Foundations of Regulation:
BodyIntelligence, Neurobiology, and Trauma

A 6-Week Online Course for People Dealing with Trauma or Chronic Stress

Presented by Imogen Ragone and Shay Seaborne

 

Do you feel tension around multiple challenges in your life?

Do you often feel anxious?

If so, you are not alone.

The Foundations of Regulation course combines BodyIntelligence and neuroscience to help you navigate the ups and downs of life with more peace and ease.

Course next offered:
February 2024

Details coming soon.

Delivered Live on Zoom

 

Stress and trauma are at an all-time high.

Do any of the following present challenges to you?

      • Social anxiety
      • Difficult relatives
      • Loneliness
      • Travel
      • “The News”
      • Health concerns
      • Financial worries
      • Chronic pain
      • Work demands
      • Family obligations
      • Feeling like you’re not living up to “how things should be!”

Whatever your particular worries and triggers, you have a nervous system and it needs regulation. Life is better with a regulated nervous system, enabling you to cope more easily with stressful situations and make better decisions for yourself.

Unlike forced positivity and pure will power (which is never enough), a basic understanding of neurobiology and BodyIntelligence offers real relief.

In the course you will:

      • Learn the basics of the body-mind connection and how to use this knowledge to your advantage.
      • Understand key concepts from neuroscience in a simple, practical way that supports trauma recovery and stress relief.
      • Practice simple exercises based on neuroscience to regulate your nervous system and relieve stress.
      • Interact live with Imogen, Shay and other participants to learn, discuss and explore in a supportive and safe online space.
      • Gather the concepts, terms, tools, resources, and inspiration from the course to begin building your own custom, neuroscience-based, somatically oriented, dynamic healing framework.

After each class you will receive:

      • Access to the recordings of each class for you to review and have as a resource.
      • Handouts to help you remember what you have learned, and that you can share with others.

 

I completed the Foundations of Regulation course in February 2023. It far surpassed my hopes and expectations, and provided me with an array of effective practical tools for working both with the normal stresses of daily life and with the residues of childhood trauma that have resulted in lifelong CPTSD. Imogen and Shay work wonderfully together and project a sense of warmth, welcome, and community that made me look forward to each class and to subsequent workshops I’ve attended with them. The combination of Alexander Technique (Imogen) and neuroscience and trauma therapy (Shay) fit my needs perfectly and provided a very powerful and integrated way of working with my physical, emotional, and thought-based realities simultaneously. They both clearly put in a great deal of work to create a well-organized, very informative, easy-to-follow interactive presentation, and Imogen sent an email soon after each class with video recordings (very helpful to review) and resources for further exploration. I hope to continue working with them, and recommend this course wholeheartedly.
Linda J, Foundations of Regulation course participant

 

I can’t thank Imogen and Shay enough for offering these classes and sharing their knowledge and gifts. It has really made a difference, and meeting weekly has helped me feel more connected. When I feel stressed, down, or have any of the PTSD symptoms, I know I am not alone and we are all working to make our lives better.
These classes have really made a huge difference in my life. I find myself using the exercises everywhere: filling up the water filter/pitcher, at the Chiropractor’s office on the back roller table, while waiting in the grocery store.
Kim Walsh, Foundations of Regulation course participant

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the class. It was a great group of people and I loved the way Imogen and Shay presented the material in a way that’s supportive of each student and the group. I learned a lot in the class.
Mary Sosinski, Foundations of Regulation course participant

 

“But On the River I Was Free,” by Shay Seaborne, watercolor, mental hospital pencil

As a survivor of Complex Trauma I am especially grateful for Imogen’s beneficial influence in my life. Over the past four years as her student I have been consistently impressed by how much of Imogen’s work is backed by the neuroscience of trauma and especially helpful in resolving it. Developing the ability to tune into my body has been key to my recovery. I need to listen to my body and recognize what it needs and likes. This fosters the sense of well-being from which better health arises. With Medical PTSD I find these tools and techniques indispensable during medical or dental appointments. I also benefit greatly from the holistic effect these practices have on my daily quality of life. The bonus is Imogen’s remarkable ability to figure out ways to integrate the learning into daily practices that orient my nervous system away from threat detection and protection and toward safety and connection, which heals the traumatized nervous system.
– Shay Seaborne, CPTSD, Trauma Awareness Activist-Artist

 

Anxiety and stress are part of trauma.
The important thing is to not get stuck there.

