What is it?

Body-first business is an act of love. The old ways of doing business are no longer relevant or effective for the new flock of devoted, heart-centered leaders.

Our businesses no longer serve simply to collect cash, but to play a part in creating a new world. We value freedom, wellness, reciprocity, justice and joy.

BFB delivers the tools leaders need to enact their vision for the long run through deep somatic practice and release. 

Change-makers lead from the body, out. 

BFB provides a space to come into greater relationship with the parts of us that subconsciously hold onto the old paradigm that perpetuate cycles of burnout, overwhelm and ultimately, harm.

We’re a 4 month-long immersion into somatic (body-based) nervous system health psychoeducation and practice for sensitive, overwhelmed (and devoted!) coaches and service providers. 

BFB is closed for the season. Get on the waitlist by clicking here.

This space is not a lot of things. It’s not a marketing plan. A guarantee for 6 figures. A way to push through and show up. A way to make your body do more. 

In fact, this program is the antithesis of these things. It’s a program for anti-capitalist humans who value relational wellness over endless cycles of isolation and extraction. For folks who are seeking deeper alignment with their business and their values, and see collective joy, peace and rooted capacity as deeply connected to how we get through large system collapse.

Folks like us who are devoted to being in service of this vision, and that vision includes investing in our own wellness, too.

What does it look like?

• 4 months of togetherness (online)
• Weekly pre-recorded psychoeducation on nervous system regulation in digestible bites. 
• Bi-weekly live embodiment practices + thought partnership circles on Wednesdays at 12pm EST
• Bi-weekly live somatic workouts on Wednesdays at 12pm EST
• Bi-weekly co-working pods
• Sporadic office hours for answering your hot Qs around the content.

Who is this program really for?

This program is for folks who have an online service-based business. You’re at a point where you’re seeing some success, but at the same time… you feel hopeless far more than you feel possibility.

Maybe you’re…

• Halfway into a “work session”, still staring at a blank page in whatever email marketing software you’ve signed up for, trying to write your “regular” (Read: once every 3 months, if that) email and feeling kinda shit about it.
• Preparing for a client call and just feeling the thickness of resentment land on your shoulders, having overgiven to everyone in the name of service.
• Stuffing down food at the end of the day because you forgot that you have a body that needs stuff when you panic-scheduled your week and you’re all HANGRY at your beloveds.
• Comparisonitis. Enough said.
• Trying to reconcile “pushing through to get shit done” with your body’s inherent desire for rest. Which is the right path to take? How do I know?
• or in the pattern of saying “FUCK ALL THIS SHIT”, abandoning your to-do list for business growth… and drowning in shame when everything feels stagnant.

We all went into the world of service for something different. Maybe it was to have more autonomy over your time, more decision-making power in your life, more agency in making your impact, to have a chance at making a meaningful wage without exploiting one’s well-being. To create a space inside of capitalism where you could breathe outside the 9-5. To find a way to contribute to community while also caring for self through chronic pain or disease.

Here’s the thing… the roadblocks you’re hitting up against are not personality problems or signs that you can’t make it in this online world… they’re signs and symptoms of an overwhelmed nervous system operating under a system designed to dysregulate you *ahem white supremacist capitalism*.

So this is the level we work at. This space provides you with tools to re-connect to your body, and re-position it as a wise, capable, comrade (as opposed to the “upper limit” or “energetic block” standing in your way).

How much does it cost?

I’ve also put together a scaled pricing model based on the model developed by Worts and Cunning. Click through the link to read more about why I use this type of pricing model. All prices are in USD.

EARLY ENROLMENT BONUS: Sign up BEFORE March 7th and get a FREE private 90-minute session with me!

• Redistribution (475$ monthly for 5 months): You easily meet your basic needs (food, shelter, transportation), have access to regular healthcare, own or lease a car, own your home or rent in the higher end, have access to financial savings, may not need to work to meet basic needs, have access to expendable income for dinners out, coffees, new clothes, etc., and can afford to take time off and vacation many times a year. You may have access to generational wealth. You rarely question whether you can afford things when making personal purchases, you do not need to follow a monthly budget.
• Real cost (375$ monthly for 5 months): You can easily meet your basic needs easily and have supplemental income for dinners out, coffee, new clothes, etc. You have some savings, you own or lease a car, and can afford to take vacations and time off annually. You have access to healthcare beyond basic healthcare and have semi-regular massages, etc. You hold some debt. Maybe you budget for your month, but there’s a lot of wiggle room and you can usually afford to do the things you desire.
• Solidarity price (275$ monthly for 5 months) You can meet your basic needs and have some supplemental income for special nights out though you experience some amount of stress around money. You hold some debt but it doesn’t hold you back from attaining your basic needs. You are employed and you might have access to financial savings. You can take a vacation annually or every few years without a significant financial burden. You work within a bound budget.

