Hi I’m Helen, I’m a small business owner, a yoga teacher, a writer and a counsellor. I’m also someone who knows what it feels like to live with chronic shame, as well as how it feels to have (mostly) overcome it.
I help people living with shame to:
Realise that you’re not alone, weird or the odd one out (even though it may feel that way)
Connect with yourself
Build your confidence
Finally feel like you belong
About the Shame-Free Community
In 2024 I launched the Shame-Free Community: an online gathering of people who are experiencing shame – where they can get tools and support to help them on their healing journeys.
The focus of the resources in the community is to help you connect with yourself, build self-esteem and form deep connections with others in a safe environment.
I believe that these resources combined in a short daily practice can lead to deeper connections, more embodiment, a greater sense of belonging and a reduction in shame.
The resources in the community are not a replacement for therapy but can be used alongside.
About Yoga
Yoga is a powerful ancient practice that can help you come into the present moment, calm your nervous system and inhabit your body more deeply. Rather than just being a form of physical exercise, it’s more a way of life, incorporating ethical living, breathwork, meditation and spirituality.
Contemplative prayer is all about experiencing and deeping your relationship with God. It is meditative and reflective and goes well with other practices such as yoga and mindfulness.
Brené Brown defines shame as a fear of disconnection – the belief that if people knew what we were really like they would reject us. Her research showed that the people who overcome shame are those who are wholehearted and authentic and fully vulnerable.
Meditation – in different forms – exists in almost every culture and religious community around the world. The most popular form of meditation in the west is mindfulness, which originates from eastern religious practices, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, but the concepts are common to many other faith traditions too.
Compassion means ‘suffering with’ and, like empathy, it is all about understanding and accepting a person’s feelings. Compassion is often defined as ’empathy plus action’ so it also looks like taking action to comfort a person and reduce their suffering. Self-compassion is simply compassion turned inwards. You might think of it as treating yourself as you would a good friend.
Restorative yoga is all about resting your body and activating your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). It’s a unique form of yoga where postures are held for between 2 and 20 minutes. It may seem a bit like yin yoga, where the focus is on stretching fascia and connective tissue and holding stretches for a long time, but in restorative yoga we don’t stretch or strengthen, simply rest.
Pranayama is the yoga technique of controlling your breath. Prana means ‘life energy’ and ayama means ‘to control or expand’. We might call it breathwork or breath control in English.
Grounding exercises help you to come back to the present moment and calm your nervous system when you are feeling overwhelmed. They are particularly used for people experiencing trauma symptoms. Grounding exercises are rooted in trauma science, including somatics and polyvagal theory.
Self-reflective journaling is a tool to help you get to know yourself better. It has many benefits, including giving you space to process your thoughts and emotions, increasing mental wellbeing and reducing stress.
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