Hands-on assisting training for healing touch

Dear One,

For those of us whose love language is supportive, soothing, embodied touch, hands-on assists in yoga can offer a safe haven of nervous system regulation and deep relief. While there are plenty of contexts where this can go wrong, when it does go right, few things can offer such effective, efficient, and non-verbal co-regulation as healing touch.

For those of you passionate about hands-on assists, join Brenna Matthews and myself on Saturday 4/13 for a day of assisting training! Specifically designed for grounding assists in restorative yoga poses, you'll hone your skills for offering soothing and effective touch.

Details and registration for The Art of Restorative Assists

While we ask that you have experience with restorative yoga, you do not have to be a trained yoga teacher. Offering attuned, trauma-informed, and skillful touch can translate to other professional settings, and be a personally rewarding experience. Reach out with any questions!

Sliding scale fee ranges from $85 - $165 for the day, and we are happy to connect with you to figure out financial assistance to lower barriers to participation if needed. Just send an email to me and the studio managers, management@jpcentreyoga.com and copy alex@intrayogatherapy.com.

Also! Some changes for the next few weeks of Thursday Flow & Restore classes! I'll be teaching per usual on 4/11, and then have a sub for two weeks to accommodate schedule conflicts. I'll be back in action 5/2!

Riding the life waves alongside you,

~Alex

Body lies vs. body wisdom

Dear One,

Sometimes, your body lies.

Just like your thoughts can tell you stories that are outdated, fabricated, or plain false, so can your body. The mind makes cognitive errors. The body makes somatic errors.

Your body can trip false, erratically-wired alarms of danger, abandonment, rejection, hopelessness, pain, tension, shutdown, collapse, defensiveness, and more. These outdated alarm systems might be based on your very real past that is being superimposed on your present. These vintage alarm systems may no longer be up-to-code with your current capacity, abilities, and objective safety.

I'm not talking about times when your alarms are going off appropriately and responding effectively to current threat. I'm talking about the mis-firing of alarm bells in the body, out of proportion with the "here and now".

Some examples might be:

One wrong look from someone whose opinion matters to you, and your heart is off to the races.

A certain punctuation sequence in a text message, and the anxiety switch flips to set off a vibrating current under your skin.

A verbal interpersonal boundary encroachment, and your body shuts down without access to words.

But how to tell the difference between the body alarm mis-firing, and the body being ... right?

Just like your thoughts need practice to be able to differentiate between triggered thoughts and wise-mind thoughts, your body needs practice to differentiate between triggered sensations and wisdom in the body.

In fact, your trigger sensations are likely based in wisdom from the past. There's just new body wisdom, based in the present, that needs development.

If the yoga mat is where you hone, strengthen, and develop your body wisdom, join me. And if there are other spaces where you can practice differentiating between past versus current body wisdom, I hope this serves as a reminder to practice.

Re-training my own body alarm systems alongside you,

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister. And ... I always love hearing how these newsletters land with you. Send me a note if you're so inspired!

Catch yourself learning, healing, growing

Dear One,

Next time you have a moment of presence, notice the small ways you're learning, healing, and growing.

Notice the moments you *don't* get triggered, when maybe a year ago you would have.

Notice the moments you *do* get angry when maybe a year ago you would have been frozen.

Notice the moments you sense your NO when maybe a year ago you would have felt confusion.

Notice the moments you have access to your voice when maybe a year ago you would have been trapped in seething silence.

Notice the absence of overthinking when maybe a year ago that kind of brain activity felt standard for you.

Notice the moments that go quietly undetected. The moments when you have more capacity, more self-trust, and more wisdom than before.

This isn't toxic positivity. It's just that our brains are wired for negativity bias, because that's evolutionarily deemed more practical/safer for our survival (you might want to add Buddha's Brain to your reading list!). And sometimes we need reminders to turn our attention to the progress.

So among the nervous system-level, life-level, and world-level chaos, pain, and suffering, notice the moments that move us in the direction of personal, intergenerational, and communal healing and wellbeing.

