First of all, you don’t have to do anything. You get to choose ok lovely people? There will be moments in your life where you practice movement, or breath work, or whatever it is, every single day. And there will be moments in your life when you don’t. I’m not here to wave a stick at anyone. :) I know some people prefer to be told exactly what to do and how, but I trust you to find what’s right for you. However, if you're easily overwhelmed by too much choice then...you could explore these options. 1. Give yourself a number, whether its every day, or once a week, or something else - then do your best to stick to that decision for 21 days. 2. After that, reassess and go again. 3. Just come to class online once a week and don't worry about the home practice. Once is still potentially life changing and powetful honestly. Whether its once a week or every day or something more irratic, try not to, or be aware of how you tend to use ANY tool or practice to beat yourself up. If you can, decide to veer towards curiosity and acceptance about your choices. Honestly though, experiment with whatever works for you. Become your own somatic investigator. I like people to come to their own practice intelligently, executing personal choice. After all, it’s your practice and your preferences and choice. And in my opinion home practice is worth it, yes.

Home practice becomes one way of marking or noting how your life is on a more regular basis - it can be a really simple way of checking in with yourself regularly and easily when you do the same thing every day (or however often that you do.) But a once a week practice can also serve you in a similar way! If at all possible don’t make this into a chore, let your sense of enquiry lead. And if you come to a class, once a week (roughly) then I promise you, things will shift. Once a week is just perfect. Your life will almost certainly change in some way and possibly in a significant way honestly. And once a week is still more than most people do ever in one life time - so recognise that. It's a lot and it's powerful work, it's enough. It's just personal preference is all. We don't need to be extremist about these things.

I’m gonna be honest here - nobody’s ever asked me this question. I just thought it would be a bloody good one to ask and respond to, so here I am! If you’re already in therapy, or you journal or have a coach or a healer or whatever, this is all good. I know it can take time to find the right practitioners for our needs as well as the right modality. It’s often a leap of faith to be willing to keep exploring new approaches all over again, especially if we’ve found the limitations in the other ways we’ve tried before. We can feel cynical, hurt and betrayed even when practitioners promise us the world and months or even years in, we feel we are still facing the same life challenges. To a certain extent there is a lot of trial and error in finding what’s right for us and the truth is we need different things at different stages in our life. This isn't a cure all, or an instant fix. Change happens incrementally, over time. Although equally people can feel their life changing in some way, even after just 1 class. But we don't promise external change, though that too may well come. All of these approaches (coaching, healing, therapy etc) are valid, needed, helpful. We shouldn’t have to choose one tool, teacher, facilitator, or technique over another. But that said, of course I’m going to have some bias, so here it is… I’d recommend some kind of body-release work like my class (or some other modality) regardless of the other invaluable pockets of support you have (I’ll explain why below). Even a dance class honestly, samba, zumba, Tai-chi, can be hugely helpful to deescalate stress certainly. Yoga also tends to help people feel more connected to their senses and internal world also, even better! I agree with both pioneering trauma practitioners Dr Levine and Bessel Van der Kolk who argue that in order to regulate our nervous system and release stress or trauma, we need to move our body. If all we do is focus on shifting our thoughts and beliefs or rehashing things by talking about them constantly, or by trying to track our less than healthy habits through therapy, we may sometimes make progress in leaps and bounds, but there may well be some limits as well.Being stressed or having trauma doesn’t mean we don’t have success in our life. It just means we’re fighting against ourselves a little more than people who aren’t activated in this way. One of the ways our brain learns it is safe is through bodily action, in other words, movement. And since stress (and trauma) affect our entire limbic system as opposed to the rational, linear part of the brain, this is why we usually can’t talk our way out of symptoms of stress. We might repress the symptoms, sure. And we might feel a degree of catharsis, relief and even healing when we feel heard and better understood. This is important, absolutely! But we won’t heal those physiological symptoms, we won’t resolve them and signal to the brain we are ‘’ok now’, without adding a movement component to our approach.(At least this is what research thus far seems to indicate.) So even if you don’t do my class - if you can move your body in some way more regularly, talk stuff out if you need to with friends or therapist so you feel less isolated if you’ve lots to process and if you can add a mindfulness practice to your approach, all bases will be covered! I think of Movement Envisioning class as a movement meditation, not that it’s especially zen or anything, though it might be for some I suppose - more that the process allows us to untangle ourselves from all of our habitual knots of tension (physical, mental, emotional) and experience more freedom or spaciousness, creating space and awareness around our conditioning, reactivity and patterns.

