If you’re the kind of woman who’s “not sure you’re a yoga person.”
Who’s also heard people rave about it and recommend it.
And, are low-key considering trying it out. 

I see you, and to be honest for a long time I was you. It might surprise you to find out that I didn’t take my first yoga class for years because I was terrified. 

What if I look stupid?
What if I get embarrassed?
What if I can’t do it?
What if the people aren’t welcoming and kind?

My insecurities far outweighed my desire back then. Because truthfully I had no idea what yoga was and no one had ever taught me to relate to myself in the way that yoga asks you to. 
Sound familiar?

Let’s talk about what’s really keeping you from trying yoga or actually giving yoga  a real chance to make a difference in your life. 

First off, it’s scary to try something new. Especially if you feel insecure about how you look, struggle with self-worth, have pain or health concerns, have felt unwelcome in the past or worry you’re going to suck at something. 

Secondly, it’s hard to actually comprehend that yoga might just be the exact thing that’s missing in your life. Especially when mainstream and social media projects the image that yoga is for $80 yoga pants wearing thin young white women in flashy poses. Which is deeply ironic considering that yoga is from India and was mostly practiced by people in their pajamas. 

Here are some things you should know about yoga, from someone who’s worked in the field since 2009 and practiced since 2006. 

• Yoga spaces are usually quite welcoming (but not always). It’s important to do a vibe check on the teacher or studio if you can before you go. Look for teachers and studios that make you feel comfortable, welcome as you are and genuinely care about your experience. 

 

• Most people start practicing because they’re having a hard time in some way or another. Some of the most common reasons are pain, anxiety, life transitions, loneliness, grief, etc. So just know that if you’re going through something - so are others turning to this wisdom tradition. 

 

• Yoga is a practice of inner focus where you’re asked to pay attention to yourself. Believe me, the other people pay as much attention to you as you would think. 

 

• Most people try it at home first these days. But here’s the thing, not every yoga teacher is teaching the same yoga. So try different kinds, different teachers, different approaches to find what you like. 

 

• You will get confused, fumble, maybe even fall over or get emotional. But you will also become stronger (inside and out), more graceful, feel stress you’ve carried for decades unwind, feel lighter - centered - more free than when you started. 

 

• Yoga is very holistic and more than exercise. It’s a wisdom tradition, an embodiment and spiritual practice. A set of tools that are designed to help you with the four pillars of your life: your body, mind, spirit and life. 

 

• Yoga could very well be the solution that you’re seeking. The doorway into feeling more comfortable in your own skin, playful, and simply put - like you are whole and at ease. Like the empty parts of you are filled and the weight is lifted. 

Now that you know all of this, I’m going to challenge you to take a step forward. 

Click here to take a peek at this 21 day home based yoga program called Daily Devotion that I made for you. It’s where you can find out what yoga can actually do for you and you can find a free yoga practice on this page. 

If you like it, consider signing up for the course and I’ll walk you through 10 minute a day practices that are designed for women who are genuinely wanting to practice in a way that benefits you. But also, honors a depth based practice. You won’t just find yoga that moves your body in this course, 

You’ll also find a varied “yogic diet” with energy and breathwork, meditation, relaxation and yoga philosophy that you can do in bite-sized chunks. 

If you've done the therapy — really done it, sat in the chair and done the brave work of looking honestly at your innermost experiences — and you've practiced yoga and journaled and meditated and done everything that self-aware women do when they're serious about healing, and you still feel stuck in the same patterns...

I need you to hear something clearly.
It is not your fault.

What yoga was always meant to be
The yoga most of us have been offered — even by teachers who genuinely care — has often been a diluted version of what yoga actually is. Not because those teachers were trying to shortchange anyone. Because the yoga industry extracted the practice from its roots before it ever reached most of us.

What the tradition actually holds is vast. The embodiment. The spiritual nourishment. The philosophy and the heart of the practice. The nervous system medicine. The sacred lifelong transformation that yoga was always designed to produce.