Below are many ways to slow down and inventory deeply for the New Year, to step forward in deep coordination with your inner compass. And these are events that often come with a deep sense of community and connection with others, even while moving in the privacy of your own mat. I hope you'll join me.

• New Year's Awakening workshop is Sunday 12/31 at 4-5:30pm! This will be my 9th year offering this deep inventory and intention setting for your body, energy, mind, emotions, and higher self. Join me for this beautiful ritual -- whether live at JPCY or virtually. Bring your journal for this one.

• Radical Resilience: Winter Self-Care Series is now HYBRID, meaning in-person or virtual, every Thursday in January from 5:45-7pm, or anytime via recording (available for 7 days)! We will blend postures with yoga philosophy and therapeutic practices for self-care and psychological wellbeing.

• Restorative Yoga Teacher Training immersion with Alex & Brenna Matthews is January 12-15, 2024! This is a 25hr long weekend professional training will plenty to receive in your personal practice and nervous system along the way.

• Befriending Stillness: Radically Restorative Yoga Workshop is coming up Saturday, January 13th from 6:30-8pm. Please make sure you pre-register ... we've been selling out!

Here we go 2024. May you go gentle on us.

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister. And ... I always love hearing how these newsletters land with you. Send me a note if you're so inspired!

It's beginning to look a lot like ... co-regulation season

Dear One,

Tis the season for ... nervous system co-dysregulation! Weeee!

Because biology is wired for survival, our bodies are always paying attention to the nervous systems around us.

Co-regulation is when your nervous system joins in the rhythm of another person's nervous system. This can be delightful. Like a literal or metaphorical hug to your heart, one person's steadiness, capacity, and bright light can ignite your own.

And on the undelightful flip side ... one person's nervous system activated into a fight-flight-freeze-appease state can ignite (or fuel the fire of) your own dysregulation.

Co-dysregulation = when one person's f*cky nervous system further dysregulates another person's f*cky nervous system.

Which makes hard relationships and interactions ... even harder.

Which means ... it's probably time to recommit to your own nervous system. So that it can be as steady and fueled as possible. So that you can stand a little stronger in the balance of your Safe & Social and Rest & Digest responses. So that you can hold one foot in your window of tolerance while activation washes through you ... meaning you might still get flooded, but you have more of your wits about you throughout the storm, and you come back to the shores of yourself more efficiently.

So that you can be a glorious beacon of co-regulation, autonomically sharing the gifts of your hard-earned self-regulation practices.

If your yoga practice is where you stockpile your nervous system resilience, join me on the mat. Here's what's happening!

High five from my nervous system to yours,

~Alex

YOGA CLASSES & WORKSHOPS:

• Befriending Stillness: Radically Restorative Yoga Workshop is this Saturday, December 16th from 6:30-8pm. Please make sure you pre-register ... we've been selling out! 3 spots left! Waitlist registration available. Please contact the studio directly with questions.

• New Year's Awakening workshop is Sunday 12/31 at 4-5:30pm! Join in-person at JP Centre Yoga or virtually for this beautiful ritual into the new year. Bring your journal for this one.

• Radical Resilience: Winter Self-Care Series is now HYBRID, meaning in-person or virtual, every Thursday in January from 5:45-7pm, or anytime via recording (available for 7 days)! We will blend postures with yoga philosophy and therapeutic practices for self-care and psychological wellbeing.

• My weekly teaching slot is shifting from Sundays to Thursday evenings. Last Sunday class is January 7th at 6pm! New time slot starts February 1st, with the Radical Resilience workshop series happening in between.

• PROFESSIONAL TRAINING: Dates are posted for the Restorative Yoga Teacher Training, January 12-15, 2024! With Alex & Brenna Matthews. See below.

A quiet revolution of rest

Dear One,

Yes, you were designed to work hard in this life. But you were also designed to rest deeply, to receive nourishment, and to refuel along the way.

Unfortunately, the systems of the world are generally designed to require the first part, and to override the second part. To require that you work hard, without moments of necessary softness where your energy regenerates and your brilliance reboots.

