Three months of full time work in the mind-dominant structures & institutions of the ordinary middle world is taking its toll on my energy, body & nervous system.

Top down processing & expression is not my natural way of being. I feel the escalating dysregulation from the pace, constant demand to internally translate, monitor & mask to be seen and heard.

Burnout creeps in.

Like many others, my embodied & creative (heart-led, soul-led & relational) way of being in the world, bottom up processing (intuitive, informed by felt-sense which speaks the language of the body - it's sensations, feelings, emotions) is, at best, simply either misunderstood or considered of no worth & at worst, is pathologised, in the materialist, neoliberal & rationalist systems.

What to do? I don't want to dissociate or bypass.

Accept what is. Care for my body & nervous system. Feed my Soul. Lean into non verbal, creative, symbolic ritual & expression (like I did yesterday at New Moon ... see post pic & if you didn't know my creative & spiritual work before Neurodivergent advocacy check out my published books, link in bio & website). Be the bridge.

Collaborate. Co-produce. Coparticipate. There's absolutely no way survival is an individual endeavour.

Understanding difference & diversity of the human bodymind & the union of mind, body & the nonmaterial (however defined) is integral to restoring wellness.

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #education #healthcare #neuroinclusion #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #bodymind #mindbodyspirit #mindbodysoul

I'm sharing information about the new neurodiversity-positive research informing campuses across the UK, part of York St John University Institute of Social Justice, which I have been and remained involved with as part of the Participatory Advisory Group (PAG).  Below are extracts from Jamie Williams' blog which you can read in full clicking here

From “Admiring the problem” to ‘What works’…

Neurodivergent students often tell us they don’t feel like their struggles are noticed, and we wanted to ensure we heard them.
However, we also wanted to enact achievable changes based on what people told us. We wanted to go beyond “admiring the problem”, not only asking “what’s wrong?” but also “what works?” – by identifying existing good practices and making pragmatic recommendations to inspire change at all levels of HE.
By showing what neurodiversity-affirming practice is already being achieved within the current constraints of the HE landscape, adjustments cannot be dismissed as an abstract but unachievable wish.

We set up the Participatory Advisory Group (PAG) to explore this, and we were hugely lucky to be joined by a fantastic mixed-neurotype group of students, former students, and professionals who had experience with the YSJ campus and wanted to take an active role throughout the project.
The PAG has shaped every aspect of the research by:
⭐️ Providing crucial feedback at every part of the process
⭐️ Telling us they were sick of seeing diagnostic labels and stereotypes, or clinical language and imagery that didn’t speak to their experiences, in research
⭐️ Contributing designs, posters and wording for recruitment material and our online padlet (see pictures!)
⭐️ Contributing questions and collaborating on our interview schedule
For the research team, this has been an absolute joy and a means of genuinely sharing the responsibility for the project. In fact, such was their influence that when we needed to recruit additional Research Associates, we did so from within the group, extending the PAG’s influence further.

We hope that this research will improve the experiences of students and staff at YSJ and, more broadly, at other educational institutions and professional organisations. To this end, we are partnering with other universities to share INC’s methods and key findings.

Project INC has already been cited in training within public-sector, charity, higher education, and private-sector contexts.

The INC themes contributing to active belonging, such as ‘Believe me, talk to me’, ‘Shared responsibility’ and ‘Identity spaces’ are already informing the support that Spectrum First provides for University students and professionals at all levels, whether it is being used in one to one strategy development, or is being shared with Student Support, Academic, or HR Departments.

The core message of ‘what works’ is something people can connect to and be inspired by how individuals who perceive and work differently can thrive in many different contexts.
We are excited to see where it goes and how far it can spread!

Sandra Bargman words ...

Ever since I discovered her, I have been quite taken with Kay’s experience & teachings of #embodimentspirituality

In particular, her understanding of the relationship of the nervous system & the healing of trauma to our experiencing ourselves as divinity DIVINITY that is our BIRTHRIGHT #tangibledivinity

In these challenging times of spiritual disconnect, collapse culture, & climate crisis and the growing mental health issues as a result, I feel there is no more important work than what Kay is teaching, modelling & embodying. This conversation is a masterclass for the times in which we live

Is there anything better on Valentines Day than Making Love with the Divine?

In this episode, Kay shares her journey from her religious upbringing into seminary, discovering shamanistic & energy work, getting booted from Anglican seminary training, to stepping fully into embodied spirituality. We discuss

What is metacognition?

We re-visit the understanding of the word shamanism as a living dynamic

We talk about her powerful book, Making Love with the Divine @girlgodbooks

Kay expands on her understanding of the Nervous System (& the healing of trauma) as our divine sacred centre.

Using her religious vernacular, this becomes her re-telling of Eve & the Genesis story through her own lived experience

Kay weaves together the parasympathetic (feminine energy) with the sympathetic response (masculine)

Kay shares the liberation of her lineage story of her paternal Grandmother, a creative, religious & eccentric force in Kay’s young life through the Theatre of Church

Witnessing funerals & grief was a powerful lesson in her early years

She details her spiritual journey: the foundational role her grandmother played > moving into theological academia > teaching theology > Anglican Ordination training while at the same time training in shamanism > leaving her religious training > her deconstruction of the control of theology over her and stepping fully into her experience of Embodiment Spirituality

“We are searching for an alternative world within this one”. Spiritual/Sexual abuse in the church & other spiritual communities & the need for safeguarding

Listen here on Spotify but it is available on all your favourite platforms​

This month, at Neurodiverse Connection we’ve been thinking about jobs (we're also recruiting so check out our website here)

We know that when it comes to employment, the Neurodivergent experience can be far from straight-forward and as NdC Development Lead, I've shared 9 lessons learned from working in a non-Neurodivergent-affirming environment

Over the next 9 days I'll be sharing more about each lesson individually but if you don't want to wait you can read the full blog now here

If you’ve ever felt misunderstood in the workplace, we hope this article brings you some validation and reassurance.

#educateevolveembody #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #neurodiverseconnection #recruitment #workplace #equality #diversity #inclusion #belonging #employeesuccess #employmentsuccess #neurodivergent #neurodiversityaffirming

Back for 2025 👍

Neurodiverse Connection Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach (NDWA) Training has three cohorts running this spring/summer.

Cohort A INDIVIDUALS
8 x 90-minute evening sessions
Tuesdays, 6pm
18th March—13th May

Cohort B PROFESSIONALS
4 x half-day sessions
Tuesdays, 9.30am—1pm
13th May—10th June

Cohort C PROFESSIONALS
4 x half-day sessions
Thursdays, 12.30pm—4pm
12th June—10th July

Interested in learning more? Click here

#educateevolveembody #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #neurodiverseconnection #neurodivergentwellbeingapproach #neurodivergent #wellbeing