HEALING TRAUMA ON THE DANCE FLOOR

HEALING TRAUMA ON THE DANCE FLOOR

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HEALING TRAUMA ON THE DANCE FLOOR

“I have met my self and I am going to care for her fiercely.” ~ Glennon Doyle

Think about how good you feel after a belly laugh with a friend, a relaxing bath, or a warm hug. When we feel satisfied and restored we are more efficient, vibrant, clear-thinking, energetic, loving, patient, and connected to others and the world.  Social connection, pleasure, and community are vital for our healing, wellbeing and immunity.

While most women may understand it’s important to “make time for self-care”… putting that knowledge into action is not always easy when we are juggling life’s many balls, especially if we’ve been taught to equate self-worth with putting others’ needs first.

Many of us (1 in 3 Australian women) also have a life experience of physical or emotional trauma, abuse, or violence, which may leave us hyper-vigilant to others’s needs, and disassociated from our own. As if this wasn’t enough… we now have endured prolonged exposure to unexpected emotional turmoil for the last 12 months.

Studies are confirming that the impacts of our global response to the pandemic:

  • is more likely to psychologically impact women due to their broader responsibilities – in addition to their professional role, they are usually at the heart of household chores, home schooling and childcare.
  • is impacting physical, mental and emotional health, with an increase in anxiety, depression, substance/alcohol abuse, vicarious trauma, PTSD, and other stress-related disorders.

If you tune into yourself, you might observe edginess in your nervous system that wasn’t there a year ago… maybe subtle shifts in how you relate socially, sense space, or perceive “crowds”. For the more sensitive, your brain may feel foggier, you may be more accident prone or feel uneasy in group situations.

You may even notice triggers from the past year like… sneezing is a symptom, hugs are harmful and dancing is dangerous. While your logical mind can process the facts now, your body may be holding onto the vicarious trauma of fear-inducing media reports, government warnings, social media bombardment, and compassion fatigue.

The good news is that when you consciously choose comfort, self-care, and community you can heal and grow from trauma, abuse, loss and enduring emotional stress.

What helps you heal?

  • Learning about your own needs. 
  • Reclaiming your inherent worth in having your needs met.
  • Practising self-compassion, forgiveness, positive affirmations and acts of kindness.
  • Reaching out for help and connection.
  • Moving your body with awareness.
  • Saying YES to pleasure and joy.

“There is no time limit on learning and healing, there is only the power of transforming our adversity into victory, one small step at a time.” ~ Shahida Arabi

My passion and purpose is helping women to heal through mindfulness and movement, to embody their sacred aliveness and sensuality. And personally and professionally, I am constantly open to learning. Since January I’ve been a student in 4 online trainings: Nia 5 Stages (for the 5th time); Mindful Leader: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction; Nia as a Trauma Informed Practice; and Debbie Rosas’ Nia Evolution.

Each one of these profound bodies of work reaffirms the science and efficacy of Nia as a transformational, healing practice that helps people reconnect, recover and reclaim their sovereignty and felt sense of safety, Joy, meaning and purpose.

Nia offers a kind-hearted community space for you to feel welcome as you are, without judgment. We lift each other up, without needing to “fix”, helping people resource their own inner compassion, courage, wisdom and power.

Every Nia experience offers healing shifts and gifts – self-care, soul-purpose and sisterhood. I’m so grateful.

“When we gather and connect with others, we honor our own spirits and those of our community, building on each other’s knowledge and energy. We heal. We get stronger. We expand our understanding. We become more resilient and able to recover from setbacks!” ~ Starhawk

Join me for a 5 minute Gentle Nia dance break. Like a moving meditation from your feet to your finger tips, breathe deeply and let your whole body respond to Karen Drucker’s uplifting lyrics… “We are holy, holy, holy… We are whole.”

