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How To Do The Work Recognize Your Patterns Heal From Your Past And Create Your Self

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How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self

Overview

How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera offers a comprehensive synthesis of holistic psychology, neuroscience, attachment theory, and trauma research into an actionable guide for understanding how childhood experiences shape adult patterns. This book provides practical daily tools for transformation, arguing that healing requires active personal responsibility and consistent practice—not external fixes. By understanding the mind-body-nervous system connection, anyone can rewire deeply embedded patterns, recover from trauma, and build authentic relationships.

The book is particularly valuable for neurodivergent individuals beginning to recognize their unique patterns, those exploring childhood trauma, or anyone seeking to break cycles of people-pleasing, relationship dysfunction, and disconnection. Dr. LePera, founder of The Holistic Psychologist platform, combines clinical expertise with accessible wisdom that resonates with readers feeling “stuck” despite external success.

Core Concepts & Framework

The Mind-Body Connection: Beyond Western Medicine’s Limitations

Western medicine has artificially separated mind from body since René Descartes’ 17th-century philosophy, treating psychological and physical symptoms through entirely different systems. Indigenous cultures and Eastern healing traditions have understood this interconnection for thousands of years. This fragmentation creates a “Band-Aid model” where symptoms are medicated into silence rather than traced to root causes.

Traditional psychiatry uses diagnostic labels from the DSM-5, implying disorders are genetically predetermined and unchangeable—a framework that disempowers people and obscures the truth revealed by emerging science: genes are not destiny.

Epigenetics fundamentally challenges genetic determinism. While we inherit genes, environmental factors—nutrition, sleep, relationships, stress, movement, and consciousness—determine which genes are activated or silenced. Identical twin studies prove this: one twin can develop schizophrenia or bipolar disorder while the other remains unaffected, demonstrating that environment matters critically. Ancestors’ trauma literally altered their DNA expression, affecting subsequent generations’ health.

The placebo effect and nocebo effect provide measurable proof of the mind’s power to heal or harm the body. When the body expects healing, it releases hormones, immune cells, and neurochemicals to initiate recovery—producing real physiological improvements in Parkinson’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and depression. Conversely, the nocebo effect shows thoughts can make us worse. Your beliefs directly create physiological changes—your mind is that powerful.

Trauma: Beyond Catastrophe to Self-Betrayal

Traditional psychology limits “trauma” to catastrophic events (severe abuse, neglect, violence). However, this framework misses crucial forms: emotional wounding, spiritual wounding, systemic trauma, and emotional abandonment. Dr. Robert Scaer defines trauma as any negative event “occurring in a state of relative helplessness.”

Expanded definition: trauma is any experience teaching you must betray your authentic self to survive—including emotionally unavailable parents, reality denial, dissociation, and living in oppressive systems. Marginalized communities experience near-constant systemic trauma.

Childhood conditioning embeds trauma through parental modeling and explicit messaging. When parents have unresolved trauma, they unconsciously project it onto children: urging them not to cry, withdrawing from emotional displays, denying their reality, or controlling them “for their protection.” This conditions children to reject intuition, repress emotions, and distrust themselves.

Reality denial occurs when parents dismiss children’s valid feelings (“Don’t worry, you’ll find new friends”), teaching children their perception cannot be trusted. Children then look to others to define reality instead of their own internal guidance. The Aces test scores 0-10 based on abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction but misses these subtle but profound wounds.

Dissociation is a protective trauma response where the mind “splits off”—physically present but mentally departed. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk describes this as “simultaneously knowing and not knowing”—trauma lodges in the body’s nervous system, creating lifelong patterns of disconnection.

How Trauma Lives in the Nervous System

Unresolved trauma creates chronic stress that fundamentally alters physiology. The body shifts resources from maintaining homeostasis to protection mode:

Cortisol and Stress Hormones: Continuous release during chronic stress wears down immune function and causes systemic inflammation. The immune system becomes primed to perceive threats, releasing inflammatory chemicals (cytokines) throughout the body.

Psychoneuroimmunology research links brain inflammation directly to depression, Anxiety, and psychosis.

Gut Dysregulation: Stress impairs digestion and gut microbiome health, reducing nutrient absorption and creating leaky gut (permeable intestinal lining allowing bacteria into the bloodstream). The gut-brain axis—500 million neurons in the gut communicating via the vagus nerve—produces 90% of serotonin through the enteric nervous system (the “second brain”). Studies link specific bacterial strains to mental health: people with depression show lower levels of Coprococcus and Dialister.

