3x/month stories for humans seeking depth and meaning.

I'm Janelle Hardy and at some point you signed up for this weekly (ish) newsletter on memoir-writing, somatic (body) healing and stories. If you'd like to unsubscribe, just click the unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Hi there! Over the next week and a half I'll be inviting you to join my upcoming Stories From the Body Writing Challenge, which starts June 9th.

Don't want to hear about this challenge? Click here to opt out of related e-mails.

Looking to access memories? Try connecting with your body 🤲🏻

People often tell me that when they’re writing their memoirs and exploring their life experiences, they find it difficult to access memories from certain time frames.

People also tell me they're interested in embodiment and want to connect more deeply with their bodies, but don’t know how.

For years now I’ve taught writing, as well as healing, from a body-centric perspective, because in my experience, when we prioritize connecting with our bodies we get the absolute surprise and delight of receiving memories and lived experiences that our brains simply haven’t been able to access.

You know that saying, the body keeps the score? Well, it does.

Another saying is ‘the issue’s in the tissues.’ And our tissues (aka bodies) are eager to release what they’ve been storing for us.

But more than that, our bodies carry all the stories and memories, both tough and divine, that our conscious minds haven’t been able to integrate.

Until we’re ready. And then, typically, your body will offer it up with kindness, grace and deep wisdom, a story at a time, an experience at a time (in it's own animal body way, which can also involve trembling, shaking, contraction, as well as expansion, extension and more ease).

Your body is kind. It will hold on as long as possible, even when that involves discomfort, if it senses you're not ready.

It tries to offer memories and stories up when you’re less likely to be overwhelmed, or, when it senses you're in a space that feels safe for release; a space with support, containment and good people.

Moments when it senses there is room for growth, integration, storytelling, laughter and release.

Connecting with your body can help you with your memoir-writing by helping you to:

• Tap into previously forgotten memories (not only the tough, but also the beautiful)
• Reconnect with your body and start cultivating a delicious sense of presence inside yourself (because our body is the only actual home we have in this lifetime)
• Find more creative vocabulary to describe the sensory and embodied parts of your stories
• Write 5 stories in 5 days!!!
• and more

Not sure how this works or where to start?

Here’s where my Stories From the Body Writing Challenge comes in.

In a week and a half I’m hosting a writing challenge that will make it easy for you.

From July 9th to 13th I’ll walk you through a daily body-writing prompt and make time for you to write.

So you can write 5 short personal stories in 5 days! Hurrah!

I’ll be writing alongside you, by the way. Because I love the creative uplift that a gathering of keen open-hearted writers brings.

Writing collectively makes the writing easier, especially when we include our bodies in the process.

​So sign up for my FREE writing challenge!​

By the end of the writing challenge, you will have:

• 5 short personal story drafts (maybe even finished stories) sourced from your body
• Confidence that you have the ability to write a memoir because you’ve already got 5 stories on the go!
• A deeper knowledge of how your body, your nervous system and your creativity are connected, and how to shift resistance using your body, when it rears it’s tiresome head(s)
• Trust that your body holds riveting memories and stories, and that you know how to access them instead of getting stuck in your head

The FREE Stories From the Body Writing Challenge is starting with a kickoff call on Monday, July 8th, so be sure to save your spot.​

xoxo,

Janelle

Tl;dr: dreaming about getting your memoir started (or re-started) in the next month, but struggling to actually write? Join me for a FREE 5-day challenge where you’ll learn how to tap into your body in order to source personal stories, and get more sensory in your descriptions so you can get 5 personal stories written! Save your seat for the FREE Stories From Your Body Writing Challenge!​

PS - Don't want to hear about this free writing challenge? Click here to opt out of related e-mails.​