About Cheri
I care about humanity and the world my girls will inherit.
I believe the power of merging personal embodiment with community care will save and heal us.
Vast personal and collective stressors and unknowns face us. No one can solve these existential questions alone. We must remember how to be human together - our path forward is relational.
We need to get resourced in our bodies. Nothing can change if we remain exhausted and numb. How do we stay present to, but not get consumed by the suffering we feel and see?
How do we create meaningful change?
In my work, I bring people home to themselves and each other through embodied awareness, movement, rest, and purposeful, right action.
Personally, you can find me digging in my veggie garden, hugging people with gusto, asking questions, writing, cooking, and making life my ritual.
More specifically, I believe:
Humans are made for movement. Consistent physical activity and movement health are some of the biggest predictors of a long, fulfilled life. And yet so many people struggle to be active or find movement that nourishes and lights them up - this is my magic to share.
Women’s health (pelvic, sexual, hormonal) has long been neglected, misunderstood and damaged by the dominant culture. It rests with us to know our body, track our cycle, and advocate. I share ancient embodied wisdom and emerging science so we can live, mature, and age well. This is my zone of expertise - and the topic of my first published book. There’s no such thing as TMI - I’m here for all of it!
We can’t ‘heal’ alone. Relationships allow us to see with fresh eyes, find nuance and meaning. We stay committed to our process and feel enriched by each others stories. After 20 years supporting clients privately, I now offer potent, real-time group programs in my business for this very reason. We heal better together.
I’m not a ‘healer’ - I believe you are the healer. I facilitate your growing self awareness, movement skill, body fluency, and a remembrance of your essential purpose and wholeness. Inhabiting your body makes all the difference. The work we do is often incredibly healing. I hold your vision of what you desire - and help you bring it to life.
I bow to the inherent wisdom inside every woman.
I bow to the intuition and truth we carry in our bones.
How did I get here?
A separation, pregnancy loss, and divorce 16 years ago nearly took me out. So did a more recent major rupture within my family of origin. TLDR: my mom attempted suicide, I took her in for treatment, she separated from my dad. Although I handled the initial crisis with fierce clarity and action, I then dealt with heart pounding anxiety, shaking, numbness, and soul-crushing fatigue for months after.
Dreams and bodily revelations poured in to show me truths about my upbringing, my lineage, and the depth of healing yet to come. I fought to restore my wellbeing and presence in marriage and mothering. I grieved, danced, prayed, and hunted for beauty and joy to flood in.
Luckily I had decades of personal and professional expertise before all of this happened. I’m grateful for the frameworks of embodiment, nervous system & polyvagal mapping, and self-compassion already embedded in me.
I had an anchor amidst the storm of compounded physiological triggers and intergenerational trauma - something fluffy self care and mindset wouldn’t have been able to touch. I could be present to it all, and access an undercurrent of ‘okayness’ beneath the choppy waves.
I wish these hardships on no one.
I wish these embodiment skills for everyone.
We can experience rebirth many, many times.
This is why I teach - because these practices have changed my life and that of so many of my clients.
When I became a mother, my mission to share these practices & honest, whole person pelvic health became solidified.
I’m fluent in movement and sensation, and can spot the sneaky ways we check out or fixate and judge our experience, and find the inefficiencies that cause stagnation and pain.
I offer you body fluency insights to bring your practice to life - whether you’re brand new to befriending your body or a seasoned teacher yourself.
You become your own best coach, more skilled at listening to your body and knowing how to best respond to your changing needs.
This is about much more than physical health. Let’s enhance your mood, relationships, sexual satisfaction, longevity, self-expression, sense of purpose and more!
If you, too, believe you can source more courage and intimacy, vitality and joy in life, and that WE create the collective culture, then you’ll find yourself right at home here.
All of you is welcome.
I can’t wait for you to access the aliveness and resilience that’s always been yours.
Your wise, beloved body will show you the way.
“You are a game changer in my life. I’m able to unfurl many mysteries and become more of myself by studying with you.”
“Little did I know that you were going to open up a whole new way of thinking about my life. I haven’t slept this well in 20 years. You played a huge part in that.”
“You’re an absolute miracle worker.”
Welcome home to your beloved body.
You are welcome as you are in my spaces - bare feet, bare face, no bra, sweats, tear streaked cheeks or cells singing with a miraculous breakthrough.
The more real we can be about what is moving through us, the more we can expect from ourselves, life and our relationships.
Prepare a sacred space for yourself and have a notebook or journal on hand!
Here, we value longevity, and lasting transformation takes a titrated, personalized approach.
I work closely with you in the 1:1 immersion, Body Of Wisdom, and love holding space for a circle of women in my 9-month group program, Inhabit, which enrolls annually in September.
To take the first step, schedule a consult and let’s get to know each other.
If we’re new to working together, and you wish to start a home movement practice habit, consider joining Infuse movement membership. Get access to over 80 classes on demand!
I’m addicted to creative process, so if you have an idea for a collaboration, speaking engagement, or workshop - I’m game to hear about it!
You can find me teaching workshops, holding book signings, women’s circles and seeing clients around the twin cities metro, St Croix river valley and the Chippewa Valley and elsewhere across the US...and writing more books...eventually.
Our practice welcomes in modalities like:
Trauma-informed principles and dynamic nervous system/polyvagal frameworks
A cyclical approach that honors nature's larger seasons and the rhythms of being alive in a female body
Self-study: reading, writing & personalized inquiries
Self-touch and myofascial release skills
Somatic movement, yoga therapy, breath, restorative yoga & yoga nidra
Franklin Method experiential anatomy & dynamic imagery
Mindfulness, intentionality, behavior change coaching
Core & pelvic exercise, progressive, functional fitness programming
Dance improvisation, expression, embodiment
Sensuality & intimacy, education about sexual response physiology
Prayer and ritual
Professional Bio
Cheri Dostal Ryba has devoted over two decades to embodied inquiry & transformation as a movement educator, personal fitness trainer, dancer, C-IAYT yoga therapist, and author. Cheri's approach weaves the cyclical wisdom of nature with nervous system and polyvagal informed whole person pelvic care. Cheri served as a founding co-director and lead faculty of the accredited C-IAYT yoga therapist training program, AlcheMe Yoga Therapy, for 7 years and mentors yoga professionals in personal embodiment and career growth. She has spoken at the international conference SYTAR, and has contributed articles to Yoga Therapy Today and Midwest Yoga + Life Magazine to serve the growing field of yoga therapy.
Her students around the US and globally learn to hold themselves as a priority, establish and evolve boundaries, increase resilience and ability to rest, find their voice, reduce bladder urge, frequency, and leaks, improved sexual response and comfort, and more. Cheri’s group program, Inhabit, enrolls annually in September.
Cheri published her first book in 2022, Pelvic Yoga Therapy for the Whole Woman: A Professional Guide. She's developing professional trainings on Dynamic Informed Consent and Touch in Yoga, and Whole Person Pelvic Health, as well as the upcoming online program called Savor which explores the continuum of presence, sensuality, and sexuality. She makes life a moving ritual with her husband, two daughters, and joyful garden experimentation in Wisconsin.
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“I’ve learned that pushing through won’t get me where I’m going - in fact it sets me back. I’m getting so much better at listening to what my body and mind need in each moment.”
“Cheri’s given me tools to protect my energy and helped me develop clear, specific boundaries which have been such a blessing.”
“The first thing I think of when reflecting on our work is that I learned how to be more self-compassionate.”
How would a more skillful relationship to your body change things for you?
What do you desire to heal?