Somatic Bliss

🍋 Greetings from Palermo! 🍋

After a brief break from Instagram, I’m excited to reconnect and share my inspiration and ample life force as I embrace the digital nomad lifestyle. Travelling through Europe these past months has been so inspiring, and I’ve been fortunate to continue working with clients online. Now, I’m opening a few spots for individual **OLINE SOMATIC THERAPY SESSIONS**, starting in November!

If you're looking to:

✨ Manage stress and anxiety

✨ Regulate your nervous system

✨ Set healthier boundaries

✨ Resolve relational struggles 

✨ Or get support with other life challenges and transitions

I invite you to book a **free 20-minute discovery call** and explore how somatic therapy can support your journey. Let’s tap into the wisdom of the body together.

Since July, I’ve been inspired by the lush summery beauty of Lithuania 🇱🇹, the rich history of Bulgaria 🇧🇬, and now the stunning landscapes of Sicily 🇮🇹 (some snippets of the beauty of these places - in my post). From nature’s grandeur to the brilliance of human creativity and skill unfolding through art and architecture, that I am lucky to now marvel at, every moment fuels my passion for this work. As I am deepening my knowledge and learning from the best in the field in yet another training course - looking to complete **Somatic Trauma Therapy Certificate** - I’m excited to integrate these new insights and inspiration into our sessions and share the tools that help bring healing, no matter where you are in the world.

Ready to embark on an inner journey? **Let’s connect and begin in November**. Together, we can explore your personal path to well-being with the help of somatics. ✨

🔗 check out my website on *somaticbliss.eu* , text me at [email protected] or DM here to schedule your call and start your journey!

Warmly,
Jurga Bliss
Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist at ISMETA

I am excited to teach again at the next movement intensive in La Casa Del Corpo Lagos together with other wonderful teachers at Corpo Intensives in May.
Join us for the full week or drop into the classes that you are interested in. All levels welcome! We still have some discounted spots available! Book your place now!

Jurga Bliss is an ISMETA registered somatic movement therapist and educator who offers private somatic sessions here, at La Casa del Corpo Lagos, as well as online.

Somatic therapy focuses on the body-mind connection and combines talking with body awareness, movement, breathing techniques as well as touch/ bodywork.

Jurga is trained and certified in the Institute for Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy, UK and combines her knowledge of somatic psychology, polyvagal informed work, bodywork, mindfulness, systemic constellations in creative and client-centered ways to facilitate healing and resourcing.

You can benefit from working with Jurga if you require assistance in:

• Learning about your core needs and inner resources to meet them

• Discovering and expressing your authentic self

• Recognizing and working with bodily, mental and emotional patterns and re-patterning when necessary

• Embodying and integrating your therapeutic process during of after psychotherapy

• Inquiring into themes of relationship attachment, boundaries, conscious communication and open relating

• Exploring the ways towards healing when experiencing psychosomatic symptoms, autoimmune processes and etc. 

Session duration: 60mins
Contribution: 55€
Location: La Casa del Corpo Lagos or online
Booking:
More information: somaticbliss.eu

Are you curious to explore the origins of your behavioural tendencies, gain new insights into your patterns and discover alternative pathways towards resolution when facing struggles of everyday life?

If it's a "YES!" this workshop is for you!

Meet your inner Magician, Victim and Rebel and delve deeper into the realm of archetypes and the psyche. Join me on Friday, 16 Feb 13-16h in a multicultural group at .intensives Embodiment week to play and move with these inner parts of us.

These archetypal explorations are based on Stanislav Grof's Basic Perinatal Matrices(BPMs), which are believed to underlie the human psyche and provide insight into the origins of archetypal behaviours. Through embodied explorations, systemic constellations and group discussions, participants will gain an experiential understanding of the role that experiences around birth play in shaping personality, behaviour, and emotional states and open the doors to cooperation with these parts of self.

February is gonna be a busy month! I am starting to teach on a 12 week online programme "Neuroendocrine system code" on Monday (https://www.ikunytapraktika.lt/nervusistema ) and then teaching 3 live workshops at Corpo Intensives Embodiment week mid February! Come explore the worlds of our Body-Mind together via Polyvagal work, Authentic Movement and Archetypal inquiry! Follow Corpo Intensives on Facebook and Instagram for the schedule and more info 😉

Our SCHEDULE for February is ready! Looking forward to teaching on the Embodiment week at .intensives together with other wonderful movement teachers 💫 💫

1 spot left for a refuced price of 260€, book now!Standard Week pass: 310€

Give a 🎁 of gentleness this 🌲Christmas🌲 to yourself and your loved ones.
Instead of making this day perfect, make it loving, make it kind, relieve yourself of the tension and rush that you might be feeling, trying to make it all work. Take it at your natural pace, say no to less important tasks, deprioritise. That's my intention for these holidays. Being gentle with myself and others.
Sending ❤️ all ways.
Jurga

Feeling Frazzled?
The countdown to the holiday period is coming to an end and for some that is less about joy and happiness and more about stress and overwhelm. In this interview from asked me to share some tips on how can we add some much-needed calm to the frantic festive season.