You can choose your price point on Thrivecart, my course hosting site (no questions asked). Follow the link below to be added to the waitlist! You’ll be the first to be notified when we open for enrolment.

Sensing you might want more support? If you’d love to couple this up with some 1:1 work, add one 90-minute session a month for a total of 600$ monthly for 5 months. If you’d love this option, send me an email.

If none of these options work for you, send me an email by clicking here, and let’s start a conversation. Let’s not have finances be the reason this doesn’t work for you. I’ve got some scholarship spots up my sleeve.

What do each of those program elements really mean?

4 months of togetherness (online). We’ll have a space to share insights, celebrations, ask questions, etc. that’s private and protected. Togetherness is a core value of this program- we are not meant to figure all this out on our own.

Weekly pre-recorded psychoeducation lessons in digestible bites. Here you’ll learn why you are the way you are from a nervous system perspective and gain helpful tools for supporting your body in whatever state you’re in. These aren’t “hacks”, but rooted, embodied ways of honouring and cooperating with your body that contribute to long-term, sustained vitality.

Bi-weekly live embodiment practices. Here we’ll be translating the psychoeducational bites into embodied practice, together, so you can build the body-based resilience to do the damn thing. These gatherings will focus on specific challenges we uniquely face: navigating your own needs vs the needs of others (clients, family, capitalism), building safety around being seen, navigating gentleness vs force, receiving support, etc.

Bi-weekly live somatic workouts. Body-based resilience requires reps! Right now in your business, you’re doing what Resmaa Menakem calls live reps– you’re procrastinating, over-giving, over-correcting, and telling yourself you don’t have what it takes in real-time. The difference in these practice rep workouts is we will take the time to actually invite in these scenarios to move through these patterns with community and applied skill, so we can transform the instincts that have us re-creating these patterns so new supportive patterns can take root in your body. We’ll connect around a shared experience of fight/flight/freeze in our businesses, and move through them together in an embodied way. These workouts will directly and quickly change your lived experience of being in service.

Business Brainstorming and Support. A space to ask questions and get individualized group support on the questions and struggles you’re living through in your business.

Bi-weekly co-working pods. A two-hour chunk of time to gather online to co-regulate and get shit done in 30-minute segments. Truly life-changing.

Sporadic office hours for answering your hot Qs around the content. This course is alive, and as questions come forward from the group, I’ll hop on and answer a bunch, live and recorded.

EARLY ENROLMENT BONUS: Sign up BEFORE March 7th and get a FREE private 90-minute session with me!

Who am I?

This work is an outgrowth of who I am. At my core, a person who believes deeply in the mess and magic of humanity. On paper, I’m a steadfast learner.

I come from a leftist university background on the intersection of globalization and local communities. Before orienting towards coaching, I worked front-line youth and community services along with a short stint in the public service. I’ve completed over 18 months of intensive coaching training that set the foundation for my understanding of the power of togetherness and asking good questions. It also pulled me deeply into the on-going inquiries I have around the coaching industry, accountability, safety, and white supremacy.

I have since worked with a variety of business coaches, trying to find my place. I’ve worked with brilliant folks who centered my vision and wisdom, and I’ve worked with folks who’ve usurped my power and placed themselves as the leader in my business, diminishing my own knowing and self-trust (and suceess).

I have completed in-depth archetypal somatic training with Rachael Maddox under the umbrella of ReBloom. I was a Hive member, co-teacher, coach and practice supervisor for the lifespan of that program.

Over the years, I’ve completed somatic abolition education with Resmaa Menakem and Kelly Germaine. I have taken one-off trainings with the Embodiment Lab, and participated in group somatic practice sessions with Alchemical Alignment and Wildbody Somatics. I continue to study anti-capitalism, anti-racism and impact and learned so much from Toi Smith in Business for the People.

I am currently in continuing education around attachment, safety and somatics with Carmen Spagnola as well. Bear Hebert was my last business mentor and we focused on de-centering work and increasing my critical analysis, play, creativity and impact.

