Sacred Rest Master Class
Reclaim your body as a sanctuary for recovery and nourishment and be 100% confident that you can give yourself the rest you need
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Do you ever try to rest, but you just can’t?
Like you have to do a thousand things before you get to rest?
You’re not alone. Most of my students who struggle to nourish themselves don’t rest and recover well. It’s not that they don’t want to. They can’t.
If you are craving bone deep rest, if you are walking around with decades of fatigue dragging behind you, if you feel that if you were to start resting you will never be able to get up – you are not alone. Please hear me when I say there are perfectly good reasons and solid science behind why that happens.
Join me and a small group of students for a deep dive into the somatic practice of finding rest in a world that never stops.
Your body longs for rest.
With so much going on around us, it seems like our bodies are ON all the time.
It’s like there are two settings: ON, and ON more, and we can’t seem to find our OFF button, even when we do have the time to lay down and rest with a good book, or play with our kids.
We have all been living amidst unprecedented events. Collectively traumatizing experiences, mounting work stress, and social media bombardment have left our bodies in a state of constant alarm, and it seems like this is just how things are now.
The good news is your stress physiology has rules, and if you understand your body and nervous system and learn how to work with your nature, and not against it, you can help yourself recover, rest, sleep and feel more connected to yourself and the people you care about, even when things around you are hard.
This is our highest potential as human beings – to be gentle and honoring partners to our bodies. From that restored place we can do our work in the world, and hopefully, leave it better than we found it.
If you are ready to learn practices to balance your nervous system and help your body find the peace it longs for, you can join the Master Class today.
Reclaim your body as a sacred place of rest.
I invite you to join me for this 8 week journey so that you can:
Learn the science behind why resting can be so hard even when you are exhausted
Begin to comfortably embody the physiology of the rest and digest branch of the nervous system
Free yourself from idea of what rest and restoration should look like and immediately and confidently begin to identify the natural micro-moments of rest available to you
Get tools and practices to befriend and support your nervous system anywhere, anytime
Experience deep and delicious states of rest during our sessions, so the physiology can create a new memory of change and success in real-time
Quiet your mind, ease your strong emotions and settle your body without having to revisit the past
Establish rhythms of rest in your schedule which suit you and your way of life
Rest and your relationship with food
Whoever named the Soft Parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system as Rest & Digest did a great job.
From the moment we are born, feeding happens in relationship. Our bodies learn how to be receptive, calm and at ease around food in the embrace of our caregivers.
For some of us, because of the impacts of developmental and shock trauma, the same parts of the nervous system that are needed to support a healthy eating cycle get hijacked for survival.
Our stomach and viscera are busy sending distress signals and being tied in knots. The belly feels like a pit. The torso like a dark void.
This makes nourishing ourselves challenging.
How are you supposed to know when you are hungry, what you are needing, and how the heck are you expected to make the food, while relaxed, open, and receptive, and then consume it with joy, when the body is stuck in survival…you can’t do that and nobody can do that!
Rest and digest is a state we can consciously inhabit, but only when we know ourselves well and learn how to speak to the body without words.
Overwhelming experiences can teach us how to be vigilant, concerned, overbusy, hypersocial, or on the other end of the spectrum – numb, disconnected, paralyzed and stuck. Neither of those adaptations equal rest. Rest comes as an alternative state that your body can find – let’s offer it together, one session at a time.
This class is for you if:
You want to recognize the signs of nervous system arousal and resource your body into a state that supports you to shift into rest and digest
You want to help yourself sleep through the night and wake up refreshed
You crave a balance of energized productivity and restorative rest
You want to enjoy states of spaciousness without having to fill the space
You want to naturally embody more ease, calm and peace
You want an interactive learning environment in a small group where you can practice embodied skills and get feedback in real time
You often suffer from shame and guilt when you put yourself first
You find that you often turn to food when you are tired, or without a task
What can you expect from each class:
Theoretical and practical understanding of the states of the nervous system and how to recognize rhythms and oscillations of deactivation and organic rest
Nervous system-focused practices to communicate with your body moment to moment – when by yourself and with others
Real life somatic skills to support the rest and digest state.
Strengthening of your ability to meet challenges presented by stress, created by trauma imprints, defenses and attachment adaptations
Supportive and interactive learning environment – teacher and assistants available for insights, questions, modifications and feedback
How is the class structured?
We will meet each week for 8 weeks, Tuesdays from 3:30pm to 5:30pm PT on Zoom.
We begin on October 29, 2024 and end on December 17, 2024.
All classes are recorded, so if you have to miss a class, that’s OK.
Please note each class will have a lecture portion, as well as somatic practices to support your learning and nervous system. You will be able to share, ask questions and have direct feedback from your teacher. This is why we have small classes – this is YOUR class, and you are an active co-creator and author of the experience, not just a visitor.
A note from your teacher, Galina
As a somatic practitioner who supports people on the path to peace with food, it’s my honor to help you learn more about how we organize our bodies to settle, rest, recover, and find ease and peace in a fast moving world.
I have my own story with struggling with rest, which created many challenges, from dealing with chronic health conditions and persistent pain, to not being able to show up as an available and caring partner in my relationships.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to rest, it’s that I didn’t know how to not fill every possible second with work, study, a new house project, or helping someone else with theirs.
I didn’t know what it was like for my heart to slow down, for my digestive system to be relaxed, and for my mind to be quiet.
It took time to teach my body that resting on the couch without being asleep was safe, that the embrace of another was an invitation to let go, that if I stopped working I wouldn’t fall apart, and that my world wouldn’t crumble.
Our culture runs on rocket fuel, and at the same time culture is not the only reason why we can’t rest. A body that was never given a chance to learn how to rest is where we need to look first. Then, we can begin to change the world, one body, one relationship at a time.
Thank you for being willing to do that with me!
-Galina Denzel, author and creator of Peace with Self, Peace with Food
Course led by
Galina Denzel is a knowledgeable and experienced Somatic Experiencing, Neuroaffective Relational Model, and a Somatic Practice Practitioner.
She is also trained as a Nutritious Movement Restorative Exercise Specialist and multiple other healing movement modalities that she uses to support students with chronic pain and complex conditions.
She teaches the Peace with Self, Peace with Food method in small groups and workshops and is the author of Peace with Self, Peace with Food - a trauma healing approach for emotional eating.
Her personal story of healing from her own eating and body image disorder combined with her work as a trauma resolution practitioner make this work inspired, compassionate, and deeply transformative.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Are these classes live? - Yes, the classes happen live on Zoom. You can choose to have your camera OFF or ask questions in the private chat anonymously. The sessions are recorded for those who need to miss a class.
Can I ask questions? - Yes. Both during class and after classes via email or in the private Facebook group.
What if I skip a week? - It's OK, you can catch up on recordings. You will miss opportunities for community sharing, discussions and live work with Galina, but will still benefit from all the practices and content.
Do I need special equipment? - No, just a quiet and comfortable place for learning. In session 4 we will need a yoga mat and a pillow for gentle developmental movement practices.
Is this class appropriate for beginners?
Yes, you are welcome to a class, whether this is your first time learning somatic practices or you are a long time student of somatic healing approaches.
Do I need to practice the techniques to have benefit?
The Master Class is organized in a way that you can start to experience and embody shifts as we are learning. Some of the tools and techniques can also support you as you prepare for real life interactions and to digest experiences around setting boundaries.
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