What is Soothe?
I have spent a lifetime trying to navigate the dramas of existence amidst the slow-moving perma-crisis of our modern times. I spent most of my life not daring to feel my feelings. They were too complicated and too painful. I worried that I would unravel if I allowed myself to feel them. So, to push my thoughts away, I punished myself by working hard, playing harder, working out harder and thinking that sleep was for those with no ambition(!)
Over the years, I have tried everything to soothe myself. I started long-distance running when I wanted to leave home. I started kickboxing when I wanted to leave my first marriage. And I immersed myself in yoga when I left a toxic full-time job. This was interspersed with periods of dalliance with recreational drugs, all in service to not wanting to feel the feels. These techniques worked fine for a while, but my mental turmoil would return as soon as the immediate effects wore off. And the reality check usually happened at the most inconvenient times when I couldn’t move my feelings through me, like feeling stressed at my work desk or having a panic attack on the underground. I have had chronic anxiety and sleep issues and have been on the edge of burnout throughout my adult life. I nearly died of a gangrenous appendix because I thought I could outwit my body with willpower. It turns out that our body has a wisdom of its own, and instead of pushing away our feelings, we need to tune into our internal signals and respond accordingly.
And yet instead of looking after ourselves throughout our lives, we tend to ourselves only when broken. We don’t stop to ask daily, ‘why am I feeling anxious, sad, or emotionally tired?’ We don’t stop to ask why we put up with our collective lack of rest. We push through, our bodies tense and sore, and our brains are constantly overstimulated. The world around us carries on relentlessly. We might feel personally grateful for and content with our circumstances but simultaneously hugely ill at ease with the bombardment of news about the worst of humanity. It lodges deep in our body, and slowly, our ability to be at peace is chipped away.
I have been teaching since 2005, I have built and managed my studios in central London, have trained and mentored other teachers, and built brands, including my current business, The Human Method, teaching nervous system regulation to anyone who needs it: my clients range from athletes, to stressed out execs, to those managing chronic diseases like Parkinson’s.
I specialise in chronic stress, anxiety, burnout and sleep issues. I also work with people with deeply held trauma issues, often working alongside their counsellors, when talking therapies reach their natural conclusion.
I use a brain-to-body learning method called Feldenkrais, a somatic relearning method. Soma means “living body.” I use breathwork and restorative practices to rewire the nervous system to expand your self-image. We think we are a brain with a body, but 80% of the brain’s signals come from our organs, so in truth, we are more like a body with a brain.
I teach your whole self: physiology, senses, emotions, thoughts, actions and behaviours. I need to know the how and the why because time is our most precious commodity.
What can you expect from Soothe Substack?
Every week I am going to either write or record a video or a podcast about one thing that I have learnt in the course of teaching myself and the hundreds of clients I have taught over decades. I will enjoy this one space to gather in a community where I will share my teaching, my musings, interesting texts, books, philosophy and science to take you by the hand and lead you into deep care.
In a world of the commodification of self-care and the multi-million dollar wellness industry, Soothe aims to offer an antidote by bringing us back to dialogue and connection on a human level.
Here we can explore ideas around well-being, what it means to be fully human and how to fill this one precious life with meaning, hope and joy.
I endeavour to live with maximal grace*, and I’d like to take you with me. I’m SO going to enjoy being in a meaningful relationship with you.
There will be some fun stuff along the way, and it will be delivered with light touch through text, video, or audio. You will enjoy lessons you can practise on the go and invitations to a few live online classes sprinkled throughout the year. I won’t over-promise to heal you, but I will help you cultivate the right conditions to bring your nervous system back into balance, creating a solid foundation for resilience and self-sufficiency. I will shine the light on how our mind and body function to empower you with the latest research and useful knowledge and, more importantly, how to embody the learning so that you can soothe in real time for those moments when you feel completely overwhelmed by life.
You’ll also learn more about the book that I am writing, and I’ll ask you to vote on a few polls on current issues that affect our well-being, the results of which may well make it into my book.
So why subscribe?
There’s so much information out there it’s easy to miss things. Every communication is carefully curated and will drip-feed an idea into your brain about how life could be made sweeter. You’ll receive an email from me directly to you, or you could download the Substack app here, which means you won’t clog up an already crowded inbox.
Why pay to subscribe?
If you love what I do and I have supported, educated, and taught you in some way over the years, you will be happy to buy a monthly subscription to show your appreciation. Everyone will receive the newsletter every week for free. However, your paid subscription will support the free newsletter week by week. While it is free to everyone, please consider that it has a cost to me, namely my time, effort, years and money spent on gaining expertise.
So why pay for content? I have spent thousands on specialist training, allowing my clients’ powerful results. Rather than sending my content out into the ether with anonymous likes, I want to be in a more meaningful relationship with an engaged audience. I spend considerable time and effort researching, preparing, and crafting my lessons and content. I have been teaching since 2005. I’ve worked successfully in four industries and bring this life experience to everything I do.
As well as the good reasons above, the nominal monthly sum to join The Soothe Club will unlock additional benefits, including:
4 x 15-minute lessons to soothe your nervous system
“Ask Me a Question”
the entire archive of everything that I post
to connect with a like-minded community.
Become a Founding Member for £450 to support my teaching and as well as the above, you will receive:
2 x online private sessions with me
A signed copy of my book, out in April 2024
Invitation to my London book launch
Advance notice of retreats, festivals, in-person workshops and events.
Giveaways on recommended products
I appreciate that times are tough, so I have kept my subscription price low. If you cannot pay for a subscription, you can still support my teaching by sharing my newsletter…
If you want to pay it forwards, why not gift someone a subscription here…?
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