These techniques are the exact protocol that I developed when I decided that I could not let my life be dictated by panic attacks anymore. At the height of my PTSD, I was having up to six or seven panic attacks a day, and this went on for over seven years. I went to therapy, I became a Trauma Informed Yoga instructor, I spoke to many, many doctors and sought many sorts of alternative healing therapies yet found little relief. I refused to let my body be drugged into submission and decided that there had to be a way out of the hell I was living in. I began to dive into learning about the body and learned that I needed to regulate my nervous system and hormone production and release the memory of traumas that were stored in the tissues of my body. I firmly believed in my body’s innate ability to heal, and knew that it had all the answers, I just needed to learn how to access them. My breakthrough moment happened during one of my body-led sessions at home, I experienced my psoas release for the first time. The rush of calm that overcame my entire being was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and I knew that I was onto something. It has now been over eight years since my last panic attack and my healing only continues to amplify. I feel blessed to be given the opportunity to share these techniques with whomever comes into my space, this work is profound and lasting.

RNS Techniques stands for Regulated Nervous System Techniques and they are a combination of practices that stem from several different modalities. Each practitioner of RNS Techniques is unique, therefore the exacts methods they will experience will vary based on their specific needs, but all techniques promote nervous system regulation, glandular stability and healing, safe release of held tensions and mindfulness.

The progressive sessions are designed to grow the body’s capacity for releasing trauma and establishing calm so that healing can take place. These practices regulate the nervous system, restore communication within the Limbic System (particularly that among the Hippocampus, Amygdala, Thalamus and Hypothalamus), as well as assist in resetting the Pituitary and Adrenal Glands. Breath, sleeping and joy are restored through these practices and a perpetual state of healing is activated.

These sessions meet the practitioner where they’re at. We discuss complaints and intentions and asses the current state of the body. Techniques are introduced slowly, gently and methodically based on the current state of the nervous system. There may be an experience of any combination of breathwork, visualization, somatic exercises, psoas releases, yoga Nidra, guided meditation, journaling and other practices that facilitate the process of regulating the nervous system.

It is oftentimes impossible to know when a trigger will happen, and to what intensity. RNS Techniques are designed to guide the body out of the fight:flight response and into a state of calm. By this very nature, typically a trigger may present, however experienced by a higher level of view, so to speak. The practitioner begins to witness the trigger rather than embody it. More often than experiencing a trigger, during a session, the practitioner may experience emotional or physical release. This is not something to try to avoid, but rather encouraged so that new methods of coping and healing can be empowered.

No, RNS Techniques are not a replacement for talk therapy - however, they are an excellent support system for talk therapy. Held trauma is not an experience of cognition, it is an experience of body. Cognition struggles to understand what the body experiences, but it cannot change the body’s experience. Talk therapy can assist our ability to process experience, understand behaviors, grow skillsets and develop emotional intelligence among many other things, however it cannot be, or greatly falls short in, service to the body. Conversely, it is important to understand that I am not a therapist. I have a great understanding of the body and I have a great capacity to hold space for others to awaken their inner healer. But I do not engage in counseling of any sort and our dialogue will be minimal. My presence is to facilitate connection to the body, it would be inappropriate to expect otherwise, and for this reason, a good relationship with a qualified therapist is highly recommended and encouraged. I have amazing references if you need.