Nervous System Fundamentals

Somatic Practice & Education for Resource, Regulation & Embodiment…

This is a body-based course that explores how psychoeducation, yoga, somatics, and embodiment practices can support increased resourcing, regulation, and a greater sense of safety within the autonomic nervous system.

It is a foundational course designed to support experiences of stress, overwhelm, and dysregulation by first establishing stability within the body. Through a gradual and structured approach, participants are supported to build awareness of their internal states and develop practical skills for returning to regulation.

Across the course, you will be guided through key Somatic Experiencing® practices, including orienting, grounding, and resourcing, and supported to develop a personalised map of your nervous system. This includes understanding how different states such as fight, flight, freeze, and regulation may show up in your body, thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.

Drawing on Somatic Experiencing® principles, Polyvagal Theory, somatic movement, and trauma-sensitive yoga, the course offers both education and direct embodied experience. You will learn how to work gently and safely with activation and shutdown states, while building capacity to move between challenge and resource.

The group itself forms an important part of the learning environment. Sessions are held within a warm, supportive space that can foster understanding and growth through co-regulation, resonance, and connection with others, while always respecting individual pace and choice.

Movement and embodiment practices are introduced in simple, accessible ways. What may at first feel structured or mechanical can open into a more intuitive and creative process—inviting your own movements, gestures, and emergent resourcing to unfold.

This becomes a pathway to befriending the body, gently meeting sensation and even challenging nervous system states with curiosity and care. We also include elements such as mark-making and embodied drawing, supporting expression, integration, and a deeper connection to your lived experience.

The emphasis throughout is on developing simple, accessible practices that can be integrated into everyday life, supporting a more regulated, responsive, and embodied way of being.

No previous experience of movement is needed. Participants are encouraged to work at their own pace and within their own capacity.

There are 10 spaces available for in person courses and 15 spaces available online. It will be a closed group. In case of illness or missed sessions both in person and online workshops will be recorded for participants use only. A course manual will be provided.

FULL INFO BELOW…

Session 1 - Nervous System Education

  • Introduction of the Three Key Practices from Somatic Experiencing®: Orienting, Grounding and Resource.

  • Learn about how our (ANS) state can create our story about self, the world and relationships through the lens of Polyvagal theory. This is to support your understanding of your own nervous system and its responses.

  • A focus on creating ground, safety and stability in the body.

Session 2 - Cultivating Safety & Resource

  • Continue to embed the practices of orientation and grounding.

  • Intro to resourcing and how it supports out system to access internal and external states of safety. Safety is an experience of the body, not just a thought. Through the practice of resourcing we can amplify the felt experience of safety.

  • Explore how to listen to the body’s signals through sensation and how to use sensation to anchor deeper into resource and grounding.

  • Additional somatic movement and yoga based practices that support changing state, embodiment and regulation.

Session 3 - Mapping the Nervous System

  • Map how different nervous system zones of fight/flight, freeze & regulation might affect our body, emotions, thoughts, impulses, behaviours and responses.

  • Explore the SE themes of pendulation and titration.

  • Continue to embody tools from previous sessions.

Session 4 - Self Regulation: Mobilising fight/flight

  • Explore embodied practices that support reinstating and mobilising the states of fight/flight. Contrary to common belief self regulation is a complex nuanced process that is not just about ‘calming down’, but often about reinstating fight/flight processes that have been unable to unfold naturally in the nervous system threat-response cycle.

  • Continue to explore sensation as the bodies language of communication.

  • Continue to moving from small challenge to safety/resource.

  • Continue to explore Orientation, Grounding and Resource.

Session 5 - Self Regulation: Thawing freeze/collapse

  • Explore embodied practices that support a slow titrated emergence from the state of freeze/collapse

  • Continue to explore moving from small challenge to safety/resource.

  • Continue to explore sensation as the bodies language of communication.

  • Continue to explore Orientation, Grounding and Resource.

Session 6 - Integration

  • A creative group led session to support the integration of all that has been shared and experienced on this course.

one - to- one session

  • Booking a one - to - one session (or more) during the course is really helpful to explore more in depth what is coming up for you.

  • This is a suggestion and not a requirement to participate in the course.

  • One - to - one sessions will be an extra cost of £60 per 1hr.

2026 Spring In Person Dates - FULLY BOOKED

2026 SPRING/SUMMER Online (via Zoom) Dates- SPACE AVAILABLE

  • Workshop 1 Sunday 26th April 10:00 - 13:00

  • Workshop 2 Saturday 9th May 15:00 - 18:00

  • Workshop 3 Sunday 24th May 10:00 - 13:00

  • Workshop 4 Saturday 6th June 10:00 - 13:00

  • Workshop 5 Saturday 4th July 10:00 - 13:00

  • Workshop 6 Saturday 18th July 10:00 - 13:00

2026 Autumn In Person Dates

Cost

  • £325 - payable by BACS.

  • An initial non-refundable deposit of £95 is required to book your place.

  • I self fund subsidies to make this work more accessible for those experiencing financial hardship. I especially welcome enquiries from anyone experiencing financial hardship who identifies as being marginalized due to race/ethnicity, disability, gender, from the LGBTQI+ community and those in reciept of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Jobseekers Allowance.

  • Payment plans welcome- your welcome to pay in installments if you need to please be in touch to arrange dates.

  • Cancellation/refunds - If you need to cancel no refunds are available unless I can fill your space. In which case I can offer you a full refund minus the £95 deposit. If I need to cancel, you will be refunded the full amount.

  • Please note this course is not a substitute for individual therapy.

Venues

Please note there are two venues for this course. Both are within 10 mins from Ashburton.

You can find out more about The Hands on Retreat here (TQ13 7JJ).

And more about The Soma Shala here (TQ126NZ).

Both venues are beautiful nature based yoga and movement studios.

Book Here
“This course is a beautifully rich combination of theory and experiential practices. It is in-depth and yet also accessible and easy to integrate into daily life. I am already using what I learnt on the course to help me when I start to struggle with feelings of anxiety or depression. I have more choice in how I respond to these feelings, with a variety of somatic practices that I can draw on. I am going away feeling a renewed sense of hope, enthusiasm and curiosity to continue my learning. Thank you!”
— 2022 Course Participant