UZAZU Embodied Intelligence Certified Practitioner

“Universities are not structured to make faculty feel safe and secure.”

This observation by Stephen Porges, founder of Polyvagal Theory, has become a touchstone for me, and here’s why:

From the moment I started undergraduate studies in the mid-1990s, I wanted to spend my life in the university: I love that humans invented places dedicated to learning, thinking, and research, and I often feel a kinship with people drawn to them. So I got my DPhil and made a career in social science and interdisciplinary education. Through this, I discovered a profound challenge at the heart of academic life: how to stay connected to the heart of the work, and open enough to the genuine learning and exchange that good teaching, scholarship and collaborative work require, while facing pressure to produce, compete, do many things, and account for oneself.

My own path led to serving the academic community from the outside, as a coach and workshop leader supporting others in navigating different versions of this challenge. My experiences in academia have prepared me for this, especially my deep-seated struggles with writing.

Porges’ quote, and the nervous-system-attuned change-work it is part of, has felt so validating for me and many clients. If we do our best work when we feel safe and connected, then what can we do when academic cultures and spaces aren’t designed to support that..?

We can start by paying attention to our defensive patterns and practise meeting them with warmth and understanding. And we can – individually and collectively – look for possibilities to invite ourselves into safety and connection in how we go about our work and interact with others.

UZAZU fits right in here. After several years of training and working as a coach and embodied facilitator, I trained in UZAZU because it offers a rich and systematic pattern language for working with the body and nervous system. I use it to support caring for and resourcing the self, developing deeper awareness of patterns, clarifying choice, and discovering new possibilities for how to show up in work and life.

More about me, my approach and current offerings at catelijnecoopmans.com, or write to me at catelijne@catelijnecoopmans.com to ask when my three-part workshop “Embodied Values in Academic Writing” runs again, or about options for 1:1 embodied writing coaching. I’d love to hear from you.