Systemic Inflammation and Disease Risk: Chronic inflammation increases risk of autoimmune diseases, heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Research is unequivocal: people with unresolved trauma get sicker and die younger. For oppressed populations, systemic racism enforces perpetual trauma states.

Polyvagal Theory: the Three Nervous System Response Pathways

The vagus nerve connects the brain to every major organ and has multiple pathways determining how the body responds to perceived threat. Understanding these is essential because most people live in dysregulated states, making authentic connection physiologically impossible.

Social Engagement Mode (Parasympathetic - “Rest and Digest”): Activated when the environment feels safe. Heart rate slows, digestion functions properly, lungs take in more oxygen. The vagus nerve connects to facial muscles (allowing authentic smiles), larynx (melodic voice), and middle ear muscles (better hearing of calm voices). Brain resources shift to executive functions: planning, problem-solving, emotional regulation, learning. This is the “learning brain”—flexible, open, calm, peaceful, curious.

Fight-or-Flight Mode (Sympathetic - Activation): When threat is perceived, the vagus nerve sends SOS signals. Heart pumps harder/faster, cortisol and adrenaline increase, body temperature rises, sweating occurs. Pain doesn’t register, perception narrows to distressing sounds. Physical appearance changes: dead eyes, furrowed brow, hunched shoulders, defensive stance. This response is involuntary and subconscious.

Immobilization/Freezing Mode (Dorsal Vagal - Primitive): The third stress response pathway, shared with reptiles. Body completely shuts down: heart rate and metabolism slow, bowels release or clench, breathing may stop. This is dissociation—psychologically leaving the body.

Dysregulation, Neuroception, and Self-Confirming Loops

Poor vagal tone (dysregulated nervous system) creates inaccurate threat perception through “neuroception”—a sixth sense operating outside conscious awareness that misreads safe environments as dangerous. This creates a self-confirming loop: the activated nervous system broadcasts itself through body language, causing others to reflect that activated state back.

Co-regulation is critical: we mirror the autonomic state of those around us. When you feel safe, it’s reflected in your eyes, voice, and body language, which is transferable to others. Children in chaotic homes internalize threat and generalize: “My parents feel threatened → I am threatened → The world is dangerous.” They develop a “survival brain” instead of a “learning brain.”

Consciousness Vs. Autopilot: the Path to Choice

Most people operate in conscious awareness only 5% of the day; the remaining 95% runs on subconscious autopilot. The conscious mind (prefrontal cortex) is forward-thinking and capable of metacognition—thinking about thinking. The subconscious stores every experience emotionally and irrationally, driving automatic behaviors learned in childhood through conditioning.

Developing consciousness means witnessing your thoughts without identifying with them, creating space for choice instead of reactive patterns. This is why the homeostatic impulse—the nervous system’s tendency to maintain familiar patterns for safety—creates temporary mental resistance and physical discomfort during change.

The RAS acts as the brain’s gatekeeper, filtering incoming information based on beliefs formed in early life. This creates confirmation bias: if you believe you’re “not good enough,” your RAS actively recruits evidence supporting this belief while deprioritizing contradictory information. Negativity bias (evolutionarily hardwired) prioritizes negative information over positive.

Core Beliefs: Installed Before Age Seven

Core beliefs are deepest identity perceptions, typically installed before age seven—often from parent-figures, home environment, and earliest experiences. Many are shaped by trauma. Once formed, confirmation bias takes over.

The three fundamental spiritual needs of children’s souls are: (1) To be seen, (2) To be heard, (3) To uniquely express their most authentic Self. When these needs go unmet, children develop subconscious core beliefs that they’re unworthy of having these needs fulfilled.

Examples of core belief formation:

  • A parent saying “You’re too sensitive” teaches a child to suppress emotional expression
  • Consistent messages like “You’re so helpful” can embed the belief “I must care for others to be loved”
  • A child told “I wish you could be more like your brother” internalizes low self-worth and comparison patterns

Childhood Brain Development Stages

Brain development occurs in distinct stages with different dominant brain wave patterns:

Delta state (conception to age 2): Slowest brain waves, purely absorptive learning with no critical thinking capacity.

