In this talk we met with Christine and Lisa to discuss and share some trauma-informed and body-oriented nervous system resources during the COVID 19 pandemic. This talk was recorded during the beginning of the pandemic in April, but still feels pertinent in it’s launch on air in October.

Some of the topics covered:

- The importance of orienting towards resources during challenging times.

- From hyper-productivity to stop, and how much that reveals our cultural rushing.

- Sheltering at home as a holding container.

- Seeing how society is revealing where people are in terms of nervous system states: fight, flight, freeze and appease.

- The raising of responses to these events: conspiracy theories, feelings of being at loss, overwhelm, not knowing how to deal with this “invisible” emergency.

- What is it to function in a world that doesn’t support a healthy nervous system? The body is having a “neuroceptive” response and the way back to regulation is in the body.

- Polyvagal Theory and the difference in the state adaptations across cultures.

- Epigenetics, Family Systems and Stress. Stress, trauma and the body, Saj Razvi YouTube video.

- Mobilization before safety and connection. What are we adapting to in the environment? I’m not messed up, I have a nervous system.

- The loss of pleasure during trauma, allowing tuning into savoring and directing the attention back to pleasure sensations. The Hakomi Method and self-soothing gestures to bring more awareness of pleasure.

- Ways in which people attempt self-regulation and functionality via external resources that are substitute forms of resources that are destructive. The concept of “vitality” as a resource that arises from within vs resources that are external. Relational and Body-Centered Practices for Healing Trauma: Lifting the Burdens of the Past 1st Edition, by Sharon Stanley

- The Threshold Theory of Change, by Lisa Elliot. The reductionist idea of our culture, in terms of finding the reductionist “one” solution. Accessing greater health from a social justice response.

- The midbrain, effort and control area.

- Orienting to the small moments of safety, regulation and pleasure. The small steps towards pleasure and regulation. One step at the time, one dish at the time, one breath at the time.

- Tracking and getting to know your own system. What’s your vitality enjoy?

- Orienting to safety and threat through vision. Doing a task until completion, and avoiding chronic stress. The concept of simultaneous visual awareness via panoramic vision. Z-Health Neurofundamentals free of charge

Other Resources:

- Finding the gravel at the bottom of the river to stop being swept away.

- Parts of the self, a part of you experiencing something, and me as the observer and care taker of this part. Turning kindness and compassion towards ourselves. My body and mind have done so much to keep me safe. Understanding the intelligence of the nervous system responses.

- Start small, build up from there. Locate one part of your body that feels ok.

- Using a therapy ball or lacrosse ball to map (feel) places of the body that feel pleasant, using language that feels inviting.

- Accumulate those things you have access to; postive self regulating inputs, like a basket of resources with written things, objects. Ekeko god (Peru-Bolivia) as an example.

- The crucial role of compassion in this connection with resources. Turning attention with compasion.

CHRISTINE WUSHKE

Christine Wushke is a long time Yoga Teacher, Meditation Instructor, Myofascial Release Therapist, and Certified Hakomi Practitioner, Christine decided to merge her specialties, she began to incorporate the principles of Myofascial Release, trauma awareness and mindfulness into all her yoga classes and, noticing the amazing results and effectiveness, she designed her own system of Myofascial Yoga.

Christine Wushke is also the author of Freedom is Your Nature: A Practical Guide to Transformation and creator of the “Easy Yoga for Beginners” DVD.  For more information of Christine please check out her website at freelyhuman.com 

Lisa Elliott comes to this conversation as the founder of the Vagus Study Group, a large, online collaborative learning project with a mission of exploring the embodiment of experience via diverse ways of knowing.  Her work and that of the study group navigates between the methods of western science, philosophy, activism, art, and the transformative interconnectedness found in many spiritual orientations.  Lisa is a counselor-in-training at Antioch University Seattle, completing a rich internship with Dr. Sharon Stanley of Somatic Transformation before beginning private practice in December of 2020.

Lisa comes to counseling as a returning student from earlier careers in photography, community organizing, arts non-profit management, construction project management, and aerial acrobatics performance and coaching. Her work with her own life-long chronic illness has led to a holistic and eco-systemic philosophy of healing and personal growth, and to a deep study of our embodiment of stress, trauma, and factors of resilience.

