Jennifer Grace Healing Arts

Yesterday my daughter turned 13.

And uff da.
This one hit me harder than I expected. 🥹

There is something kinda strange about raising a daughter while realizing how much of your own womanhood you’ve had to unlearn.

How many of us learned to be easy, agreeable, helpful, pleasant, and available.

To notice what everyone else needed before we noticed ourselves.

To tolerate a little more. Push through. Stay “nice.” Ignore the signals saying, this doesn’t feel right or this is too much.

And now I’m watching my sweet girl stand at the edge of becoming a young woman while following the conversations surrounding the Cornell allegations these past few weeks.

And it has me like…

F*ck.

I can teach her to trust herself.

That her body gets to have an opinion.

That she can say no, change her mind, take up space, be inconvenient, leave, and ask for help.

That she does not owe ANYONE access to her body, attention, affection, or time.

But I cannot make the world perfectly safe for her. 💔

And that f*cking sucks.

Because I never want her to believe that if something happens to her, it means she failed to listen closely enough, leave quickly enough, say no clearly enough, or protect herself well enough.

Raising her right now feels like holding both….

Helping her stay deeply connected to herself.

And reminding her that she is never responsible for someone else choosing not to honor her humanity.

There is so much I want for her.

But lately I’ve been thinking about what I hope she never has to UNLEARN.

I hope she stays close to herself.

I hope she knows kindness does not require endless availability.

I hope she knows someone else’s disappointment does not mean she has done something wrong.

I hope she can belong deeply to others without abandoning herself.

Maybe that’s part of why my work with women feels so personal.

I spend my days with women finding their way back to parts of themselves I hope my daughter never has to leave.

Happy 13th birthday, my sweet and spicy girl.

May you always, always belong to yourself. 🤍

(Of course I got her permission to share these photos)

So much of what I meet in the treatment room makes more sense when we stop asking, “Why won’t this body relax?” and begin asking, “What conditions have made this level of readiness necessary?”

This series grew from that question—and from recognizing that Krystina, Dr. Hillary, and I are meeting different expressions of the same larger conversation through mental health, physiology, and bodywork.

And it definitely feels like an especially important conversation to be having right now!

Our first workshop, Why Rest Feels Wrong, is full—but it is only the beginning. If something in this post feels familiar, I hope you’ll take a look at what’s coming next.

https://studioshecollective.squarespace.com/burnout-workshop-series

You won’t catch me saying, “You know your nervous system can’t tell the difference between a full email inbox and a wild bear.”

Because it can.

Your body knows you’re not being chased by a bear.

But that doesn’t mean the inbox, the appointments, the practices, the dinner question, the texts you haven’t answered, the thing you need to remember on the way home, and the constant mental math of what needs to happen when aren’t affecting your physiology.

Maybe you’re not scanning for danger.

Maybe you’re scanning for what needs you next.

And when you’ve spent most of your life anticipating, monitoring, remembering, tracking and staying one step ahead, your body does more than just participate in that readiness. It becomes that state.

The jaw that never quite unclenches.
The shoulders that stay a little lifted.
The breath that stays higher.
The brain that starts making lists the second you finally sit down.

None of it means your body thinks you’re in literal danger.

It may simply mean that you’re still on duty….. always on duty….

And that difference matters.

Because having nothing to do for twenty minutes isn’t necessarily the same thing as your whole system realizing:

I don’t have to be ready for anything right now.

This is one of the threads we’ll be exploring at
Why Rest Feels Wrong—our free introductory burnout workshop on September 13 at Studio She Collective | Women’s Wellness | Alexandria, MN

Not how to get better at relaxing.

But why slowing down can feel surprisingly uncomfortable in the first place—and what your body may have learned about staying ready.

Mark your calendars for
September 13 | 5:30–7:00 pm
📍Studio She Collective | Alexandria, MN
Free to attend • registration opening soon

Save this one if you recognize yourself here. And send it to the woman you know who somehow knows what everyone needs before they’ve even asked.