Theta state (ages 2-4): Same state as adult hypnosis; children are deeply connected to imagination and struggle to distinguish dreams from reality. This is the egocentric stage where children believe everything happening is because of them. Eye contact between caregiver and infant actually synchronizes their brain waves into a “joint networked state,” creating essential for secure attachment.

Alpha/Beta states (ages 5+): Analytical mind emerges around age 5; by age 7, the critical, logical mind becomes more present. However, core beliefs and subconscious programming are already established before the analytical mind develops.

When a child’s needs are consistently unmet during delta and theta states, they internalize false beliefs that generalize to worldview assumptions about safety and worth.

Attachment Styles: Foundation for All Adult Relationships

John Bowlby’s attachment theory identifies how infant-caregiver relationships establish the foundation for all adult relationships. Mary Ainsworth’s “Strange Situation” research identified four attachment styles emerging in the first 18 months:

Secure attachment: Child briefly upset when mother leaves, recovers quickly upon return, receptive to reunion. Brain scans show securely attached children at 15 months had larger gray matter volume and healthier brain function.

Anxious-resistant attachment: Child remains distressed during separation, isn’t easily comforted upon reunion, remains clingy or punitive. Results from misattunement between child’s needs and parent’s attention.

Avoidant attachment: Child shows minimal stress response to separation or reunion, doesn’t seek comfort from parent. Results from disconnected parent-figures who don’t provide emotional Support.

Disorganized-disoriented attachment: Unpredictable responses—sometimes extremely distressed, sometimes showing no reaction. Associated with severe abuse and neglect.

Research confirms secure infant attachments correlate with secure adult attachments, while insecure childhood attachments link to social anxiety, conduct disorders, and other psychological diagnoses in adulthood.

Traumatic bonding occurs when two people with insecure attachment reinforce each other’s patterns through neurochemical expressions of reward (love) and punishment (removal of love).

The Inner Child: Seven Archetypes of Adaptation

The inner child is a petrified part of the psyche formed when emotional coping abilities were limited. It carries all consistently unmet emotional, physical, and spiritual needs from childhood. John Bradshaw found “every single one” of people with substance abuse issues dealt with deeply wounded inner children.

These seven personality patterns emerge from unmet childhood needs:

The Caretaker: Gains identity/self-worth through neglecting own needs; believes love comes only through catering to others.

The Overachiever: Feels seen/heard/valued through success; uses external validation to cope with low self-worth; believes love requires achievement.

The Underachiever: Keeps themselves small and unseen due to fear of criticism/shame; believes invisibility equals safety and love.

The Rescuer: Ferociously rescues others to heal from own vulnerability; derives self-worth from being in power; believes love comes through helping others solve their problems.

The Life of the Party: Always happy/cheerful/comedic, never shows pain or weakness; likely shamed for emotional state; believes the only way to feel okay is making everyone around them happy.

The Yes-Person: Drops everything, neglects needs for others; learned deep self-sacrifice in childhood; believes love requires being both good and selfless.

The Hero Worshipper: Needs a guru/person to follow; emerged from inner child wound of perceiving caretaker as superhuman; believes love requires rejecting own needs and viewing others as the model for living.

The Ego: Master Storyteller and Identity Protector

The ego is the “I” identity—your sense of self, personal identity, self-worth. The ego is a master storyteller creating and maintaining narratives about who you believe you are. It works to keep you in familiar narratives because predictability feels safer than unknown uncertainty.

The ego’s core objective is protecting identity at all costs. This rigidity is necessary because the ego must be an inflexible protector of the softer, defenseless inner child. The ego views everything through rigid dichotomies: good/bad, right/wrong. When the ego is activated, everything becomes personal—the egocentric thinking from childhood returns.

Ego activation manifests as:

  1. Strong emotional reactivity (acting from protective wounds)
  2. False confidence/narcissism (bravado Masking insecurity)
  3. Lack of nuance (everything is right/wrong, no gray areas)
  4. Extreme competition (belief that others’ success undermines your own)

Shadow Self Work

Shadow self involves recognizing all unsavory parts you’re ashamed of and deny about yourself. The ego represses emotions deemed “bad” to be good and receive love—a survival mechanism. When repression becomes an ego story, you become who you believe you should be. Denied shame is projected onto others.

Your projections are messages from the shadow self—the voice of criticism reveals what you’re ashamed of in yourself.

Four Steps to Shift from Ego to Empowerment Consciousness

Step 1: Allow your ego to introduce itself by finding quiet and repeating: “I am safe, and I choose a new way to experience myself as separate from my ego.”

