Any Body Yoga & Wellness

Any Body Yoga & Wellness Trauma-informed somatic yoga & wellness practice in Harvard, MA. Yoga, TRE®, Neurogenic Yoga™, Buteyko Breathing, & meditation, in-person and online.

Nervous system regulation for adults, including women in perimenopause & menopause.

Sunday Night Yin is my favorite class to teach, and here’s the honest version of why.It’s easy. Easy to sequence, easy t...
09/16/2026

Sunday Night Yin is my favorite class to teach, and here’s the honest version of why.
It’s easy. Easy to sequence, easy to set people up, easy to cue. There’s not much room to overthink it the way I can in a flow class. That ease isn’t me phoning it in, by the way (and what a fun expression that is! probably only really understandable by people of a certain age. Like me). It’s exactly what makes the class work. My job is mostly to hold space and get out of the way (including my own way).
People come in looking for permission to slow down without feeling like they’re doing nothing. The shapes are held a long time. The room gets quiet.
The regulars are my favorite part. Some of them spend their first months intently staring at the ceiling or the floor or straight ahead, every muscle still working even while lying still. And then, eventually, sometimes it takes months, their bodies actually let go. I don’t push it. I just keep showing up, and so do they.
If you’ve never tried a Yin class, or you tried one and decided it wasn’t for you, Sunday nights are a good place to try.
Sundays, 7-8pm Eastern, in-person and online, $10 a class.
link in bio
🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton

Uttanasana. Forward Fold. A very watered down way of restating “intense stretch pose”, which is what uttanasana literall...
09/11/2026

Uttanasana. Forward Fold. A very watered down way of restating “intense stretch pose”, which is what uttanasana literally means. The pose where you get to feel your hamstrings. All 3 of them.
There’s a version of this pose that looks impressive, straight legs, palms flat on the floor. That may not be the best shape for your body. Remember, every yoga pose is bad for some body. If your low back isn’t really bending, your neck is aiming for your chest in your effort to fold, and the floor feels very far away from your hands, then straight arms and straight legs are simply unattainable. And that’s ok. You can still experience uttanasana.

First, bend your knees. A lot. Maybe even let your belly rest on your thighs. Second, use blocks. I love blocks, and they are still the most underused prop in yoga. Setting your hands on blocks instead of reaching for the floor does not mean you are bad at Forward Fold. It means you are giving your spine a stable place to rest instead of asking your hamstrings to donate length they don’t have yet.
Straight legs and flat palms are not the goal. Length in the spine is the goal. Get there however your body gets there today, bent knees, blocks, or both.

Happy Friday, lovelies. Rest well this weekend.
🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton

Your brain is not your friend. Your brain does not care if you are happy. Your brain just wants you to survive. Your bra...
09/09/2026

Your brain is not your friend. Your brain does not care if you are happy. Your brain just wants you to survive.
Your brain was built to keep you alive, not content. Have you ever had a relatively decent day, nothing particular going on, only to have a horrible, terrifying, embarrassing, cringe thought just drop into your mind? And then watch your body start reacting as if that thought was true- heart rate spike, tight chest, that sick feeling, which only convinces your mind that it was right all along. Why do we do that?
Every anxious spiral, every worst-case scenario at 3am, every embarrassing memory that won’t leave you alone, that’s not a personality flaw. Nor is it, necessarily, a trauma response (more on that thought in another post). That’s a few hundred thousand years of a threat-detection system that is confused that the tiger isn’t attacking you, yet your nervous system is shouting that you’re under constant threat.

You don’t have to fight your brain on this. In fact, I’d suggest you not fight the thought or pretend it doesn’t exist. (Don’t think of a pink elephant for the next 5 minutes. See what happens.) You also don’t have to believe everything you think. When those random thoughts pop up, take a moment. Maybe take a breath. And then say to yourself: “Oh. My brain is doing its job again - trying to keep me safe”. That is a good first step.

🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton

I’m honored to share that I’ve accepted a position on the board of TRE for All, the nonprofit organization that supports...
09/07/2026

I’m honored to share that I’ve accepted a position on the board of TRE for All, the nonprofit organization that supports the global development and integrity of TRE® Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises.
TRE® is one of the most profound tools I offer in my practice. It works at a level that talking cannot always reach, directly with the nervous system, through the body’s own innate capacity to release stored tension and trauma. I don’t take lightly the decision to deepen my involvement with the organization that stewards this work.
I joined the board because I believe in what TRE® can do, and because I have skills - namely legal, organizational, and governance experience - that can benefit this organization.
It felt like a meaningful way to contribute to something larger than my own practice.
For the people who choose to work with me, this means you are working with a practitioner who is not only certified in TRE®, but actively invested in its future and in the standards, the integrity, and the continued development of this work globally.
I’m grateful for the opportunity and looking forward to the work ahead.

🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton

For my Harvard neighbors: Community Meditation launches September 20th, 10am at Fivesparks in Harvard.First session: gui...
08/24/2026

For my Harvard neighbors: Community Meditation launches September 20th, 10am at Fivesparks in Harvard.
First session: guided meditation for relaxation. No experience required, just come as you are.
$15 per session, one Sunday morning per month. Come find some quiet before the week starts.
link in bio
🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton


Boat pose or Paripurna Navasana. The one where your legs are supposedly straight and your abs are supposedly holding you...
08/21/2026

Boat pose or Paripurna Navasana. The one where your legs are supposedly straight and your abs are supposedly holding you there and your arms are supposedly parallel to the floor and your face is supposedly not doing what it’s doing. We’re all wobbling with dignity out here.

For this shape, it is ok to:
-keep your hands on the floor for balance.
-bend your knees.
-go into and out of this shape with bent knees (in fact, that is preferable for most bodies).
-avoid this pose entirely. There are other asana that provide abdominal strength with far less intra-abdominal pressure.

In fact, skip this one if you’re navigating diastasis recti (DR), especially post-partum, because this pose can further aggravate your injury. Remember: every yoga pose is bad for some body. If you have DR, then this pose is most likely bad for YOUR body. Instead, give yourself an extended savasana. Rest is part of the repair, not a delay of it.

Happy Friday, lovelies. Rest well this weekend.

🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton


Just a thought: “You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.”— UnknownDon’t burn yourself ou...
08/19/2026

Just a thought:
“You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.”
— Unknown
Don’t burn yourself out with the Do-ing all the time. Rest isn’t a reward you earn after the to-do list is finished. It’s what makes the rest of the list possible. Your nervous system doesn’t know the difference between “productive busy” and “burning out productively.” It just knows whether it’s safe to downshift.
So take this as your permission slip, if you needed one, to give yourself a break. Leave other people to their own karmas. Tend to you first.

🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton

Trikonasana, or Triangle, is one of those poses that looks like simple geometry and feels like a full negotiation with y...
08/07/2026

Trikonasana, or Triangle, is one of those poses that looks like simple geometry and feels like a full negotiation with your own body and gravity.
You’ve got straight legs, a wide stable base, a torso reaching sideways, and two arms trying to become one long line from fingertip to fingertip. Somewhere in there, a teacher told you to imagine your body fitting between two panes of glass. I still don’t know what that means. I suspect they didn’t either.
Here’s what usually happens in Triangle: the reach for the floor takes over. The lower hand goes hunting for the big toe or the ground, and the chest follows it down. The heart space that’s supposed to open toward the side of the room instead collapses toward the mat, top shoulder folding in and down. That movement closes the pose exactly where it’s meant to open.
The floor was never the point. The opening was.
If your hand doesn’t reach past your shin, that’s not a lesser version of the pose. That is the actual pose. Bring the hand higher on the leg if that’s what it takes to keep the chest and shoulders open and the heart facing out. Let the toes matter less than the sternum.
Remember, yoga isn’t all about flexibility. It’s about resisting the pull to fold inward when the practice is asking you to stay open.

Happy Friday, lovelies. Rest well this weekend.
🪷shaileen🪷
Shaileen Patton


Apropos of nothing… this is a loaf sourdough bread I made from my friend Jen’s starter. I lost my first starter within a...
08/05/2026

Apropos of nothing… this is a loaf sourdough bread I made from my friend Jen’s starter. I lost my first starter within a week because I forgot to take out a bit after feeding it. Oops. Jen gave me another one (because Jen is fantastic). I’ve been baking with this one ever since.

Recently I nearly killed this one, too - a salt snafu during a particularly chaotic morning when I was juggling too many things mindlessly. The starter went quiet and sulky. She stopped bubbling and looked, frankly, deceased.
But sourdough starters are more resilient than they look. With the right conditions - warmth, water, flour, time - they come back. And look! She did!

Know what else repairs with time? The nervous system.
That’s not a forced metaphor. It’s the thing I keep learning over and over in the work I do. The body has an innate capacity to recover and heal itself. It doesn’t need perfection. It needs the right conditions: consistency, patience, and someone who doesn’t give up when things seem really, really bad.
Sometimes that someone is you. Sometimes it’s a good teacher. Sometimes it’s a friend who hands you a new starter when you’ve killed the first one.

Thanks, Jen. 🍞

🪷 shaileen 🪷

PS Sourdough bread also helps the nervous system in a non-evidence based, luxurious tasting food sort of way. I have a great starter if you need one… ;)

Shaileen Patton

I Just Need to Vent is tomorrow night!🪷I Just Need to Vent, Tuesday August 4th, 7:30pm ET. We still have room. Come as y...
08/03/2026

I Just Need to Vent is tomorrow night!🪷

I Just Need to Vent, Tuesday August 4th, 7:30pm ET. We still have room. Come as you are.
If you’ve been holding something, come put it down for an hour.

I Just Need to Vent is a free community circle for women navigating perimenopause and menopause. No advice. No fixing. No agenda. Just space to be honest about where you actually are. TMI is most welcome.

Link to register in bio.

Address

84 Stow Road
Harvard, MA
01451

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
7pm - 8pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 7pm - 8pm

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