I have various points of privilege in my life. I’m a middle-class, white, cis-gender female living in Ottawa, Canada. I’m partnered, which offsets the cost of life. And, I’m chronically ill. It’s important to note that while my illness has definitive costs, both on my body and my bank account, I enjoy a majority of “great days”. That being said, in line with the ethos of this program, you need to know that because of illness, classes may be canceled the day of, and rescheduled according to my body and schedule. If consistency of schedule is important to you, and being flexible with classes moving around is difficult for you to manage, this is likely not the container for you.

Here are some of the values this course is built upon.

You are innately capable of bringing your vision to this world.

You are not the problem- you are a body trying to make it work in a system that’s hell-bent on breaking you.

A deeply dysregulated nervous system will forever rob you of your agency, power and creativity.

A more regulated nervous system is your birthright and your inherent natural tendency.

You are easy to care for and are deserving of aligned care.

Trauma resolution work is best done in small doable steps and in good company.

We are better together.

We need you resilient to turn the tide on late-stage white supremacist capitalism.

Your business can work when we find your way to do it, and it can feel good.

Here’s what some beautiful humans who participated in my first group coaching container had to say about their experience:

Before the course, I was aware about trauma and the effects it could have, however I was unable to positively deal with the effects. Now I am much better informed and I know I have a more robust toolkit- the amount of information and the ability to practice with Jo during the course was really impactful. Everyone can learn to be better with trauma. Thank you for the opportunity to take this course. It has unlocked alot of things for me which I am going to use to better myself and those around me.

Phil K.

Before class, I was pretty informed about trauma. The somatic approach you share is incredibly soft, nurturing, and effective in uncovering and healing deeper layers. It’s so much more doable and sustainable. Moving my knowledge and skills down into my body from my head has allowed the doors to be opened for real and sustainable transformation and developing resilience to be able to walk in the world authentically as me. Even with the practices, I’ve already been introduced to there are deeper more juicy levels to excavate and explore- there’s really no comparison to the before Jo time. And while the course is delivered online, I love the feeling of community and support you nurture.

@janine.bertolo

FAQ

Do I have to attend live? No! However, the live classes are not always recorded because the work is vulnerable. To get the best out of this program and to honour being in community, I request that you make the time and space to be together live for classes on Thursdays at 1pm EST- your body and business are worth it.

Will this make my business more profitable? Maybe? One thing I know is my business does better when I’m doing better. In essence, that’s the crux of my business plan. When we have access to more regulation around our business bodies, we have greater access to our life force, our creativity, our cooperation and partnership, our problem-solving, and our decision-making We, inevitably, become more trustworthy. And maybe it’s likely that leads to more dollars in your bank account.

Will this program make me better at executing my marketing plan? Again… maybe? But this isn’t the aim of the program. This program is designed to re-center you and your knowing and your needs in your business. I know that you’ve invested in ALL THE PROGRAMS already, and I’m willing to bet that you actually have a good idea of what is needed from you to make this business work. My purpose is to support the re-emergence of your inner sage and couple her with your healthy initiator. What does that translate to? Making decisions in your business that enable you to serve and grow your business while your body and the rest of your life thrive. Maybe that looks like executing your marketing plan, or maybe it looks like something altogether different that we cannot even conceive of yet.

When are the live classes? For the most part, Thursdays at 1pm EST. You’ll receive a full class schedule before we start. You’ll see a few weeks of breaks scattered throughout for rest and digestion.

How long will I have the content? For as long as I offer the program, you’ll have access to the recordings.

Tell me again what this is, this time with feeling!

This program is not a marketing plan. It isn’t a system that is meant to guarantee you 5-figure months and multi 6-figure years. We are not in the business of accumulating needless wealth.

It’s a space designed to hold your body through depth vulnerability.

Through the process of reclamation of self.

The vulnerability of being seen.

The intensity of holding space for others’ intensity.

The imposter syndrome.

As the over-giving in you works itself out of your system

As you practice the art of receiving.

As you navigate the trappings of late-stage racialized capitalism

It’s a mastermind for bodies in motion. A space to support your nervous system so your body can be in better support of your big vision.

Together we’ll learn:

Why our minds and bodies are having such a hard time and release the shame and guilt

How our nervous systems affect our capacity to show up… 

And to de-personalize this experience (Hint! It’s not just you!)

By learning the skills and tools to support our nervous systems (more love, less fight!)

And practicing in community to strengthen our innate resilience.

This space exists to re-centre you of your innate wellness and capacity. And provides the space to grow into it in good company.

Hope to see you in the program!!