RYME takes an intentionally holistic and deeply personalized approach to the human experience. A partnership of the mind and body, RYME is rooted in harmonious therapeutic and somatic practices.
When I was first introduced to RYME, I was in a period of transition. Things were changing for me, but I felt like I was moving through them without intention or purpose. The change itself was good, but it was still arriving with the anxiety that comes with any redirection: am I moving forward in the right way?
When I completed the intake questionnaire, I noticed myself smiling at the questions, at the familiarity of them – I saw myself in the answers. It emphasized why I was there. It brought forward areas of opportunity and compelled me to look, again, at my state of being with an observant eye. A questionnaire is such an easy thing to overlook, a quick to-do line item. But when I really sat down with the short but revealing questions, I had to acknowledge myself for where I was – not where I wanted to be.
I went into our work knowing clearly some of the parts I wanted to work on, although of course more was revealed in time. Negative self-talk was no longer acceptable, burn out was impending, productivity and energy were at an all-time low, and is so common in these cyclical and interwoven internal relationships, self-worth was struggling.
The intention with inner work is, grandly speaking, to improve self. For me (and this may resonate for many in modern society) that first meant getting my anxiety under control and bringing forward the ability to calm it when it presents. I tend to spin between dissociative freeze and frantic energy, and as you can imagine neither is particularly suited to functioning well.
At our first connection RYME’s method and mandate was explained. Loes takes on the role of investigator, identifying and then tackling the stories that we write for ourselves. The premise of her work is that, given time, mistaken neural connections become beliefs, and so then stories that we write for ourselves grab hold. She looks to unpack the beliefs, find their source, and break the chains of bad patterns.
Hanna brings tactical, somatic applications to support this work. Change happens in the mind but trauma lives in the body, and if we have any hope of lasting modified beliefs, we have to bring our body up to speed with what our brain wants to know. Hanna creates opportunities for regulation and maintenance.
Our goal together was to break the pattern of freeze and frenzy, and to relieve my nervous system of the arduous role it has unnecessarily taken on.
Working with and within the body
We began with Hanna’s somatic work. I felt ashamed logging into my first session knowing that I was in a frantic and distracted state, pressed with work deadlines and in my head about my to-do list. My fear was I wouldn’t be ready to absorb what was to come, not yet seeing the irony that this line of thinking (and being) perfectly showcased the point of this work.
Her stance, as I understood her introduction, is that our greater goal is to increase the ‘window of tolerance’ to suffering. Of course, stressors are going to present, but the aim is to find tactics that reduce reactivity and increase the ability to tolerate discomfort.
Hanna outlined how we’d work together:
First, we understand where you are at any given time and at during different times of the day, looking for patterns
Next, we identify the signals of your body, to quickly assess with stage you’re in
Finally, we outline tools that can support any stage, and understand which tools support when
Hanna’s approach is holistic, examining how sleep, nutrition and your day-to-day play a role in your state of being.
In our first session, which was really intended to introduce and acclimate, we practiced small breathing exercises that were surprisingly effective in bringing me back to presence in the frantic state I’d entered in. I left with information, understanding, and starter tools to explore.
My ensuing sessions with Hanna and the lessons held within were particularly compelling to me because of their flexibility. So often, practitioners and students tout a silver bullet, the one ‘must do’ activity or mindset or practice that will solve all that ails you. Hanna challenges that with the very logical acknowledgment that we are not the same. RYME is an informed and personalized practice – understanding the language of our own body and the subconscious patterns hiding in our nervous systems.
An example that landed for me was that meditation works for some – or, sitting with your thoughts may be the opposite of what an anxious mind needs. It may be the best tool to use when you’ve found that window of tolerance, but first, we need to find that place. If your nervous system’s baseline is hyperarousal, meditation might just be too far from where you are. Unrealistic blanket goals can set us up for disappointment. You might, instead, need movement, the chance to get OUT of your head.
The directive of ‘try, observe, apply as needed’ is appealing to me, because it challenges this idea that you might be ‘doing it wrong’. How many anxious over-achievers have beat themselves up for not meditating correctly, or enough, or feeling its positive effects fast enough? Hanna’s approach encourages listening and observation before action. That pause and check in is a deeply effective action in itself.
Her skill is to help me understand the signals of my body (what am I experiencing?) and learn which tools I need in the moment (how can I move through it?); to show me how to meet myself where I am, to encounter every state with ease and shift the energy towards a new place of being.
I was gifted tools for the times of disassociation, freeze, hypoarousal, and the times of anxiety, headiness, and being hyperaroused. Hanna encourages and supports reducing friction in this journey, weaving into practice things that already feel good and comfortable. This might be breathwork, rhythmic movement, vocal vibration, yoga – everyone has a different recipe.
As she puts it: you don’t have to practice being uncomfortable. But you do have to practice how to regulate yourself when you are uncomfortable. Don’t distract; create space to feel it and use tools to move through it.
Bringing attention to the mind
Hanna’s embodiment is the complement to Loes’ mental exploration. Although this summary is diminutive to the depth of her practice, Loes takes on a more traditional therapist role. During my sessions with her, we predominantly stayed in talk therapy, although she is skilled in EMDR, hypnotherapy and complementary physical connective practices.
When I first met with Loes, I was sitting squarely in the middle of what I would label an extended anxiety episode. Unable to sleep well, emotional and overwhelmed, I entered the call feeling a sense of desperation that she’d be able to help, and a resignation that it really just doesn’t work like that. Most therapeutic relationships take time to build and foster, an onboarding of sorts to know and understand the other. And yet, it was my read that Loes was immediately able to register my state of being, suggest some informed theories as to how I got there, and leave me with points of contemplation to unpack on my own.
I was, frankly, stunned at how quickly she saw me and how applicable her key points really were. My self-view is not so large as to think my perceived problems are unique, but no human is operating without the lens of nuance. Loes deftly called me out for my individual experience and gently laid out a new path.
She was able to solidify for me where the experience I was having in my body, in my nervous system, was built from in my mind. And that was all in the first session.
Loes built out a plan to target my (misguided) belief system. As she phrased it, after we shine the light on the dusty basement and see what’s hidden there, we can now tackle the clean up. She explained her methodology: that our core energy is who we are, and the layers around it, often blocking it, are what we’ve learned. Her job is to peel back those unnecessary layers and connect more effectively with what lies within.
Finding connection to self across body and mind
No change can occur without inner connection. Much as Hanna encourages connection with the body, Loes facilitates the connection to self knowing. Both know those connections are critical and support you to enhance it.
Loes finds the bad habits and cycles and works to address them. Hanna maintains and widens the window of tolerance, allowing you to save and bank the energy you need to make new good habits.
RYME stands out for its approach to the human as a holistic being. Beyond calming imbalance or preventing imbalances before they present, RYME’s method empowers its students to better understand themselves. That increased understanding is empowering, the ability to affect change within oneself without outside parties needed. It’s the opposite of a dependency, a formula to become addicted to that one must subscribe to. The gift is the lessons you are then able to give yourself.
Therapy and somatic work are powerful on their own, but when working in tandem in synergy they amplify each other, unlocking a force for growth.
- Carla Mitchell