One of the main effects of trauma is dissociation: disconnection from the body and the present moment. Trauma healing involves slow, patient reconnection with our bodies, our environment, and other people. Those are all part of nature. Survival skill Dissociation allows us to survive when our experiences and emotions are too overwhelming to tolerate. It… Read More
Healing Tools
Find Your Way to Rest
How often do you come to a full stop and rest? Do you move full-tilt through your days and sleep restlessly through too-short nights? Is your nervous system on high alert even when you have time to pause? A sacred, political act Robyn Posin has encouraged rest for many years. “To rest is a sacred… Read More
Presence After Trauma: Introduction
Presence After Trauma: Reconcile with Your Self and the World is a non-judgmental companion for your healing process after the initial crisis is over. Years into your healing work, you might feel that you have largely come back to yourself, and at the same time wonder why you still have trauma-related problems. Or, you might… Read More
Heal Around the Edges
As you may remember from getting scraped knees as a child, physical wounds heal from the outside in, at the borders with healthy tissue, where they receive the resources needed to rebuild. Trauma heals that way, too. Somatic Experiencing techniques help us navigate the border between traumatic memory and present time. When we have access… Read More
Weave Your Body Whole
Trauma fractures us internally and externally, splitting our sense of our bodies and sundering our connections with the rest of the world. Spiritual tools like Jewish Kabbalah and the process of counting the omer can help us weave ourselves back together, looking at qualities of kindness, boundaries, compassion, endurance, Nature, connection, and sovereignty. Any tool… Read More
Check In With Your Chakras
The chakras are energy centers along the front of the spine from tailbone to crown. They are a key part of the energy map of the human body, developed around 3,000 years ago in India. Some people dedicate years of focused yoga and other meditative practices to refine the connection between body and mind, allowing… Read More
Choose an Easier Road
I rode my bike down a freeway on-ramp the other day. I expected a symmetrical interchange with a bridge across the freeway, and was halfway down the ramp before I saw it was freeway-only. Fortunately, it was a sunny afternoon and traffic was light. I cautiously crossed the on-ramp to the paired off-ramp, waited for… Read More
All Done! Tools for Rapid Change
At her first appointment, Kyung1 describes unrelenting anxiety that interferes with eating, sleeping, working, and enjoying life. “I’m done! I’ve tried Rescue Remedy, meditation, therapy, and meds. I need it to stop now!” While I might be tempted to explain that most change is slow and gradual, the energy of “Done!” can herald big shifts…. Read More
The Power of Gentle
We instinctively approach a frightened animal with slow, gentle movements and a soft voice. We show that we mean no harm, and give the animal time to decide if and how to approach us. Traumatized humans need the same gentle approach. Illusion of urgency Trauma leaves behind an agitated nervous system and a body on… Read More
Navigate Change: Mind the Gap
When we step forward into an inviting future, we need to pay attention to the gap between our existing habits and our changed environment. If the change is unwanted or the future is uncertain, we have even more reasons to be mindful during the transition. Transitions are hard “Soon it will be time to put… Read More