Step 2: Have a friendly encounter with your ego by noticing “I am” statements—“I’m always late,” “I’m horrible at remembering.” Notice how often you steer conversations to yourself, avoid discussing emotions, how negative your statements are.

Step 3: Name your ego (e.g., “Jessica”). This powerful act of separation allows you to view it separately from your intuitive Self. Say out loud, “Jessica is acting up again” to take a breath and choose whether to indulge the ego.

Step 4: Meet the activated ego by tracking times you feel emotionally activated. Note what was said objectively versus what your ego heard. Acknowledge the hurt without burying it: “Ouch, that stung. I think I took that more personally than intended.”

The ultimate goal is empowerment consciousness—understanding and accepting your ego, creating space for awareness to make choices beyond knee-jerk reactivity.

Practical Strategies & Techniques

Future Self Journaling: Breaking Subconscious Autopilot

Future Self Journaling (FSJ) is a daily practice breaking subconscious autopilot by:

  • Witnessing stuck patterns
  • Setting conscious intentions to change
  • Taking small actionable steps aligned with desired outcomes
  • Persisting through mental resistance

Begin with one tiny promise (e.g., drinking one glass of water daily). Celebrate keeping the promise. After 30 days, ADD another practice. FSJ activates neuroplasticity—literally rewiring the brain to Support new patterns.

The practice creates neural pathways for desired thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. One glass of water can become the foundation for complete life transformation through the compound effect.

Vagal Toning: Healing the Dysregulated Nervous System

Healing practices address the root physiological dysregulation through both top-down processes and bottom-up processes:

Top-Down Processes (brain guiding body): Meditation, conscious attention training, Future Self Journaling (visualizing and affirming desired states).

Bottom-Up Processes (body affecting mind): Breathwork, cold Therapy, physical movement, yoga.

Breathwork

The only autonomic function under conscious control. Deep breathing signals safety to the brain. Studies link daily breathwork to increased longevity, mental acuity, learning, and alertness. Lung capacity is the greatest indicator of lifespan.

Practice: Deep belly breathing (10 repetitions, 5 minutes daily)—inhale deeply, hold 2-3 seconds, exhale slowly, rest, repeat. The Wim Hof method involves specific breathing patterns and cold exposure.

Sleep

Most people underestimate sleep deprivation. Sleep is when the body repairs itself: gut rests, brain “washes” itself clearing debris, cells regenerate. Sleep deprivation is linked to depression, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease.

People over 45 sleeping less than six hours nightly are 200% more likely to have heart attack or stroke. Limiting alcohol and caffeine improves REM sleep quality. Consistent bedtime routine primes the parasympathetic state.

Movement and Yoga

Cardiovascular exercise increases oxygen, blood circulation, brain size and health, stimulates new neuronal pathways. Yoga combines breath regulation with physical challenge, widening stress tolerance “window.” Yoga poses designed to activate fight/flight/freeze responses in a safe, controlled environment teach the body to feel secure while experiencing controlled adversity.

Nutrition and Gut Healing

Whole foods, nutrient-dense foods Support microbiome health. Fermented foods (sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi) provide natural probiotics. Intermittent fasting gives the digestive system rest and improves insulin sensitivity. Avoiding processed foods, sugar, and inflammatory fats prevents dysbiosis and leaky gut.

Play and Joy

Flow states (lost in joyful activity) are healing and neurologically similar to connection moments. Social play alternates between danger/safety modes in a fun context, teaching the body to switch off fight/flight and return to safe baseline.

Singing tones the vagus nerve through breath and engages muscles of face, throat, larynx. Music (especially midfrequency music like Disney soundtracks) opens middle ear muscles associated with social engagement mode.

Body Connection Meditation: Somatic Awareness

A guided meditation to stay connected to the body’s changing emotional states. Find a quiet, comfortable position, focus on deep breathing, and perform a systematic body scan from head to toe, noticing sensations like tension, tightness, warmth, tingling, or lightness.

This practice develops somatic awareness necessary for recognizing emotional shifts in the body.

Boundary-Setting: Three Steps to Protect Your Wellbeing

Boundaries are the clear limits separating you (your thoughts, beliefs, needs, emotions, physical and emotional spaces) from others. They are essential for developing and maintaining authentic relationships.

