with Mental Health Therapist, Neil Rasmussen, MS
Immerse yourself in calm, embodied presence, tea, communal circle, and an immersive guided meditation, centering yourself with love, ease, and connection.
Tag: mental health
Inside the Nervous System Workshops
Understanding Yourself to Better Understand Your Child
Have you ever wondered why one child craves movement while another avoids it? Why some children melt down over seemingly small things, or why certain strategies work on day and not the next?
This interactive set of workshops for parents explores how the nervous system shapes behavior, emotions, learning, and connection. Rather than focusing on “fixing” behaviors, we’ll discuss how the body experiences safety, stress, and regulation – and why every nervous system is unique.
Workshop 1: Meet Your Nervous System
Workshop 2: Supporting Regulation in Everyday Life
Sara’s Sensory Corner – Proprioception
Did you know your brain can feel your body’s position?
Continuing my theme of our sensory experience, another of our eight senses is a sense called Proprioception. This is the sense that tells us where our body is in space, how our muscles are working, helps us with our posture and assists in how we move through the world. It helps us feel grounded to the earth, coordinated and connected to ourselves.
Sensing Spring
Here in the Northland, May brings the promise of newness. Green grass pushes up through the ground. Birds have returned and we wait for the bees to wake. The world is alive with subtle movement and our bodies are waking with it. When we intentionally notice our body position- bending, stretching, reaching and carrying-we connect more to ourselves after winter’s stillness. Even simple actions like balancing on uneven ground, or lifting your face to the sun tune your proprioceptive sense and invite steadiness.
This month, position yourself with intention. Your nervous system in learning to trust expansion and growth-and mindful awareness of your body’s positions can help you step into the season fully.
But what do I know?
My passion as an occupational therapist in Duluth is helping people to understand how they sense their environment, their body, and their emotions and how they process those signals. When we are either having difficulty sensing any of those things or having difficulty processing what we are going through, it can be uncomfortable (as we all know). I’m here to help educate and work with you towards better well-being!
Body as Place
Sara and I were invited to present at Svalja Whole-being’s Community Conference in Duluth. We are so excited to explore “body as place”. We will experiment with what makes you feel at home and safe in your body.
The conference starts Friday 5/29 from 6:00-9:00pm and continues 5/30 from 8:00-6:00.
Contact http://www.svalja.yoga/community-conference for more information Join us for a two-day immersion into the heart of our community.
Flourish is an invitation to ground ourselves in the wisdom of this place while leaning into the possibilities of what we can create together. From a soulful Friday night of live music and poetry at SOLCA to a Saturday filled with movement, guided storytelling, and deep reflection, this gathering is designed to nourish your nervous system and spark your creative spirit.
Throughout the weekend, experience a curated Art and Poetry Exhibit coordinated by Savannah Ottillia, offering a visual and written landscape of our shared journey.
The dreaded doom-scroll
Why do I doom scroll?!
I’ve got to admit… sometimes I can’t stop doom scrolling. The other day I was like ‘Why is my wrist feeling so sore?’
Yeah, holding my phone too long flipping through a sea of yuck had tension building through my hand, wrist, forearm, shoulder, neck, etc.
I had to take a breather and get some movement!
Thankfully, COGGS volunteers have been doing their best to keep our trails in as good of condition as could be hoped for. Getting bounced along over the icy terrain may have also been rough on my wrists, arms, shoulders, and neck, but I feel a lot better afterwards!
I may need to get on the schedule this week to loosen up some of these tight muscles though!
If you are having trouble with your mental health and emotional processing, Sara Sheppard is amazing at helping us through it.
Difficult times
During these difficult times, I’m often asked “how are you dealing with this”.
My answer is “it’s not easy!”
Here are some things that I have been practicing:
- Stay informed but limit the time that I’m taking in (digesting) information/news. I’m listening to a trusted news source (for me it’s MPR) in the morning and evening for 30 minutes.
- Allowing myself to feel the emotions that arise (not pushing them away). Anger, sadness, fear, all of it.
- Prioritizing self care and nervous system regulation. It’s important for me to stay grounded in the practices that support me. I focus on grounding practices such as such as extended exhale breathing, using weighted lap blanket, and focus on pressing into the earth.
- Find glimmers in daily life. Glimmers are moments of ventral vagal connection. They can be things like noticing the lake shimmering on a sunny day, feeling the freedom of skiing down a wodded hill, or burying my face in my dog’s curly fur.
- Find and spread hope. Notice when you see people acting kindly and showing compassion. In return, I will create opportunities in my day to give back and connect with others.
Spring equinox
Spring equinox to me has always meant the height or middle of spring. I consider February 1st to be the beginning of the end of winter and the returning of the sun in preparation of spring. I think this helps me mentally make it through a rough winter. The sun is returning and there is hope for warmer days ahead. This is also a time when seeds are chosen to be planted for the summer growing season and fall harvest. What a great opportunity to clean our outer and inner spaces.
What do you want to grow this year?
Community, Self-love, compassion, strength? Stand or sit in a window facing East in the morning and soak in the morning light to help the body reset the Circadian Rhythm. Decide which idea/seed you want to nurture on this day/week/year and breathe the morning light into it as you sip your tea or coffee. Have hope! Soon there will be flowers to smell and all of the ice in Minnesota will be gone.
Happy New Year!
Leaving 2025 Behind: Fresh Intentions for a Better New Year
Who is glad to be officially done with 2025?
A new year always offers a powerful fresh start. It is the perfect time to reset your mindset. It gives us a moment to refocus on our true intentions. I completely understand the sentiment of leaving last year in the past. Many of us are looking forward to a brighter, much better 12 months ahead.
However, we should not erase the past completely. The last year brought a heavy mix of both positive and negative moments. There are many deep experiences that I simply do not want to forget. Both the highs and the lows shaped who we are today.
Growth happens when we look back with honesty. I hope to cherish the good memories we created. At the same time, I want to lock in the tough lessons. Ideally, we only need to learn those hard lessons once! We will see how that goes, as life always likes to surprise us.
Setting new goals requires reflecting on old challenges. Think about what worked for you. Acknowledge what dragged you down. By carrying the wisdom forward, we make room for real progress. A fresh calendar is a blank page, but your history is the guide.
Let us step forward with hope and resilience. We can build a stronger foundation for the months ahead. What are your main intentions for the days coming up? What are you choosing to leave behind? Let us embrace the future together, learn from the past, and make this journey truly count.
Change
The only constant is change. Even in stillness there is much movement happening within. Every breath is a new beginning, a chance at starting over. Following the breath through the body to discover what holds you back from making real change in your life can be daunting. Sometimes the shame, self loathing, and inner critic wins, but with each new breath comes a new opportunity to move that stagnant prana. Take a walk with the woods and become one with the breath that is one with the forest. Inhale the exhale of these Northern woods. Exhale the inhaled breath of the trees. In this way you become part of the forest, not just an observer. Life becomes more vibrant one breath at a time.
