Zebra Care: 8-week Somatic Re-set for Safety in Sensitized Bodies

There's a famous med-school adage "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." In other words, look for common causes. But nervous system dysregulation and connective tissue disorders present as a broad spectrum of rare conditions. They also manifest uniquely in each individual's lived experience. Sometimes symptoms appear in constellations. Sometimes they are invisible. Some symptoms flare and recede. This can make diagnosis, treatment and management a unique and elusive animal, indeed. Alas, we aren't trying to fix or diagnose anything.

Zebra Care is a an 8-week therapeutic SomaYoga series built as an experiential practice to remember a felt sense of safety. It is an invitation to get current with curiosity and compassion. This Somatic Re-set includes an introduction to some of the subtle landscapes, structures, and functions of your amazing body/mind. It is a low-load neuro-fitness process for resolving habituated tension and developing agency and trust from within. While SomaYoga uses neurology to improve mobility, stability and strength, it is NOT high-load, fast-paced or complex physical fitness. These practices can be modified for any individual, and are well-suited to people managing chronic pain, as well as nervous system and connective tissue disorders. Please respond to student inquiry after registration :)

Who counts as a Zebra? All are welcome. This work is specifically styled for people experiencing migraines of any sort, hypermobility spectrum disorder or related dysautonomia- which includes a galaxy of conditions. No diagnosis is required to participate, but please consult your care provider prior to beginning this, or any, new fitness routine.

With somatic neuro-fitness, it takes about 8-weeks of consistent and curious somatic (voluntary, cortical) practice to shift the underlying default mode in the autonomic nervous system (involuntary, sub-cortical). After that, Zebra Care is like brushing your teeth. If we take a few minutes to wipe away stress on the regular, it's less likely to cause other problems.

*PLEASE only register for this series if:

+ You are willing to commit to twice weekly practices (live online and/or recorded). The work works- but only when we do it.

+ You are willing to tolerate some short-term discomfort to relieve long-standing chronic pain cycles. Healing and learning requires us to move out of the familiar.

+ You are willing to complete a pre-series intake and post-series follow-up questionnaire

Initially we will spend what seems like a lot of time with positioning and establishing baseline comfort and prop use. Each practice will begin with information about your amazing body/mind followed by 30 minutes of experiential practice and 15 minutes of integration.

Instead, in the 8-Week Program You Will:

• practice restorative breathwork
• learn how to cognitvely relate to your inner wisdom
• remember what safe state feels like in your autonomic nervous system
• use somatic NRE (neuro re-education) to reduce acquired stress reflexes and compensations
• safely mind-map functional movement patterns in low- load situations
• develop strategies for reducing the frequency and intensity of occurrence, while increasing the length between flare ups
• build your unique toolbox of neuro fitness self-care practices

Why should you consider this Self-care program?

Because you realize self-care is not optional. Because you have been so dutiful in serving those around you that you haven’t tended your own needs, and your nervous system is begging for re-assurance and safety. Because we are neuro-plastic until the day we die- if we choose to be. And most importantly, because you are worth the effort of reclaiming comfort and function.

Bonus: When you complete this series and share your experiences, you support our non-profit in getting tools of self-empowerment to people, and bridging the gap between clinical care and Self-care.

Nervous system and connective tissue dysfunction can manifest in many strange, debilitating and often invisible symptoms. That’s part of what makes this constellation of conditions so difficult to diagnose and treat. We heal and learn in community. And no doubt you have wisdom, knowledge and experience to add to this body of work. Your insight is invaluable.

Your Instructor

Suzanne Larsen is a Certified Yoga Therapist specializing in SomaYoga and neuro-fitness with 25+ years yoga teaching and practice experience. She spent the past five years in deep study of somatic yoga and neuro-fitness. During that time Suzanne, a life-long migraine suffer (also diagnosed with ADHD and POTS), experienced complete remission from intractable and hemipelagic migraines. She has not had an episode or taken meds in over three years. This led to the original Migraine Relief 8-week series passion project. The amount of interest in Migraine Relief from people within the EDS and related community warranted deeper study. This 8-Week Program for Zebra Care is a refinement of the original curriculum with special considerations to make the work more accessible. We can practice transformative neuro-fitness with very little physical demands. The way out of a sensitized body is to go in with compassion and curiosity. There's so much hope. There is so much brilliance conserved within, and you are worth getting to know.

Upcoming Schedule