somatic Skills Group we're going to explore the concepts of: Exteroception, Interoception & Orientation. These tools and concepts can support you to build skills for navigating life's tough spots with a deeper sense of connectedness to Self, trust in the process, and agency in how you cope and grow through it. Register to join us & get the replays here!​

Good Friday morning, sweet Reader,

I hope this week has been good to you. It was "break week" for us, and this is the first year we're feeling it, with my oldest having gone to pre-k this past Fall. I've been juggling more than usual this week with being home more with the girls, and then on top of that we managed to pick up the stomach bug somewhere along the way. So, sleep has been scarce, feelings have been big, and everyone's needs have been high.

I feel like I'm just now doggy paddling my way back to shore, feeling my feet touch the ground beneath me again. The house is quiet as I sit here writing you. There is no one who needs me to get them a second breakfast or dig up that stuffy they haven't played with in 3 months and is, no doubt, buried somewhere deep in the wreckage of their bedroom.

There is a stillness that I have been hungry for all week. It's here. And yet, now I'm having a hard time actually being still enough to enjoy it.

This is not surprising to me. Our nervous systems are incredibly wise and adaptive, and mine had regulated itself to mobilize me through this time (mobilization is the process of moving toward fight/flight). When we're mobilized, to turn on a dime and come back to "safety / social" (i.e. the state we feel more calm, grounded, present in) is a big ask.

Our systems need time and tools –sometimes consciously chosen, other times habitual coping skills we've carried for a while– to come back into that place where we feeling calm, present, creative, resilient.

Our systems need SPACE to find their way. And they need us to be okay with the process being a process.

But what about when your system is so used to mobilizing, or shutting down and collapsing (due to chronic stress or trauma) that you have an even harder time actually returning to, or staying for any amount of time, that safety/social state?

This is when PRACTICE becomes pivotal. Your system needs a safe space to PRACTICE rewiring itself, building up its capacity for moving beyond survival into safety/social where thriving happens.

Practice can take shape in all sorts of ways.

It's the 60 seconds you spend feeling your feet touch the ground before moving onto your next project.

It's the walk you opted to take between meetings.

It's the choice to set down the phone and use another form of soothing that feels more supportive.

It's the moment you paused long enough to turn inward and ask, "what am I actually feeling, right now?"

It's the time spent on your meditation pillow.

It's the decision to show up to a space, class or community that you know is going to gently stretch you to be with the deepest, most tender parts of yourself, instead of avoiding and numbing.

...Can I share something vulnerable with you? I used to spend A LOT of time unconsciously avoiding my feelings; thinking my way through solutions that I thought would solve the discomfort of those feelings. Heck, if I'm being VERY honest, maybe too honest, even me writing you right now is a form of procrastinating feeling my feelings about this past week.

The important piece is that I now know the difference between actually being with my feelings, and skirting my way around them. And I trust that when my system is ready, I will drop in and be with what's there. I can now give myself a whole heap of grace when my system might not be ready (oh hey, procrasti-newslettering), and allow my body to take its time, readying and steadying itself to feel it all.

^^ This shift –the grace, insight, self trust, curiosity, the honesty about my experience– that's all a result of PRACTICE. Showing up to myself, choosing to tend to myself in new ways, getting to know my nervous system. Over and over and over again.

This is what I want for you. For all of us.​
To be able to navigate life's tough spots with a deeper sense of connectedness to Self, trust in the process, and agency in how we cope and grow through it.

This is why I am sooo so excited about next week's first Somatic Skills Group Practice space.​

If this newsletter resonated with you in any way, I really hope you'll consider my invite to show up and PRACTICE with me and alongside of other messy humans on the path of practice, just like you.

Here's an even deeper sneak peek into what we're going to do in this first group:

• We're going to explore Exteroception, Interoception and building a practice of Orientation to support nervous system regulation & building capacity for taking in what might already be supportive in your environment.
• I'll spend a bit of time teaching about those concepts, and then I'll invite you to try them on through facilitated practice. We'll be working to bring in your senses, and then turning your attention inward to notice sensations, emotions, images or thoughts that may be arising as we practice.
• After our practice period ends we'll do some debriefing, optional group share, and Q+A!

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So what do you think, Reader? Are you ready to practice with me?

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XO
​Holl

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