Fighting for the space to rest, restore, and refuel can feel so uncomfortable. Even dangerous. Because our lives and livelihoods are often set up to depend on an inhuman ability to keep going, even when the wheels start coming off.

What gets extra tricky is when this requirement for tireless functioning gets internalized. When we start to demand tirelessness of ourselves, even in moments when a choice to slow down, to rest, to pause, is objectively available. Sometimes we have to de-program our programming. And re-program ourselves according to our values, and the change we want to embody in the world.

A quiet revolution of rest.

If yoga is a space where you help yourself claim the choice of rest, to re-program your habits of overriding your system, and to taste deep restoration, join me on the mat. Or in the yoga therapy office, where psychotherapy is now available too! Keep reading below and reach out to me with questions.

Taking those deliberate breaths alongside you,

~Alex

In a nutshell ... here's what's happening!

YOGA CLASSES & WORKSHOPS:

• Befriending Stillness: Radically Restorative Yoga Workshop is this Saturday, November 18th from 6:30-8pm. Please make sure you pre-register ... we've been selling out!

• Next restorative workshop is December 16th at 6:30pm.

• Weekly Flow & Restore drop-in classes are Sundays, 6-7:15pm (in-person, livestream, or recorded for 48hrs).

• Save the date: New Year's Awakening workshop Sunday 12/31 in the late afternoon, timing TBA!

• Save the date: Radical Resilience Winter Self-Care *virtual* series Thursdays at 6-7pm in January!

PSYCHOTHERAPY OFFERINGS: I started a new part-time job as a clinical therapist with a small but mighty group practice called Nourished Minds Counseling + Wellness. I have a few openings for weekly psychotherapy in the new year, as an out-of-network provider. If you're curious to learn more and explore a mutual fit and schedule alignment, you can email me directly!

YOGA THERAPY: I have a few openings in my yoga therapy practice and am currently doing *virtual* intake sessions with potential new clients to assess for mutual fit. Yoga Therapy is a body-based therapeutic practice focused on nervous system regulation. You can use the online scheduler to see pricing info and book a session, or fill out the new client inquiry form.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING: Dates are posted for the Restorative Yoga Teacher Training, January 12-15, 2024! With Alex & Brenna Matthews. See below.

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister. And ... I always love hearing how these newsletters land with you. Send me a note if you're so inspired!

Why it's okay to crawl into a cave

Dear One,

Next time you find yourself wanting to crawl into a cave and hide ... just do it.

You might have to wait a few hours until it's a socially appropriate setting. And the cave might be a heavy blanket. And you might feel silly pulling the blanket over your head. But chances are, your nervous system will appreciate it. And the feeling will usually, eventually, shift.

Just like your nervous system might appreciate repeatedly throwing a beanbag at the wall (safely). Or running in place, pumping your arms, punching the air. Or screaming in your car.

Our bodies are sometimes very basic. Feeling threatened? Let's get ready to fight! Feeling scared? Let's run away and hide! Feeling confused about how to respond? Let's lie down and play dead until is passes!

Yup, your body is basic.

But our social brains are trained to not give into our Basic B(ody) instincts. It's much more socially acceptable/safe to ruminate, argue in your head, send a passive aggressive email, vent to a friend, bully yourself into not feeling a feeling, use your favorite dissociation hack, etc. We sometimes don't have the option to follow instincts, and sometimes it's better we don't. But the energy has to go somewhere, right?

What I've seen, time and time again, both in my yoga therapy office and in my emerging clinical work, is how grateful our nervous systems are when they get to (safely) act out their fight/flight/freeze responses. This requires practice in reading nervous systems, and having a toolbox of options that can satisfy, safely and appropriately, what the body has been stifling. I dare say it's ... fun.

Below are spaces to play with nervous system regulation, both personally, and professionally if you're looking for training! Reach out with any questions, comments, or reflections ... I love hearing from you.