Absolutely not. I’m the last person to judge people who are inactive. Sometimes it just is the bottom of the list and that’s ok. I’m not here suggesting it’s easy or even possible for everyone to ‘’do all the things’’ that are needed to be healthy in the world. And besides this isn’t a fitness class, it’s a movement practice where you move what you feel and we’re focused on the internal experience. It doesn't matter whether or not either one of us moves in a way that is fluid, graceful or otherwise. Also with this practice participants get to keep their eyes closed throughout the practice, as well as turn off the video whilst I lead you through the practice verbally. All of this helps the part of your brain that is judging itself, worrying about you move as somehow wrong, soften a little more. Also this isn't about burning calories or working up a sweat. Move as feels right for you. Pause, take a breather if you need to. You can still pause and be consciously in the experience. You shouldn't, ideally, be ''pushing'' yourself hard in any way - it's not that kind of a practice. So it really absolutely doesn’t matter what your level of fitness is, so long as you find ways to move comfortably. And if it helps any of you to hear this I went through all of the lockdowns managing a sick Mum with a chronic illness. I honoured my creative practices (acting classes, dancing on video, writing - all manner of things) but moving my body in this kind of way - didn’t happen until I started training with Michaela Boehm several months ago. I didn’t want to feel more than I already was, because I needed to just keep going as best I could. Sometimes we have to compartmentalize. Sometimes we don't do the ''healthy'' thing, it's OK. We're human. There's no judgdement coming from me. You don’t have to lose your brilliance, your flaws, any pockets of sad or chaos to be part of my community, or benefit from my work. We all have ‘’stuff’’ and some of us have trauma or chronic illness or invisible or visible disabilities or challenges, or maybe we’re not that fit, all of that’s ok. If you come to the class, I’ll celebrate you. If you don’t? The same attitude applies. This isn't about slavishly following my suggestions, this is about deepening your relationship with your body, not manipulating it in any shape or form. Hope this reassures.

I’m invested in clients learning to hear and honour their own impulses and intuitive nature. A lot of the time, especially for those of us who have spent a lot of our lives doing what’s expected of us, or for those who are unraveling themselves from their conditioning, then literally the only way that we can develop a better relationship with our internal world is to experiment and be prepared to make mistakes, change our mind and be OK with that. Which means honestly you cannot get this practice wrong. You can’t move badly, you can’t think too much, or feel too much, or too little. It’s ok if you feel wild, or numb, or sexual, or uncertain, or whatever you feel. Whatever comes up is OK, allowed, part of your individual process and dance. This practice has nothing to do with aiming for perfection. If that’s your bag, that’s ok but I have no interest in propping up ideas of a perfect, clean life. For me life is messy and that’s just how I like it. I’m not living on a mountain thinking how sad it is that people have a rough ride, get cancer or Covid, or have to work a shitty job. Or for that matter are at the top of their field but still need some support to keep optimistic and resilient. I’ve been all of those people or loved those people. You’re all my people. We’re happy with the mess, we keep on moving forwards, regardless.