Email us your reflections, comments and questions at [email protected]

In this talk, Kaila June begins sharing her story, how she grew up in her mom’s dance studio and how much influence that environment had in her life and career choices. She talks about her experience traveling with “La Caravana Arcoiris para la Paz” through South America, we talk about folklore dances and their relevance.. She shares her explorations of trauma via dance and art and how movement and embodiment affect the way we learn, behave, our memory, the intergenerational effects, etc. She goes through her bio revealing the progression that brought her towards developing the Somakinese School. We talked about the skills of teaching and the difference, nuances, pros and cons of structure vs organic sessions, of being externally oriented vs being internally oriented and of safety and threat in movement experiences.

Kaila June, MS, is the founder of SomaKinese School, a virtual platform for movement teachers offering educational programs inspired by embodied movement science.  As a dance-artist, Registered Somatic Movement Educator, and Corrective Exercise Specialist, she has dedicated her life to helping people move and feel better. Drawing from somatic movement education and weaving research from the fields of biotensegrity, neuroscience, and the healing arts, Kaila is totally vested in the art and science of movement education as a vehicle for planetary change.

Kaila in social media: Facebook, Instagram

Her website: Kailajune.com

Email us your reflections, comments and questions at: [email protected]

In this talk, Matthew Remski and I discuss many of the multilayered abuse issues in the modern postural yoga scene, as well as in other high demand groups that he covers in his book “Practice and All Is Coming”. We talk about the inheritance of intergenerational trauma, trauma bonding, corporal punishment, somatic dominance, and the slippery subject of cult dinamics that leads to disorganized attachment, dissociation and to physical and sexual abuse. We spend some time at the end looking at some sulutions to all these problems, like the model of PRISM, and concepts like personal agency, scope of practice, and the current conversation about licensing and regulating Yoga.

Trigger warning: this conversation covers many uncomfortable discussions about abuse.

Matthew Remski is an author, teacher, ayurvedic consultant and cultural critic. He has published 10 books, including “Practice and All Is Coming. Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and Healing in Yoga and Beyond”, that includes all of the topics we cover in this talk.

Matthew is currently working in a new book and is launching an online series webinar called “6 Critical Problems in Modern Yoga and how to Work with Them”.

Matthew in social media: Facebook

The meme that started this talk can be found here in Instagram and Facebook

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Email us your reflections, comments and questions at: [email protected]

In this talk, Mark talks about the failures of the modern postural yoga and how he used the opportunity to turn criticism into action by creating the Embodied Yoga Principles. We talked about guru abuse, cultural differences, trauma, and how these themes can be explored via multidisciplinary somatic practices. We talk about the issue of living in a visual culture, in terms of pursuing posture as the end goal, about relationships in terms of attachment, Mark shares his approach in the Embodied Facilitator Course, expanding the skills set and also we discuss the subject of technology, social media and the pros and contras of using it. We end our talk with Marc guiding us into a very grounding somatic practice.

Mark is an embodiment specialist, the creator and host of the Embodiment Podcast, the director and co-lead trainer of the Embodied Facilitator Course, the Embodied Yoga Principles and the Embodiment Conference. He has been working extensively in connecting the dots across diverse fields like martial arts, yoga, coaching and somatics. His background is in Psychology, Aikido, Yoga, Embodied Leadership, linguistic coaching, non-violent communication, mindfulness, etc. He has taught embodied work in 30+ countries and has experience in peace-building in numerous areas of conflict from Afghanistan to Ukraine. Marc also has a new book coming out: Embodiment, Moving Beyond Mindfulness.

Mark in social media: Facebook, Instagram

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The guru abuse post I mentioned in the talk can be found here in Instagram

Email us with your reflections, comments or questions at: [email protected]

In this talk, Abby takes us in the fascinating evolution of her personal movement journey, from external and structured, towards her current approach. In the telling of her own story and how she went through Personal Training, Ashtanga Yoga, Body Competitions, Kettlebell Competition, MovNat and Nutritious Movement, the integration of all the pieces of her Sustainable Movement approach start to build up and make a clear picture.

