Your Nervous System Is Not the Enemy: Healing the Mind–Body Split

Many of us try to think our way out of anxiety, overexert our willpower, or shame ourselves for “overreacting.” But the truth is, your body isn’t betraying you — it’s protecting you. Your nervous system isn’t the enemy; it’s your oldest ally, shaped by every experience you’ve ever survived.

In this experiential workshop, we’ll explore how trauma, chronic stress, and cultural conditioning have created a split between mind and body — and how to begin healing that divide. Through gentle movement, guided imagination, and expressive arts-based exercises, you’ll learn how to recognize your body’s signals, befriend your inner protector, and restore the sense of safety that allows genuine healing to unfold.

You’ll leave with:

✨ A deeper understanding of how your nervous system shapes thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

✨ Simple tools for self-regulation and grounding in moments of overwhelm.

✨ A new relationship with your body — one rooted in curiosity, compassion, and collaboration.

✨ A sense of connection with others walking the same path toward embodied healing.

This workshop is for anyone who:

Struggles with anxiety or overreaction that feels “out of proportion.”

Feels disconnected from the body or finds it hard to relax, even in safety.

Is tired of fighting themselves and ready to experience healing through understanding, not control.

Come as you are — no performance, no fixing, no judgment. Just an open space to remember that your body and mind are on the same team.

📍Event Details

Thursday, February 12, 2026 · 5 - 7pm

$33

Limited to 10 participants.

Additional Details:

Registration required. Registration closes 24 hours prior to the event.

The registration fee is non-refundable unless the event is canceled by the facilitator.

Parking Information

Shakti in the Mountains Website

IMPORTANT: If you are not able to attend an event for which you have registered please contact us so that we may offer that space to someone on the wait list. Thank you.

✨ Led by Janna Browning

Janna Browning, MA, PRDT is a seasoned Trauma-Informed Drama Therapist, Expressive Arts Practitioner, Director, and and Co-Founder of Integrative StoryWorks (ISW). She has a private practice at Shakti in the Mountains were she sees individual and families. She received her BFA in Acting from Emerson College in Boston and her MA in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

In California, she worked with Armand Volkas in Healing the Wounds of History, which uses expressive arts therapy to bring together groups who share a legacy of historical trauma. Her work with HWH includes groundbreaking projects uniting Armenians and Turks to address the shared legacy of the Armenian Genocide, as well as facilitating dialogue and healing around the historical traumas of Palestinians and Israelis, the conflict in Northern Ireland, and the deep racial wounds of the United States.

Janna has also worked with Community Performance International, a company specializing in community building across lines of difference, using the stories of a community in large-scale theatre performances. She helped develop Community Story Performances in towns across the South and created programming for schools. In 2011, she co-founded the StoryTown Program in Jonesborough, TN, which continues to this day.

As a grief practitioner, Janna brings her trauma-informed drama therapy expertise into the realm of community grief-tending—facilitating monthly grief rituals, keening circles, and embodied expressive arts processes to help individuals and communities honor loss, release what can no longer be carried, and make space for renewal. Her grief work draws from ancestral Celtic traditions, trauma-informed expressive arts, and ritual-based collective healing practices.

She is co-founder of Integrative StoryWorks, a company that uses personal stories to heal individual and collective wounds, as well as StoryWander Travel, which offers escorted, story-based small group travel experiences.

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