In a nutshell:

YOGA THERAPY TRAINING: This fall, I'll be facilitating another 35-hour Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapy Training. If you're a yoga teacher, a clinical therapist, a yoga therapist, or another related kind of healing and recovery professional, this training may be for you. Starts Saturday Sept. 30th!

FALL WORKSHOPS!! The next Befriending Stillness: Radically Restorative Yoga Workshop is Saturday, September 30th from 6:30-8pm.

WEEKLY CLASS: My weekly Flow & Restore drop-in classes are Sundays, 6-7:15pm (in-person, livestream, or recorded for 48hrs).

YOGA THERAPY: I have some openings in my yoga therapy practice and am currently doing intake sessions with potential new clients to assess for mutual fit! You can use the online scheduler to see pricing info and book a session.

Navigating alongside you,

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister. And ... I always love hearing how these newsletters land with you. Send me a note if you're so inspired!

Express the stress

Dear One,

Part of my job as a yoga teacher and yoga therapist is to help you complete your authentic nervous system response.

Daily life doesn't usually create the space to fully ride out our fight-flight-freeze-collapse responses. We have to switch gears mid-rollercoaster, stop mid-sprint, jump up mid-hibernation, or rally mid-nap. All of this chronic nervous system override takes a toll. We need spaces where we can feel the full feeling and be done with it, to exert the full force of fight/flight mobilization to let it move through and out. To collapse fully, to the point of being able to re-emerge with renewed energy.

Chances are, you already have your nervous system outlets. That walk, that playlist, that primal scream on the highway. Keep going ... keep doing the things that let your body express the stress. And if yoga is a place where your nervous system gets to unravel, unwind, and reset itself, join me on the mat.

And if you're interested in bringing these tools to your yoga or therapy clients, join me for Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapy Training this fall! See below.

WORKSHOP SATURDAY!! Befriending Stillness: Radically Restorative Yoga Workshop is this Saturday, August 5th at 1-2:30pm Eastern. This is my monthly restorative offering where a team of assistants and I offer hands-on support in restful yoga poses (with consent cards!). Join us either in the studio, or remotely (livestream and recorded, available 48hrs).

Flow & Restore drop-in classes are Sundays, 6-7:15pm (in-person, livestream, or recorded for 48hrs). Sorry to those who logged on to livestream a few weeks ago and encountered a total audio fail! It's been back to normal since then.

In nervous system solidarity,

~Alex

Gently guarding the precious, finite resource of you

Dear One,

You are a precious, finite resource.

There isn't infinite availability of you.

Your energy, spirit, and imagination are precious and should be mined with care.

This world may try to ransack your reserves. Try to leach your magic, Harry Potter Dementor-style. Which parts of yourself can you protect and guard? Consciously, gently, creating a fortress of love around the parts of your soul that shall not be ground up by dominant culture.

Reconnecting with your yoga practice on the mat might be where you also reconnect with the parts of yourself that make life most meaningful. If that's the case for you, join me in the yoga studio or online. See below.

NEW WORKSHOP START TIME!! Befriending Stillness: Radically Restorative Yoga Workshop is this Saturday June 17th. We moved up the start time for the summer, so it's now at 1-2:30pm Eastern. This is my monthly restorative offering where a team of assistants and I offer hands-on support in restful yoga poses (with consent cards!). Join us either in the studio, or remotely (livestream and recorded, available 48hrs).

Flow & Restore drop-in classes are Sundays, 6-7:15pm (in-person, livestream, or recorded for 48hrs).

Thank you, so much, for the opportunity to hold space as a yoga teacher. I am constantly grateful for this work.

~Alex 

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.

Guard your rest

Dear One,

We must rest on the offensive.

(Yes, I've resorted to sports talk ... I mean offensive as in offense, the balancing strategy to defense.)

The pace and requirements of dominant culture will back us up into a defensive corner. A corner from which we must defend our space, our schedules, our recovery time. Our personhood and normal human capacity. A corner from which we begin to adapt to more relentless demands on our energy, and accept it as norm.

But this norm is just someone else's design.

