Life Needs to be Lived in Spontaneity

The word Grace has such a welcoming vibration. As Annie Lamont would remind me, “To summon, Grace, say ‘HELP’ and then buckle up. Grace finds you exactly where you are, but it doesn’t leave you where it found you.”

Yes, be prepared to truly let go and let life in. What changes us, heals us, and what ultimately transforms us is the release and then allow the chaos to begin.

I have no idea how one year later we got here! It has been a ride and yet together I feel our community has supported the journey here. We are opening the doors and raising the windows as we return to those sweet spontaneous moments of saying hello. To be able to hear laughter, smell the scent of some passing aroma whether it is hair conditioner, a familiar yet forgotten oil, or just the smell of some wonderful fresh detergent, I want to return to smell, taste, and seeing the unexpected of life in full togetherness.

Zoom serves a great purpose for our survival, but the hunger I have for a genuine hug is my devotion to keeping humanity alive. Life needs to be lived in spontaneity. The freedom to overhear a conversation and learn something new —or be included in a conversation that arose out of some mutually shared moment. To pause and listen as others pass by and to feel belonging in a shared space.

I miss the alive energy of shared souls. I know I am not alone in this desire to be together and hopefully, the inspiration to come back into our sweet center will happen as May begins. We have added some new classes and new teachers, and hope that new faces will soon feel the urge to begin a practice at YAF.

Thank you to everyone who is willing to get the vaccination, and we appreciate the respect of each student that continues to care for one another regardless of bias and learned patterns. We are so fortunate to be at this place now. 

Blessings,

Laura Jane

Unlocking & Releasing Trauma with TRE®

“Pull it together.”  “Suck it up.” “Get over it.” “What difference does it make, it was so long ago”.

Do any of these phrases sound familiar that were either said to you or you said to yourself?

Trauma, no matter how major or insignificant you think it was, lives in your body. Collectively we are all living in a state of trauma right now, bearing the weight of a global pandemic, civil unrest, fear and not to mention our own past experiences.

Yes, you can have fun, be happy, have lots of money, have a wonderful life, AND still experience trauma. It does not discriminate race, age, gender, economic status, it is pervasive throughout the world.

What exactly is trauma? 

Trauma is the physiological response to an event that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope, causing feelings of helplessness, shame, diminishing their sense of self and their ability to feel a full range of emotions and experiences in the body.

Trauma is instinctual and beyond our consciousness to control it, therefore it should never be judged as a negative because it is an automatic response in our system to protect ourselves. It is our own personal emergency response system for safety. Additionally, no two people will react the same to a traumatic experience. One person may get in a horrible car accident and never be able to drive on the expressway again, while another may not be impacted by it at all and be able to drive anywhere and everywhere, just as an example. 

Reacting to Trauma 

When our body goes into a state of trauma, we tend to go into either fight, flight, or freeze. All of these responses come from our autonomic nervous system causing tension in the body, no matter which way a person reacts, one way is not better than another. 

When our body tenses up, it is the fascia, which is like the webbing throughout our body that holds our muscles, bones, and organs in place, the fascia becomes tighter within our body. If the fascia is gripping from stress, this can cause a variety of ailments from back and body pain, high blood pressure, limited mobility, limited range of motion, balance, joint stability, more prone to injury, weakened immune system, migraines, etc.

The Psoas and Trauma

There is a major muscle in our body called the psoas muscle. It connects the lower half of our body to the upper half of our body — from our hip flexor up through the front of our body to our chest. It is the psoas that carries the bulk of this stress and trauma in the body. Think about the center of your body and if it is tight, you lean forward impacting your back, your neck, your balance which impacts your hips down to your knees. It also wraps around all of your internal organs. When the ever-important psoas muscle is stressed, the body will feel it. 

The psoas is also rooted in our survival, holding on to trauma from the past. Trauma can lead to a stressed psoas muscle, even though the fascia around the psoas muscle is tightened. The fascia wraps around the psoas muscle, so when the fascia is tightened around this muscle, your entire body is at risk. There is no harmony between the two.

How do we release the fascia in the psoas muscle and throughout the entire body? 

There is a process called TRE (Tension/Trauma Release Exercises). TRE was developed by Dr. David Bercelli when he studied trauma within himself and around the world. It is a technique that allows a natural release in the body that is genetically encoded within all mammals. It stems from the reptilian brain to release past traumas and tension in the body naturally.

TRE is a series of 7 accessible exercises the stretch and fatigue muscles in the body, including the psoas muscle, that induces a tremor mechanism in the body naturally. These tremors allow for the fascia in the body to loosen which in turn, releases trauma and tension in the body. The best reference is when you see an animal that is scared and it starts to shake, this is their natural tremor response allowing them to release their trauma, so then they can move on with their day. 

As humans, we have been told to pull it together, not show any physiological response to stress. TRE is the opposite, it allows for the body to take care of itself naturally. The healing that can come from TRE is profound and life-altering. Often people don’t realize how much they have been holding on to until they have the release from TRE.