If your body gives you information that contradicts the verbal prompts that I provide (for example you sense that you should open your eyes, or give yourself a few minutes just to sit and not join in)...Then so long as it doesn’t involve or hurt anybody else, I say trust it, go for it. Let that be your process of investigation into self. Let’s be honest if we’re always doing what’s recommended by teachers, friends, family, your therapist or healer or coach - how are we going to learn as adults, how are we going to trust ourselves? Sometimes we need to let go of the handle bars and just see what happens when we choose for ourselves. My attitude is pretty much - experiment. Be prepared to get it wrong (or right) and adapt - that’s life in a nutshell. No perfect way of doing it. Don’t give your power away to me, this modality, a psychic, a coach - be discerning, trust your process, try stuff out. I hope always that I can support you and guide you in your process and steer you in the right direction. But some of the time I’m gonna get it wrong and you’re going to think ‘’no that’s not right, that’s not for me’’. I want you to trust yourself, more than you trust me or any modality or system of thought. Yes, sure, listen and respond and try out my suggestions in class. But if the impulse within you is clear to do something else, then you should be listening to that! You’re not a sheep. You don’t have to follow

Again, sorry to sound like a stuck record but it’s entirely personal, it’s up to you! For some of you you’ll feel like committing to a practice every day, for some of you once a week, for some of you for 5 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour of practice will be what you need and desire! Let’s be honest, sometimes life happens and we may go for weeks or even longer without any practice at all. It’s OK. You’re not joining a religion or a cult! :) And our shifting relationship with our practices are part of…well, you get the drift, the practise itself. I know some of you like rules or clear guidelines. If that’s you, then decide on how often you want to come to class or/and your home practice. Does once a week feel good? Twice a week? More? Then do that and stick to it. Good for you! Sometimes too much choice is stressful. There will be times when you won’t want to practice because it feels like another ‘’thing to do’’ and you need a break, or to hide, or for the sensitive amongst us, to pause on feeling more. It ebbs and flows. This isn’t a dogmatic practice. For me personally ‘’having to do things’’ creates more tension. So experiment. 1 day a week, 5 days, 7? Nobody is going to judge you either way. Notice what adds value to your life and go from there. And eventually, through the process, you’ll begin to find what’s right for you and voila, it will be as natural as brushing your teeth.

Often starting is the biggest issue, right? So if that’s you and you get easily overwhelmed, just give yourself permission to move to 1 track or 2 and relish it. Anything at all is good for you, It’s not a marathon or test. You can just rock up to a class if you prefer and that would be enough. It’s super useful to find a spot that's always the same spot where you’ll move. If you can stick to the same time, even better. If you can use the same playlist even, that actually helps your nervous system know ‘’ahhhh this is the practice we’re going to do’’. It sort of helps anchor the work deeper into your system so that you can drop into the work even more quickly. The repetition becomes a kind of bridge or portal, a pathway into the practice, so that should help. Use my playlists or you can find Non Linear Movement practices by Michaela Boehm (who I trained with recently) that I always use, the repetition of the music will help it to become easier to just start.

Absolutely nothing at all. It’s a different process and practice. Some people who need more endorphins and serotonin may find that traditional dance classes, or just to wiggle everyday is what they need right now. I’d recommend it in fact. I got through 2 yrs in lockdown and processing my mother’s death and numerous life changes by dancing, vertical, eyes open on video. Nothing wrong with it, just has a different aim and intention. So there’s nothing ‘’wrong’’ with it. This is simply a different practice, with a different aim - do what works for you. Trust yourself.

You don't need to remember or label what is happening or make sense of it for it to be valid or meaningful. Some processes happen and are difficult if not impossible to pin down into words because we are so immersed in the process. Of course, it’s natural and normal to want to remember and pick things apart. It’s comforting and what we’ve come to do as humans. And we all have these impulses to some extent. Oftentimes we’re doing work that isn’t especially verbal or even cognitive, though you may find you want to chat to friends or therapist, or journal afterwards of course. This work is designed to help you tap into a more instinctual part of yourself, so if language is less present for a time, that’s ok. I’d choose to trust in the process. It doesn’t mean nothing happened or you’re getting it wrong! You’re not going to remember every sensation, thought, or emotion that pops up and nor should you. A lot of the time everything sort of happens at once. So, you might have a sensation that's also an emotion and then something else comes up, that’s all good. That’s just as it is meant to be. As you go on, you’ll become much better at trusting in the process. But also it’s ok to be very thinky about it right now. Over time, you’ll be comfortable with things just as they are.

