New Years Reflections 2021

This season and solstice I want you to know how much I appreciate your presence in this community.

I wish you and the ones you love a meaningful holiday where you can be present soak in the love, pleasure, and connection you have in your life.

With the solstice here and the new year coming soon, I've been reflecting on 2021 to step into 2022 with intention and purpose.

For me, this year has brought some new joys.

I have been able to travel to California 4x this year to take in the joys of my family including my delicious and adorable 3-year-old niece.

I've continued to teach yoga online. A big hug to each and every yoga student who has attended a class this year. It is such a joy to share our practice and see each other's faces through these crazy pandemic times.

I created the How to Advocate for Yourself with Doctors guide to support your nervous system when you're going in for hard medical appointments, procedures/surgeries, or receiving test results.

You can get yours here

I hired a business coach and we're slowly putting systems in place to launch an online course in 2022 so that Somatic Therapy can be done in connection, which is so important for the regulation of the nervous system.

You can join the waitlist here.

I finished my coursework for Somatic Experiencing and feel more and more able to be present for my life as I daily connect with my nervous system and tend to it. A huge shout out to my weekly SE therapist who continues to teach me how to be a fully formed human even after decades of medical trauma. And to my private clients who are the bravest and smartest souls I've ever met and inspire me to be better.

While it's important to reflect on your blessings, it's also important to acknowledge the struggles that you overcame and that pushed you to improve. Some of the struggles and emotions I worked with this year were.

Fear
Grief and Shame
Deep loneliness
Scary Medical Stuff
Feeling Anxious and Stuck

Reflecting on the challenges can help you to see more clearly how you want to move forward.
Some questions that help me to evaluate that are:

I wish for you all that you desire to feel this holiday season and into next year

And I'd love to hear what your wins and challenges were this year. If it feels right, click here to share.

With Love and Regulation~
Dorie

RIP Stephen Sondheim and Your Aliveness

Last week, Stephen Sondheim died. The news hit me like a ton of bricks. In case you're unfamiliar, Stephen Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist, and influential contributor to 20th-century musical theater. I know his work and saw a few of his shows when I was little, West Side Story and Company, but the majority of his shows weren't so influential in my life. However, what impacts me the most is that his shows paved the way for the musicals I performed in as a kid Starlight Express, Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Les Miserables, and those I've seen over the years, too many to count/list, that brought me to tears as soon as the lights went down, evoked every single emotion in me during the story and optimism about my own life as soon as they were over. Musicals, music, and artistic expression have been the places where I've felt the most alive.

When I listened to the story of Sondheim on NPR I started to remember how I felt at musicals. I remembered that aliveness and that desire to express myself. A few days ago, when I got the news of his death, I needed that reminder. I remembered that every time I sing with a song or dance a little bit, I feel more myself, more whole, and I get a jolt of energy, a surge of aliveness. That aliveness can get buried in me in the throes of everyday life which can now hold so much stress and anxiety.

I love how Sondheim's characters were so real, so nuanced and so much of a dichotomy, just like all humans, just like me.

That realness and expression are so important for healing Trauma. In Somatic Therapy, you get real with yourself, allowing your body to have a voice that it didn't have. Clearing trauma releases life energy. Your aliveness lives under the stuckness and anxiety you feel.

You may not like to sing or dance or even like musicals. However, you have a Somatic BodyHome that records all of your experiences and that desires to feel vital and alive. If you're struggling physically or emotionally with anxiety, depression, or feeling disconnected and stuck, your nervous system is likely holding trauma from your past that's holding you back.

When we work together we custom build a toolbox for you. You'll have somatic exercises to build resilience. You'll also have tools you can use when you're with other people and you get triggered or overwhelmed.

If you are resonating with this I invite you to contact me here to book a 30-minute complimentary consultation with me for private work. Sessions are online.

And, join a Somatic Movement (movement +nervous system regulation) class this week.

With LOVE, Courage, and Regulation
Dorie

Emotional Tools You Can Trust

Like me, you've read a million books on self-care, self-help, self-love, self-improvement, spirituality, etc.  You've probably tried every diet and seen therapists and psychiatrists.  You've done women's circles and yoga retreats.  You've tried the things and you know what to do.

Yet, something is still off.  You're still reactive, anxious, overwhelmed, stuck in fear, or stuck in old patterns. 

After doing all of that work, spending so much time and so much money trying different therapies, and then finding yourself feeling the same way, it’s hard to trust in the tools you've learned.  Or perhaps you're just so damn tired of trying.

I get it and I'm with you.

This time of year is so emotional, with the holidays and increased family time,  a lot of emotions you may have been able to glide through the rest of the year get kicked to the surface.  Especially if you've lost a loved one in your life.  Traditions and memories can bring back the many emotions of grief (anger, resentment, fear, sadness, fondness, love, loneliness). 

It's a lot to handle on top of all of the other stress you're nervous system is under living at this time (cue:  the pandemic, social unrest, racism, sexism, etc).

I take refuge in the somatic tools that I can rely on during this time of year.  It is so empowering to know you can build resilience and surf the emotions that arise.  I searched for these tools for so long and now that I've found something that works, I want to share that with you.  I know you can feel that empowerment too.  You can have tools that you rely on that actually work to help you to feel present, at ease, and wanting to connect with the people in your life.

When we work together we custom build a toolbox for you.  You'll have somatic exercises to build resilience.  You'll also have tools you can use when you're with other people and you get triggered or overwhelmed.  What a relief. 

If you are resonating with this I invite you to reply to this email to book a 30-minute complimentary consultation with me for private work.  Sessions are online.

And, join a Somatic Movement (movement +nervous system regulation) class this week.
With LOVE, Courage, and Regulation
Dorie

P.S.  Read last week’s blog post I know you know