RESOURCES TO SUPPORT MIND & BODY

A series of somatic practices to use in your day-to-day as a support in times of challenge or stress.

SOMATIC practices

The following somatic practices are resources or tools that you can utilise throughout your day. They are a way to work with your nervous system, rather than feeling captive to a sense of overwhelm, stress or dysregulation. The simplicity of the practices can be surprising - don’t let this prevent you from trying them!

Try them in different contexts in your life to discover which tools work for you in which moments. We’re all different, so we all require different strategies at different moments. Also included, are two home yoga practices (below).

1. What are somatic practices? This clip provides a brief introduction.

3. The sensory scan is a somatic practice that can greatly aid in bringing us back to the present moment.

5. The 'push' practice is a good one to try when noticing feelings of irritability, frustration or anger. It's a low risk way to allow some of this heightened energy to move through the body.

7. The following somatic practice is useful in many scenarios. However one of the most common is when feeling overwhelmed, or even slightly disconnected from the body. The touch brings us back into connection with our bodily/physical container, which can be enormously regulating.

9. Another simple self-soothing resource that can often have an immediate impact on the nervous system. The self-hug is both a form of containment and soothing. Try it in moments where you feel tender.

A basic 15 minute slow-flow yoga practice.

2. 'Orienting' is a powerful practice that helps to regulate the nervous system by providing it with real-time information to show it that you are safe. It's quick, simple and often highly effective.

4. A beautiful practice that supports us to notice and receive the goodness, joy, support and nourishment that is present to us in the now. This can boost resilience in the face of challenge - as it is a powerful balance to the brain's negativity bias.

6. This somatic practice is a good one to try when feeling frozen, immobilised or stuck. It's a gentle way to begin introducing a tolerable amount of movement into the system.

8. This practice is a simple one to try when feeling hurt, misunderstood, unheard or a sense of isolation or abandonment. It's a practice that often brings a sense of soothing and support.

A gentle and slow flowing yoga practice that focuses on being present to bodily sensation; while inviting a state of balance and centredness. (36 minutes)

What is somatic STRESS RELEASE?

I practice a form of somatic therapy known as Somatic Stress Release (SSR).

SSR combines movement, sensory awareness, reflection and dialogue to support you in staying present, connected, resilient and adaptable to life’s challenges.

Our stress response cycle is the means by which our system (mind and body) responds to life. It not only helps us maintain homeostasis and health, but also adapt to life. When our stress response flows and completes fully, we feel resilient, energised, fully expressed and capable – even in the face of life’s inevitable challenges or stressors.

The catch is that most of us have learned behaviours that block this natural cycle. We may get ‘stuck’ in certain phases – or miss steps. This can result in us feeling chronic tension or unease, stress, indecision, ‘stuckness’, fatigue or physical pain. Over time, we may even begin to lose trust in our body or ourselves, and may close off to life, others and our dreams and desires.

Somatic stress release is a practice that supports you to re-engage with your innate stress response cycle. Through physical practices and self-awareness, we gradually rebuild our capacity to complete each stage in the cycle. In so doing, we increase our capacity to remain present, to voice our truth, express our needs, honour our boundaries, and open to joy, goodness, connection and potential.

There is a wild truth, potency and power to the current and flow of your body. When we embrace it and learn to work with it, we come alive, we find our power, and we build trust in self and life. Over time, the result is resilient aliveness and connection

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FAQs

  • Definitely not! We ALL experience stressors in life. (Inevitable challenges in relationship, work, competing demands, physical health…. It’s part of life!)

    Somatic stress release supports you to meet these challenges with greater resilience, confidence and trust.

    Yes, it’s beneficial if you’re experiencing anxiety, overwhelm or fatigue. But it’s equally supportive if you want to increase your capacity to move toward your goals, strengthen relationships and boost your own self-compassion and understanding.

  • No. Somatic stress release sessions are not counselling sessions.

    We don’t talk through situations in your life in great detail. Instead we focus on your felt sense experience (what’s happening in your body). And increase your capacity to work with your body’s response and gather wisdom, guidance and self-awareness from it.

    This in turn expands the choices and responses available to you.

    Dependent on your circumstances SSR can be a wonderful complement to counselling/pyschotherapeutic sessions - or a standalone approach.

    Feel free to contact me to discuss your circumstances.

  • Somatic therapy sessions are generally 1hr long.

  • Somatic therapy / somatic stress release sessions are offered both in -person (in Mansfield) or online via zoom.

  • Sessions are very flexible and can be tailored to your preference.

    For some people an indoor setting is more comfortable. For others moving and engaging in the outdoors offers more scope for exploration and connection.

    I work with you!

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Testimonials

  • After a recent relationship breakdown and feeling I had lost my sense of self I had two sessions with Uschi. After the first session I came to a realisation that I had been holding an internal belief that I had not previously recognised, yet shaped everything I was feeling.

    I had often heard of the concept of self love or even self acceptance. But up until then, that’s all it was - a concept. It was through this work and gentle support that I came to grasp the barriers that held me in these spaces.

    By the second session I had a renewed sense of purpose and acceptance of my self and the world around me. Like a massive weight had been lifted - both a physical ache and inner burden that was now replaced with joy and contentment within myself. Like seeing the world in colour all of a sudden.

    I would highly recommend to anyone who is feeling a niggling sense of disconnect or seeking a renewed purpose. Uschi’s intuitive, non-judgmental and gentle approach is confounding to my previous experiences in therapeutic practice. I would encourage anyone to reach out and make a booking.

    (Renee)

  • I have seen Uschi for Thai Yoga Massage in the past and had found it incredibly helpful in re-setting my overloaded system. But when I wanted to understand more about why I was finding myself in these very reactive and at times anxious states, Uschi suggested trying some Somatic Stress Release sessions.

    What a brilliant suggestion! While not having to ‘rehash the past’, Uschi very gently guided me toward areas of resistance, tension and maladaptation, and helped me to begin to find where and how they were residing in my mind / body.

    If you are seeking to unpick some of the disconnects, over arousal and dis-eases that are preventing you from engaging with life in a full and healthy way, I would heartily recommend these sessions!

    (Natasha)

Other Services

  • Massage

    Every massage is an invitation to land, unwind tension, and reconnect.

    Drawing on Thai, ZenThai Shiatsu, and Kahuna (Polynesian) traditions, these sessions aid fascial and muscular release, greater mobility and invite relaxation and renewed vitality.

    Available in-person, at our Mansfield studio.

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  • Yoga

    Mindful movement is a pathway back to yourself. Through private or group sessions in yoga, and pilates (available in Mansfield), explore your breath, strength, and fluidity to unlock tension, build body awareness, and deepen self-expression.

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Meet Uschi

My work blends mindful movement, massage, and somatic therapy to support women to feel at home in their bodies and lives.

Body and mind are part of the one system. When we reconnect with the body, we reconnect with ourselves. No matter how you’re feeling right now. Your body is.a gateway to your truth, your needs, your creativity, courage and compassion.

Through touch, movement, and an open presence, I support you to find trust in your body (and yourself) and move through life with greater resilience, vitality, self-compassion and authenticity.

Work with Uschi

“Your vitality - your aliveness - is about nourishing body, mind and soul.

It's about listening to the whispers of your soul, loving your body and harnessing the astounding power of your mind... A feeling of wellness arises when we feel safe to move, empowered to express and free to follow our passions in the world.”