The Possibilities
A Soft Place to Land
Nervous system-focused care for overloaded humans
Issue 08 · The Possibilities · Week 8 of 52
Another 4 weeks down! And you may remember from issue 4 what that means!! I have 5 complimentary 30 minute Stress and Wellness Assessments to give away!
So if you would like to be one of the lucky 5, go HERE and use coupon code Land2 at checkout! Want to know more about what it is? Listen to the audio where I give more of an explanation!
Welcome. I'm so glad you're here!
We've reached the end of this first phase. Eight weeks of laying groundwork — and I want to take a moment to honor that, because this is important. (And quite frankly a miracle that I landed myself in some consistency) And I am SO grateful to those who have reached out to me and shared with me your stories, encouraged me and spurred me on to keep going. I’m so grateful to know that this isn’t going into the void!
Learning to see your body differently, to approach your symptoms with curiosity rather than frustration, to begin connecting the physical and the emotional — this IS the work. Even when it happens in the quiet of reading or listening to a newsletter over your morning coffee (with or without a little extra something in it!).
Before we move into the next 8 weeks — where we go deeper into the nervous system and how it shapes everything — I want to give you a chance to integrate what you've taken in so far. And I want to offer you something I believe in deeply: the power of setting a conscious intention.
— Jenny
THIS WEEK'S TOPIC
What becomes possible when you decide to listen
Over the last 2 months, we've covered a lot of ground. We've talked about pain as a message, rather than a malfunction.
Without beating it to death, we've looked at what chronic stress actually does in the body — not as an abstract concept but as a lived physiological reality.
We've explored the gap between knowing and feeling, between relief and resilience.
We've talked about what you've normalized, about emotion as a physical event, about what the body has been carrying and what it costs to keep carrying it.
It’s not the lightest set of topics. It may even feel completely contrary to your lived experience and I can honor that for you. If you've been with me each week, and you’re leaning in with curiosity over your own human condition, perhaps your system is ready for something different than the quick-fix version of holistic care.
Healing- physically or emotionally, from what I’ve witnessed and personally experienced, is not a singular event.
It's a decision that gets made over and over — to pay attention, to be honest, to choose something different even when the old pattern is more familiar. To basically choose hard.
This newsletter is one small support for that decision. But the decision itself has to come from you.
What I've watched in my clients — and in myself — is that the moment someone genuinely decides to listen to their body, not just manage it, there is a movement that happens. And as I was sharing with a client yesterday about Bowenwork…. That movement might happen somewhere OTHER than where you really want it.
When movement happens:
The bodywork lands differently- and you can accept its limitations and the invitation to your own participation.
The conversations go deeper and it reveals the underlying story behind the discomfort.
The changes that felt impossible start to feel adjacent to possible, and then possible, and then real.
And if the physical symptoms persist, you have managed to put together the tools for healthy management of it.
That movement, that shift, starts with intention. Not a resolution or a goal or a commitment to a program — though those things matter too. It starts with a simple, sincere statement to yourself about the kind of relationship you want to have with your own body going forward.
With my hip pain- I have really had to decide do I want to keep pummeling myself for my body’s seemingly uncooperative position, which keeps me in a negative feedback loop that my subconscious mind, powered by my reticular activating system (watch about that here) will work double time to PROVE that every degrading thing I say about myself is true? Or do I want to whisper myself sweet nothings of encouragement and acknowledgements of the hard work I have done so far, the life I have lived, the babies I have birthed that have created a lot of change, the little movements in the right direction and focus on THAT?
Sweet nothings are so nice to hear.
During the coming weeks, we're going to get specific about the nervous system — about fight, flight, freeze, and fawn; about what dysregulation actually looks and feels like from the inside; about the difference between being triggered and being overwhelmed, and also why this is the conversation part of the work I’m moving towards. Everyone and their brother’s uncle’s aunt is teaching and coaching about nervous system regulation. Many of us practitioners worked in the field long enough to land with the science of it all and realize- YES this IS the missing piece.
I’m going to walk on trepidous ground when I say this next part: I definitely feel a bit of a risk as a bodyworker whose hands on clients may be reading this: I’m tired of people coming to me to fix them and choosing not to take part in their own journey.
There is nothing that I can do on the table to make whatever you’re avoiding go away. Only you have that ability.
What I can do is offer ALL of my expertise and offer YOU the tools for YOU to be empowered.
And I get it- sometimes you just want to bliss out and turn off the noise for 90 minutes… but man that volume is loud when you step back into it, isn’t it?
I just want something better for you.
My hope is that through this newsletter, for those that choose to open it and go on this journey with me this year, that it's going to give you language for things for some of the inner landscape experiences you have been having that is expressing itself in a physical way, and I think you're ready for it.