These are the little moments in the massage room that I noticed all the time.

The apology before you’ve even gotten on the table.
The mind that immediately starts making lists.
The instinct to keep helping, explaining, or making things easier—even when it’s your turn to receive.

These little moments aren’t signs that you’re bad at relaxing.

But it’s these little things you say or do that I pay particular attention to because they are indicators that your body has become very practiced at staying ready—ready to remember, respond, anticipate, help, or move on to the next thing.

And the body doesn’t always stop doing what is familiar just because you finally have an hour to rest.

You aren’t doing anything wrong.

Your body system makes sense in the context of what it has been carrying and the conditions it has adapted to.

Sometimes the first step isn’t trying harder to relax.

Sometimes it’s simply beginning to notice the patterns underneath without judging yourself for having them.

You don’t have to change anything today. Just maybe begin by noticing which one of these felt the most familiar?

Those smiles say it all! 😍

Ready to reconnect with your inner baddie?

Join us for a full-body confidence reset disguised as a dance party.

Expect juicy music, playful movement, and the kind of badass energy that lingers all week 😉

✨Baddie Dance Hour✨
Sunday, October 26th | 5:30pm
📍Studio She

🚨

It’s final here. I’m so excited to bring you my latest and greatest passions and genius combined…..Years in the making….. All coming together in a movement class like you’ve never experienced before!

Think sensual dance, somatic healing, functional movement, yoga and intuitive movement all rolled into a super fun, lighthearted, extra vibey ✨ group class experience. (This playlist though 🤌🏼)

The focus of ‘Get Juicy’ is to connect to and build more capacity for flow, ease, pleasure and vitality in the body.

Ummm hello yummy, ooey-gooey vibes…..

But with a little oomph, structure and strength…. 💪🏼

Meaning you won’t be flailing off in la-la airy fairy land either.
I’ve got you grounded with lots of structure, guidance and sequencing-

Think back to my Pulse Yoga by Jen days…. add in somatic cues, ⬆️ the sultry smolder🌶️🔥
and you’ve got ‘get juicy’.

Where feeling strong and supple collide and you reclaim your inner va-va-voom, Momma.

Liberate your body, free your mind, feel juiced-up and alive!

Get Juicy
Sunday, Sept. 28th 5:30pm
At

❇️ The first 15 to sign up will receive a custom blended juice from 🍊 Yum!

Space is limited! You don’t want to miss this unique experience. (I’m not sure when I will be offering it again) so save your spot…and a spot for your bestie 😉 now!

https://JenniferGraceHealingArts.as.me/getjuicy

When was the last time you let yourself have this much fun?! When was the last time you let yourself be silly, or playful or….. dare I say….. sensual?
When was the last time you prioritize YOUR joy?

Is it time to say NO to the things that suck your energy till you’re dryer than a popcorn fart…..
so that you can say YES the stuff that makes you feel juicy and alive?????

You deserve more than the breadcrumbs of your life, Babe! You deserve the whole damn cake! 🍰

Come dance with me 💃🏻
Saturday at 9:00am
At

Sunday Reset- a somatic meditation and Reiki infused sound bath experience

Sunday, July 20th at 7pm
📍Studio She Collective
Alexandria, MN

Somatic meditation is a body-centered approach to meditation that focuses on sensing, feeling, and inhabiting the body from the inside out. Rather than trying to quiet the mind by force or detach from the body, somatic meditation invites you to both include thought and drop beneath it into direct experience—feeling your breath, noticing sensations, and allowing holding patterns to arise and unwind naturally.

The goal of somatic meditation isn’t to escape or transcend the body, but to return to it—to reconnect with your inner landscape, regulate your nervous system, restore harmony and organically metabolize residual trauma imprints.

Register here: https://JenniferGraceHealingArts.as.me/?appointmentType=80011088