“Our bodies have answers to questions that we don’t know how to ask.”
- Katherine May
What is embodied resilience?
Resilience is often understood in highly individualistic terms as the ability to bounce back from adversity. Such an understanding of resilience doesn’t recognise that adversity, suffering and oppression are very unevenly distributed across society.
It risks individualising things that are systemic and pathologising normal responses to oppressive conditions.
Embodied resilience is about expanding our capacity to be present with what is (including stress, change, complexity, conflict, uncertainty etc.) so that we can collectively and intentionally change the conditions that create our stress in the first place.
I’m a certified facilitator of the Resilience Toolkit, a somatic approach to first-stage trauma healing and real-time stress navigation that is deeply rooted in the political context of our individual and collective lives.
To be present and in our bodies, physiological safety, connection and agency have to be created and restored. This includes being able to hold both the collective reality we’re in and the personal impact this has on our bodies and our lives, because they are not separate from each other.
This is inner work that is intentionally connected to what is happening politically
and societally around us.
What does it look like in practice?
The practices of embodied resilience are simple, portable and adaptable and can be practised anywhere in under 2 minutes. They invite the nervous system into balance and coherence.
Some of the practices include gentle physical movement, which is optional and can be adapted to your body.
The work is gentle by design, not because the challenges are small, but because gentleness is what allows change to happen without collapse or retraumatisation.
In each session, we explore key frameworks for understanding how stress manifests in the body and try out different practices together to find out which ones work for you.
Over time, regular practice help you grow the capacity to:
Identify stress, trauma and relaxation responses in real time
Discern whether those responses are proportionate to the situation
Choose whether to change responses that are too strong, last too long or no longer work
Access a sense of internal safety and spaciousness to do so
Act from a place of stability to change or leave harmful conditions that are causing stress and trauma
This builds the foundations not only for individual healing but also for collective transformation.
Below are four different ways you can learn and practise embodied resilience with me. If you are interested but not quite sure what’s the right entry point for you, just drop me a line or set up a call to chat things through.
Learn embodied resilience tools
In this 90-minute interactive intro session, you will learn the basics of embodied resilience, how to recognise stress in your body and practise different ways of grounding yourself in the moment.
Upcoming dates:
Thursday, 13 November 2025 from 5-6:30pm GMT on Zoom
Tuesday, 18 November 2025 from 5:30-7pm GMT on Zoom
This workshop offers you:
An understanding of how stress shows up in the body using one of the key scientific models of stress and resilience
Critical awareness of how the political context and structures impact a person’s stress and resilience
An expanded definition of resilience that recognises how systems and institutions shape our lives
Experience of simple body-based practices to settle the nervous system, which you can apply anywhere in under 2 minutes
New cohort starting in early 2026
A facilitated practice group that meets every week for a cycle of three months to learn and practise embodied resilience tools and frameworks, share insights, frustrations and changes, and hold each other accountable in the commitment to regular practice.
As a participant, you will benefit from:
Deepening your understanding of the nervous system and your own stress responses
Tracking subtle shifts over time with the support of a qualified facilitator
A warm, welcoming practice space that meets you exactly where you are
Co-regulation with others in the group
Building community with people who are exploring similar questions
1-hour sessions on Zoom at a time that works for you
These are tailored sessions to embed embodied resilience practices into your specific context. Over a series of six sessions, we will:
Explore the factors that are currently expanding / diminishing your resilience
Set specific goals for changes you want to aim towards
Identify tools and practices that work for your body
Develop a sustainable, tailored practice recipe that you can embed into your daily routine
The first session is a chance for you to find out if this approach and working with me is right for you. It will involve some gentle practices and me asking you some intake questions to understand your context better. You will also be able to ask me any questions.
There is no obligation to commit to more than one session when you start. You can also set up a free 30-minute call with me beforehand to ask any questions.
Cost from £60-£140 per session - you pick the contribution that is right for your context
Have you been asking yourself:
How your team, organisation or group can navigate an increasingly challenging working environment?
Whether you and your team members can sustain working under a lot of external pressure?
How you can best support the people or clients you work with who are dealing with a lot of stress and trauma?
How you can navigate internal tensions and conflict in ways that allow people to stay in relationship?
Why people are often over-reacting in ways that seem disproportionate to the situation?
What to do about staff turnover and how you can better support people to stay?
If any of these questions resonate, know that you are not alone in asking them.
I have seen many groups and organisations struggle with burnout, exhaustion and internal tensions in the context of increasing pressure and scarcity.
By clearly identifying the sources of stress, creating the space to feel what is real and learn language and tools to settle the nervous system in the moment, you can expand your team’s individual and collective resilience to sustain its work, deal with conflict and adapt to change.
What participants have said