THIS WEEK'S REFLECTION
Set your intention for the year ahead
Go get your journal! (Is anyone doing the journaling with me?) This is the most important practice to close up these first weeks. I'd encourage you to give it real time and real quiet.. And a real chance.
1. Look back at the last seven weeks. What has landed most deeply? What has surprised you? What has felt uncomfortable in a way that suggests you're close to something important?
2. What is one thing you are willing to do differently — not as a grand gesture, but as a small, sustainable shift, your first move — in how you relate to your body and your stress?
3. Complete this sentence: "This year, I am choosing to..."
Write it down somewhere meaningful. Come back to it when the next level gets hard — because it will get hard, in the way that growth does. Let it be your anchor.
And if you want to share it with me, I would be genuinely honored to receive it. You can always reach me at hello@jennyodell.me or simply responding to this email.
CLIENT STORY
And lucky you guys, I’m going to give you a personal example of how this journal entry could look.
I’m a woman of a certain age experiencing the grand entrance into my crone years- which if you think about it- raising teenagers when you are going through basically the biggest physical and emotional minefield of your life while they are all hitting puberty harder than the cast of Stranger Things between seasons 2 and 3- is pretty insane. How anyone will make it out alive is up to me really- my brain, though foggy, is at least fully formed so self control needs to start with me.
And that is what this year is all about. Pain aside- this next year will really set the tone for the next 5-7 years as my children all file in and out of high school.
As I have been writing this newsletter, THAT has been what revealed itself loud and clear to me.
How I choose to show up, matters.
How I choose to speak back to my sassy teens wearing way too much cologne for a school day, matters.
How I lovingly pull down my daughter’s crop top and remind her how what a precious queen she is and not to forget it, matters.
How I manage my self to not transform into a praying mantis and chew my husband’s head off just because he draws breath, REALLY matters.
How I REACT to life, matters.
I’m choosing to slow-mo my life to be sure that I’m responding- and sometimes that means all I need or should say is: I need a minute or two to process that. I’ll be back.
My physiology systems and my brain are not in cooperation with one another most days- so it’s up to me to be mindful of the Naval Mine bomb that I tend to feel like on the inside and not produce world war three in my own home.
I haven’t adopted this yet, but one of the things my aunty did when she was going through this season of life was she put these red velcro flags up on the fridge. The number of flags let us know our general safety when we approached her. 1 flag, was pretty safe. 2 flags, you were taking a chance. 3 meant you might want to hold your breath and close your eyes sending a prayer to Jesus, and 4- just don’t do it. Stay away until she took some flags down, and if she came around the corner drenched and red in the face, run for your life.
My version of this is saying it out loud and talking through it. Turns out I’m a verbal processor. So I process so that my experience as a woman, a human being beyond just “mom” isn’t a mystery to them.
I find that when I show up honestly and vulnerably, and mindfully appropriate of course, it creates a dynamic between all of us that we can identify, not overly, with each other’s suffering. My family has an opportunity to learn how to compassionately support me as I have supported, and know I’m still safe in the insanity. I also have learned how to model for them self compassion, self love, self empathy, and a willingness to roll with the punches as they come.
This is the ultimate modelling of resilience, and I have modeled a lot for them their whole lives. And that’s what I’m choosing for me.
As much as I have been dominating story time, if you'd like to share your story for an upcoming newsletter, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out at hello@jennyodell.me
A FINAL THOUGHT FROM ME
Eight weeks ago I invited you to begin listening. I don't know exactly what you've heard — but I trust that if you've been here each week, something has piqued your interest and has been mulling in your mind. Even slightly. Even quietly.
That mulling is so valuable and I hope you entertain it.
Next week, we're going deeper into the nervous system — and I promise, the more you understand about how your system works, the more agency you will feel in your own healing. That understanding is one of the greatest gifts I can offer you through this newsletter.
And I offer it with confidence, because this is the work I have been personally doing for years… and it really does work when you shift your mindset around it, and commit with intention to move forward towards meaningful change.
And what kind of business wonder would I be if I didn’t let you know that there are ways to work with me. I do bodywork of course, but if you are curious about life work- resilience work, my Building Your Personal Resilience program ( I have a mini one and a full one) has an open door for you whenever you're ready to walk through it. Visit jennyodell.me or reach out directly by replying to this email to start that conversation. OR send me a voice note on VOXER to share with me what’s landing. I would love to hear from you.
I’m hosting a drop in workshop for how beginning embodiment practices can benefit your life. If you would like to drop in, I have sessions scheduled throughout the summer and you can check it out here:
Learn more or book a free clarity call at jennyodell.me or if you would rather, connect with me via voice note onVOXER or simply reply to this email to share what’s been landing.
Sincerely with deep respect for the work you're already doing,
Jenny O'Dell
