Being With Your Nervous System in Complex Times is a live, online, four‑session circle for people who work with complexity and care – designers, facilitators, leaders, practitioners, carers, lawyers and others inside systems.

Together we’ll move through a simple four‑directional map, weaving just enough theory with grounded, experiential practice so you can try things out amidst your real life and work. You’ll leave with a practical workbook of simple, repeatable practices to support you in both your work and your everyday life.

Session 1 : Arriving: meeting where you are

We begin by arriving where you actually are, not where you think you “should” be.

• A simple, plain‑language orientation to how your body and nervous system responds to stress, safety and ease.
• Guided body‑based reflection to notice what activation, flatness and settling feel like for you right now.
• Mapping how this links to your real contexts – projects, relationships, care responsibilities, organisational dynamics.
• One tiny noticing practice to take into the next couple of weeks.

The aim is not to analyse yourself, but to start recognising the patterns your system is already running.

Session 2 : Protection: patterns that try to keep you safe

Here we get curious about your protective strategies – without pathologising them.

• Naming common protective patterns – speeding up, shutting down, bracing, over‑functioning, people‑pleasing – as understandable ways your system tries to keep you safe.
• Connecting these patterns to the systems you move in: meetings, workshops, client work, family life.
• Trying a couple of low‑key supports you can use in real time (breath, orientation, micro‑pauses, boundaries) and noticing what actually helps.
• Choosing one small, realistic experiment to take into your everyday contexts.

We’re gently widening the gap between “something happens” and “I react”,  growing your response‑ability one small moment at a time.

Session 3 : Resourcing: what steadies and restores you

In this session we turn towards what supports you, not just what drains you.

• Exploring what helps your system come back toward steadier ground – people, places, rhythms, practices, stories.
• Mapping supports you already have (even if under‑used) and gaps that might want attention, without turning it into another list of “shoulds”.
• Practising ways to weave micro‑resourcing into your current days, rather than adding big new routines you’ll abandon in a week.
• Naming one or two supports you want to tend, and what might make that feel possible in your context.

Resourcing here is framed as a prerequisite for meaningful work and sustainable leadership, not a luxury add‑on.

Session 4 : Walking with: integrating and choosing next steps

We close by gathering what you’ve seen and felt, and looking at how you want to walk with your system from here.

• Looking back across the previous sessions to see what patterns and experiments are telling you about your current capacity.
• Exploring what it might mean, in your particular work and life, to “be with” your experience rather than constantly overriding or pushing through.
• Clarifying a few simple agreements with yourself (and maybe others) about how you want to respond, relate, and resource yourself in the coming months.
• Naming what you are taking with you from the circle, practices, insights, boundaries, or questions, and what support you might need to keep going.

There may also be an optional integration call later in the year if the group wants to reconnect and ground what you’ve been experimenting with.

Who this is for

This circle is for you if:

• You work with people and complexity – in design, law, research, facilitation, social impact, organisational change, caregiving, or similar spaces.
• You notice stress and load showing up in your body (tension, shutdown, wired “on‑ness”) and want to understand this without making yourself wrong.
• You’re curious about nervous system literacy, but you want something human and grounded, not jargon‑heavy or clinical.
• You’d like a small, relational space to practise, not just learn concepts – with others who also care about how they show up in the systems they’re part of.

No prior somatics or trauma training is required. Curiosity and a bit of willingness to experiment is enough.

Practical details

• Format: 4 x live online sessions (Zoom) – held fortnightly
• Session length: 75 minutes each
• Group size: Small (up to 10), so there is room for reflection 
• Session flow: Each 75‑minute session weaves short teaching, guided practice and focused reflection. There will be some space to share, but the emphasis is on your own noticing and experimenting, rather than long check‑ins
• Facilitator: Jax Wechsler : strategic designer, facilitator and educator working at the intersection of nervous system literacy, trauma‑aware practice and complex change.

Time options:

• Group A – AU / NZ‑friendly / some US‑friendly:
  8:00–9:15 am AEST = 6:00 – 7:15 pm EDT =  3:00 – 4:15 pm PDT
  July 7, 21, Aug 4, 18
  Register on this page
• Group B – Evening AU / EU‑friendly:
   19:00–20:15 AEST = 10:00-11:15 am GMT = 5:00 – 6:15pm Singapore)
  July 8, 22, Aug 5, 19
  Register on the top right of this page
  

Groups and flexibility

You’ll nominate a “home” group (morning or evening) when you register. If a particular week doesn’t work for your home time, you’re welcome to join the other group for that session instead, as long as there’s room.

If one of the groups doesn’t reach minimum numbers, I may invite you to move into the other group or offer a refund. 

Investment

Investment for the four‑part live series (approx. 5 hours of group time):

• Professional / organisation‑funded – AUD $290 (incl. 10% GST)
  For when your employer, a client, or a project budget is paying for your place.
• Self‑funded practitioner – AUD $190 (incl. 10% GST)
  For when you are paying out of pocket as an individual.
• Supported place – AUD $120 (incl. 10% GST)

A note about the work

This circle draws on current research and lived practice around stress, trauma and nervous system literacy, but it doesn’t ask you to sign up to any one theory. The focus is on low‑risk, practical ways to notice what your own system is doing and to offer it a little more support, in the middle of the life you actually have.

It is not therapy and not clinical training. It’s a small, human‑scaled practice space to support how you move through complex work and life, and to gently grow your response‑ability over time.

Testimonials

This circle grows out of earlier nervous‑system‑informed courses I’ve run with practitioners and teams. Here’s how people from those cohorts have described the impact.

“What I most appreciated was how Jax framed nervous system regulation as more than self-care — as a practice that supports collective creativity, compassion and response-ability. The course came at exactly the right time. Jax explained things in a clear, grounded and practical way that made both the theory and practices feel intuitive and genuinely doable.”
— Kylie Wrigley, Climate Justice Organiser

“Jax provided a supportive, reflective space to make sense of my capacities as a change-maker, along with new nervous system concepts and practical tools I’m already bedding in for the year ahead.”
— Wendy Fountain, Ecological designer

“Jax is a rare example of being an embodied teacher of her teachings. Highly recommended.”
— Robyn Katz, Women’s Leadership Facilitator

“I found the class useful and insightful. It left me pondering the implications for work and relationship over the next few days. Also explained the window of tolerance to my 7 yr old daughter the next day. Made perfect sense to her. She called hypo-arousal her ‘hiding’ state.”
—Dan Gooden, Technology Consultant

“Jax presents life changing concepts in clear, precise language, with practical exercises to take home and use for life! Your nervous system will appreciate you, for investing 2 hours of your time, for a lifetime of insight and awareness to give you greater control and acceptance of yourself, relationships and life’s challenges.”
— Sharni Cohen, Psychologist