Most of us aren’t aware of the shame that sits in our bodies. We call it something socially-acceptable like … “I feel embarrassed, confused, overwhelmed, unsure, stupid, silly, upset, hurt …” And yet what lies underneath these emotions is a deep, painful, debilitating sense of shame, of somehow feeling wrong, and we don’t know how to heal it. 

Our hearts know the deep ache of not feeling good enough, not belonging, not being understood, not being seen, not being loved, not being free. Of somehow feeling that there’s something wrong with us. And the worst part? The shame in our bodies has become so “normal”, we think there’s no other way, and the cycle continues.

Shame floods the areas of our lives where we’re most vulnerable. The areas we can’t seem to “figure out:”

• You don’t have a life partner, and this leaves you feeling lonely and wondering what’s wrong with you.
• You’ve lost yourself in being a wonderful wife and caring mother, and no longer know who you are or what you want beyond their lives.
• Your creative passion is simply not taking off, and you’ve put everything on the line for it.  Self-doubt is seeping in.
• You’ve been health conscious all your life, but chronic health issues simply won’t go away.
• Your body is changing, your sex drive is dropping and you’re aging. Something you can’t control.
• You’ve done everything right and followed the plan with your career, friends, partnership and financial choices, yet that emptiness is still there. You’re sure you’re don’t belong.

Shame itself isn’t the problem. Our relationship with it is.

We don’t want to acknowledge our shame. We don’t want to name it or feel it. We try to avoid it. Deny it. Keep it a secret. Or we bypass it through yoga, affirmations, carefully-laid plans or a constant re-arranging of our lives to try to feel ok.

When you constantly push the shame down, it creeps into other areas of your life. The feeling of “being wrong”, “not being good enough” or “not lovable enough” spreads . You start to doubt yourself in areas you were once confident. You start to question who you are. Your values. Your decisions. Your self worth. It can become an endless spiral that keeps you spinning for days, months or even years on end.

Here’s the tricky part:

Your relationship to shame is often what stops you from having what you want. When you’re ashamed of your shame, and you contract your body around it, keeping it hidden and frozen inside of you, you diminish yourself and repel away what you most desire.

The only way we can shift shame is by recognizing it, feeling it and letting it move through our bodies. (Take a moment to breathe and read that sentence again).

We can’t control the intensity of it, how it wants to move through us, or when it shows up, but we can learn to be with it (even if it’s just for a few seconds). To breathe, stop hiding or pushing it down and let it be a part of us. When we allow this to happen, shame moves and our relationship with it changes.

The Shifting Shame, Releasing Fear Workshop is a safe space for you to explore and shift your shame through movement, breath, discussion and body-centered exercises. You’ll learn to:

• Recognize how you react to shame in your body – what situations in life trigger it, where you tense your muscles, how you breathe, what the feelings and sensations are that you’re trying to control, where your mind goes, how you behave in those moments where shame is triggered.
• Un-do this reaction, as you wish, and let all the energy that you previously invested in being afraid of and hiding your shame, be set free to simply move through you.
• Trust and strengthen your sense of belonging and worth, no matter how life is unfolding.

If you’re tired of talking about it or trying to work through it on your own, and you have a deep, growing desire to move beyond shame into a life with freedom, contentment and an intimate connection to yourself, this workshop is for you. We’ll explore:

• The chronic feeling that something is wrong with you or you don’t belong
• Body image and cultural / social expectations
• Rejection, failure, making mistakes
• Anxiety, overwhelm and guilt
• Jealousy and comparison amongst women
• Silently held negative opinions you hold of yourself
• Criticism and judgment from others
• Finding internal space for forgiveness and self-acceptance
• Being and moving as a woman

My biggest wish for you is this…
…that as you shift your relationship to shame, you’ll thrive more every single day, and your long-held dreams will become your reality.