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Sundown Healing Arts

Intuitive, compassionate bodywork for trauma

Articles

Topic: Wider Narratives

Embodying Hope: Introduction

Embodying Hope: Living in Difficult Times with a Difficult Past offers you respite and replenishment, support and affirmation in these hard times. You did all this personal healing work so you could have a happier life, and now look! We have ongoing white supremacy and climate change, manifesting as destructive leaders, militarized police, escalating wildfires,… Read More

March 1, 2021 sonia

Topic: Wider Narratives

Prefer Narratives with Hope, Updated

In her presentation for Write/Speak/Code 2016, Naomi Ceder describes how our narrative about a situation controls the options we have. When she was young, the narrative she saw about trans people was one of sickness, wrongness, and absence of hope. The only way to transition was to renounce contact with all current family and community…. Read More

February 1, 2021 sonia

Topic: Hard Times, Abuse

Within Sight of Relief, Pause

Have you noticed people driving fast out there? Maybe you are one of those fast drivers, in a hurry to get to your destination and away from where you came from. It seems like everyone is vibrating with stress and the need to get out and away. Now that we are past the solstice, longer… Read More

January 1, 2021 sonia

Topic: Wider Narratives

The “Good Person” Badge

Thanks to each of you for pausing for a moment, putting down your struggle, taking a breath, and hearing that you are okay just as you are right now. Thanks to each of you who leaves behind the numbing blanket of denial to explore your individual history of abuse and trauma. Thank you for stepping… Read More

December 1, 2020 sonia

Topic: Relating

Kindness, Not Contempt

Contempt is regarding something or someone as inferior, vile, or worthless. Reserve this potent weapon for extreme cases of causing harm for selfish ends. Contempt hurts Whether hidden or overt, contempt hurts. We are social beings who care about the approval of people around us. Contempt from anyone erodes our sense of worthiness. Contempt from… Read More

November 1, 2020 sonia

Topic: Emotions

Anchor Terror in Time

Terror is part of the body’s basic survival mechanisms. It says, “I sense something that threatens my life, and I want to live!” As unpleasant as it feels, terror is not an enemy in itself. It is a blaring alarm. There are so many reasons to feel terror these days. World-wide pandemic. Wildfires. Police murdering… Read More

October 1, 2020 sonia

Topic: Hard Times, Abuse

Rock the Boat About Racism

This article discusses racism and white supremacy as seen in the US, and is applicable in the rest of the white-dominated world as well. Notice your inner responses as you read. Do you feel numb and bored? Do you feel angry and defensive? Do you feel relief because someone is naming your experience? When you… Read More

September 1, 2020 sonia

Topic: Hard Times, Abuse

Wear a Mask to Belong

Many survivors of childhood abuse and neglect have an ongoing ache to belong, an unassuaged longing for the warmth of secure attachment. We develop strategies both to hide our vulnerable hearts and to reach out for connection. We hide our core self to be acceptable and we expose our rawness to be visible. Belong right… Read More

August 1, 2020 sonia

Topic: Emotions

Lift the Anger Lid With Care

When you get angry, does an internal lid clamp down, perhaps before you even notice you are angry? Or does your anger spill out in a way that feels overwhelming, making you wish for a lid? You may have absorbed beliefs early on that your anger was bad, or that anger is always abusive, or that… Read More

July 1, 2020 sonia

Topic: Hard Times, Abuse

Adapt to New Risks

How do you relate to risks? Do you think of yourself as risk averse, risk tolerant, risk seeking, or some mixture? Is your approach different for physical, emotional, and financial risks? Risk tolerance is affected by current resources. Can you recover from a bad outcome, physically, emotionally, and/or financially? Do you have friends who cheer… Read More

June 1, 2020 sonia

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  • Prefer Narratives with Hope, Updated
  • Within Sight of Relief, Pause

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Heidi

Sonia Connolly is truly a gifted therapist. Not only is she very knowledgeable and skilled, she also tunes in to my needs intuitively. She stays fully present and listens to me and my body. She provides a safe place for me to receive at my full capacity. Continue Reading (click twice)

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