Yes, you can practice with an injury but of course you need to be mindful, check with your doctor or an expert if you need to before practicing if you’re worried. And consider if you need knee pads or a more supportive surface to work on. Remember you can do the practice on a chair, or lying down if you want to regardless of injury - so adapt the movement to your bodily needs and limitations. If you’re concerned, obviously check with your doctor or chiropractor if you have one. What you notice may happen though is that the exploration may become about the injury or pain and that’s ok if that’s what’s most pressing for you right now then it just is. The attitude of exploration, as opposed to focusing on the form is the most important thing here.

Yes, of course you can, but obviously check with your Doctor or physio if you’re concerned. Sometimes we need to rest and sometimes because we spend a lot of time trying to avoid pain we actually create more tension around the injury both mentally, emotionally and within the body, we tighten and contract. Turning away from it can actually cause more contraction. Which means oftentimes pain may also feel a lot stronger when we turn more fully to it. But oftentimes it can shift and change and feel less terrible when we, sort of, find a way to befriend it, even if its through gritted teeth. I’m not suggesting you’ll stop feeling pain though. But the practice can enable you to have a conversation with this aspect of yourself that is experiencing so much pain, or pain relentlessly. And sometimes people are going to find some kind of peace (even if it’s just mental peace) or clarity, or deeper understanding, through the process. Everyone’s different though. So go gentle with yourself. Try it out, step back if needed, step back in if it feels safe to. And of course sometimes doing the practice when you’re in pain is going to increase feeling on edge and it won’t be the right approach for you. It’s not a practice that is designed to give you an instant fix or lift you up. It’s about intimacy with yourself and that’s not always easy. Sometimes we don’t feel well enough resourced to face more - sometimes we genuinely need more comfort, soothing and upliftment - that’s ok as well.

I don’t like to be a debbie downer on thought. Some people say ‘’you think too much’’ and others will say ‘’she’s mindless’’ or something like that. It’s a judgment, who says you think too much? In what way? Maybe that strategy has kept you safe in the past. Maybe that is part of why you’re so intelligent, deep, brilliant - right? Volumes of thoughts are yummy if you’re a writer or you communicate for a living, right? And if you mean, I’m super aware of how anxious and unhelpful my thoughts are and ‘’Damn it, I want to get rid of them’’. Well honestly, maybe you’re one of those people who’s sort of clairaudient or something like that and you’re acutely aware of your self talk. Because you’re so self aware, more so than everybody else, that can feel good or bad depending on today’s thought loop. But thoughts are often like that, some of us are just much more aware of them than others. Conversely, yes, our thoughts can sometimes crowd us, or overwhelm and if you feel like it’s stopping your flow, or capacity to soften into the experience, well I get that frustration. But my recommendation is to trust your thoughtyness. If we start there - trust, as opposed to resistance. You could choose to explore your thoughts more, the thought loops - expand them, magnify them, explode them by making situations in your head even more ridiculous and larger than life. Or you could return your focus back into your body and find another impulse instead. Just experiment, there’s no wrong or right way. The whole point is that you are all getting better at hearing your intuitive body, so each one of us has to be patient and there’s no nirvana we are going to reach. That’s just more ego and comparison. Which is OK. It’s fine. But the practice isn’t about that. So I recommend that you trust, as far as you can, that it will get easier. The thoughts will be less loud eventually, over time. Or some days it will be louder or quieter than others. I have some days where I think a lot during my movement work also and then some days I feel like there’s nothing but sensation going on. Or days when I’m so spaced out I don’t feel fully in my body and I can’t hear my thoughts! Again, you don’t need to compare yourself to anybody. So keep trusting yourself, even your mind, even those thoughts - they’re there for a reason. Be willing to work through that and see what happens. Sometimes there can be a tug of war between your conscious mind and the body and you question yourself, should I do this, or that? Which is perfectly normal. But that will go away over time and you won’t even notice the shift, it will just happen. So I say, don’t worry about it. Who cares? It doesn’t matter. You can’t get this wrong. We are trying to establish trust between these different parts of ourselves, so trust that whatever is coming up, thoughts or otherwise, it’s perfect. Are you willing to let this be a discovery, an exploration rather than something to beat yourself up over?

