The following is a guest post from Jenn Wooten, yoga therapist, founder of Viasomatic, and retreat leader with One Yoga Global.
It has felt especially challenging to live in the US right now and carry wholesome charitable views of mankind. The noise of division seems to grow louder each day, making it harder to see past the headlines and remember the wholesome decency of ordinary people. Yet perhaps that is precisely when Twain’s remedy matters most, not as escape, but as a deliberate act of seeking out the humanity we fear we’re losing sight of.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
— Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad
To cross a border, share a meal with a stranger, or simply witness another way of life can loosen the grip of despair and remind us that the world, in its vast complexity, still holds more grace than any single news cycle can contain.
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At home, in my work with Viasomatic, we sit with clients who are carrying the weight of stress and trauma locked deep in their bodies — people whose nervous systems have been pushed beyond their capacity to self-regulate and who need gentle, evidence-based movement practices to finally complete the stress cycle and find their way back to themselves.
Abroad, I witness that same human fragility and longing for wholeness playing out across vastly different landscapes and cultures, reminding me that the nervous system does not carry a passport; suffering and the hunger for relief are universal.
It is humbling to see that the same forces fracturing the national conversation at home are reverberating in bodies and communities around the world, each in their own particular way. And yet, in both places, what I find at the center of the work is the same truth: that people, given even a small measure of safety and support, will always connect to the best in their human nature.
This is what I have witnessed for over a decade, traveling and leading retreats with One Yoga Global. When we bring people into genuine connection with their bodies, with each other, and with the landscape around them — and when they feel truly held and cared for — something extraordinary happens.
Our usual armor comes off. Our nervous system settles. And what emerges, reliably and beautifully, is our shared humanity.
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If you are nervous about traveling in a time of uncertainty, if your nervous system needs a space to let down its guard, and if you are longing to reclaim a more wholesome view of our shared humanity, we invite you to join us.
One Yoga Global will take care of the details so you can simply arrive, exhale, and remember what it feels like to be held by something larger than the noise: the land, the practice, and the communities we come together to become more ourselves with.
If you are looking for body-based support for your nervous system, Jenn and the team at Viasomatic are dedicated to helping people build lasting capacity for steadiness, connection, and healing from the inside out.
Learn more at: https://viasomatic.com/
