07/05/2026
My practise as a facilitator of the healing arts has changed massively over the years, a craft to be honed 🪄
Holding space and a safe container takes practise and is often about the structure of the class as well as the words used and theme chosen.
Something I have become increasingly mindful of over the years is keeping the work as trauma informed as possible, whilst still believing in the transformative power of the breath. Sometimes clients need a wee bit encouragement and at other times it’s holding a hand and giving them permission to pause.
Having a class full of people who are on different points of their healing journey, have had different childhoods and lived experiences as adults can be a challenge. Nervous system healing isn’t a one size fits all modality but there are a few things I do as a facilitator to make sure it’s as integrative as possible for all participants:
🧘🏼♀️Somatic Therapy- We do this before the main bulk of breath work to allow you to land in your body. This massively reduces feelings of anxiety in the first 20 minutes of the class, which can often be most challenging.
😌 Rest Stops- this allows the energy to go where it needs to go and gives opportunity to listen to the sensations and signals that arise within the body while healing.
🔥Titration- The main way in which we increase nervous system flexibility is to increase discomfort in small increments (titration). I do this through increasing the speed of the breath and/or gentle encouragement to shake or tremor. This helps with sympathetic discharge, giving you a deeper feeling of relaxation towards the end of the session.
☮️ Final Relaxation- Super important for the body to move fully into rest and digest after being in fight or flight with the breath work. So much can come up in any given session, this means that you won’t leave feeling heightened and anxious after your session. It can be normal to feel tired or emotional after a big release in class but it shouldn’t last for days. This is a sign that your nervous system wasn’t quite ready for it yet.
Recently, after undertaking my 50 hour Somatic Yin YTT I have begun adding in a yin pose to help participants integrate the built up energy into the body. On Sunday we used butterfly at the end of the practise as a way to transition from lying down to sitting up. Butterfly is a beautifully gentle pose, we added in supports where needed so that the body could soften even further.
Butterfly creates a lengthening in the fascia through the spine, the back body and the sacral area. Melting physical tension as well as energetically improving emotional flow and creativity.
Thanks to all who came along on Sunday. Here’s to the coming month 🥂🧘🏼♀️