It’s a good thing - it means energy is moving, it means you’re parasympathetic is being activated. It’s a very very normal response. Sometimes it's nice to move really slowly and the yawning will pass naturally of its own accord. And sometimes it’s a sign that something's coming up, releasing. But it basically means your nervous system is starting to balance and that can only be a good thing.

Yes it can be. Being on the floor or with your eyes closed can be extraordinarily frustrating at times because it's not your usual way. Sometimes it can be really uncomfortable - that is totally normal. When we try a new way of doing things there can be a lot of mind chatter and resistance. It’s like doing something you do automatically and being asked to do it totally differently, brush your teeth with your left hand or move around your flat on all fours as opposed to standing and walking. It doesn’t feel comfortable or easy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea. The brain chatter and resistance will normally diminish over time, but be playful, explore, find a way to try out the techniques that I am recommending. Or do as feels right for you, even if it's to ignore some of the verbal prompts that I give you. Maybe the natural intelligence of YOU is telling you to stand up and move and that that will be more safe and powerful for you. If so, please do it. My Dance Movement Therapy training was based almost entirely on the value of movement which occurs standing up, eyes open (if you've not done a session yet - this section probably won't make much sense to you until you try a class out!)... There is nothing to say this approach isn't powerful and valid...It IS helpful and powerful. So if you want to do things differently, from what I'm suggesting? Just do it consciously and go for it! For some of you, the practice will be to stay with limiting your range of movement because you'll discover profound benefits to doing so. And for some of you, some of the time, this just won't feel right. It's all alright and permissable. What we don’t want though is to encourage you be at war with your instincts versus the suggestions of the teacher. The aim is to know yourself more intimately, that's all that matters. So go at this practice gently, playfully, lightly. Let it be an experiment. You can ''cheat'' and I wouldn’t know either right? You’re off camera, you can do as pleases you! I’m not grading anybody! Perhaps your instincts are absolutely right. :)

Crying is good and normal. It’s good to cry. Class is a great place for it. Sometimes we may feel like it is ‘’too much’’, but it’s only too much when we travel down into depression and can’t get out of it. Otherwise tears are, or should be a fact of life and a healthy expression of emotion. Belching and farting is really great for all of you practicing at home! Vomiting too! It’s probably something we have to be aware of in a classroom situation. But the impulse honestly is not a bad one. It’s a release.

One of my teachers Michaela talks about this a lot and yes, it’s a lot to do with trauma in the body coming up to release. But also sometimes it comes up independent of trauma. Michaela notes that ‘’the energy comes up the front and kind of out and that is the puking energy’’. So you can go at it two ways you can go, ‘’I’m gonna let this happen’’ and head to the bathroom if you need to or grab a sick bowl! Or you can regulate your movements or on this occasion your breath. Normally we don’t mess with the breath in any shape or form in class. We let the body lead, we don’t impose a form on how we move apart from the 3 golden rule I refer to in each class. But you could breathe down into the belly, or experiment with sound on your exhale also. Sometimes we are literally trying to vomit up stuck emotions, all the things we never said but wished we had, but couldn’t. All of that energy. Things that have been crammed down come up energetically. So again you’re your own explorer and expert of your internal landscape. If you puke, you’re not getting anything wrong. If you slow down and adjust your movements and breath that’s fine too. Just make sure to rest afterwards if you need to, drink lots of water, be kind to yourself after that moment has passed. If anything in life makes you feel tender, in class or life, think in advance, I always say this, what 3 things could you gift yourself with if you feel sensitive or exposed or vulnerable after class? Ask yourself ahead of time - ‘’What might I need?’’ What’s available to me?’’ Have that list made up in advance in case you need it. We usually forget it when we’re in the middle of a crisis, or puking!

