10 daagse cursus

Carnival Row: Learning To Walk The Grounds

Door Jocelyn Bates

Wat je zal leren

Carnival Row: Learning to Walk the Grounds is a practical + imaginal nervous system course for coming back to yourself in real life. Each session begins with a grounded breath into the sense of home (your center of gravity in the lower belly) and simple yes/no sacral questions that help the mind soften so the body can lead. Inside the course you’ll learn how to use your senses as a thermometer and a volume knob: senses can amplify overwhelm when we’re living in “what if” (replaying, rehearsing, scanning), and they can also bring us back down when we orient to what is actually here. You’ll also work with memory and imagination as inner senses — learning how to use them safely so they become medicine rather than threat rehearsal. The course includes short teaching + practice sessions and guided meditations, including The Matron’s Tent (19 min), The Pendulum (24 min), and a capstone sanctuary journey (24 min) where you find your own tent on the grounds and create a return path you can use anytime. Inspired by the imaginal environments in my novel The Midnight Carnival — a story, and also a map of inner landscapes. You don’t need the book to take this course. This course teaches the skill that makes the map usable. Come exactly as you are. No perfect practice required. Just a return — one breath at a time.

Jocelyn Bates

Morristown, NJ 07960, USA

Jocelyn Bates is a meditation teacher and Yoga Nidra guide who creates practical, imaginal pathways for nervous system regulation, deep rest, and embodied presence. Her work blends breath, sensory awareness, and guided meditation to help people come home to the body, soften stress responses, and cultivate steadiness in everyday life. She is also...

Les 1

Carnival Row Basics (Arrive + Begin)

Start here. Learn the “Sense of Home” breath, the yes/no sacral drop-in, and what “walking the grounds” actually means. You’ll also practice a simple orientation reset you can use in the middle of real life.

Les 2

Nervous System 101 (And The Volume Knob)

This lesson lays the foundation: your nervous system’s job is survival—not productivity—, and when it senses threat (real or imagined) it mobilizes into fight/flight/freeze. When it senses safety, it softens into rest/digest. You’ll explore the pendulum between these states, why you can’t willpower your way into calm, and why “small cues, often” is the real path. Then you’ll practice a fast, body-based sequence (jaw, tongue, neck, shoulders, ribs, pelvic bowl) and learn the volume knob tool: when “worst case scenario” thoughts start rehearsing, return to one present sensation to turn the volume down.

Les 3

Stay With The Scene

This lesson is a nervous system practice for attention in a fast world. You’ll use soft gaze and widened peripheral vision to reduce “threat narrowing,” settle the body, and build the capacity to stay with what’s slow long enough for meaning, ease, and connection to arrive.

Les 4

Sound = Support (Rhythm + Listening)

Sound can regulate faster than thought. In this lesson, you’ll work with gentle rhythm (humming or a counted exhale) and the “farthest sound” practice to widen perception, reduce nervous system tightening, and return to the body with a steady, repeatable cue you can use anytime.

Les 5

The Hand That Holds (Touch + Return)

Touch is a direct return path. This lesson uses gentle contact (cheek, heart, belly) to interrupt spirals and bring your system back to “safe enough.” You’ll practice a simple touch-and-breath sequence that helps the body soften without forcing emotion or performance.

Les 6

What If → What Is (Memory + Imagination)

Memory and imagination are inner senses: they can amplify overwhelm when they loop in “what if,” and they can become medicine when used gently. You’ll practice moving from future rehearsal back to present reality using one sensory anchor, one long exhale, and one true next step.

Les 7

The Matron’s Tent (Receiving Sanctuary)

A guided sanctuary for stillness and receiving. You’ll enter the Matron’s Tent, let the body settle into “safe enough,” and allow one simple truth, symbol, or sensation to arrive. You’ll return with a sensory “token” you can carry into your day as a calm anchor.

Les 8

The Pendulum (Swing + Return)

This is a rhythmic regulation journey for swinging states. You’ll explore activation and settling without judgment, using counted breath, gentle sound, and sensory anchoring to practice returning to center. The goal isn’t to stop the swing—it’s to learn you can move and still come back home.

Les 9

Find Your Tent (Inner Sanctuary)

The capstone journey. You’ll enter the Midnight Carnival as an inner landscape, walk Carnival Row, and discover your own tent—your personal sanctuary built for your nervous system. You’ll receive what is here for you, choose a “token,” and create a return path you can use on any day.

Les 10

Take It Into Your Day (Sacral Return Practice)

A practical wrap-up you can use in real life. You’ll learn why the yes/no practice works, where it comes from, and how to use it in three versions—60 seconds, 2 minutes, or 5 minutes—when you’re on the brink, in a spiral, or simply wanting to reset your tone.

Jocelyn Bates's Collection

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