What most studios and online platforms have been offering is a fraction of that. Poses. Stress relief. Flexibility. These are real and they matter. They are not the whole medicine.

What therapy was designed to do — and what it wasn't
Therapy is genuinely profound and I want to name that clearly before I name its limits.

It teaches you to do the brave work of looking honestly at your innermost experiences. To name the pain that has shaped who you became. To understand the patterns and the mismatch between who you are and who you want to be. It offers tools for your mind, your emotional life and your relationships.

That is real work. It matters enormously.

And therapy was never designed to reach the layers of your body. Your somatic imprints. The way your nervous system learned to brace decades ago and hasn't quite unlearned it yet. Your relationship with your own soul.

When you're working with an incomplete version of yoga and a modality that was never meant to do this particular job — the gap you feel isn't evidence of your brokenness. It's evidence of a design flaw in what you were offered.

When body shame compounds everything
It compounds when we've also absorbed — from culture, from family, from the mirror — the belief that our bodies are inherently not enough. Not healthy enough. Not thin enough. Not young enough. Not fertile enough. Whatever the specific flavor of not enough has been for you.

It all becomes a thick layer of shame. Like a dirty window you can barely see through.
But even through that window — the sunshine is still pouring in.

Because your innermost Self — she knows. She knows more freedom is possible. More peace. More pleasure. Less backsliding and more moving joyfully toward what she actually wants.

Maybe not running toward it. Maybe jogging — with the best supportive sports bra they make and a good ponytail holder. 😂

But moving. Freely. In a body that finally feels like home.

What's actually missing
What bridges the gap between what therapy offers and what your body is still asking for is yoga practiced in its fullness — not as fitness, not as stress relief, not as a trending wellness tool.

Yoga as a complete therapeutic path. The movement and the breathwork and the meditation and the philosophy applied to your actual daily life and the somatic healing that happens when all of those things work together on your nervous system, your emotional patterns and your relationship with yourself over time.

That's what yoga was always designed to produce. And that's what most women who love yoga and have done the therapy are still waiting for.
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It was never your fault that nobody offered you the whole thing yet.

Next steps...

Come Home to Your Body — free 10-minute somatic yoga practice Grab it here: https://kerimarino.eo.page/comehome​

How Deep is Your Yoga Practice Going? - free PDF quiz. Grab it here: https://kerimarino.eo.page/deepenyourpractice

Practice with me inside Daily Devotion - Instant Access Course
For the woman ready to build a real daily yoga practice that actually improves your life and well-being. 21 days. 10 minutes or less. Movement, breathwork, meditation and yogic philosophy — sequenced and structured so the only decision you make is pressing play.​
Click here to learn more and try a free practice. 
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1:1 Yoga Therapy in person and online - for when you're ready for deep personal work to help you integrate and heal. Find out more here: Get 1:1 Support

Keri Marino is a yoga therapist and yoga teacher since 2009 and the founder of The Nourished Woman. She works with self-aware women weaving depth and devotional based yoga practice with nervous system tending and inner work. She runs The Nourished Woman Podcast, works with women 1:1 and offers opportunities to practice and learn in person and online. Based in Greenville, SC. 

Let's be honest, sometimes yoga can feel boring. And ironically, that might be exactly what you are needing. Especially if you are a woman who is prone towards fight or flight, leads a demanding lifestyle or prefers to "keep moving." 

In this episode, somatic yoga therapist Keri Marino talks about the healing power of slow, contemplative yoga practice and how it gives you something more active styles never could. 
​
She'll uncover the real medicine a yoga practice can provide and the mindset shifts that will help you stop avoiding and start leaning into your practice. 