 

It’s normal to get stuck in a cycle of stress, so it’s vital to have a way to gently move through it. This course will help you discover some simple, effective ways to get unstuck, without the need to rehash old experiences.

According to Complex Trauma Specialist, Deb Dana, LCSW, “…a regulated nervous system…brings flexibility, which brings resilience…. That’s a regulated system, a system that can dysregulate and come back to regulation.”

In this course Shay and Imogen will introduce you to a portable, discreet, use-anywhere tool that invites ease and helps you build, or rebuild, a healthy nervous system – a regulated nervous system. You’ll build on this skill and be able to apply it in many areas of your life.

“A regulated nervous system provides you with the energy, resources, and drive to do what you’re meant to do….”
– Irene Lyon. MSC, Nervous System Expert

With Imogen and Shay’s expert guidance, you’ll complete the course able to tap in to your own body’s intelligence and better regulate your own nervous system. You’ll start building your own framework of safety and connection, and live with greater ease and joy.

 

Your classes have been great resources for me and I value “stepping out” every day to a moment of noticing ease.
Gail Hall, Foundations of Regulation course participant

 

Imogen’s practices have helped me to bring more ease into my life by learning to make different choices for myself that can reduce pain and anxiety. The opportunity to practice virtually alongside other students has been a gift, particularly during times of stress and isolation. Thank you, Imogen, for all of the support, laughter and lessons. I offer her my highest recommendation.
Tracy Hough, BodyIntelligence Study Group member

 

Shay’s personal journey with trauma and recovery and practice of regulating her own nervous system has…left her more highly qualified than any mainstream education could provide. Shay is one of the most inspiring experts in this field I have encountered.
Fiona Mclennan, Creator and Teacher of Somatic Intelligence

 

Learn to navigate life with more peace and ease.

Course Details:

The course takes place over six 1½-hour classes that will take place online using Zoom.

Next Offered: February 2024 (details coming soon)

Time: Details coming soon.

Course Curriculum:

Week 1: Down Regulation & Mind-Body Unity
In Week 1 you will learn about mind-body unity, how to calm your own nervous system (down-regulation), and how to practice and cultivate this in a simple, non-coercive way every day.

Week 2: Agency and the Power of the Pause
In Week 2 you will learn how to engage the prefrontal cortex to disrupt the stress cycle. You’ll explore pausing and listening to your own nervous system.

Week 3: Interoception and Exteroception, Support and Safety
In Week 3 you’ll not only learn what these terms mean, but more importantly how to start building a sense of safety and reclaiming your place in the world.

Week 4: Integration and Titration
In Week 4 you will begin to develop the ability to touch in and out of (titrate) difficult feelings and challenges in a way that allows you to gently integrate. The process of integrating into your life what you have learned in the course will become more concrete.

Week 5: Seven Daily Essentials
In Week 5 you will learn about the seven daily essential activities that make up the full set of “mental nutrients” for our brains and relationships to function at their best.

Week 6: Your Framework of Safety and Connection
In Week 6 you will learn about the Distortions of the Life Force, and start to create your own framework of safety and connection using concepts and practices from the course and beyond.

Course Fees:

The basic cost for the course is $299.
If you can afford more, please help support scholarships for those who are economically challenged to attend. Your contributions are greatly appreciated – please add the extra amount to your registration when you sign up.

Scholarships Available
We have a few partial, and occasionally full, scholarships available. Please don’t let cost be a barrier. Simply ask by getting in touch here. We want to help.

Limited to 10 participants.

REGISTER NOW

 

Note: Students who complete this Foundations of Regulation online course, are eligible to join Imogen’s ongoing BodyIntelligence Study Group.

