Befriend Your Body, Heal Your Mind registration due Feb. 9

HealTree will present Befriend Your Body, Heal Your Mind, a six-week series facilitated by Catrina Stiller, LPCMH-NCC. Weekly sessions will run from 10 to 11:30 a.m., Saturdays, March 2 to April  6, at 1632 Savannah Road, Suite 10, Lewes. The deadline to register is Friday, Feb. 9.

Every person has a unique nervous system, much like the unique nature of fingerprints. The health of a person’s nervous system determines their ability to respond effectively rather than just react to life's stressors. It determines their level of resilience and ability to bounce back from adversity. How to restore nervous system health will differ for each individual.

Many people have learned to deal with stress by ignoring bodily cues. People begin in early childhood to adapt to external stressors by suppressing physical needs and treating their bodies like machines. They may carry that survival method into adulthood to cope with school, work and home environments. Many ignore the innate need for emotional comfort, rest, water, food or other bodily needs, and ilnesses of many kinds may develop as a result.

Course participants will learn to build their interoceptive ability in order to restore health to the nervous system and heal ailments. They will be invited to notice and explore sensations in their body, and make choices to move, stretch and breathe based on their own unique needs, wants and/or desires. Each class will focus on a different theme: choice, present moment, taking effective action, natural rhythms, breath and integration. Education, movement and group reflection will be included in each session.

This series is designed to help participants reclaim and befriend their body. It is specifically aimed to support healing from post-traumatic stress, complex trauma, developmental trauma and all forms of mental health challenges. One does not need to have a mental health diagnosis to participate, as this class is beneficial to anyone interested in growing a deeper relationship with themselves. 

Stiller is executive director of HealTree and a licensed professional counselor of mental health in Delaware. She holds multiple mental health-related certifications and has completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training. She has extensive training in somatic-based therapy methods and the neuroscience behind mental health problems.

To sign up and learn more, go to healtree.co or call 302-827-4683.