If this episode spoke to you, here are some next steps: 

• Curious about how deep your yoga practice is actually going? Download a free pdf quiz to see where you are and how to get more out of your practice. Grab it here:

https://kerimarino.eo.page/deepenyourpractice
​
Try out somatic yoga therapy on demand with me inside Daily Devotion. A 21 day 10 minutes or less guided program for at home deep yogic practice. $47, and you have two months to complete it. Details & a free sample practice here: 
https://www.kerimarino.com/daily-devotion-21-day-program.html

About Keri Marino:

Keri Marino is a C-IAYT certified somatic yoga therapist with 17 years of clinical experience working at the intersection of yoga therapy, nervous system healing and women's mental health.

She founded The Nourished Woman to bridge the gap between traditional yoga, mental health support and the body-based healing that completes it — helping women move from understanding themselves to actually feeling free in their bodies and their lives.
​
Keri brings both deep clinical expertise and genuine personal experience with trauma recovery to her work. She has supported hundreds of women in building embodied practices that reach what therapy alone doesn't always touch.

If you enjoyed this meditation and would like to practice somatic yoga therapy with me in a way that fits  into your schedule - day or night.

Check out The Nourished Woman Sanctuary - my membership for women who want to soak in the benefits of a regular somatic yoga practice that is based on the state of your nervous system and helps with emotional well-being, deepens your spiritual connection to your highest Self and helps your body feel it's best. $33/month and easy to cancel anytime. 
Details here -> https://www.kerimarino.com/the-nourished-woman-sanctuary.html
​
About Keri Marino:Keri Marino is a C-IAYT certified somatic yoga therapist with 17 years of clinical experience working at the intersection of yoga therapy, nervous system healing and women's mental health.
She founded The Nourished Woman to bridge the gap between traditional yoga, mental health support and the body-based healing that completes it — helping women move from understanding themselves to actually feeling free in their bodies and their lives.
Keri brings both deep clinical expertise and genuine personal experience with trauma recovery to her work. She has supported hundreds of women in building embodied practices that reach what therapy alone doesn't always touch.

This is for the woman who already loves yoga. 

But also feels like your yoga practice hasn't gone deep enough to tend to the parts of you that need it most. Your nervous system, the trauma imprints and your innermost Self. The part that therapy helps with, but hasn't fully resolved. The part that yoga classes, don't really access. 

You know yoga is more than just something that makes you feel good - it holds the power to help you heal and feel more wildly whole and free. 

That's what Daily Devotion is for. 

It's a 21 day on-demand therapeutic home yoga practice in just 10 minutes a day or less. 
Incorporating somatic yoga with movement, breathwork, relaxation, meditation, guided inner work and applied yoga philosophy. 

Built specifically to tend to your nervous system, move what's been living in your body and build a daily rhythm of practices that sticks. 

It's yoga as medicine, at home on your own time - made for self-aware women ready for more joy, play and pleasure in your life. 

Here's what women are saying...

"I look forward to this each day. I got behind, but then your email came in and reminded me to log back in. I'm so glad I did." 

"The shadow boxing practice has been so helpful. I've been using it regularly and I'm feeling more clear headed and having more fun."

"I don't want this to end."

Here's how it works...

21 days of on-demand practice that you have two full months to complete at your own pace. 

Structured email touch points throughout - keeping you gently accountable without pressure. 

Immediate access - you can begin the moment you purchase. 

One time payment of $47. 

What actually happens when you practice like this.

She laughs unexpectedly. Feels things she forgot she could feel. Notices pleasure in small everyday moments and feels present enough to truly enjoy them. 

She cries sometimes. From relief, from sadness and from the kind of heart expanding warmth that brings you to your knees you're so damn grateful. 

She feels the weight lift - of pressure, of being stuck in patterns and of the disconnection she's carried for years. Because she's returned parts of herself to herSelf repeatedly. And there's nothing quite like that feeling. 

She analyzes less, feels more. Navigates the hard things with a little more grace and perspective. And when the going get's rough - she knows how to meet herself, how to tend to herself and come back to herself with less judgment and more ease. 

