REFLECTIONS FROM LAUREN HOWE
The Soft Ground
A place for tending to your unfolding
Sometimes we realise that the ways we have learnt to move through the world no longer quite fit. We might find ourselves tired of pushing through, disconnected from our bodies, caught in familiar patterns, or sensing that something within us is asking for a different way.
The Soft Ground is a meeting place for those moments. To land within them and meet them with a curious heart rather than another thing to fix or overcome.
Here I write about somatic therapy, body-led meditation, nervous system awareness, life transitions and our relationship with the natural world, exploring what can become possible when we begin listening to the body rather than always trying to think our way forward.
You are invited to come as you are. Stay with what is here.
See what begins to emerge.
How to Meditate When You Have Anxiety
Meditation can feel hard when you have anxiety, especially if sitting still, closing your eyes or focusing on the breath makes your body feel more activated. This blog explores how to meditate with anxiety through a body-led approach using grounding, movement, sound, open-eye meditation and nervous system support.
Why Meditation Feels Harder Before Your Period - A body-led guide to meditation, hormones and your cycle
Meditation can feel different across your menstrual cycle. This blog explores why meditation may feel harder before your period, how hormones and the luteal phase can affect your nervous system, and how to adapt meditation for menstruation, the follicular phase, ovulation and the luteal phase.
Meditation Wasn't Designed for Women's Bodies (And What to Do Instead)
A softer reflection on why meditation can feel hard for women, especially when traditional practices do not make room for the body, nervous system, hormonal rhythms, burnout, motherhood or the real-life load many women carry. This piece explores how body-led meditation offers another way into practice, one that begins with the body as it is and supports women to listen, soften and come home to themselves.
Why Meditation Apps Aren’t Enough: The Nervous System Needs More Than a Recording
Meditation apps can be helpful, but they cannot truly attune to your body, nervous system or emotional needs. This blog explores why nervous system-informed meditation, somatic support and relational guidance matter, especially for women navigating anxiety, burnout, trauma, motherhood or emotional overwhelm.
Somatic Meditation for Women in Australia: A Body-Led Way to Come Home to Yourself
Somatic meditation for women is a body-led approach to meditation that helps you listen to your body, understand your nervous system and reconnect with yourself through movement, grounding, breath, feminine embodiment and compassionate awareness.
What Is Somatic Meditation? A Body-Led Approach to Coming Home to Yourself
In this blog, I explore what somatic meditation is, how it differs from traditional meditation, why trauma-sensitive and properly trained guidance matters, and how body-led meditation can support women through stress, anxiety, burnout, motherhood and life transitions.
Why Can’t I Meditate Anymore? A Nervous System Perspective for Women
Meditation can feel very different across a woman’s life. What once felt grounding or spacious may begin to feel flat, agitating or out of reach as stress, hormones, grief, caregiving, trauma or major life transitions shape the body and nervous system. This piece explores why that happens and how practice may need to change with more gentleness, safety and respect for the body.