If you (or someone you know) has experienced trauma, consider signing up for Kim’s Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises 5-week class series and/or her monthly Yoga for Trauma class.

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About the Author

You can find Kim teaching at Yoga Among Friends:

• Thu 8–9a, Slow Flow–Zoom

• Select Sundays 3–5 pm, Yoga to Transform Trauma–Studio (Meets Monthly)

Kim Eisendrath, RYT 200, is a certified TRE provider, as well as a certified yoga instructor with a focus on trauma-informed yoga and accessible yoga. Yoga for Trauma and TRE have had a significant impact on her life and the lives of many of her clients. She will lovingly guide you through these practices and hold space for your individual needs.

Kim wants to help people discover their gifts to recover from emotional and physical stressors through the practice of yoga and TRE. She is finally living her soul’s calling by giving back to others through these practices.

Her credentials include:

• Yoga Alliance RYT 200 hour

• Yoga Alliance 25 hour Yoga for Trauma Training

• Tension/Trauma Release Exercise (TRE) provider

• M.A.T. Special Education

• ADHD Coach

Questions about Yoga for Trauma, TRE or other yoga classes? Reach out to Kim.

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House of Belonging

Dwelling in possibility is my only truth. Life is presenting the clues every day, and it’s only my unwillingness to listen that prevents me from accepting the miracles. I am entering into the space of surrender each time I come home to enter my house of belonging.

The mystic in me is awakened as I listen to that quiet inner voice of knowing. The “House of Belonging” is an ancient Celtic metaphor for the human body as the earthly home for the soul; it is also used to describe the deep inner peace and the feeling of safety, joy and contentment found in the intimate soul-friend relationships. 

This soul friendship is with my deeper Self. The wonderful writer who inspires me, John O’Donohue, says, ”when you learn to love and to let your self be loved, you come home to the hearth of your own spirit. You are sheltered and completely at one in the house of your own longing and belonging”. 

The entrance to this house is through the breath.  My own inner wisdom is restored and renewed with each deep long exhale, and my willingness to let life in on each inhale.

My soul commitment to living a passionate life begins with a stable mind. This year has been anything but helpful with all the outer chaos and confusion of painful distractions. Covid has tested our courage in the foundations of our patience, perseverance, and belief.  I find it difficult to make the choices that start with the courageous first step.

Last year brought us into a shift that shut the door on a home for friends to gather. My joy has always been in witnessing the magic of community. I miss the spontaneity of conversations overheard, the unexpected hello of a new friend, or a random moment for a hug when that vulnerability of presence arises in a moment of soul knocking on the heart.  Listening and feeling the presence of others is experienced in a mutual space of silence. A place of shared stillness. To come and feel safe enough to go inward and explore those forgotten moments of the soul’s calling. Those fragile moments of awakening to what life is revealing.

Now I am fully confident the tides have shifted, and it is time to begin new venues in the studio. I postponed teacher training because I felt the process of sharing these deeper tools for living must be experienced in a shared space. Zoom is wonderful for instructions and for information, but holding the space for shared transformation allows for grace to unfold. 

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We are launching our next 200hr training in September 2021! Wherever you are in your desire to learn is welcome into the training. Teaching yoga is not the only end goal of this training. Instead, learning how to access your inner nature is why I keep sharing these tools. To understand and learn the depth of what the function of these poses reveal is life-changing!  How to access prana, the life intelligence, that rides on the breath opens the door to our inner belonging home.

The process is profound and the mystery is never dull because each soul is a bright radiant gift. I am passionate about humanity. Yoga is a journey of a lifetime that starts with a willingness to learn is the key. The path inward is the opening to the miracle of living a life of fullness and joyous wellbeing. 

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Our retreat to Iceland is also a GO!! We are once again starting to travel safely, and I’m committed to sharing the brilliant northern lights of a vast sky while standing on this ever-changing earth. Iceland is experiencing the eruption of one of its volcanos for the first time in 800 years! This is an awesome opportunity to witness the shifting of our very foundational home. How magical this journey can be as we share in our own personal foundational shifts! Come share together the vast beauty of own inner landscape as we travel to this natural wonderland. 

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My teacher, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, has shared his vast wisdom over the last decade with me. I am forever grateful for his teachings which have always given me strength, foresight, and stability allowing me the joy to continue holding the space of Yoga Among Friends. I want to inspire the community to participate in his offering this May in the practice of the Sri Sukta. The gift of Zoom allows one to participate wherever you live without having to travel to the Himalayan Institute.

Wherever you are in your practice, to awaken the inner vibration through this ancient tool of chanting will inspire a profound connection to your deeper Self. At this time is the world with all the fear leading to violence, we need this collective grace of healing. I am so honored to be apart of this much needed practice for all humanity.

The light in me honors the light in you,

Laura Jane