We talked about the way kids move vs the structured movement of the gym, about the obsession with the series in the Ashtanga practice, about Body and KB Competitions and how having an external goal can affect us, and we also talked about MovNat and the work of Katy Bowman and how they deeply influenced the development of her Sustainable Movement Business. She also talked about autism and other sensory processing issues and the importance of developing spaces that are accessible for this population’s abilities.

Abby is a Nutritious Movement Certified Restorative Exercise Specialist, NASM certified personal trainer, natural movement expert, kettlebell expert, registered yoga teacher, and a Certified Pre & Postnatal Coach with 13 years of coaching experience.

You can find more information about Abby at: www.sustainable-movement.com

She is also in Instagram as: www.instagram.com/sustainable.movement/

 

Other links relevant to the talk:

MovNat: https://www.movnat.com/

Katy Bowman: https://www.nutritiousmovement.com/

In this conversation, we go with Carrie in a journey through her cultivation of resiliency and synthesis, how she became fascinated with experimental movement, movement analisis and Iyengar Yoga, and the way her work evolved from there. We discussed her relationship with the Iyengar Yoga system, the assessment process in Iyengar Yoga, the vast complexities of the guru-based lineage, the intense, abusive and traumatic experiences that people went through studying in Pune with the Iyengar family, and how they were handled and digested by her and other people in the Iyengar community.

We talked about the importance of giving people permission to explore movement to gain autonomy in their body, instead of following an external authority, and how her Yoga teaching style has evolved primarily in this direction. She also reflects on how much change she has noticed in her students across the world, and how social media and information have increased and intensify this change.

Carrie Owerko has been teaching yoga and exploring the relationship between body, breath, and mind for several years. She holds a Senior Intermediate Iyengar teaching credential, is a certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) and Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist (FRCms).

Before studying yoga, Carrie earned a BFA in Dance and Theater, and graduated from the renowned Neighborhood Playhouse Theater School in NYC. Carrie then spent several years working for a Movement/Educational/Experimental Theater Company called The Irondale Ensemble Project. In addition to performing with Irondale she taught in the Alternative High Schools in NYC and at Rikers Island Correctional Facility. After Irondale, Carrie continued her inquiry and became a Movement Analyst (CMA) having completed her studies at The Laban Institute in NYC. She has spent years enthusiastically exploring human movement with the intention of helping people develop clearer, more fully embodied communication and expression.

You can find more info about Carrie and her full traveling schedule at: carrieowerko.com

Here is a link to her last blogpost Risking Connection

She is in Instagram @carrieowerko

In this talk Nityda discusses the importance of movement for healing and her integration process of Yoga and Social Work. She talks about Yoga philosophy, the influence of African spirituality, and the need to develop skills in action for social justice. We discuss some of the ways in which patriarchy and white supremacy have influenced us and what can we do individually and collectively to heal what is unconscious, with one of the main issues being the lack of inclusivity in the yoga world, with language as a big barrier, and how to minimize the teacher’s position of power in the classroom. We both agree that we require more and more trauma-informed, healing-centered spaces for marginalized groups that need it the most, and she mentions colonization as one of the biggest issue, how descendants of colonizers have a lot of shame and trauma being associated as the oppressor, and how the guru figure arises and is protected by its followers.

Nityda is a licensed somatic psychotherapist, yoga teacher, trauma specialist, speaker, writer, and heart-centered activist, working within the intersections of yoga, mental health, embodied activism, and community advocacy. She is the founder of The Trauma-Conscious Yoga Institute (TCYI) and The Trauma-Conscious Yoga Method℠, a healing modality that marries trauma-informed yoga with somatic psychotherapy practices. She facilitates certification trainings in The Trauma-Conscious Yoga Method℠ online and across the U.S. for mental health professionals, yoga teachers, helping professionals, and survivors interested in learning skills to support their resiliency and post-traumatic growth.

