🌳 Greetings from London

Holding space without holding and riding the wave of intensity...

👋 Hey friends, 

Since my last update, I’ve visited Sydney (meh), Singapore (yeh!), and now back in London. Being back after 6 months away has been invigorating on so many levels. There’s a nice summer buzz in the air. I’m enjoying noticing how my relationship to the city, routines, and rhythms has changed since I was last here. I’m noticing much more ease and fluidity in my body and mind, and a sense of being more ‘plugged in’ to the world; able to move in and out of action and rest with more fluidity. 

I’m also noticing some tenderness being here. Working remotely means I spend more time on my own than I’d like and I’m craving more day-to-day human contact points. Putting energy into cultivating community is high on my radar. If you’re in/know anyone in London that likes hanging out in coffee shops, walking in parks, and talking somatics/movement/mindfulness/relationships — let’s hang!

What I’m working on: 

Whilst in Australia, I committed to co-building the Beyond Connections program from the ground up, an 8-week online experience to help people flourish in relationships. I’ve been tested in several ways (collaborating with a global team whilst travelling the world… 😅 😮‍💨) and discovered nuance in my unique skillset, relationship to work, and boundaries that I hadn’t known before. In many ways, it’s felt like a personal growth accelerator. Having the mentorship and partnership of Charlotte Crowther has also given me support in my craft that I didn’t realise I’d missed since being freelance. 

Cohort #6 of Nervous System Mastery starts in October. I’m continuously grateful to be at the helm of this important and transformative experience. Jonny and I are working on many exciting projects over the summer, including creating a “train the facilitator” program with Sofia-Jeanne Caring and re-designing the backend ops + frontend student experience to create even more delight and ease. 

I’ve also been consulting a few people on building operational infrastructure for their online programs/offerings. Taking the mentality of paying forward what I’ve learned about this corner of the internet has been meaningful and fun. I’m excited to keep developing my expertise in this craft. 

What I’ve been exploring: 

Studying: If you’ve been in direct-contact with me, you’ll know I’ve applied to various schools and institutions this year. Considering which avenue to commit to, when and how to have children and where to live amongst that, has felt equal parts empowering (for the first time in my life, I’m feeling my adult- and woman-ness), exciting (feeling more clarity around the direction my life is taking is a new, welcome feeling) and challenging (am I making the right decision? Can’t I just keep letting life pull me along forever?). 

Right now, I’m converging on body-psychotherapy as a field, as this seems to encompass the modalities and concepts I’ve been drawn to these past years.  

Women’s group: Co-creating a women’s group with 10 wonderful women from Nervous System Mastery has deeply energised my soul. I’m humbled by the ease connection takes when the underpinning to the relationships ar rooted in vulnerability and shared humanity. I’m especially inspired by the way we’re navigating vision and tension, and love the direction the content is taking. 

The Courage to be Disliked: Reading The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga has been subtly transformative. The learnings are changing my outlook and relationships in profound and significant ways. Particularly the concept that all issues stem from our interpersonal relationships. I have a feeling this will one of those “this changed my life” books. 

Liminal Conversation: I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Sandra about intensity, which felt fitting given the current intensity my life has taken of late. I’m inspired by Sandra’s curiosity and inquiry, with these liminal conversations and her explorations around relational dynamics, and I’m excited to have her in my proverbial corner. 

 

Main idea I’m pondering: when looking at therapeutic outcomes, in which cases should the therapeutic modality be the key consideration and in which cases is the process of memory reconsolidation the most important? 

What’s coming up: 

Despite a desire to travel less after our round-the-world trip, I have several trips around Europe coming up. Currently, Istanbul, Barcelona, Lisbon, and Sweden are on the books — if you’re in one of those places, say hi! We’re also planning another NSM x London meet-up end of July if you’re from NSM and around!

Holding space each week for people to move their bodies (aka wiggling) continues! Someone recently described the practice as “movement medicine”, which is a beautiful encapsulation. I’m allowing this to continue to unfold and reach people as they need it, with the mentality: “holding space without holding”.  p.s. it’s still free.

On 23rd June, I’m hosting an intuitive movement session with The Deep Play Institute. I believe they’re offering a sliding scale pay-what-you-can pricing model. Come play. 

And that’s all for now.

What’s new in your world? What ideas are most alive for you right now? I’d love to hear from you (or let’s chat sometime!).

Sadly no animal pictures this time round, so here’s a rare photo of me eating a VEGAN MATCHA DONUT! And so began a slow, downhill sugar spiral…