You talk about love in your work - can you say more about it. What is love anyway? Every class I do will either have a section where we focus on love or on safety in our body, or both. Some of the prompts I use on love or safety or trust is to help you connect in with a somatic, tangible bodily felt experience of love or safety and trust inside your body. Even if it’s not your entire body or self - just noticing where love is easily connected with and trust and nourishment too. Our brains are always looking for bad shit. We sometimes have to practice to track where we’re really doing well and are ok. And the practice of noticing love comes from my training with Michaela Boehm, the words are so beautiful. I remember crying when I was being examined and reading those words out loud. The actual word Love has the vibration of love within it, or at least that’s what it feels like to me. And we’re not referring to romantic love necessarily either. Say ‘’I love myself’’ with your hand on your heart and notice how you feel? It feels true, right? Or tender maybe? It’s a powerful word, it’s rich and full of meaning and multiple ways we can apply it to life. It’s also an invitation to remember how to love, what it feels like in the body. We say we love our parents, lover, friends, but we don’t necessarily practice remembering this about ourselves. I’m going to refer to Michaela here, cos she says it better than I can in this instance. ‘’It's a sensation in the body. It's what we would call a somatic reference point. So somewhere in your body things light up. So I'm thinking of it right now looks like over here in this part of my arm. So that's kind of how love lights up my body. And then I can orient towards that because that's something very tangible. Everything comes ‘’alive, right and sparkly and informed. And that's love moving you are you moving love through your body.’’ So whether it is compassion or kindness or encouragement or passion , devotion, forgiveness or even some form of activism, of social justice - there are many forms of love and we can have it for ourselves, for people, for countries, for moments and memories, for hobbies, for things that we do, all things and it’s always available to us. The practice also focuses for a moment on our heart, hands, fingers, arms -these very physical parts of ourselves where we teach and touch objects and people - touch, push away, pull towards, press against, manipulate, maneuver, unwind, massage - we explore love as a physical happening or energy also in this way. So much goes on through our hands, I am astonished by this every time we focus on this through the practice. So when we give time to experiencing ourselves through love in this way, the body responds also. We feel that vitality and aliveness and other people can usually sense it too. Michaela refers to it as a kind of radiance because we are giving more attention to what’s already there - which is love, which is who you are at some level, whether the human brain gets it or not. Nothing to do with money, or romance, or anything external. It’s just a way of reconnecting in with our innate heart energy and a sense of innocence and awe and wonder as well. ‘’Wow, my body - I’m feeling you. I love you, wow and you love me and we're in this experience called life. Wow’’ So we infuse our practice with this loving kindness and of course, it doesn’t mean you don’t have bad days or never suffer. But even so, once we’ve worked through the release part of the work, or the acceptance part of the work if release feels too aggressive or forced, but naturally some of that stuck energy and old ideas or pain we've been holding can loosen up or fall away some and then we are normally ready and available to let more love in...For ourselves first and foremost, instead of trying to get love through our behavior and from others. We fill up the cup and once it is full, the cup runneth over! Which to me means we fill ourselves up with love and that’s basically good for everyone else also. We can’t love others if we hate ourselves, or rather if we do, it will be laced with neediness, manipulation, anger, despair and all those things - which, you know, that’s ok as well. Most of us are recovering codependency addicts also in my opinion. But this practice, this part of it, really is delivered so that we can all take a moment, just a moment to remember that no matter what - we are whole, loved and loveable - even when we don’t feel like we deserve it, even when it doesn’t feel very true. For some people it’s super hard to receive kindness, so this is a good moment in the class for those of us who are learning to notice and feel just how loved and loveable we really are. It's my observation generally that both myself, friends and clients need to give ourselves time to remember that we are loved and are love, all the way down into skin, organ, bones, cell, the essence of who we are. Yes, sometimes we forget. That seems to be a part of the design of this reality - of our brains - we're not failing either if we forget, just that it's part of the challenge of being human - to see ourselves as limited and less a lot of the time. So these simple practices help dissipate and override some of our tendencies to be our own worst critic and to forget how immensely courageous and beautiful we really are. It’s totally normal and understandable to get caught up in the push to succeed, do better, gain something from others. Especially more so if you have childhood trauma also, as so many of us do.