For many of us, our true nature appreciates pauses. Reflection time. Unscheduled, unclaimed space. Creative space. Space for the unpredictable to emerge. Breathing room. Daydream time.

We don't always have the privilege or capacity to carve out offensive rest. But when you stay on the lookout, you may find more moments where you can claim your space, guard a boundary, and remember what it's like to schedule in breathing room.

If getting on the yoga mat helps you claim that space for yourself, join me in the return of monthly restorative workshops (Befriending Stillness is this Saturday) or weekly Flow & Restore on Monday nights. These offerings happen in-person at JP Centre Yoga, as well as live-streamed, and recorded. See below.

In solidarity,

Winter Self-Care Series starts 1/5

Dear One,

During the New Year's Awakening workshop, we explored what your energy, body, emotion, mind, and higher self (the Koshas) need from you in 2023. I offered prompts like, "What did this part of you hold in the past year? What is it asking of you as you move into 2023?"

Now we can keep building on that with some self-care accountability, inspiration, and community support in January.

On Thursday January 5th, we will begin the *virtual* weekly Winter Self-Care Series. We'll focus on weekly themes and realistic practices, and prioritize ways to metabolize stress cycles in your day-to-day. The more we practice tending to our Koshas and nervous system system needs, the more it becomes intuitive, automatic, and integrated with day-to-day life.

LOGISTICS: You can join live on Zoom Thursdays in January from 6-7pm ET, and/or utilize the recording for a whole week! Sign up here!

FEE: Sliding scale $50-$100 for the 4-week series, just look out for options when registering! Got financial barriers? Email me and let's see what we can figure out.

SELF-CARE FOR COMMUNITY CARE: So many of us feel that our self-care game falls short, when really we are trying to be resilient in the face of unsustainable stress. This series is in service of you supporting yourself, AND so that you can be an agent for change and transformation within your spheres of influence. Over the course of 4 weeks, you’ll build up self-care strategies to soothe your nervous system and cultivate tools that can serve you and your corner of the world, well beyond the mat.

SIGN UP NOW!

Wishing you some moments of gentleness, centeredness, and ease.

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.

Soul Nectar for the New Year

Dear One,

People often talk about spiritual practice as a coping and resiliency tool. I like to think about it as the rituals and practices that help us feel deeply embodied, connected to ourselves and others, and help us find meaning amidst the chaotic (and the mundane).

The movements, words, thoughts, emotions, and breathing patterns that help us feel our wholeness. The heightened awareness of higher self. The presence of our own deeper presence.

The practices that shift our nervous system into a state of trust, rather than defensive apprehension. The resulting softened outlook on the world that makes everything feel a bit more manageable.

If your soul is craving a little nectar, SIGN UP for New Year's Awakening Saturday 12/31. You can join live at JP Centre Yoga or online from 4-5:30pm ET, or register for the livestream option to get recording access for 48hrs.

And for those of you who want to strengthen those neural pathways throughout January, join me for the *virtual* weekly Winter Self-Care Series. We'll focus on weekly themes and realistic practices, and prioritize ways to metabolize stress cycles in your day to day. You can join live on Zoom Thursdays from 6-7pm ET, and/or utilize the recording for a whole week! Sign up here.

Sliding scale and BIPOC equity discounts are always standard at JP Centre Yoga. Just look out for instructions when registering!

<3 Alex

Love to your f*cky nervous system

Dear One,

T'is the season for ... a f*cky nervous system.

If that's the case for you, I hope you remember that there are *many good reasons* to feel dysregulated. You're not doing it wrong. It's just like that.

If you'd like to build in some nervous system love, self-regulation, body connection, and mental health care moments, join me on the mat.

Here's what I got for us, all via JP Centre Yoga.

Nervous system high five, and deep exhale. ~Alex

The awkward pursuit of wisdom

Dear One,

Somewhere, lodged in an awkward space between your head, heart, and gut, is wisdom.

But it can be hard to differentiate: What's fear, what's intuition? What's reading the room, what's trauma response? What's truth, what's projection? What's spidey senses sensing, what's attachment junk?