Types of boundaries:

  • Physical boundaries: personal space, physical contact preferences, comfort with commentary on your body and sexuality
  • Mental/emotional boundaries: your comfort sharing personal thoughts, opinions, and beliefs without changing them to match others’
  • Resource boundaries: how you spend your time and energy

Step 1: Define the Boundary

Examine where boundaries are lacking using bodily sensations as guides—tightness in chest, resentment, depletion. List your most commonly crossed boundaries by type and what specific change you’d like.

Step 2: Communicate the Boundary

Timing is critical—communicate when both parties are emotionally settled. Use objective, fact-based language, avoiding “you” language that activates defensiveness.

Template: “I am making some changes so that [intention] and hope you can understand this is important for me. I imagine [understanding their behavior]. When you [problematic behavior], I often feel [your feelings]. In the future, [what you would/wouldn’t like to happen]. If [original behavior] happens again, I will [how you’ll respond differently].”

Step 3: Maintain the Boundary

Once set, keep the boundary in place. Expect confusion, pushback, snarky remarks (“You’ve changed”), or even rage. You may experience shame, guilt, and feel pulled to return to familiar patterns. Resist defending or overexplaining.

Critical distinction: The boundary is for you, not for others. It’s not an ultimatum to change someone else’s behavior but a personal limit expressing your need.

Reparenting: Becoming Your Own Wise Parent

Reparenting is the process of relearning how to meet the unmet needs of your inner child through daily, dedicated, conscious action. Many adults embody a critical inner parent, denying their reality, rejecting their needs, and choosing others’ perceived needs over their own.

You become the priority. Develop your wise inner parent by trusting yourself through setting small promises and following through with daily acts of self-care.

The Four Pillars of Reparenting

1. Emotional regulation: Successfully navigate emotional states in flexible, tolerant, and adaptive ways. Use deep belly breathing, nonjudgmentally witness bodily sensations, and notice patterns in ego-based narratives.

2. Loving discipline: Create boundaries with yourself maintained over time by making and keeping small promises, developing daily routines and habits. Unlike shame-based punishment, loving discipline involves routine with compassion and flexibility.

3. Self-care: Support your needs and value your worth—it’s not indulgence but fundamental to holistic wellness. Practices include meditating, moving your body, journaling, spending time in nature, spending time alone, allowing sunlight on your skin, connecting intimately with loved ones.

4. Childlike wonder: Combine creativity and imagination, joy and spontaneity, and playfulness. Dr. Stuart Brown found that lack of play contributes to depression, chronic stress-related illnesses, and even criminal behavior.

Emotional Maturity: the Ninety-Second Rule

Emotional maturity is unrelated to numerical age; it’s the ability to regulate emotions, enabling flexible thinking, open communication, and resilience during stress.

The Ninety-Second Rule: Emotions, as physiological events, last only ninety seconds. Then they end. The body wants to return to homeostasis. When stress is perceived handled, a countering system brings the body back into balance—but only if the mind doesn’t interfere.

Few people allow emotions to be purely physiological; most bring them into the mental world, spinning stories, ruminating, engaging in circular thoughts, which reactivates the emotional addiction feedback loop. Replaying distressing thoughts activates your nervous system as if experiencing the event repeatedly.

Soothing Vs. Enduring

Soothing is the preferred way to address discomfort through conscious choice and agency. After naming and nonjudgmentally labeling emotions, neutralize reactions through activities that work for you: moving bodies when angry or agitated; relaxing when calmer.

Equally important is increasing distress tolerance. You don’t want to depend on one thing to soothe you. Develop flexibility to bob and weave in response to adversity.

Soothing and Enduring Activities: Practical Toolkit

Soothing activities neutralize emotional states and return the body to homeostasis:

  • Taking warm baths with Epsom salts
  • Self-massage (especially feet and lower legs)
  • Reading, listening/playing/writing music
  • Snuggling with pets/people/pillows
  • Moving the body in any form
  • Expressing emotions (screaming into a pillow, writing about feelings)

Enduring activities build distress tolerance:

  • Resting/canceling plans
  • Grounding using five senses
  • Breathwork
  • Spending time in nature
  • Meditating/praying
  • Reciting affirmations
  • Getting Support from trusted listeners

Key Insights for Neurodivergent Individuals

Nervous System Dysregulation and Neurodivergence

Many neurodivergent conditions (ADHD, Autism, Anxiety disorders) involve underlying nervous system dysregulation that makes traditional healing approaches less effective. The book’s emphasis on bottom-up approaches through breathwork, movement, and Sensory regulation aligns well with Neurodivergent needs for somatic approaches rather than purely cognitive ones.

