We all need help. We were not intended to do this life thing alone. I have had so many wise, and beloved guides along my journey — therapists, body workers, yoga teachers, dance enthusiasts, writers, coaches — each of whom has helped me to realize and remember an important aspect of myself.
I am happy to give back by offering yoga–both individual and group classes, Trauma & Tension Release Exercises (TRE), guided meditation, and therapeutic writing guidance.
YOGA
I am trained in the Kripalu tradition with the belief that we all possess the knowledge we need about ourselves but gentle, ethical guidance is often appreciated! The highest form of practice is witness consciousness without judgement. To arrive in our bodies and get out of our minds, to feel the body inhale and exhale and to feel the difference, to discern strength from surrender — and to have fun, connect in community, and just stop our incessant doing — this is what yoga is to me. This is why I teach.
I offer a group class on Sundays from 4:00-5:15 pm at 2414 Towncrest Drive. Everyone is welcome and you can join any time. I usually teach at Heartland Yoga during the summer. Suggested price is $15/hour, but I accept whatever you are able to pay.
TENSION & TRAUMA RELEASE EXERCISES
Tension and Trauma Release Exercises are a series of exercises that assist the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension, and trauma. Created by Dr. David Berceli, PhD, TRE safely activates a natural reflex mechanism of shaking or vibrating that releases muscular tension, calming down the nervous system. When this muscular shaking/vibrating mechanism is activated in a safe and controlled environment, the body is encouraged to return back to a state of balance.
I teach individual TRE at Dancing Prairie Massage School in Coralville. A series of three sessions (the first session is 90 minutes, the following sessions are 60 minutes) is $150. I encourage this option so that you have time to learn and refine the technique, but if you only want a single initial session, the cost is $80.
“All humans have an innate capacity to heal from traumatic experiences. We as a species are genetically encoded with the capacity to heal ourselves. If we did not possess this ability, our species would have become extinct shortly after we were born. Not only can we heal from traumatic experiences, but trauma itself has been part of the natural evolutionary process of our species, and all traumatized individuals have access to this natural healing method that is genetically encoded within them.” – David Berceli
Individual Yoga, Guided Meditation, & Breath Work for Difficult Times
We all have times when life feels overwhelming and we need help finding our own capacity to hold and tenderly support ourselves. Health challenges and experiences of loss and grief can bring up anxiety and ancient patterns of contraction that make it all the more difficult to be in our bodies.
I meet you where you are. We talk. We sit. We listen to you. And then I may lead some very gentle yoga — yoga than can be done in a chair or a bed or in a pool of sunshine. We follow the breath and coax it onto a softer or deeper path. Taking the lead from your current experience, I create meditations specific to your situation, some of which we do together and others of which I send you via a recording.
These sessions are available at Dancing Prairie Massage College or in your home and are on a sliding scale.
Therapeutic Writing Guidance
Writing can take us to places at which we’ll never arrive via talking. Along with the other arts, it is a vehicle into thorny, foggy places that we sometimes wish to avoid or of which we may have no conscious knowledge.
As part of the above services or as its own practice, I offer guided writing exercises, feedback, and directional advice on how to use writing as a transformative practice. Available online and in person at a sliding scale.
Jennifer New 