Find Your Stillpoint
We all have a deep inner well of stillness that is often covered over by busyness, distractions and overstimulation in daily life. Each one of us can experience peace and stillness. We become aware of our Being and increasingly sustain that awareness in our daily life.
What is in the way? What would have to change for you to reliably access your own Stillpoint?
What will finally reassure your nervous system that you are safe enough to lower your guard and relax into stillness? A dedicated practice of cyclic sighing? Consistently framing thoughts until the threat in them releases? Social connection?
What practices do you love that sweep you into stillness? Alternate nostril breathing? Blue star? The slow brain wave state of yoga nidra?
A six week focus like this can be helpful in establishing (or re-establishing) a regular practice of somatic mindfulness, breathing, relaxation and spiritual depth. We will support ourselves and each other through our class time together as well as a different daily practice focus each week.
This six week course is an opportunity to work directly with me and deepen into awareness. Each 2 hour class is a blend of practice, learning, somatic inquiry, sharing, and deepening into stillness.
Discern and release obstacles that keep you in the shallows - in your meditation, in your mind and emotions, relationships, and life.
Our nervous systems are alarmed and we experience compulsive thoughts generated by our nervous system attempting to keep us safe.
Find and experience your own Stillpoint
Weekly Focus
We begin our journey with a big question: Who Am I?
We experience ourselves through our body and life circumstances. We have beliefs about ourselves and about life based on experience. We come into practice in part to calm our mind and in part to remember that we are more than the thoughts in our mind.
Knowing happens on many layers and we practice to have direct experience of the vast depth of stillness of our mind.
Week 1: Layers of Being
We’ll do this live in class. In the meantime, here is a guided Five Koshas practice.
We have an intense drive to get to a place where we no longer are in pain and will be peaceful and serene. Our nervous system creates a storm of compelling thoughts and sensations in our body that keep us tied up in the mundane level and limit our knowing and access to higher levels of Being.
“All your I and mine, all your elations and exhilarations and depressions, all your loneliness, all your suffering, are your acquisitions with which you identify because you forget you are ever-pure, ever-wise, ever-free by nature.” Swami Veda Bharati
This week we explore through somatic inquiry of our layers of identification, witnessing thought, and a meditative practice of experiencing the Five Koshas,
Once class starts, the video and audio replays plus the transcripts will be posted here.
To register, click here
Payment is flexible on this class so don’t let cost hold you back.
We’ll use a combination of class time and recorded guided practices to cover the basics of trauma, the hypervigilance and negativity bias of our nervous system, and how to regulate ourselves. We get to know ourselves somatically (in our body). We practice tools to work with the uncomfortable sensations and energy that we’ve disconnected from. We use powerful tools to stay grounded in the safety of the present moment and break the trance of catastrophic thinking. We will have time for questions and deep exploration of releasing obstacles to consistently experiencing the stillness that is always already here.
By participating in this six weeks of deepening, you will:
Uncover your personal obstacles to stillness, build resilience and strength in your nervous system and whole mindbody, and become more grounded, resourced, and present in the safety of this moment.
Know the basics of how trauma shows up in yourself, recognize trauma responses of fight/flight/freeze/fawn, and become skilled at emotionally regulating into stillness.
Release barriers that keep you procrastinating around regular spiritual practice
The Stillpoint Method is a somatic mindfulness based inquiry practice that can be used in daily life and to deepen into Awareness and Being.
Understanding Trauma Responses
We turn against ourselves with a mean inner critic. We anxiously try to control other people and the external world so we can feel safer. Our mind is caught in a trance of ruminating and catastrophic thinking. We shut down and think about emotions instead of feeling them.
Unresolved trauma hijacks our system and keeps us in perpetual hypervigilance and survival responses of fight/ flight/ freeze/ fawn. We don’t have to live that way.
As we lessen and dissolve the obstacles to knowing, respecting and loving ourselves, we aren’t as reactive to other people shaming us. We’re not as vulnerable to manipulation. We form better boundaries. It occurs to us to be on our own side and to prioritize our own precious life.
Compassion and Kindness: the Shortcut to Healing
Compassion is the daily practice of recognizing and accepting our shared humanity, so that we treat others and ourselves with loving-kindness. Through attuned empathy, we experience kindness and compassion for ourselves and others. We become a steady presence for ourselves as we welcome feelings and associated thoughts, memories and beliefs.
We Get Better At Life
We deeply know our authentic self on all levels of mindbody. We regularly access higher levels of awareness and stillness. We no longer fear the trauma that is stored as sensations and energy in our body. We cultivate welcoming all that is here.
We practice meditation and nervous system regulation to have more ease and joy in life.
With mindfulness of our thoughts and energy, we continue to redirect our attention away from movement toward our own basic goodness. We access our Stillpoint.
Is This a Yes for You?
Relax your body and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. As you contemplate being in this course, what does it feel like in your body?
Would this intensive help deepen your own healing and access to stillness?
Feel the sensations and notice associated thoughts and memories. Is there anything that would have to change for you to join? There is no right or wrong answer when we inquire. We are looking to know what is here.
What Does the Heart Know? Click here for a 5 minute guided somatic inquiry.
Resources
Six 2 hour classes of practice, learning, connection and deepening into stillness.
A PDF of the slides plus video recordings of everything except the small groups.
Access to a curated selection of recorded video classes on healing trauma, nervous system regulation, breath, yoga nidra and meditation.