 

Meet your Course Leaders!

Imogen and Shay

Imogen and Shay have been working together for over five years, starting when Shay came to Imogen as a client. Over time, as Shay studied neurobiology and neuroscience to help her understand and resolve PTSD, she increasingly understood that BodyIntelligence provides a very neuropositive approach and practice. It has been extremely helpful to Shay and is one of her core resources in helping her rebuild and regulate her own nervous system.

As they continued to work together they became good friends, sharing an excitement over the neuroscience that backs up the simple and profound practices of BodyIntelligence and Alexander Technique concepts and principles.

The Foundations of Regulation course is part of a collaboration to offer workshops and programs for people dealing with trauma or chronic stress. Shay’s experience as a trauma survivor and her understanding of the neuroscience relating to trauma is paired with practical tools and concepts from Imogen’s BodyIntelligence work.

Imogen Ragone, M.AmSAT

Imogen Ragone has been a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique since 2006, and a student of the work for well over 20 years. She initially came to Alexander Technique to help her with chronic neck and shoulder pain and tension. It did – and gave her MUCH more than she ever imagined. Imogen has now developed her own unique approach, BodyIntelligence, that offers a path to embodied mindfulness that is gentle and non-coercive. This means it is more accessible and effective when you are feeling stressed or anxious, and makes it especially valuable to traumatized people. Imogen was born and raised in England, and has lived in the US now for over 30 years. She has been successfully working with clients online, both individually and in groups, since 2014.

More about Imogen and her work:
Website: imogenragone.com
Facebook Page: BodyIntelligence with Imogen Ragone
Facebook Group: BodyIntelligence Community

Shay Seaborne, CPTSD

Former tall ship sailor turned trauma awareness educator, Shay Seaborne, CPTSD, has studied the neurobiology of fear, trauma, and PTSD for seven years. She writes, speaks, and makes art to convey her experiences as well as her understanding of the neurobiology of fear, trauma theory, and principles of trauma recovery. A native of Northern Virginia, Shay settled in Delaware to sail KALMAR NYCKEL, the state’s tall ship. She wishes everyone could recognize PTSD is not a mental health problem, but a neurophysiological condition rooted in dysregulation. Our mainstream culture is neuro-negative, and we need to understand we can heal ourselves and each other through awareness, understanding, and safe connection.

More about Shay and her work:
Website: shayseaborne.com
Facebook Page: Trauma Aware America
Facebook Groups: Trauma Aware America Group  and Patients for Trauma Awareness
Instagram: @shayseaborne_cptsd

Imogen and Shay in Conversation:

In this conversation they discuss why BodyIntelligence is helpful to people dealing with trauma or stress, and yet there is often no mention of past experiences. It turns out it’s not always necessary to rehash difficult experiences to feel better, and you can build a well-regulated nervous system without even having to know why it became dysregulated in the first place.

 

When you’re living with chronic stress or unresolved trauma any little thing can put you over the edge. You suddenly lose control or become very angry – in other words you “flip your lid!” The solution is to down-regulate – to calm your nervous system. But how? In this conversation they talk about the importance of having a well-regulated nervous system, what regulation is, and how you can expand your window of tolerance.

 

Having a sense of agency is key for anyone living with trauma or chronic stress. In this conversation Shay and Imogen talk about the importance of a gentle, non-coercive approach for calming your nervous system and becoming more regulated.

 

Curiosity – about ourselves, about others and about our world is crucial for learning and growth. Curiosity is also an important component of the healing process for anyone living with trauma or chronic stress – both in ourselves and received from others. In this conversation Shay and Imogen talk about curiosity – why we need it, how we cultivate it in ourselves, and how being curious helps us be part of the healing process for others.

Find many more of their conversations on a variety of topics related to trauma, stress, anxiety, neuroscience, BodyIntelligence, and the Alexander Technique here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtubfL9hKHUiK7TGGNfufUMolkLLPFsHQ

 

REGISTER NOW

 

Photograph of Shay by Bayou Elom.