Listening to your mind is not enough. Thoughts can lie. Listening to your heart is not enough. Hearts can have amnesia and PTSD. Listening to your gut is not enough. Nervous systems can be boobytrapped with false alarms.

But throw heart, mind, and gut into a blender, add a strong shot of nervous system regulation, and you get yourself a wisdom smoothie.

We tend to need practices that help us balance, mindfully consider, and wisely interpret our feelings, thoughts, and visceral body responses. ​​So, what helps you consult this diverse panel of experts?

If yoga is what helps you in your truth/knowledge/insight seeking, keep reading for upcoming ways to practice together. Next up is Befriending Stillness: Restorative Yoga with Bodywork this Saturday at 6pm (hybrid workshop at JPCY).

And for those of you hungry for a mini-training in trauma-informed yoga, join me in this 3-part mini-series ONLINE, starting Nov. 17th.

In awkward pursuit of wisdom alongside you,

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.

Your presence is precious here

Dear One,

Yoga Therapy Training starts next Saturday, Sept. 24th! Will you join us? To help you figure out if this training is right for you, or if you're just curious about yoga therapy, check out the recording (PW: Yogatherapy2022!) of the free info session about the 35-hour Trauma-Informed Yoga 35-hour Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapy Training Training.

And if the change of seasons is kicking your a** too, join me and hands-on assistants at Saturday's Befriending Stillness Restorative Workshop, 6-7:30pm, in-person or livestream/recorded. I also teach Flow & Restore every Monday at 6pm at JP Centre Yoga (in-person or livestream/recorded).

However you practice, I hope you find a moment to find your breath, to practice just being among all the doing. Your presence is precious here.

In solidarity and support,

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.

Life juice and other reminders

Dear One,

Reminder: self care is nervous system care.

Too often, I see yoga therapy clients and yoga students with that shamed, deflated look that accompanies the confession that they haven't been getting on their mat.

It's relatable content, truly.

But we're not simply failing to practice yoga. We're probably just generally failing at nourishment, replenishment, inspiration, and the many things that provide nervous system refueling and resetting.

Oops. I swear I intend to be inspirational with these newsletters.

But sometimes we just need a reminder of what's missing. Which parts of you are completely, utterly dehydrated? What gives you life juice? What are you forgetting to remember about your self care needs and practices?

If yoga is truly nourishment for you, and not just something added to your draining to-do list, here's what I got:

Ways to practice together in the next few weeks at JP Centre Yoga or online:

• Saturday 7/23 Restorative Workshop at 6pm with optional bodywork

• Flow & Restore weekly class on Mondays at 6pm (I'm away 8/1 and 8/22)

• Saturday 8/6 Restorative Workshop at 6pm with optional bodywork

Save the date for Yoga Therapy Training:

• I'm finalizing details for a 35-hr Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapy Training at JP Centre Yoga this fall! Check out the draft schedule and description here. This is for yoga teachers, aspiring or current yoga therapists, and therapists who want to bring embodied practices into client sessions.

For more individualized support: Yoga Therapy

• I am building a yoga therapy waitlist and doing Zoom intakes for new weekly/bi-weekly client slots opening up this September on Thursdays.

• Fill out the online inquiry form, or schedule a Zoom intake/discovery session for July/August!

Practicing right alongside you ... or sweetly failing alongside you. :)

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.

Nervous systems, Superhero Energy & More

Dear One,

Energy is a funny thing.

Sometimes we're exhausted even though we slept plenty. Sometimes we're riding high even though we should feel exhausted.

Our energy often has less to do with our physical body, and more to do with our nervous system state. For example ...

Safe & social nervous system state: I'm doing all the things, I'm paced, I'm efficient and I can prioritize. I can creatively problem solve. Happy Superhero Energy.

Rest & Digest: I'm slow, resting, lounging, restoring, appropriately tired. Big Hammock Energy.

Fight & Flight: I'm spinning, I'm over-performing, I'm running on fumes, I gotta keep going until I crash. Spiky Porcupine Energy / Big Hamster Wheel Energy.

