Sunday Grounding and Radical Love 🫶

Hi, Hello, Friends! 🤓

Pelvic Floor Therapist: “Go home and during yoga, sit on these balls.”
Me: “…”
PF Therapist: “…”
…Guess who indeed is sitting on balls. 🫣🤣😂🫠🤭😇

I had no idea pelvic‑floor therapy would intertwine so perfectly with my yoga practice, which also both beautifully align with my trauma therapy, but here we are.

Movement has become a really important part of how I ground myself daily.. not just for strength, but for healing. I wanted to give a glimpse into how I am learning to weave safe movement into my days and how it supports my trauma‑recovery work.

Safe movement is important, because there have been times when I pushed my body to exercise far beyond her safety bounds.

🌞 Morning Flow (5 min)

• Happy Baby – 30 sec
• Child’s Pose – 1 min
• Thread the Needle – 30 sec
• Upward Dog – 30 sec
• Upward Frog – 1 min
• Bridge – 1 min
• Lying Figure Four – 30 sec

I now start my mornings very early. I wake up around 5-5:30 and after I’ve made my morning hot tea, I do my Happy Morning Flow. This short flow loosens and opens my pelvic floor and wakes up my brain. I try not to open my phone until hours after I wake up. This is profound to my nervous system.

👉 Harvard Research shows the combination of breathing and mindful movement in Yoga changes the brain structure and strengthens memory and attention.

💻 Mid-Day Desk Stretches (6 min)

• Seated Figure Four – 1 min
• Seated Hamstring – 1 min
• Trunk Rotation – 1 min
• Chest Opener – 30 sec
• One Arm Hug – 30 sec
• Overhead Tricep – 30 sec
• Forearm Stretch – 1 min
• Neck Flexion – 30 sec

During work, I have to move with intention and presence so that I am taking care of my body and mind even within the grind of work. This new addition has made a noticeable difference. I also play my nervous system playlist on my iPad in my office while I am working.

🌙 Evening “Sleepie Time” (11 min)

• Upward Dog – 1 min
• Child’s Pose – 1 min
• Knees‑to‑Chest – 1 min
• Happy Baby – 1 min
• Reclined Butterfly – 1 min
• Spinal Twist – 1 min
• Legs‑Up‑Wall – 2 min
• Pigeon – 1 min
• Puppy Pose – 30 sec
• Saddle Pose – 30 sec
• Cat Cow – 30 sec

My night time flow is long because I NEED to slow down and truly wind my body and mind into a space she feels safe to go rest.

Integrating movement into my days is keeping me connected to my body in ways I have never experienced before. When I was doing more research on the benefits of yoga, I learned it also helps regulate stress hormones and boosts mood.

🏳️‍🌈 A Local Note: Pride and Radical Love

This Sunday is the Queen City’s Pride Parade in Charlotte, NC! I am taking a huge step to widen my capacity and I am walking with our church! Whether you are local to Charlotte or following along from afar, there is power in moving through your community with intention, joy and radical LOVE.. not hate.

I hope we all find more ways to to show up with love, not hate, this week.

🖋️ This Week’s Journaling Prompt

If you asked me what has been one tool that is bringing the most profound learning and growth… DAILY JOURNALING.

Daily journaling has become one of my most beloved anchors.

I carefully curated my journaling ecosystem because of how it helps me. Writing helps me track patterns in my healing and celebrate small wins.

I keep my daily journal prompts simple because even if I write only one sentence for the day, I take that as a win!

For this week, I am keeping my Daily Journal Prompts simple:

🧠 What is my body telling me?
Where do I feel this most?
(throat tightening, face getting hot, nauseous, shallow breath, stomach flipping)

✍️ One line about a detail you noticed around you.
(the light in your favorite park, a mural’s color, the sound of rain on your porch)

I appreciate those reading along on my journey with me. My Substack is really just a safe space for me to write into the void, a learning space and a sharing space. If you use any of these yoga flows or the journal prompts and you feel safe doing so, please let me know.

Here is to moving, healing and celebrating, together.

Radical love = love that is unconditional, inclusive, and brave enough to disrupt patterns of hate, shame, or disconnection.

💌 Thank you for meeting me here, friends!

A la Luna, 🌙
Lauren 🪻🍀