All the freebies!

Dear friends,

As the weather gets colder and darker I think we all have to fight the urge to turn in on ourselves. It feels like that atavistic urge to hibernate and stay safe through the long dark months could so easily take over. But I know from experience that less daylight means we need to support our systems in other ways – with movement, nutrition, connection, and inspiration. Of course, at this point in the academic year many of you are probably thinking, please Francesca, stop telling me I need to move and make time for myself, it’s impossible. I’ve been there, I know that feeling. University terms are not kind things, and the state of HE in the UK and beyond means that the pressures this year are only mounting. And then, of course, there is a certain election result. It feels more important than ever to be doing what I am doing and to be offering what I can to support all of you at the coal face. So this newsletter is a little grab-bag of giveaways.

Writing, in term time?! Well yes, but also, maybe not writing as punishment or graft. To celebrate the launch of the Slow Writing Club, I’m opening this month’s Beatha Coaching Community workshop for free, and it’s all about reclaiming your writing. In this 1 hour (ish…) lunchtime workshop I’ll take you through some of the most common blocks to writing with joy, and offer you a starter kit of tools to utilise. This workshop is all about you and your writing practice, so why not hit reply to this newsletter and let me know what you would really like to learn about next Wednesday.

And as a bonus – participants in the workshop will get a free month in The Slow Writers Club. That’s a two hour writing session on the 5th December, and a writing prompt dropping onto Substack on 19th December. Each month The Slow Writers Club is themed, and the topic for our launch month in December is ‘Sustainable’. We’ll meet via zoom to write to some prompts together and have a discussion, with the option of accessing coaching if you want more support, then after a tea break we turn to our current projects and write together. The Substack prompt gives you the opportunity to stay connected and keep the thinking going until next month.

To join the Unfuck Your Writing workshop on Wednesday 13th November at 1pm, drop your email below. You will be added to The Slow Writing Club page on Substack as a free subscriber and receive the zoom link and the events in December that way. I’ll send a reminder in January to sign up as a paid member if you would like, but you can also stay as a free subscriber and just receive updates and the monthly prompt. I’m really looking forward to writing with you.

Free webiner on burnout

If you were considering joining the Burnout Rewire programme in September but couldn’t make it, I am now making the first webinar from the series available to you to watch. This one hour workshop introduces what burnout is, how to identify the symptoms of a functional burnout, and gives you some basic strategies to start your recovery. By this point in the year I suspect we all need a refresher on the basics and why they matter. You can watch the webinar here, and please do share this newsletter with anyone you know who would benefit:

I’m taking new clients…

If you resonate with anything from the burnout webinar, or would like coaching support for another challenge, whether it’s writing, workplace tensions, or anxiety management, do get in touch. I recently wrapped up a few client contracts so I have space for new 1-2-1 clients. You can find all the details of my prices and packages here. Or fill out the enquiry form below to get in touch. Here’s what some of my clients have been saying recently:

“I’m in a much better place than when we started working together. I can write every day now and I’m making progress with my thesis again.“

“It’s just really useful to have this space to sense-check things so they don’t build up in my mind. I’ve been really reactive so this helps me get some distance and work out what is real and what is anxiety.”

“Learning about the embodied techniques and my nervous system is the missing piece, I feel much more in control now.”

If you would like to discuss accessing coaching support please get in touch:

And finally, some updates from me…

I’ve been really enjoying being able to offer more somatic and embodied workshops and classes recently. I know what a profound difference they make for those of us prone to intellectualising our emotions, and it’s great to introduce mental health tools in the safe space of a yoga class. To support my work in this area I am doing an amazing training with Amy Carmody, an Australian based yoga and functional mobility teacher with incredible online offerings. Her teacher training package is so perfect for me, focusing in depth on the female body and anatomy, including pre and post-natal yoga training and functional strength training. It’s an incredibly intense ten week course with about 7 hours of material to fit in every week on top of all my other work, but I’m completely loving it and getting very nerdy about the pelvic floor! I’m delighted that by the end of this training I’ll be able to offer you even more informed and helpful movement support for your stress management journey.

In the meantime I’m still uploading a weekly on-demand class to YouTube, and a big thank you to those who like and comment regularly, it really does help to drive the algorithm. If you haven’t tried it yet, I released a 12 minute mini-class this week for when you are short on time but really need a stretch. I’ll link to it below. For something more in depth look out next week for a 30 minute strong spine workshop that introduces you to your transverse abdominal muscles and how to utilise them to prevent low back pain. You can find a years worth of classes (yes, a year, I can’t believe it!) on YouTube @mind-body-movement.

Any staff and PhD candidates at the University of Stirling can now practice with me for free once a month online. Look out for the Stress Relief sessions advertised by the IAS – I’ll be streaming live from the studio bringing you lots of stress relief tips, embodied and cognitive practices, and deep stretches for desk-work related tension. The next class is on Wednesday 20th at 1pm.

For anyone else out there looking for a regular yoga class, did you know you can join my Monday night Somatic Yoga class live via zoom? The class runs 6-7pm (ish!) and we do something a little different every week, but the main focus is always on relieving tension and finding more safety in our bodies. Our theme until the end of the year is ‘Making Space’, so if you are feeling a bit tight, crunchy, overwhelmed and stressed, why not try it out next week and see if some gentle movement helps. It’s only £8 a class or whatever you can afford, and you can book here.

Last but not least, I’m still writing over on Substack as The Anxious Academic, and that’s the place to connect with me if you want to know more about my ongoing research and book project on trauma and women’s history. Give me a shout if you read anything that resonates with you, it’s always so lovely to get feedback on my words.

Wishing you all a lovely rest of the month, do hit reply and let me know your news too.

Francesca x