Meet Ashley Howell Bunn | Poet, Somatic Practitioner, Yoga Guide, Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Howell Bunn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, how does your business help the community?
I believe that one of the most powerful forms of resistance is regulation. Our nervous system controls how we view and interact with the world, and controls our ability to thrive. When we can find ease in our daily lives through breath, creativity, rest and community, we can live and do our great work in the world. My goal through my work in somatics (somatic coaching, writing, and workshops) is to support others to find the ease and joy that exists within them at all times, so they can thrive even in moments of difficulty. I think this is especially important in our current time. There is so much heaviness in the world, our bodies and minds are exhausted. In order to keep moving forward and create change, we have to be able to rest, create, and share. As Deb Dana, a Polyvagal Therapist and author, says, “a regulated nervous system is a path forward to healing individual and community well being.”

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Throughout my life I have struggled with my mental health, and my most nourishing outlets to deal with my anxiety were yoga and poetry. Words and breath were what helped me survive, but I always kept these as separate things: the body and the mind, movement and creativity. It wasn’t until I started connecting these aspects of myself and my healing that I started to thrive. My poetry is about this: holistic connection and healing. Healing has taken on many forms in my own life, from quitting my full-time job to getting sober, and it is through the lens of interdependence and holistic embodiment that I have been able to feel whole. My first poetry collection, in coming light, is an exploration of this journey. I am also working on a year-long somatic writing journey to support others in a daily practice of writing and reflection.

Being creative is an essential part of being embodied, and this is why I started focusing on somatic writing and somatic coaching through my business Howell and Heal. My poetry and somatic writing workshops focus on allowing people to express themselves authentically, and to be in touch with what their body has to say. In somatic coaching, I focus on polyvagal theory and various somatic practices to create an individualized plan of support for healing the nervous system and finding more ease in their lives. All of my practices are trauma-informed and offered at a sliding scale or donation-based. I want to make my offerings inclusive and accessible, because being in a safe and supportive environment is required for healing.

I am very excited to begin my new venture of offering retreats focused on rest and regulation. My friend Kaley Ramirez and I are hosing our first retreat, The Embodied Elements Retreat, September 201th-22nd at Freebird Valley Retreat Space in South Park, Colorado. Using the elements as foundation, this retreat will offer movement, breathwork, guided meditation and relaxation, somatic practices for nervous system regulation, creative reflection and somatic writing, and of course, community and time in nature.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is hard! I would say we would go shopping at Ritual Craft to get some witchy supplies and vintage goods from Librarity Vintage. Then we would go get coffee and shop for books at Petals and Pages. We would have to stop by Strawberry Mountain for some new (gently used) outfits! If they were here on a second Sunday, we would stop by Mutiny Information Cafe for Snap Crackle Poetry and hear some amazing people share poems. We would have to go to the Colorado Women’s History Museum and have a tour, and then a yoga class at Courageous Yoga and a bite to eat at City O’ City. That’s a lot- but sounds like the perfect Denver Day!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people and organizations I want to thank. As far as my writing, I could not have found the courage to start without the guidance of Elizabeth Robinson and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Elizabeth helped me realize that I could “be a writer,” that we are all writers. We are all poets, and we can choose how we want to put that out into the world. The Mile HIgh MFA program through Regis University gave me the inspiration and knowledge to fulfill my goals in writing, and helped me finish my first poetry collection, in coming light. Finally, David Anthony Martin and Middle Creek Publishing published my first book and has been a never ending source of inspiration and community.

In my somatics and yoga practice, I have to thank CorePower Yoga. I took my first yoga class there almost twenty years ago (!!!), and I have been teaching there for ten years. I have learned so much in that community and it has been a jumping off point for my studies in yoga and somatics. My Yoga Nidra training with Jeremy Wolf at Samadhi launched me into a new realm of exploration that has led to many of my insights about somatics and the power of our physical and subtle bodies. I am especially grateful to my friend and business partner Kaley Ramirez of Still Matter Yoga Therapeutics. She is a constant inspiration and we are hosting our first retreat together this September!

Website: https://www.howellandheal.com

Instagram: @howellandheal

Facebook: Ashley Howell Bunn

Youtube: @howellandheal

Image Credits
Violet Mitchell – Personal photo at the beginning