Here is one practice to try:

"Breathwork
One of the simplest ways to regulate our nervous system is to breathe in to a count of 4 and breathe out to a count of 6 (repeat for 5-10 rounds). Generally, with every breath in our heart rate goes up and with every breath out it slows down. By prolonging the out breath, we slow down our heartbeat in a stressful situation, signalling to the nervous system that we’re ok, we don’t need to fight or flee. You can do this when cooking, sitting at the Christmas table, at a social gathering, etc."

You can find all of my 5 tips on pages 52-54 of Algarve Plus Magazine, also available online https://algarveplusmagazine.com/12-2023/

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Come to my "Befriend your Nervous System class"
tomorrow- Thursday -7 Dec - 19.00 - 20.30!
We will explore somatic tools for making connecting with others easier and more desirable and co-regulating with each other.

✨Save the date!✨

I am happy to announce that I am a part of .intensives teacher's team and will be teaching at the second movement intensive:
"Move into Embodiment - a somatic exploration" on 12th - 18th February 2023 at .

Together with an amazing team of teachers like &
we will invite you to delve deep into your sense of soma - your living, breathing body. For a whole week we will immerse ourselves into a profound somatic exploration of our body-mind and the sense of embodied selves.

Can't wait to move together!

More information, prices & schedule coming soon ✨

pictures & design by our wonderfully creative soul - ❤

As the festive season approaches, join me - somatic therapist Jurga Bliss at to explore Polyvagal theory informed somatic tools for connection and promoting the state of Social Engagement.

➡️ WHEN
7 December 2023 (Thursday) 19.00-20.30
➡️ WHERE
La Casa del Corpo Lagos, Beco da Horta 4, Lagos

BOOK YOUR SPACE IN CLASS:
WHATSAPP 928125386 OR FB/IG

👌WITH PREPAYMENT FOR 15€

👍OR DROP-IN (IF SPACES AVAILABLE) FOR 17€
*check about the availability of space before the class!

🔥 **Black Friday Real Talk:** 🔥

Some posts on IG today really stirred some 💩 for me as a trauma survivor. So let's cut through the marketing noise because healing is not a product, and trauma won't bow down to some 30-day quick fix.

In 30 days you can learn to practice brilliant regulating tools, restore your resources, get new habits for self care, get into a better regulation of your nervous system and unpack some of those stories your body and mind hold within. You can even actually release locked up Fight-Flight and Freeze responses received from shock trauma (e.g. a car accident or medical procedure, etc, through modalities like e.g. TRE exercises) or daily stress. But if we talk about developmental or complex trauma (childhood abuse, neglect, loss, etc.) where wounding happened repeatedly over the years, trauma healing Highway Express that takes you from the stop A "Traumaville" directly to stop B "Healed&Blissfull4ever" does not exist.

So, brace yourself for some truths:

🕗 **Real Healing Takes Time:** You can't microwave your way through trauma. It's a journey, not a sprint. Embrace the process; it's messy, beautiful, and uniquely yours.

💥 **No One-Size-Fits-All Magic Fix:** Sorry, but trauma healing isn't a one-size-fits-all situation. Don't fall for the "30-day miracle cure" marketing trick. Seek personalized therapeutic strategies that resonate with YOUR story.

🌿 **Sustainability Over Gimmicks:** Forget the express trauma healing tips & tricks. Opt for sustainable practices that actually nurture your well-being, give you tools and resources that are available to use in the long run. If those are on a Black Friday sale - amazing! Go for it - get a discount on a program, a subscription for a course, a therapy package. (Pssst, just a hint - those won't be labelled a "30 day somatic bla bla trauma healing miracle".)

This Black Friday, ditch the empty promises and choose real, mindful healing. Your journey deserves respect, not a rushed sale. 💚

Tomorrow in !

We still have a few spaces left at the studio, book your seat today!