Sophie Marsh © 2022 • Web Design Seedhead

STALKING WHAT STEALS YOUR JOY AND HOW TO GET IT BACK

STALKING WHAT STEALS YOUR JOY AND HOW TO GET IT BACK

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STALKING WHAT STEALS YOUR JOY AND HOW TO GET IT BACK

JOY OF MOVEMENT – Nia White Belt Principle 1 – A concept and tool for turning all experiences into positive ones. Joy is the seed at the heart of Nia. The kind of joy we speak of is not simply personal enjoyment, but the essence of joy – that which is our birthright – our connection to Universal Joy.

Find out what brings you Joy and do it more often…

Stalk what steals your Joy and give it less attention.

Sounds simple enough. But the way our biassed brains are wired… we tend to focus on the negative. Our “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous systems are being flooded daily by external and internal stressors, real and imagined. There’s so much going on in the world that is beyond our control and these are troubling times for our planet and many who are suffering and struggling.

Right now, without ruminating, make a list of 5 things that steal your Joy.

These might be the things that you lay awake at night ruminating about… that create stuck stress and fuel anxiety… that leave you tired or wired… that when you think about them, you get shallow breathing, a racing heart, a tight jaw and scrunched shoulders… that make you feel separate and alone.

It could be a pessimistic belief, an ungrounded fear, a toxic relationship, a soul-sucking job, someone that you’d like to forgive or something you need to do that you’ve been putting off, or maybe it’s a serious concern about the world or your place in it. Notice how you feel when you bring these things to mind.

Please know if you are currently facing any kind of imminent danger… then my heart and prayers are with you… and this is not what I’m writing about.

Here are the first 5 that came to me right now (and not listed in any particular order of importance):
1. worry about my children’s wellbeing
2. any person, ideology or Facebook post that promotes fear, separation, intolerance or hatred
3. global climate change and the bushfires currently sweeping eastern Australia
4. the fear that I am not enough and at the same time, that if I step into my full potential that I’ll be too much
5. feeling helpless to make a difference

Phew! Take a few deep breaths… put your hand to your heart and let yourself know you’re ok. Bring yourself back into this moment, to the screen you’re reading this on, to the sounds around you, to the feeling of your body on the chair/bed/floor. Say, “I am here now. It is 12 November 2019″ (insert today’s date) and, smiling with relief,  “there is no tiger in the room.”

Now… write down 5 things that bring you the sensation of Joy as aliveness.

When you think of these things you might feel an expansion in your chest and the desire to take some deep breaths… a sense of being connected with your true self, with others, with nature, with life… a smile in your eyes and your heart… a spring in your step and like the world is full of boundless possibilities… simultaneously microscopic and Universal… being centred, grounded, and radiant all at once… feeling like you are ‘in flow’ and ‘on purpose’.

Here are the first 5 that came to me (oh and there are so many more… how did massages, making love, belly laughs, puppy licks, starry nights and nature walks not make it??!):
1. hugging my children
2. dancing in community
3. ocean time
4. looking into another’s eyes in a silent exchange of love
5. inspiring Joy and supporting personal transformation through Nia

Nia White Belt Principle 1 – Joy of Movement – invites you to get to know the sensation of aliveness and to choose it again and again.

Your body’s natural self-repair mechanisms can only activate when you are in a relaxation response. Being in a positive brain state allows your creativity, connection and compassion to flow. It’s not always easy. It IS a practice. Energy follows attention, so it makes sense to stalk patterns and habits that stress your body and mind as well as put your attention on what you want to feel more of. Joy. Peace. Gratitude. Love. Faith.

At this precarious time of bushfires and bullies, heartbreak and homelessness, injustice and ignorance, environmental disasters and political oppression, domestic violence and mental health crises … there are also hundreds of precious moments and miracles. Let’s raise the resonance and practice together… Today I choose Joy… choose breath… choose movement… choose love… choose gratitude… choose life.

Sophie Marsh © 2022 • Web Design Seedhead