are you ready to stop letting fear cockblock your life?
The Initiation
A 4-week small-group exploration for those ready to stop letting fear dictate their life and step through whatever door it's been guarding.
Led by Medicinal Movement Facilitator & Yoga Therapist, Alison Bartish
Next cohort begins
Tuesday, October 27th, 6pm PST
$250 | 6-8 people | Application Required
may i be brave enough to make life-changing decisions
✹
may i be brave enough to make life-changing decisions ✹
for the person who…IS HOLDING IT TOGETHER DURING THE DAY AND RUMINATING AT NIGHT.
Feels everything. Thinks deeply. Overthinks even deeper. Wants to unmask but has gotten comfortable living in their own shadow.
You know what the next first step is,
but fear has full reign on the grips.
i know what i want. i’m just scared
to claim it.
fear of the unknown paralyzes me.
i can’t tell if it’s my intuition
or my anxiety.
i keep looking for a sign when maybe
i already know.
i’m afraid that choosing myself means disappointing someone else.
i want to stop abandoning
myself every time something feels uncomfortable.
This work is for the men, too!
what we’re doing together…A MONTH LONG DIETA WITH FEAR
In Amazonian traditions, a dieta is a sacred and disciplined commitment to fostering a relationship with a specific plant teacher.
I’m not claiming The Initiation as a shamanistic practice or a traditional dieta.
I use the word as a metaphor for what happens when we commit ourselves fully to an inquiry and allow it to become our teacher.
Fear is, truly, a master teacher.
It shows up when something meaningful is on the line.
It can take over your entire system.
It can leave you feeling paralyzed.
What if, instead of turning away at first felt-sense, we turned toward it?
What insight might fear be holding?
This is the work we’ll be doing together.
Leaning in. Getting curious.
And creating resources.
5 LIVE SESSIONS
90-minute weekly group calls. A blend of conversation, somatic exploration
and art-based practices.
SMALL GROUP
Intentionally small. Your presence will be felt.
WEEKLY PROMPTS
Guided prompts to continue exploration + conversation in between sessions
in a private What’s App group.
SOMATIC + ART-BASED EXPLORATION
The real healing happens when we get out of our head and into our body.
WHY THE NEXT STEP FEELS IMPOSSIBLE, EVEN WHEN IT'S OBVIOUS
Because the part of you that wants change isn’t the only part of you in the room.
I’ve had some significant threshold moments in my lifetime. Times when I knew I needed to make a change without knowing what would follow.
I’ve had to make hard choices without guarantees that what is coming next would be better. I’ve let go of things (and people) I loved and have learned how to trust myself despite being scared AF in the process.
HERE’S WHAT I’VE LEARNED
STANDING AT A THRESHOLD:
One part of you wants to go through it.You can feel the breeze and smell the up-level in the air. This part is curious.
Another part of you screams HELL NO.And has a valid list of reasons for staying.
Both of these parts are on your side.This isn’t about getting rid of our fearful part.
It’s about understanding what it’s afraid of protecting.
You can listen without letting it lead the way. Fear can still come to the party.
It just doesn’t get to pick the playlist.
This is where the initiation begins.Are you ready to face integrate your fear?
pov is a baddie.
your facilitator
Hi! I’m Alison. I’m a somatic practitioner and yoga therapist (IAYT). My work lives at the intersection of movement, inner work, and the pursuit of freedom.
I have over 1,000 hours of yoga training and have been guiding yoga therapy sessions for over three years. I also work for the DAYA Foundation, a nonprofit bringing trauma-informed yoga into Oregon’s prison systems and other communities where access to these practices can be limited.
A lot of my work, in different ways,
comes back to the same question:
How do we cultivate more freedom within ourselves?
This is the work we are here to do.
what I do and why i do it
I have been facilitating group work since 2019.
As an avid music lover + hula hoop flow artist, I spent much of my twenties and into my thirties on the dance floor. For me, dancing was a way of praying. It was catharsis. A way to - be with -and - move through - what I couldn't always access through my thinking mind.
In 2022, I built a business combining yoga + dance + live music, eventually bringing movement-based workshops to music festivals. I wanted to bring movement into a culture that often prided itself on all-nighters—to create a space where people could still sweat, play, move, and have a good time, while also coming back into their bodies.
Through these experiences, I saw how empowering it can be to do this kind of somatic work in community —
where we can co-regulate and feel permission to move through and release pent-up emotions.
I deeply value curating experiences that create space for both
release & integration
which continues to be the heart of this work.
testimonialsLiz. D
Sharing my fears publicly really supported me in feeling braver in a way I didn’t expect and helped me take the next step in action.
Abby B.
This work has helped me better understand why I have been holding myself back and has provided me the clarity I needed to make the first “next step.”
Jaime D.
There’s nothing more special than healing in community! This experience was potent and empowering. I felt supported and valued in the space. I will participate again!
Angelica M.
Feeling very grateful for this group and experience. Thank you all for showing up so bravely (almost makes me pause to think… wait, this group has fear?!?)
Amaya J.
I see more and more people offering work to understand the transformative power of darker emotions. I love love LOVE what we did together. Thank you!
“Working with others in a multidimensional way with creative, embodied AS WELL as verbal processing is far more impactful then say a 1:1 therapy session.
Hearing others process is so important for our own self development. We learn so much from others.”
-AMAYA J.
PRIVATE WORK
I also work with individuals on a one-to-one basis.
If group work isn’t something that you’re interested in, please book a free 20-minute curiosity call with me.
Let’s talk about it.
are you ready to
make fear your true north?