In this episode, I reflect on an evolving experiment: weaving somatic nervous system skills into interval-style workouts. Recorded on a winter walk in Anchorage, this conversation explores why learning how to be with activation may be essential for accessing real rest, resilience, and regulation - especially in intense times.
I talk about how most nervous system work focuses on deactivation, and why that often isn’t enough. Through the lens of somatics, workouts become a practice space for meeting intensity with safety, uncoupling effort from threat, and building capacity to stay present through activation cycles rather than managing or escaping them.
This episode is part teaching, part reflection, and part timestamp in a creative process that’s still unfolding - an invitation to rethink how movement, safety, and nervous system care can work together in more integrated ways.
00:00 — Welcome & recording from the winter woods
03:00 — Why somatic skills need spaces beyond therapy
06:30 — The desire to deactivate & why it often doesn’t work
10:00 — Adding safety: orienting, resourcing & co-regulation
13:30 — When the body needs activation before it can settle
17:00 — How we manage intensity: fight, flight, freeze & collapse
21:00 — Using workouts as a practice space for nervous system work
24:30 — Weaving somatics into interval training
28:00 — Uncoupling physical effort from danger
32:00 — What participants are noticing in somatic workouts
36:00 — Generalizing these skills to mountains & daily life
40:00 — Over-coupling: activation with collapse or fear
44:00 — Creating safety to stay present with activation
48:00 — When movement mobilizes old, stuck charge
52:00 — Practicing down-regulation in micro breaks
56:00 — Staying with the backside of the wave
1:00:30 — Closing reflections & where this work may be heading
Submit your questions for the Q&A [here]
Photos and links from this episode: www.mindandmountain.co/podcast
