Hello Reader,

Thanks again for subscribing to my somatic coaching newsletter where I'll be sharing tips on somatic practices, tending the nervous system, trauma healing and more.

For this first issue of the newsletter 🎉, I'll share a client story (with permission) about a surprise lesson from hummingbirds 💚.

Recently, I was doing an online somatic coaching session with a woman of color, I'll call her Samantha, who has been supporting immigrant families impacted by ICE. As you can imagine, it's quite a stressful, high-stakes situation.

At the start of our call she said that she wanted to feel more present and in the moment and to feel like it's okay if she wasn't able to get things done or done to the level that she wanted to. In addition to the work she's doing to support immigrants, she also leads community projects and takes care of her young children, so she's juggling a lot. She also wanted to learn some practices to help her stay grounded and centered when dealing with situations involving aggression and harassment by police.

We began with some grounding to help her feel her feet on the ground and the support of the chair. After awhile, I invited her to very slowly look around her room to take in her surroundings and find something pleasant that catches her eye. In Somatic Experiencing®, this "orientation" practice of scanning your environment helps bring you into the present moment and assess for safety. Samantha found her gaze drawn to the lovely view outside her window where she connected with the green trees and even some tiny insects flying around. I noticed and named her smile and deeper breath as she savored the beauty and sense of community in her yard. She felt embodied and lighter.

As she continued to admire the view outside, she exclaimed with delight, "Oh, wow! There's a humming bird resting on a branch! This is the second time in a week I've seen that!!!"

I chuckled at this wink from the universe and I reminded her of her intentions for this session: 1) being more present and 2) being okay with not getting things done.

I said, "Look, Samantha, even hummingbirds need to rest! AND it's okay for YOU to rest, too!" She nodded in agreement and wonder, inspired to give herself more permission to not always be doing, doing, doing. We also talked about how rest is a radical act in this grind culture of capitalism, productivity and extraction. Her felt experience of spaciousness and settling helped her really get the radical act of rest in her bones.

From this more grounded place, we moved on to somatic holds she could use the next morning to help regulate her nervous system before going to support the families. We also explored a couple of practices to help her discharge fight energy (for example, by pushing against a wall) should she be harassed again by an officer. So instead of feeling shaken and overwhelmed for days by fear, anger, resentment or sadness, she could let those emotions and sensations move through her rather than getting stored in her tissues and nervous system. Expressing emotions is not encouraged or modeled in her collectivist culture, so she was grateful to learn simple and safe ways to release and to create boundaries.

The next day Samantha shared that she practiced orientation a few times in the morning, en route and after being in court and she said it really helped her nervous system. I love when folks start to integrate these simple yet profound somatic practices into their daily lives and discover new ways to rest in their bodies, even while tending to stressful situations.

Reader, if you relate to the fast and busy hummingbird flapping its wings (up to 80 times per second 😮🫨!!!) as you flit from one task to the next, I hope Samantha's synchronistic story of spotting resting hummingbirds helps to remind you that rest is okay (and necessary)!

Some reflections for you:

• What comes up for you when you think of rest?
• Does it come easy to you?
• Does it bring up resistance or fear?
• Notice what sensations, if any, you feel in your body. Did your heart rate increase? Did you take a deeper breath?

Please reply and share your insights. I'd love to hear from you!

Need help letting your nervous system rest?

Co-regulation is one of the best ways to help our nervous systems settle and access peace, safety and connection.

If we didn't have that type of co-regulation and attunement growing up, our nervous systems have a hard time self-regulating and you may constantly feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, numb or stressed.

That's why, in somatic trauma recovery coaching, co-regulation is a big part of what we do together to help the nervous system build more capacity and resilience.

Our work may also include completing trauma responses stuck in your tissues, doing somatic practices to help you settle your system, healing from racial, cultural, generational and attachment trauma, and exploring what coping strategies, beliefs or conditioning are getting in the way of your most authentic, fulfilling and embodied life.

I'd love to work with you! I have a couple of coaching spots open right now and I offer tiered equity pricing. Let's see if we'd be a good fit... Find out more

Got questions? Feel free to reply to this email. I look forward to connecting!

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