On-site retreat workshop · Riviera Nayarit
Regulate first.
A practical 60-minute nervous-system workshop helping retreat guests work with stress, pain and overwhelm, so they can participate more fully in everything that follows.
Why it fits
Deeper practices land differently when the nervous system has enough capacity.
Retreat guests do not all arrive in the same state. Some settle through stillness. Others become more activated, disconnected or physically guarded when asked to breathe deeply, close their eyes or picture a safe place.
Regulate First gives guests several accessible ways into regulation. It is not about forcing calm or prescribing one perfect technique. It helps each person notice what their system is doing and discover a route that works for them.
Understand
Learn why stress, pain and protection can make it difficult to settle, even in a beautiful, supportive environment.
Experience
Explore movement, breath, orientation, attention and the senses. Visualization is always optional.
Take it with you
Leave with a short personal reset that can support the rest of the retreat and everyday life afterward.
Who it supports
Broad enough for the group. Adaptable enough for the individual.
The workshop is designed for mixed retreat groups and may be especially useful for guests experiencing:
- stress, anxiety or overwhelm;
- persistent pain, tension or physical guarding;
- difficulty switching off or staying present;
- discomfort with still meditation or imagery-heavy practices;
- a sense that familiar regulation tools simply do not work for them.
What makes this different
Not another instruction to “just relax”
Regulation is often treated as a polite warmup: settle down so the “real” work can begin. That undersells it.
It can be a way of tasting how normal can feel. It can make the world less threatening. It can change posture, breath and the way a person holds themselves. It also makes deeper processing more available, but that is not the only reason to practise it, and it is not a skill you use once and put away.
This session does not ask guests to close their eyes and imagine calm. It offers several real routes in: movement, breath, orientation, attention and the senses. Visualization is optional. Nobody is pushed into emotional processing in a group setting.
Lived, not borrowed
JP’s map of regulation comes from having to find it. Decades of chronic symptoms, plus aphantasia (a limited mind’s eye), meant the usual “picture a safe place” instructions did not work. That constraint, and a long obsession with what actually settles a nervous system, sent him through many modalities rather than one trademarked method.
Your local facilitator
JP Stones
JP is a chronic pain and nervous-system coach who has lived in the Sayulita area for more than twelve years. His work grew from his own recovery from more than thirty chronic symptoms and conditions.
His approach integrates Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET), two research-supported approaches used in chronic pain treatment, with movement, breath, mindfulness and sensory regulation.
He works in plain language and adapts the method to the person, rather than asking the person to fit the method. Guests who do not visualise, or who have been told they are “bad at relaxing,” are not an edge case here. They are part of why the work exists.
For retreat leaders
A useful layer within an existing programme.
The workshop is delivered on site in English and can be adapted for yoga, movement, surf, leadership and general wellness retreats. It is designed to complement, not replace, your existing practices and facilitators.
Private one-to-one regulation or chronic-pain sessions can also be made available to guests who want individualized support. JP is based locally and works across Sayulita, San Pancho, Punta de Mita and the wider Riviera Nayarit corridor.
Could Regulate First support your next retreat?
Tell us where and when you are hosting, who the retreat serves, and what you want guests to experience. Someone from our team will reply personally and suggest whether the workshop fits and how it could complement your programme.