Freeze & Shutdown: I've fallen and I can't get up, I am flattened, I forgot what it's like to be joyful or awake, I need to crawl under a rock. Deep Fog Energy / Short-Circuited Robot Energy.

All of these states are adaptive and practical functions of our nervous system. In the right context, it's very practical to go from zero to fight in .01 seconds. Buttttt.

1) Our nervous system state *often* does not match the context. Trying to go to sleep but stuck in fight/flight mode. Trying to finish a difficult work project but you're in shutdown and have zero creative faculties. The alarm goes off but body is still in rest/digest mode. And so on.

2) We don't acknowledge the true context we're living/working in because it's become so normalized. Living in a pandemic but have to go about business as usual? That's an override of your fight/flight response to danger. Having to engage in a workplace where microaggressions may come flying at you at any point in time? Insert constant hypervigilance fight/flight stance that may eventually turn into numbing shutdown. Constant marriage conflict in the household? Of course the nervous system doesn't want to let the guard down. And so on.

Okay, maybe it's time to take a breath. <<Breathe>>

So, what do we make of this?

A first step may be to recognize that your nervous system state is indeed interacting with the world, your relationships, your work, your energy. YOU MAKE SENSE. Your energy is responding to the world, its past/present/future, your associations, your predictions, your perceptions, your context & situations.

And when you understand that you make sense, you're more likely to have some self-compassion for the ways in which you struggle.

And when you have some more understanding and self-compassion, you may find surprising ways to support yourself and respond to your nervous system throughout the day.

It takes practice. And one place where I know how to engage in practice around attuning to your body, energy, and nervous system is ... drumroll please ... the yoga mat.

Ways to practice together this month through JP Centre Yoga:

• Saturday's 6pm Restorative Workshop with optional hands-on support.

• Flow & Restore weekly class on Mondays at 6pm.

For more individualized support: I am building a waitlist for new client slots opening up this summer/fall.

For more education about the nervous system states, I love Magdalena Weinstein's content on Instagram.

Phew, thanks for reading this one. Always curious to hear how it lands.

High five from my nervous system to yours,

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.

What your body cares about most

Dear One,

Culturally, many of us were taught that our minds should be able to conquer all.

All the bad thoughts, feelings, fears, triggers, reactions ... we think we should be able to think our way out of them.

But our bodies have their own agenda. Bodies have their own tracking and assessment systems for safe vs. unsafe, good idea vs. bad idea, friend vs. foe.

Your body frankly doesn't give a f*** about your mind's opinions when your visceral nerve endings are consumed by a sense of imminent danger, threat, humiliation, exile, rejection, contagion, entrapment, or general overload.

So, there's that.

But this doesn't mean that your only option is to burrito into the covers for eternity.

There are ways to work with your body's tracking and assessment systems directly. Instead of relying on the mind as a nagging, mis-attuned, relentlessly repetitive voice of "shoulds", you can learn to befriend your body. To learn its unique wiring, and to understand where wires might have gotten crossed, stuck, zapped, cut off. So that you can meet the world and its challenges with a bit more self-knowing, self-soothing, self-compassion, and self-regulation.

If yoga therapy for nervous system care is up your alley, I am building a waitlist for new client slots opening up in June. And to befriend your body more deeply on the yoga mat, there are many events this month to connect in person or virtually. See below.

Ways to practice together this month through JP Centre Yoga:

• Saturday's 6pm Restorative Workshop with (masked & optional) hands-on support.

• Flow & Restore weekly class on Mondays at 6pm.

• 25hr Restorative Yoga Teacher Training, happening in person over May's Memorial Day Weekend.

So looking forward to seeing you again soon.

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.

PPS: How does this land with you? I always appreciate hearing your reactions to these words.

Space to wring your heart out

Dear One,

Resting well, grieving well, loving well, fighting well.

We think these things should come naturally, but they often don't. Cultural conditioning gets its hands on us. Trauma starts renovation projects in our nervous system. Life builds scar tissue around our hearts. Overwhelm can paralyze our senses.