💜 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗽s: Freeze vs Shutdown 💜

Ever felt stuck or encased in permafrost during stressful times? Like you cannot move or even think? 🤔 🥶🧠💭

When in a state of Freeze-Shutdown (Collapse) it seems that energy is either locked & unavailable or leaves the body altogether. Even the smallest tasks require enormous effort. Thoughts and the body become heavy, and sometimes you feel weightless and numb in a space where there seems to be no way out. This state is your nervous system's effort to protect you. When we feel threatened, facing a danger we can't escape or fight, the nervous system chooses a state of freezing and later - collapse. We experience immobilization.

Immobilization is evolutionarily the oldest form of our defense. Remember animals that, when scared, freeze as if pretending to be not there, not alive. The Dorsal branch of the Vagus nerve is responsible for this response. This neurobiological reaction is activated when the nervous system perceives the danger as lethal. The advantage of this evolutionary mechanism is the ability to conserve energy until the danger passes and then use it (e.g. when a cat loses interest in a caught, already collapsed, seemingly dead mouse, and turns away, the rodent suddenly jumps up and escapes).

In a state of freeze and shutdown, the energy level is low or unavailable, so it can be challenging to take any action. Remember this and try not to blame yourself - this reaction is normal. To revive energy in the body, awaken it gradually. If you don't feel like going somewhere, interacting with someone, allow yourself to rest and then ask yourself what action you feel the least resistance to. Do it. Then, step by step, take on more active actions. Engage the 5 senses. Remember what smells, tastes, sights, sounds, textures help you feel good, cozy & relaxed. Use your resources to gradually bring your system into activation and connection.

Interested to learn more tools for regulation? Join my class!

WHEN
16 November 2023 (Thursday) 19.00-20.30
➡️ WHERE
La Casa del Corpo Lagos, Beco da Horta 4, Lagos
BOOK YOUR SPACE:
WHATSAPP 928125386 OR FB/IG

Befriend Your Nervous System: Moving Out of Freeze-Collapse

The nervous system support class with somatic therapist Jurga Bliss on 16 November at La Casa del Corpo Lagos!

The second class of the cycle is dedicated to the state of Freeze-Collapse.

• discover how your body and mind experiences Freeze-Collapse

• learn to work WITH this energy rather than against it

• get your locked energy back

• practice Polyvagal exercises for regulation

• experience somatic soothing

➡️ WHEN
16 November 2023 (Thursday) 19.00-20.30
➡️ WHERE
La Casa del Corpo Lagos, Beco da Horta 4, Lagos

BOOK YOUR SPACE IN CLASS:
WHATSAPP 928125386 OR FB/IG

👌WITH PREPAYMENT FOR 15€

👍OR DROP-IN (IF SPACES AVAILABLE) FOR 17€
*check about the availability of space before the class!

Next classes in the Befriend your NS series:
• November 16: Moving Out of Freeze-Collapse
• December 7: Moving Towards Social Engagement

How I messed up. A bedtime story.

Have you ever walked down the road for a while, only to realise, you took the wrong turn a while back? It started feeling weird, but you were so eager to reach the destination that it took quite some time to start feeling like maybe this isn't right. Possibly something started going on in the stomach, or your shoulders tensed up, or maybe you suddenly felt nauseated or your back hurt. But the destination awaits! You kept walking, trying to make it work, hoping that after the next turn it will all feel right again.

You badly wanted it to be right. Looking back on the road already walked, could you let all this effort and energy go to waste? And what if you were not alone walking on that road? What if you felt like someone relied on you too?

It makes it even more difficult to stop and re-evaluate, feel into it and decide to change the course when we want to be a good travel partner, be able to adapt to the other and not make too much of a fuss, right?

So this was me - very recently. I took on a project that wasn't right for me. Looking back I see that I adapted too much, eventually molding myself into something that is not me. I believed in the cause bigger than myself, and so I wanted to be supportive of what it takes to get there. And of course it backfired. It was like feeling "this is wrong" on the eve of your wedding day, but you are told it's too late to back off, the guests are invited and the tables are set! (true story)

How many times we are told, we have to finish what we started? Gosh! I thought I already unlearned that but the programming goes deep. Do not let people down! It's irresponsible! You are not a princess, don't be so capricious! The list goes on. We learn to ignore that gut feeling, that little gnawing in the belly for the sake of being a good girl, a good boy. For the sake of gaining recognition, acceptance and belonging.
Until the gnawing becomes something much bigger. In this case for me - insomnia and an eczema outbreak...

