Finding Safety & Healing Through Yoga, Cacao & Nervous System Regulation

So this student story started way back before I actually opened the studio, when I was teaching in a local church hall. I used to run a Saturday class there, and this student first contacted me in June 2023.

First Conversations: Physical Pain… and More Beneath the Surface

As I do with all new students, I asked if there was anything I should know that might restrict them during class. She told me about what she was struggling with. At the time, I didn’t realise it was mainly mental health rather than physical. She only shared the physical side, chronic pain and a few issues with her hips and ankles.

She came to about three or four Saturday classes, and I got to know her a little better. She was a Buddhist and a meditation facilitator, which was amazing. She had even lived full-time in a Buddhist centre for many years.

A Pause & a Check-In

After getting to know her over a five-week period, she opened up a little more. It wasn’t just physical; she also struggled with mental health issues.

This went on until about March 2024, and then I didn’t hear from her. I knew she was going into hospital, but she didn’t share many details about why.

As I do with all my students, when someone comes into my thoughts or my heart space, I reach out just to check in. I knew she had lots of issues, and she came into my heart, so I messaged her. She was doing okay. Around that time, I had launched the studio.

First Cacao Ceremony

I think she received one of our newsletters announcing the first cacao ceremony, which she had never tried. She phoned me, and we discussed her health contraindications, for example, if someone is on heart medication or antidepressants, there can be a contraindication with cacao.

She wasn’t on those, but she was glucose intolerant and lactose intolerant. I always check dietary requirements and use organic oat milk, which is suitable for glucose-intolerant people.

She came to the cacao ceremony and absolutely loved it. I followed up afterward, and she said she loved the experience and had no issues.

She felt the journaling really helped her. When I run cacao ceremonies, I bring in a lot of journaling, because cacao can open the heart. Her feedback was really lovely.

Freeze to Flow Workshop (July): Nervous System Regulation

A couple of weeks went by, and she received the information about the Freeze to Flow workshop. She attended the first one in July. She was quite quiet and didn’t say much, but I handed out worksheets and homework to everyone who attended.

The first theme was nervous system regulation, simple practices to do at home that prompt reflection on how each person’s nervous system is working and how to support regulation.

I then received a message from her saying she loved the workshop, but she had gone into a bit of a meltdown and a few things had risen for her, connected to a medical trauma she’d experienced many years ago. She asked if I had time for a one-to-one chat. Of course, I said yes. We could catch up on the phone or on Zoom.

At My Caravan (My Happy Place): A Powerful Conversation

The following weekend after the workshop, I was at my caravan, my happy place and where I do my best thinking. I had some free time and reached out to ask where she was at, whether I offered her a listening ear as she felt she was having an other meltdown., and whether it was caused by the workshop. She reassured me it wasn’t.

We were both brought to happy tears. She shared that she had struggled with staying in, she’d had several years of not being able to leave the house. Returning to my classes and coming to the studio helped her feel she could leave the house again.

Safety, Belonging & Booking the Workshop

During our one-to-one, we talked about how she felt at the cacao ceremony, she didn’t know what to expect, but she experienced a sense of heartfelt opening, safety, and peace. She felt safe with me and safe in the studio, which encouraged her to book the Freeze to Flow workshop.

It was heart-opening for me too. Someone who had struggled so much, physically and mentally, for medical reasons, had been isolated at home, and yet she pushed herself to come to a cacao ceremony. It helped her enough that she felt comfortable addressing her traumas. In the trauma workshop, we explore nervous system regulation and ways to bring the system back into balance.

She later booked onto the second workshop, which was amazing. She stayed behind, and we had time to go over how she was feeling. We shed tears together and shared hugs.

Why Stories Like This Matter

It’s quite a heart-opening story for me, that I can hold spaces for people dealing with many different things, not just physical, but emotional and spiritual too. She already had a spiritual mindset as a Buddhist, and while her faith had helped her, the trauma stored in her body needed more. She needed a safe space, connection with people, and support from a yoga and somatic trauma point of view.

That’s a little story I wanted to share with you. I hope you can use it. And I have many, many more stories to tell. Thank you for listening.