Sometimes, it takes real effort to just be in the truth of what is. To ride out the waves of emotion and chaos that are life's way of letting itself be known.

I hope you have a space that allows you to unravel into what's real and true for you in the moment.

To wring your heart out.

To reclaim your senses.

If the yoga mat is one of those spaces for you, join me at Saturday's 6pm Restorative Workshop with the offer of (masked) hands-on support, or drop in for my weekly Flow & Restore class on Mondays at 6pm. More details below.

These are hybrid offerings that you can join live in-studio, via livestream, or via recording. Masks are now optional in the studio (you check out JP Centre Yoga's health and safety policies).

For those of you learning to hold space for others, check out the 25hr Restorative Yoga Teacher Training, happening over May's Memorial Day Weekend.

Riding the waves alongside you,

Alex

Yoga therapists/teachers to the front

Dear One,

If you're a yoga therapist / therapeutic yoga teacher struggling to define, refine, and run your business: you're not alone. And if you also feel alone, isolated, and adrift: you're not alone in that either.

This industry, and this world, are weird AF. In the business of yoga, it's way too easy to replicate the harm we were trying to get free from when we fell in love with yoga in the first place.

Let's support each other in aligning our yoga work with our life's work and values. On MONDAY, a small group of beautiful beings will start gathering for THRIVE: Six months of small group coaching, mentorship, skill building, peer support, and mutual accountability for your yoga business.

Will you join us? Together we will tackle:

• figuring out a yoga business and work model that make sense for your unique life, and this world

• excavating the nervous system triggers and protective patterns that get in the way of you marketing yourself effectively

• practical stuff, as well as the mental/emotional stuff, to make your yoga client work flow

• best practices for being a trauma-informed, therapeutic, professional presence

• and all the other stuff that our unique constellation of participants will bring to the table ... Learn more and sign up here.

For some personalized one-on-one nervous system regulation and support, drop in for a yoga therapy or mentorship session. Hop on my scheduling page, or respond to this email with your questions.

Always shifting, learning, adapting, growing alongside you,

~Alex

New Year's Awakening & Radical Resilience

Dear One,

These times. They'll throw even the most well-regulated and well-medicated among us.

Our nervous system doesn't really differentiate between chronic stress and trauma. But then again, our nervous system doesn't really differentiate between perceived safety and actual safety. Because the world has never objectively been safe, at least not for most identities. But nervous systems can find a sense of safety within the chaos. A sense of okay-ness within the not-okay-ness.

The trick is ... where the h*ll is that nervous system switch to get us out of fight-flight-freeze-appease and into rest-digest-heal-reveal? Well, finding your regulation intervention is a very personal journey. But I do have some workshops coming up to help you stumble into soothing, sustainability, and resilience. Here's what we got:

• New Year's Awakening 12/31 at 6-7:30pm ET

• in-person at JP Centre Yoga OR via livestream, PLUS recording for 48hr

• Mindful embodied flow to help you connect to your layers of self -- energy, body, mind, emotion, and higher self. Plus journaling to help you uncover intentions and authentic needs for each part of you as you move into 2022.

PLUS

• Radical Resilience : Yoga Therapy Series 1/6, 1/13, 1/20 & 1/27 at 5:30-6:30pm ET

• virtual series PLUS recording available for 1 whole week

• Coping skills meet yoga philosophy to help you find your footing in the world. Each week we'll work with a different theme, blending embodied poses and self-inquiry. You'll have the recording so you can practice in between live sessions! And yes, there will be PowerPoint as we learn about different tools, tricks, and nervous system hacks. :)

For some personalized one-on-one nervous system regulation support, drop in for a yoga therapy session. Learn more here, or hop on my scheduling page, or respond to this email with your questions.

More details are below, along with other opportunities for practice, training, and mentorship.

Resiliently and lovingly,

~Alex

PS: If you do the Instagram thing, let's connect at @alexbauermeisteryogatherapy. And for some music to help you ride the waves of this time, check out my public playlists on Spotify under abauermeister.