Sensory Processing and Regulation

The discussion of polyvagal theory helps explain why many Neurodivergent individuals experience sensory overload, social anxiety, and difficulty with emotional regulation. Understanding that these responses are physiological rather than character flaws reduces shame and provides framework for targeted interventions.

Executive Function and Daily Practices

The book’s emphasis on small, consistent promises rather than dramatic overhauls is particularly relevant for those with executive dysfunction. Starting with one tiny commitment (like one glass of water) builds the habit loops and self-trust necessary for larger changes.

People-pleasing and Social Masking

The exploration of people-pleasing patterns and the inner child archetypes resonates deeply with many Neurodivergent individuals who learned to mask their authentic traits to fit in or avoid criticism. Understanding these patterns as survival mechanisms rather than personal failings enables more compassionate healing.

Boundaries and Energy Management

For those who experience social exhaustion, emotional overwhelm, or difficulty reading social cues, the boundary-setting framework provides practical tools for protecting limited energy resources while maintaining meaningful connections.

Interoception and Body Awareness

Many Neurodivergent individuals struggle with interoception (the ability to sense internal bodily states). The body connection meditation and somatic awareness practices can help develop this crucial skill for emotional regulation and self-understanding.

Integration With Other Healing Modalities

Trauma-Informed Care

The book’s approach aligns well with trauma-informed therapy modalities like Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, and Internal Family Systems. The emphasis on nervous system regulation provides a foundation for deeper trauma processing.

Neurodiversity-affirming Approaches

While not explicitly focused on neurodivergence, the book’s rejection of one-size-fits-all approaches and emphasis on individual needs aligns with neurodiversity-affirming practices. The focus on working with your unique nervous system rather than against it resonates with Neurodivergent experiences.

Complementary Therapies

The book’s recommendations complement other therapeutic approaches:

Important Considerations and Limitations

Professional Support

While emphasizing personal responsibility, the book does not suggest replacing professional mental health Support. If you’re experiencing suicidal ideation, severe depression, bipolar disorder, psychosis, or other acute mental health crises, seek professional help immediately.

Trauma Processing Capacity

Deep trauma work requires adequate Support (therapist, trusted community, stable housing, financial security). If you’re in an actively abusive situation or severely financially stressed, prioritize safety and stability first.

Systemic Factors

The book acknowledges that for BIPOC communities and other marginalized groups, systemic oppression creates barriers to healing that individual work alone cannot address. Some dysregulation represents accurate nervous system response to genuinely unsafe environments.

Neurodivergence Considerations

The book doesn’t comprehensively address how undiagnosed neurodivergence and trauma are often conflated, or how healing approaches might need modification for different neurotypes. Working with Neurodiversity-informed professionals can help adapt these practices.

Practical Implementation Guide

Starting Small: the Foundation Practice

  1. Choose one tiny promise (e.g., drink one glass of water upon waking)
  2. Track completion daily with simple checkmark
  3. Celebrate consistency rather than perfection
  4. After 30 days, ADD one additional practice
  5. Build gradually based on your capacity and needs

Weekly Structure

Daily (5-15 minutes):

  • Morning: Future Self Journaling prompt
  • Deep breathing practice (10 repetitions)
  • Body scan awareness (2-3 minutes)

Weekly (1-2 hours total):

  • Boundary Assessment and communication planning
  • Longer movement/yoga session
  • Self-care activity from your four pillars

Monthly (2-3 hours):

  • Review patterns and progress
  • Adjust practices based on current needs
  • Plan additional Support if needed

Adapting for Different Needs

For ADHD/Executive function Challenges:

  • Use external reminders and habit stacking
  • Break practices into smaller chunks
  • Focus on consistency over duration
  • Use accountability partners or apps

For Sensory processing Differences:

  • Modify practices to accommodate Sensory needs
  • Choose environments that Support regulation
  • Adapt movement practices to your Sensory profile
  • Consider proprioceptive and vestibular inputs

For Anxiety and Hypervigilance:

  • Start with shorter practice durations
  • Emphasize bottom-up regulation first
  • Create safe spaces for practice
  • Consider professional guidance for trauma work

Resources and Support

Community Support

Online Resources