You can find more information about Nytida at https://traumaconsciousyoga.com

She is also in Instagram as trauma_conscious_yoga_method

Here is part 2 of my talk with Yasmin Lambat.   Some of the topics we covered in this talk:   Working with our physiology. Somatic Exploration to tap into the inner wisdom. Patterns in the body and the folding of our fascial fabric.   How Yoga & Pilates experiences led her to pandiculation.   Moving from the heart, intuitive movements focused on self-nurturing to calm the nervous system with “Body Yawn” Therapy.    Nervous system regulation. Going beyond SNS/PNS and the effects of hyper-arousal on the body. Discovering the "calm state".    How care & compassion help creating a “safe” state, and how refocusing her work with her clients as an “invitation to explore” has been more effective for individual expression.   We talked about iRest Yoga Nidra, the work of Richard Miller and Steven Levin’s work with Biotensegrity, exploring biotensegrity as interdependency of the WHOLE body.    Interoception & Exteroception Awareness. How the environment affects the nervous system. Effectiveness of body sensing, dance, and the effects of endorphines/dopamine-driven loud music used frequently in gyms. Cultivating interoception vs the dopamine high.   Going beyond the trauma story, working with the physiology.   You can find Yasmin Lambat at: bodysensingtherapy.com

Some of the topics we covered in this talk:

Yasmin's journey of discovery of the Body, from her transition from the Fitness Industry to her development of Interoception and Somatic Movement via Polestar Pilates and Elizabeth Bussey.

Her encounter with Tom Myers, the influence of the work of Dr Ian Weinberg and Robert Schleip.

The core and the diaphragm, mecanoreceptors and fascia.

The Insula, empathy and how to use motion to heal emotion.

Distress interoception, Vagal tone and the Polyvagal theory of Stephen Porges.

Pandiculation, tension vs intensity and the model of Biotensegrity.

The Calm Response and how to create it in our life, classes and society.

 

Some of the people mentioned in this talk:

Elizabeth Bussey

Ian Weinberg MD

Robert Schleip PHD

 

Yasmin is a Registered Somatic Educator with ISMETA, an Inner guidance Coach, and the creator of BodySensing Body Yawn Somatic Fascial Unwinding™. She has a fascination for fascia, biotensegrity and the body as designed by nature, it’s ability to self-heail and self-restore, unwinding emotional patterns through myofascial movement. Her journey has taken her from fitness to wholeness, shedding posture for embodiment, alignment for integrity and taking the focus away from body mechanics to body sensation. It was not always that way.  Her background in Fitness and Pilates began with a cognitive approach to Anatomy and Biomechanics, until she was awakened by an inner awareness from her early experiences of Somatic Practices like Feldenkrais, Bartenieff and Trager. 

For more information, visit her website at: www.bodysensingtherapy.com  or through Yasmin Lambat at Facebook and Bodysensing at Instagram. Also, you can connect directly with her via email at: [email protected]

Some of the topics covered in this talk with Laurel:

The story behind her pedagogic skills, growing up surrounded by teachers and conversations around pedagogy, and her teaching experience previous to yoga.

Her critical thinking process and her yoga training journey through Yoga Works and Yoga Tune Up®.

The difference in between Yoga Works and the guru-based model of Iyengar Yoga, and about the horizontal vs the vertical model of apprenticeship.

The challenges of training new yoga teachers and the culture of yoga in India, in the West, and how to honor yoga while using it in a way that feels relevant to the people we are sharing it with.

Kinesiopathologizing, in contrast to Movement Optimism, from the lens of Dr. Greg Lehman. 

The mistake that movement specialists make in terms of trying to fix posture, vs exposing people to a variety of movement.

Reflections about the state of the vast majority of yoga teachers around right and wrong posture and movement.

Yoga teacher scope of practice.

Reflections about the essence of yoga.

 

Laurel Beversdorf, B.F.A, E-RYT 500, is the creator of Yoga with Resistance Bands Classes and Trainings and Body of Knowledge™ Anatomy and Biomechanics workshops. A Yoga Tune Up® trainer and senior teacher and teacher trainer for YogaWorks, Laurel regularly presents trainings and workshops at locations and studios across the US and the world. Laurel is an interdisciplinary movement educator specializing in anatomy, biomechanics and yoga teaching pedagogy, based out of YogaWorks in NYC. You can learn more about her online classes and workshops at www.laurelbeversdorf.com