That's what Daily Devotion actually does for you. 

I get it mama.

Sometimes the constant demands on your attention, the invisible load you carry, the impossible task of regulating your own emotions while anticipating your kids emotional needs amidst the noise, the messes and still having room in your heart to savor the precious little moments of it all - it's a lot. 

I made this meditation for those moments when you want to recalibrate, center and open up the space inside you to be the kind of woman and mom you want to be. The deeply resourced, self-aware and spiritually held one. The one who can laugh, cry, smile and also raise her voice when she needs to without feeling immense guilt. You know - a real one. 

Grab a comfortable space to sit and let's meditate. 

If you enjoyed this meditation and would like to practice somatic yoga therapy with me in a way that fits  into your schedule - day or night. Check out The Nourished Woman Sanctuary - my membership for women who want to soak in the benefits of a regular somatic yoga practice that is based on the state of your nervous system and helps with emotional well-being, deepens your spiritual connection to your highest Self and helps your body feel it's best. $33/month and easy to cancel anytime. 
Details here -> https://www.kerimarino.com/the-nourished-woman-sanctuary.html
​
About Keri Marino:
Keri is a C-IAYT certified somatic yoga therapist of 17 years and founder of The Nourished Woman — yoga therapy and mental health support for women ready to feel wildly free.

Calm is not the goal.
I know that might sound strange coming from a yoga therapist. But hear me out.

Calm is a byproduct of this work. What we're actually building — through consistent devoted somatic yoga practice over time — is something so much bigger than calm.

A nervous system that can actually feel pleasure without bracing against it. That can move through grief without drowning in it. That can hold the hard and the beautiful simultaneously without losing yourself in either.

That's liberation. And it lives in your Soul — not just your mind and body.
In this week's podcast episode I go deeper than I ever have on what nervous system healing actually feels like from the inside. The felt sense of it. What expands when your window of tolerance grows. How yoga gets you there in a way that nothing else quite replicates.

This one is personal and it goes all the way down. 

ou've felt it before.
That moment after yoga when something in you has settled — not just physically but somewhere deeper. Something that's hard to name but impossible to ignore.

That's your nervous system. And once you understand what yoga is actually doing to it you'll never think about your practice the same way again.

Here's the short version — your nervous system is your body's alarm system. For many women it gets stuck in fight or flight and stays there. Anxious. Scanning. Unable to fully come down even when nothing is actually wrong.

You cannot think your way out of that.
But you can move your way out of it. Breathe your way out of it. Rest your way out of it.

That's what slow somatic yoga actually does — it speaks your nervous system's language and signals safety in a way that insight alone never could.

I break down exactly how in this video.

Ready to feel it for yourself?
🕯️ Grab my free 10-minute somatic yoga practice — Come Home to Your Body — and experience what nervous system medicine actually feels like from the inside.
Grab it here -> https://kerimarino.eo.page/comehome
​
🌙 Or come home to The Nourished Woman Sanctuary — 160+ somatic yoga therapy practices for nervous system healing, emotional processing and women's mental health. $47/month. Cancel anytime.
Details here -> https://www.kerimarino.com/the-nourished-woman-sanctuary.html

About Keri Marino:
Keri is a C-IAYT certified somatic yoga therapist of 17 years and founder of The Nourished Woman — yoga therapy and mental health support for women ready to feel wildly free.

Let's be clear, you're looking at Somatic Yoga because you're searching for answers - on how to  heal after experiencing trauma, or how to help your nervous system become more regulated or  you body work through what it's the stress it's holding. I completely get it! 

If you already know that you respond well to yoga, looking into somatic yoga is a smart next step because it weaves together yogic practice with somatic based healing and a focus on mental health. 

If you're curious to hear what it actually is, from me (a somatic yoga therapist of 17 years) watch this short video and if you're looking for more than a definition - somewhere to actually put this into practice - I've got that for you too. 