What did I learn (again!):

* Pause! Especially if stressed and there's no time for it. PAUSE!!! Cancel a meeting if you have to.
* Don't yuck somebody's yum. But also don't try to convince yourself that it is also yum for you when it's not.
* A "maybe" is not an enthusiastic "Yes". Explore carefully if it becomes a "yes" or a "no". Yes, even if that's your own consent towards yourself.
* Pause again. Re-evaluate. Is this really ok for me or do I just tolerate it? Do I want to just tolerate this (like many other little things in life).
* I can hold myself in shame, in guilt, in anger, in sadness. I can hold myself through them with love. Yay! This wasn't always the case for me. We can learn how to.
* I will mess up. Many times over. And I will restore & repair. All. Those. Times. 💪

As a survivor of developmental trauma who navigated the complexities of a high-stress corporate environment, motherhood, and personal challenges, I understand the toll that stress can take. Perfectionism and being always alert was my answer to feeling the need to be on top of things. As a result of a chronic state of Fight-Flight I developed panic attacks in my late twenties.

My struggles led me to psychotherapy, where I gained valuable insights into the roots of my emotions and beliefs. But, there was a missing piece.

Despite understanding the "whys" and "hows," my nervous system remained stuck in the Fight-Flight mode. It seemed like the safest state to be in, always ready to react to the perceived dangers of the world. The result? Migraines, generalised pain, and digestive issues that medical treatments couldn't resolve.

Recognizing the need for a holistic approach that addresses body, mind, and emotions, I discovered . What started as personal therapy evolved into a deep dive into the Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy education. The impact was life-changing.

After three years of training, I've made a significant career shift to become a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist and Educator (RSMT/E). Having experienced the game-changing power of body centered approaches first hand, I'm passionate about sharing these transformational tools with others.

Through understanding our nervous system from a neurobiological and psychoemotional perspectives, we can let go of the shame and self-judgment, and compassionately meet ourselves right where we are. It allows us to discover why we feel and behave the way we do, just like any other mammal, and how to navigate that.

The Fight-Flight response is a normal and beneficial physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived threat. This response of our nervous system is geared towards survival. It is a protective energy that tells us: "What is happening is not safe! We need to move! Let's fight this or run away into safety!"

When our autonomic (i.e. involuntary) nervous system perceives (neuroceives) that something is not safe, it acts immediately. We do not decide to get into Fight-Flight (nor Freeze or Collapse). Our nervous system decides for us.

When our system functions well, we get agitated and act in the face of danger and then manage to come back to a regulated and calm state when it passes. However, with continuous stress of our modern lives, trauma, lack of resources and other challenges, we may end up in chronic dysregulation and a state of constant alert.

When the fight-flight response is activated, the sympathetic nervous system releases a surge of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. Continuous flow of these hormones in our bloodstream cause a number of physiological changes that overtime may result in digestive issues (e.g. IBS), insomnia, migraines, muscle pains, tension and rigidity, and etc.

In order for our nervous system to regain it's natural ability to efficently adapt to ever changing demands of everyday life, we may choose to develop healthy habits (e.g. adequate sleep, being physically active, spend time outdoors, take care of nutrition, etc.) as well as learn and apply various practices and techniques to help balance our body and mind and reinstate a sense of calm.

Polyvagal exercises and somatic practices that I teach in my classes are down to earth, simple, time-efficient tools that are proven again and again to help to "oil" your nervous system, so that it switches it's gears from high to low - from activity to relaxation - and back more smoothly and seamlessly.

Come and try yourself!
Limited spaces available, so book your spot now!

➡️ WHEN
October 12 19.00-20.30

➡️ WHERE
La Casa del Corpo Lagos, Beco da Horta 4, Lagos

➡️ HOW TO BOOK
Private message on IG or WhatsApp 928125386.

Befriend Your Nervous System: Moving With Fight-Flight

The nervous system support classes with Jurga Bliss starting already next week at La Casa del Corpo Lagos!

The first class is dedicated to the Fight-Flight response:

• discover how your body and mind experiences Fight-Flight

• learn to work WITH this energy rather then against it

• practice Polyvagal exercises for regulation

• find grounding and stabilizing

• experience somatic soothing

➡️ WHEN
October 12 (Thursday): Moving with Fight-Flight
19.00-20.30

➡️ WHERE
La Casa del Corpo Lagos, Beco da Horta 4, Lagos

BOOK YOUR SPACE IN CLASS:

👌WITH PREPAYMENT FOR 15€

👍OR DROP-IN (IF SPACES AVAILABLE) FOR 17€

💪OR GO ALL IN AND BOOK ALL 3 CLASSES OF THE CYCLE FOR 43€!

Next classes in the series:
• November 16: Moving Out of Freeze-Collapse
• December 7: Moving Towards Social Engagement