For many years, people have known me primarily as a yoga teacher.
As my work expanded into supporting people living with chronic pain, chronic illness, fatigue, anxiety, burnout and long-term stress – aka Mind-Body Symptoms, a quiet confusion has understandably emerged.
Some people assume that yoga is the method I use for mind–body symptoms recovery.
This blog is simply here to offer clarity — not to correct, defend, or convince — but to gently place each part of my work where it truly belongs.
What I mean by mind–body & somatic nervous system work
In my work, mind–body and somatic nervous system work is a coaching-based, educational, and body-based regulation – bottom up and head down approach.
It focuses on helping people understand:
– their nervous system patterns
– stress and survival (trauma) responses
– emotions and beliefs
– body sensations and internal signals
– Neuroplasticity of symptoms
And with this understanding and experimental relation, we are able to identify the root cause of their symptoms for long-lasting healing and recovery, instead of managing symptoms. This work supports awareness, regulation, and capacity, particularly for people whose nervous system have been shaped by long-term stress, overdoing, perfectionism (or type A personality), illness, pain, trauma or repeated experiences of feeling unsafe, pressured, or overwhelmed.
Importantly, this work is also informed by an understanding of the biology of chronic stress and trauma, and how this impact the brain, nervous system, and wider body health and physiology. My background in biomedical sciences informs this lens, helping me bridge lived experience with a grounded understanding of physiology, neuroscience, and nervous system — without medicalising the healing process.
Rather than asking the body to push or perform, this approach invites listening, slowing down, and learning how safety, compassion, and choice can be rebuilt from the inside out – shaping the way out from chronic symptoms.
It is not about analysing the mind alone, nor about “fixing” the body.
It is about understanding how mind, body, and nervous system constantly communicate — and how symptoms can arise when the system has been living in survival for too long – even if the stressor has passed.
While neuroscience and neuroplasticity are important parts of recovery, this work is heavily bottom-up rather than top-down — supporting change through the body, felt experience, and nervous system regulation, rather than through willpower or cognitive control alone.
This work is offered as coaching, education and support, grounded in neuroscience, nervous system understanding, lived experience, trauma-informed principles, and biological awareness.
What this work is not
Just as important as what this work is, is what it is not.
It is not therapy.
It is not medical or psychological treatment.
It does not replace care from medical or mental health professionals.
It is not about positive thinking, mindset control, or forcing regulation.
It is not about overriding pain, emotions, or fatigue.
It is not about pushing the body to “prove” safety or capacity.
And it is not based in yoga.
While yoga can be supportive for some people, yoga is not the method I use within my mind–body and somatic nervous system coaching work.
Who this work is especially supportive for
This approach tends to resonate deeply with people who recognise themselves or have been diagnosed with:
People who:
– live with chronic pain, chronic illness, fatigue, anxiety, or ongoing symptoms health symptoms (see image above for wider diagnoses)
– have tried many approaches and still feel stuck
– feel exhausted by doing more, trying harder, or constantly self-monitoring symptoms.
– notice perfectionism, people-pleasing, over-responsibility in their lives (or have type A personality)
– feel disconnected from their bodies or unsure how to listen to them
– sense that their nervous system is constantly “on” or overwhelmed
– live a perfect life from the outside but are constantly on edge, struggling with emotional overwhelm and real connection in their lives.
For many, symptoms are not random or imagined — they are meaningful signals from a system that has been under sustained pressure.
This work offers a way of meeting those signals with curiosity, safety, and compassion, rather than fear or hypervigilance. And by retraining the brain and nervous system for safety the symptoms will reduce or gone – as it did for me and millions other people.
Where yoga fits — and where it doesn’t
This is often the most misunderstood part, so I want to be very clear.
Yoga was not the method of my own recovery from chronic pain and over 20 chronic symptoms.
It was one supportive tool among others — alongside mindfulness, energy work, and other holistic practices.
I do not use yoga as part of my mind–body and somatic nervous system coaching.
However, learning deeply about the nervous system, trauma, and mind–body patterns profoundly changed the way I teach yoga.
Rather than stepping away from yoga, this understanding reshaped it.
How nervous system work changed the way I teach yoga
I am still a yoga teacher and I love teaching yoga!
But I now teach yoga through a different lens.
My classes have become:
– more trauma-informed
– more accessible and choice-based
– even more focused on safety than performance and curiosity.
– less anatomy or outcome-driven
– more intuitive and inquiry-led
– more compassionate towards the self and the body.
Yoga, in this context, is not about achieving postures, challenge from achieving, releasing tension, or calm down and relaxation.
Instead, it becomes a gentle space where people can explore presence, autonomy, and kindness toward their bodies — without expectation or pressure.
This is yoga informed by nervous system awareness, but not used as a nervous system intervention.
Why I offer somatic embodiment spaces
This distinction is also why I started to offer somatic embodiment classes.
These are not yoga classes or designed to fix or change symptoms.
They are gentle, low-demand spaces focused on nervous system resourcing, safety, reconnection and compassionate inquire.
For many people living with chronic pain, illness, stress, recovering from trauma, what’s often missing is not another technique or tool— but a place where the system can rest, orient for present and safety, and feel supported without needing to perform.
If your body and nervous system are asking for that kind of space right now, you are very welcome to join.
And if yoga, coaching, or none of this feels right for you at this moment — that is also part of listening.
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