Bryony Lancaster

How to meditate when you can't sit still

In 90 minutes, understand why stillness is one of the hardest things you can ask of a nervous system, and learn to teach it safely, skillfully, and in a way that actually works for the people in front of you.

Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness · 90 Minute Workshop

$147 $27

For yoga & meditation teachers

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Have you ever invited a room to be still, and felt the room resist you?

Not everyone. Not always. But someone. A held breath. A held body. A student who can't sit through savasana without shifting, or worse, without leaving the room entirely.

You've probably put it down to a busy mind, or a fidgety body, or "just needing more practice."

But stillness isn't hard because someone hasn't tried hard enough. Stillness is hard because, for a huge number of the people in front of you, a still body and a quiet mind is exactly the environment their nervous system was trained to distrust.

You already know the words. Hyperarousal. Hypoarousal. Regulation. The window of tolerance. Maybe you've read The Body Keeps the Score.

But knowing the words isn't the same as understanding what's actually happening, physiologically, in a nervous system that has learned, often for very good reason, that stillness isn't safe, it doesn't feel feasible.

Why does a quiet room feel unbearable to some people?

Why is stillness itself so often the very thing addiction, busyness, scrolling, over-work and constant motion are designed to avoid?

Why can something as simple as slowing the breath bring someone directly to the edge of panic?

Once you understand what's actually happening in the brain and body, you stop guessing. You start teaching from real understanding, the kind that changes how you sequence a class, how you cue stillness, or teach mindfulness and how you hold a room.

The Workshop

In 90 minutes, you'll understand

How the nervous system actually works - as something alive, protective, and constantly adjusting whether we are aware of it or not.
Why substances, busyness, scrolling, over-work and constant motion are so alluring to a dysregulated nervous system, and why stillness can feel so agonising.
Why being still is so intolerable for so many of us, and profoundly more so for anyone carrying CPTSD, PTSD, or walking the road of recovery.
What the window of tolerance actually is, and how to recognise where a student - or you - sits within it, moment to moment.
What happens in the brain during mindfulness practice, and why that same practice can be either the most healing thing you offer, or, taught without skill, retraumatising.
The Two Wings of Mindfulness - why awareness alone isn't enough, and why compassion is essential, both philosophically and scientifically. And we will look at the role of the inner critic, and how it can keep us stuck.
Why yoga has become such a powerful part of healing from PTSD when it's taught with skill, and what separates a class that heals from one that unintentionally harms.

Is This You?

This workshop is for you if…

You're a yoga teacher, meditation teacher, or practitioner who already holds space for others, and you want to understand why stillness is so hard for so many nervous systems, and what that means for how you teach.

You don't need any prior trauma training.

You do need to be interested in your own relationship with stillness, as much as your students'.

Stillness isn't hard because someone hasn't tried hard enough. It's hard because their nervous system was trained to distrust it.

Bryony Lancaster

What We'll Cover

Here's the plan

I'll walk you through how the nervous system moves between states, and why that matters more than the pose, cue, or sequence you'll teach.

I'll explain why stillness, the very thing meditation asks of us, can feel like danger to a nervous system shaped by trauma, addiction, or chronic stress, over-work, burnout and life!

I'll show you what's actually happening in the brain when someone practices mindfulness, and why the same practice can heal or harm depending entirely on how it's taught.

I'll unpack why yoga has proven so powerful in trauma recovery, backed by real research, not just intuition.

I will discuss the Two Wings of Mindfulness, and why compassion is crucial, both philosophically and scientifically, and the role of the inner critic, and how it can keep us stuck.

Finally, I'll give you a clear starting framework for bringing trauma-sensitive mindfulness into the way you teach.

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Our money-back guarantee

Watch the whole workshop. If it isn't what you needed, just reply to your receipt and you'll be refunded in full. No forms, no questions.

Included

Here's what you'll receive

A clear understanding of how the nervous system moves through hyperarousal and hypoarousal, and why we move between the two
The neuroscience behind why stillness is so often intolerable
A working understanding of the window of tolerance, and how to recognise it in a room and support students back into it
Insight into why mindfulness can be either healing or harmful, and what makes the difference
The Two Wings of Mindfulness - Awareness and Compassion - and why both are essential to holding space well
The research behind yoga's role in trauma recovery, so you understand not just that it works, but why
A foundational framework for designing trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and how to weave it into your next class

Your Teacher

Bryony Lancaster

Bryony has been teaching for almost 3 decades, and has spent the last four years as lead teacher and trauma-sensitive mindfulness teacher at a residential recovery centre, working with hundreds of residents healing from addiction, grief, CPTSD and PTSD.

She is an E-RYT 500 Teacher Trainer and Insight Yoga Institute Endorsed teacher, and has trained extensively with Sarah Powers, integrating yoga, meditation, Buddhism and psychology into her work. She trained in Trauma-Sensitive Yoga with both Sarah Ball and Judith & Lizzie Lasater, and brings her own lived experience into how she teaches.

She is the author of Egg of the Universe and a regular contributor to Wellbeing Yoga, Being Yoga and Meditation Magazine, and Yoga Journal.

How to meditate when you can't sit still

Understand why stillness is so hard for so many nervous systems, and what that means for the way you teach, starting with your very next class.

Get Instant Access · $27