Yoga for Self-Trust
A 6-Week Trauma-Informed Yoga Series
Saturdays 10:00am - 11:15am
March 9 - April 13
*sign up for the whole series or drop in to a class*
*attend in person or virtually*
Led by Franca Bibow, MSW, LMSW, RYT (she/her)
Trust happens in the body. In order to soothe our nervous mind, we first need to lean into our body’s wisdom.
Just as all experiences are felt through our physical selves, it is imperative for us to reconnect or deepen our willingness to move into our vast array of feeling tones/ states.
Within and through our brilliant physical vessels lies the opportunity for liberation of energy, stored emotion, and the awakening of greater ease, balance, and trust in ourselves and our lives.
Through acceptance of what is, through acceptance of coming as you are, through acceptance of the present moment, we get to drop the struggle of believing we need to be somewhere else, be doing something else, or achieving ‘something’ more.
Dropping the narrative of searching to find what we desire outside ourselves and instead turning inwards and finding nurturance and support in loving community with others.
Join me in moving our bodies with the intention of leaning inwards, practicing presence, bearing witness to our inner experience, and cultivating greater trust with our bodies, mind, and hearts through the process.
Through the use of mindful repetitive movement, gentle and active breathwork, tapping, gentle sound practices (such as humming), and guided meditation we will soften into greater acceptance and trust with ourselves. If you are curious to expand your understanding of self-trust through the honoring and acceptance of what arises in the physical and emotional, this offering is for you!
All practices offered throughout this series are rooted in the understanding that every single person knows what feels most aligned in their bodies.
Care will be placed in supporting each individual to determine for themselves which shapes feel most nourishing on a given day, and how they wish to move and express throughout the class. Everything offered is an invitation, an optional movement, shape, or pause that one has the choice to take.
Variations of shapes will be offered, and all language is intended to foster space and opportunity for all members to practice deep listening and honoring of what their bodies are needing and asking for. I invite you to come as you are and relax into the essence of this offering that all of you is welcome.
6 week-long series
1: Awareness expansion and bearing witness
2: Intentionality and presence
3: Leaning inwards and exploring vulnerability with oneself / acceptance
4: Befriending the body and trusting its’ wisdom
5: Small promises to foster self-trust
6: Connecting to our intrinsic goodness and states of love
Registration
Venmo: @Franca-Bibow
After you complete the registration form, Franca will be in touch with you via email to confirm your registration and to answer any questions you may have.
EQUITY PRICING:
Empowered Spaces and Franca Bibow value community care. Given the systemic injustice in this world which affects each of us differently, this equity pricing scale acknowledges that our ability to pay for services, and access those services, varies. We offer a self-determined sliding scale based on the ways that your identity grants you access to privilege and to social capital, e.g. race, gender & sexual identity, socio-economic status, educational background, able-bodied-ness, etc.
Sustainer Rate - "I can pay my way" - $90 full series/ $15 per class
Supporter Rate - "I can help support my community" - $110 full series/ $20 per class
Community Rate - "I can use support from my community" - $70 full series/ $10 per class
*Full and Partial Scholarships available
(realize, too, that you can pay between these rates, as well)
**Full & Partial scholarships: Empowered Spaces is committed to doing everything possible to make offerings accessible to everyone. To inquire about the Empowered Spaces Equity Scholarship please contact Kelly at kkcaul@yahoo.com
Questions: reach out to Franca at francabibow79@gmail.com
COVID-19 PROCEDURES
We will follow CDC guidelines when it comes to masking. Currently: Masks are optional. If cases go up in St. Louis County and guidelines change, masks will be required throughout the practice. Please stay home if you have symptoms, test positive, or were exposed to someone with COVID-19. If anyone would like to participate and would only feel comfortable if everyone is masked, please email Franca to name this request.
ACCESSIBILITY:
The Empowered Spaces yoga studio is located on the ground floor. There is a 10-car parking lot adjacent to the studio & additional free parking on neighborhood streets. Restroom is wheelchair-accessible and ramp-accessible in the main building. Please reach out to Kelly kkcaul@yahoo.com if there is anything more we can do to make our offerings more accessible. Empowered Spaces is committed to accessibility, and strives to be accessible and inclusive of all abilities and all individuals.
Meet Frana
Psychotherapist, Yoga Teacher, Reiki Practitioner
It is courageous to choose healing. To practice honoring and holding your heart, bodily sensations, and life experiences with self-compassion and curiosity. To get to know the parts of oneself that were birthed from a place of survival and have a protective origin, but which are no longer serving you at this moment in time. It is courageous to be honest with oneself. To turn inwards and greet parts of yourself that are in need of nourishment, kind inquiry, and accountability to grow. To practice listening to yourself and embodying who you are, listening to your truth; is all courageous. This practice in which we are asked to let go of the shore and be shaped by the currents of the waters ultimately leads to a more fulfilling, connective, and present life.
Welcome! I am so excited you are here and would feel honored to work with you. I am a Licensed Master of Social Work and am currently undertaking clinical supervision with Kelly Caul, MSW, LCSW to becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
I provide therapeutic services to adolescents, 13 years and older, and adults of all ages. I enjoy working with individuals across diverse backgrounds and identities with a specific joy to work with LGBTQIA+ identifying individuals. I focus in supporting individuals navigating struggles such as anxiety, dissociation, complex relational trauma, grief, abuse, substance use, and challenges with life transitions.
Having a somatic background as a yoga instructor and reiki practitioner, I am passionate about bringing focus to our bodies, the vessels we experience life through and with, in cultivating greater presence, attunement, trust, and fulfillment in our lives.
I deeply resonate with the sentiment of body wisdom and draw upon information about, and exploration of, the nervous system when working with individuals. I work diligently to cultivate a safe and compassionate space for clients to feel comfortable expressing themselves vulnerably and to come as they are on each given day.
Through mindful self-compassion, systems theory, body awareness practices, shame- resilience approaches, deep listening, and open dialogue I work collaboratively with clients to adopt a more loving, self-accepting, and compassionate view of themselves and their unique individual experience in the world.
I often center on processing internal struggles through a relational lens with parts of ourselves, and our external world. I believe sustained, integrated, and desired change breaks down into daily commitments to, and practices with, ourselves and to the aspects of our lives; people, places, spaces, we hold important in our hearts.