To practice Somatic Yoga, there are two next steps you can take right now. 

For an easy way to get started, grab my free 10 minute Come Home to Your Body somatic yoga practice by signing up below. This practice will be delivered straight to your email and you can start today.
Find it here -> https://kerimarino.eo.page/comehome

If you're ready to go all in on this. join me inside The Nourished Woman Sanctuary. My online studio for on-going somatic yoga therapy based on the state of your nervous system with bite sized 15-30 minute practices made for self-aware women are committed to do the work to grow, heal and improve their relationship with yourself and your life. It's $33 month and you can cancel anytime.
Details here ->https://www.kerimarino.com/the-nourished-woman-sanctuary.html

About Keri Marino:
Keri Marino is a C-IAYT certified somatic yoga therapist with 17 years of clinical experience working at the intersection of yoga therapy, nervous system healing and women's mental health.

She founded The Nourished Woman to bridge the gap between traditional yoga, mental health support and the body-based healing that completes it — helping women move from understanding themselves to actually feeling free in their bodies and their lives.
​
Keri brings both deep clinical expertise and genuine personal experience with trauma recovery to her work. She has supported thousands of women in building embodied practices that reach what therapy alone doesn't always touch.

If you've been wondering why your nervous system is always activated or wondering if you can ever break the cycle of fight or flight - then this is for you. 

What is Nervous System Dysregulation for Women?
At its core - it's your nervous system responding to the present moment to try and protect you (physically, emotionally, relationally) in a way that doesn't align for you. It can feel like your nervous system is "stuck" responding the same way - even when you want to feel differently. 

It's the old wiring that shuts you down when moments get hard between you and your partner. 
Or, the anxious feeling that comes over you when life is quiet at the end of the day and you're ready for bed. 
It's the constant need to move, do and difficulty slowing down or the inability to peel yourself off the couch and get stuff done. 
Or the feeling of stress and overwhelm when your kids play loudly or won't go the "f*ck to sleep," haha. 

Nervous system dysregulation means your nervous system can't do what it does ideally - shift between states with ease based on the situation and come back to the window of tolerance as a baseline. And it's not your fault, but it's also your responsibility to change this and you absolutely can!

Signs and Symptoms
It can show up as SO many different things, but here's a short list.

High energy in your body - tense, tight or buzzy
Thoughts like "I can't stop or everything will fall apart."
Jaw clenching, shoulders up, shallow breathing. 
Feeling reactive or easily triggered or feeling alert even when nothings wrong.

Low to no energy in your body - numb, heavy, shut down or a gas & brake pedal combination - activated and shut down all at once. 
Thoughts like, "I feel invisible," or I don't know what I need."
Disconnection from your body, needs or desires.
Focusing on others needs and ignoring your own or saying yes when you mean no. 

Why It Happens
To sum it up quickly, because of what you've been through in the past - how you were raised, your experiences, past trauma, etc. 

What Actually Helps (And Why Somatic Yoga Might be the Missing Piece) 
Yoga has been serving up nervous system medicine, somatic healing and holistic care since way before it was trending. Yoga is especially therapeutic because it offers both stimulating and relaxing practices that help your nervous system learn adaptability and resiliency. It helps your nervous system to regulate and move between states easy. But not just any kind of yoga - therapeutic or somatic yoga in particular - that goes slow. balances effort and ease, is calming in nature (no loud music blaring) or fast flows. 

Yoga works with the four pillars of you - body, mind, spirit and life. As Dr. Timothy McCall says, Yoga is one stop shopping." It therapeutic on so many different levels and touches layers that talk therapy never could. 

If you'd like to hear me go deeper on this topic, watch this Youtube video on it here.

Want to Practice with Me?

Grab this free 10 minute Somatic Yoga Practice to help you come home to your body and tend to your nervous system. Get it here -> https://kerimarino.eo.page/comehome
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