From Overthinking to Inner Ease

Replaying a conversation, rehearsing what you will say next time, running through every possible outcome before it can happen: most of us know the tiring loop of a mind that rarely stops working overtime. In From Overthinking to Inner Ease: A Body-Based Approach to Worry and Rumination, clinical psychologist Jeffrey Rutstein, PsyD, offers a gentler way of understanding that loop. As the workshop puts it, "Your mind is trying to keep you safe." The thinking is an attempt to protect and prepare us, even when it ends up costing more than it gives.

For many people, Rutstein suggests, overthinking began as a way of staying safe. When life felt unpredictable, staying one step ahead made sense: anticipating other people's moods, preparing for the worst, never quite letting the guard down. Years later the danger may be long gone, yet the nervous system keeps scanning, calm feels unfamiliar and rest can even feel risky. This is why we cannot simply think our way out of overthinking. In his approach, the roots of worry and rumination live in the body, and that is where the work of finding steadiness begins.

This is a three-hour live online workshop with Sounds True on Saturday, November 7, 2026, in which Rutstein brings together evidence-based principles and somatic practices so that you can step out of the spiral and return to the steady ground of the body with compassion and presence.

What You'll Learn

- Why the mind turns to worry. How rumination arises when the nervous system senses danger, and why that response is protective in origin.
- The body signals before a spiral. Learning to notice early cues, such as a tight chest or the restless urge to plan or fix.
- Where the pattern began. How early experiences may have taught you that staying one step ahead was the only way to stay safe.
- Interrupting the loop. Body-based practices and simple mental shifts for anxious loops of anticipation and late-night racing thoughts.
- Rest without distraction. Ways to rest without needing to scroll, stay busy or numb out to quiet the mind.
- What lies beneath. Reconnecting with what you actually feel and need under the constant stream of thought.

Inside the Workshop

The workshop is a single three-hour session held live online. It combines teaching on how worry takes hold in the nervous system with somatic practices that let you feel the shift in your own body rather than only understand it in your head. Rutstein's teaching blends decades of clinical experience, somatic awareness and mindfulness-based practice, and he aims to create a grounded, deeply supportive space in which to learn. Registration includes lifetime access to the recording and any workshop materials, so you can return to the practices whenever your mind begins to race.

Who It's For

The workshop is for anyone whose thoughts tend to run ahead of them and who wants a body-based way to meet worry and rumination. No prior experience of somatic work is listed as necessary; the session is guided throughout.

It may speak to you if you:

- replay conversations or rehearse what you will say long after the moment has passed
- find that late-night racing thoughts keep you from settling
- reach for your phone, busyness or distraction to quiet your mind
- sense that your vigilance once kept you safe and may no longer serve you
- practise meditation or mindfulness and want to understand the nervous system side of a busy mind

The workshop offers education and practice for everyday wellbeing. It is not a treatment for anxiety or any other condition, and anyone living with anxiety, depression or trauma is encouraged to use it alongside the support of a qualified professional.

About the Teacher

Jeffrey Rutstein, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and trauma specialist with more than forty years in private practice. He is a Certified Hakomi Therapist in mindfulness-centered somatic therapy and has practised meditation for more than forty-five years. His life's work is helping people ease their suffering and claim the strengths and abilities that let them live fuller, richer lives. In partnership with Sounds True, he guides the nine-month programme now titled Coming Home to Yourself, formerly the Healing Trauma Program, and this workshop is also included for those who enrol in that programme.

How It Works

From Overthinking to Inner Ease is a live online workshop with Sounds True on Saturday, November 7, 2026, from 8 to 11 am PT / 11 am to 2 pm ET. It is held as one live session, and registration includes lifetime access to the recording and all materials, so you can revisit the teaching and practices afterwards in your own time. BrightStar lists the workshop so that seekers exploring somatic practice, mindfulness and nervous system care can find it alongside the conscious events and teachers they already follow.