Six years ago I was having panic attacks when a door shut too hard, and years of talk therapy and pharmaceuticals only helped temporarily and left me with other issues. When I was certified in Trauma-Informed Yoga in 2020, I found that I naturally began teaching more somatic-based movement than traditional yoga, and the effects on my students (and myself) were obvious. Did you know that about 80% of your nervous system's communication is "bottom up" meaning it begins in the body, as opposed to the mind!? Our bodies remember and pattern in ways our mind cannot override alone. Which is why talking about my panic attacks and suicidal thoughts didn't change them. It's why I chronically misunderstood God and the Holy Spirit's voice, leading to spiritual confusion and clouded decisions.

 

I've been relearning the long-lost art of being embodied since 2020, slowly at first then all at once, as I surrender to the untangling of every belief system I clutched with white knuckles. And what I've found is this: the more I am embodied, the closer I am to God's heart. 

 

As a woman, one of the most powerful things you can do is be in your body. That sounds so simple, and perhaps it used to come naturally. But in today's world, women have been sold the lie that suppressing, ignoring, and pushing through is the way to achieve what they want... and simultaneously told what it is they supposedly want. In response, many of us became numb, removed from our bodies, a nervous system mechanism to keep us safe from our loss of true autonomy. 

 

What if our power was actually in surrendering, in softening? What if the answers don't lie in more pills, more planning, more talking? What if our heart's desires have been buried since we were girls, and feeling is the only way to see them? What is our role as women in the context of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? What parts has religion gotten wrong about women and maybe even stunted the growth of the Kingdom? What kind of limiting beliefs keep the body in dis-ease? These are some of the questions I've been bringing to the Holy Spirit over the last several years. If you're here, perhaps you are asking them too. 

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I could probably write a novel on the ups and downs of my own healing journey (maybe I will one day!). If I had to sum it up, I would say this: the most joyous times of my life are when I am the closest to God and I am fully "in" my body; the times when I truly enjoy my body and all it does, I am curious and grateful for God's presence and design. A lot of people think being close to God is a mental state, and I would argue that the mind is perhaps the smallest part. Closeness to God is a full body experience, it’s the deep knowing that the Spirit of God is dwelling IN your temple… and that’s pretty hard to experience if you’re disassociated from that very temple.  (Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? - 1 Corinthians 3:16)

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It doesn't mean that heartbreak hurts any less, or that I don't have sadness or anger or a wide range of hard emotions... that’s not what living is about. I will say that somatic work quite literally moves me through emotions and even physical symptoms. If anything, I experience a wider array of experiences, which has led to a fuller life. 

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That's what I want for you: a full life, a joyful life - not a perfect life, but a life where you are not fearful or ashamed of physical symptoms or emotions. There will be seasons when joy, fullness, and freedom seem out of reach. You forget, or feel there isn't time... to get outside, to go on walks, to dance or daydream. You stop laughing as much, your fuse gets shorter, and you find yourself spending more and more time scrolling your phone or watching tv because it's all you have energy for. Life starts to lose its spark. I've been there, and that's exactly why I started this work. I can promise you, it doesn't have to be like that. ​

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While I love teaching breath work and somatic movement sessions, at the end of the day, I want you to live a life full of freedom and joy and wonder- daily. It's not about having a sense of peace for 15 minutes a day when you sit down to meditate or pray or move your body (although those are all beautiful things and necessary for integration)! But true freedom comes from learning to live the way God designed you; being able to feel present in your own body, and even joyous, while you cook, eat, do the dishes, walk the dog, wash your hair, anything.​​ 

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If you're ready to get started, email me to set up a 1:1 somatic session with me or try out this free somatic practice made especially for women to get in touch with their bodies.

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