From Shane Piñata,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is Everyday Magic for Ukraine.
Today we explore trauma-informed mindfulness.
Welcome to the Circle.
Welcome to Everyday Magic for Ukraine,
Where we honor Ukraine and also practice self-care to stay strong as allies.
If you're new here,
Welcome.
So today's episode is a little bit different.
We're going to spend a little bit of time talking a little more conceptually.
We're only going to have a short meditation practice today.
And I wanted to carve out this little bit of time to speak about what it is that we're doing.
We're doing something called,
Or I'm offering something called,
Trauma-informed mindfulness.
I was first introduced to the concept of trauma-sensitive something through trauma-sensitive yoga,
Which was a real eye-opener for me in terms of what it could be like to do a practice with a teacher who allows permission for any kind of response.
And a lot of us have learned from a very young age to listen to the tone of the teacher,
To adjust in any way we think we might need to,
To be good,
Which can come at the sacrifice of our innate knowing,
Our innate wisdom.
And indeed,
Over time,
We can become disconnected from our wisdom and not know what it even is.
So when I was in that trauma-sensitive yoga class,
I had my first experience of being told,
I'm going to give directions.
You don't need to do what I say.
That's what the teacher said.
You don't need to do what I say.
If I guide us into an asana and you don't want to do it,
You can just sit there,
Or you can do a different asana,
Or you can walk out of the room.
She gave us full permission and actually instructions to stay with our own inherent wisdom while somebody was giving us a list of things to do,
Which I have to say is very challenging because as I said,
We've been so cultured and conditioned to do what we're told and sometimes disconnected from that wisdom.
And that is the spirit in which I offer these meditations.
So what I suggest to you,
Let's take a breath.
I will always try to remember to say,
If you like,
You can join me in a breath.
So when we're together in circle,
You are always welcome to ignore what I say,
To do your own thing,
To do the opposite of what I say,
To turn off the podcast,
To come back next time,
To never come back,
Whatever you need.
Practice listening deeper than my voice,
Practice listening inside your body.
And since this is a podcast,
You have the ability to pause and think,
Okay,
Do I want to do that?
Does that feel right?
Does that feel good to me right now?
Because my belief is that your body knows what you need.
Another pillar is what's called somatic markers.
That means noticing your body,
Noticing your body sensations,
Being aware of feelings that might come and go and thoughts that might come and go.
Another pillar is working within the window of tolerance,
Which basically means do what feels right.
The window of tolerance is usually represented with a little drawing that has a window in the middle of the page,
And that's your window,
That's where you want to be.
And there's an area above the window called hyperarousal.
And that represents times when our body gets jittery,
When we maybe get angry,
When we just don't feel okay,
When we start moving faster,
Faster,
Faster,
That's hyperarousal.
And then underneath the window is a section called hypoarousal.
That's when we might dissociate,
Leave the building,
Fall asleep,
Get into a frozen state.
Basically,
If you're above or below the window,
Those are times when your nervous system is not doing very well.
And then another pillar of trauma-informed mindfulness are just resilience practices,
Which we do every time we get together,
Connecting to a sense of well-being,
Connecting to a sense of community.
This circle is kind of a community on the inner,
If you will.
It's different than any other community probably in your life,
But I hope it provides you a sense of belonging in some way.
And then the last pillar is environmental awareness,
Which is noticing the sounds around us,
Noticing the colors,
The textures,
Noticing if we're alone,
Just noticing this moment.
If trauma-informed mindfulness is something that you'd like to learn more about,
I would like to point you in the direction of David Treleven.
He has a wonderful book called Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness,
And he also had a podcast for a while.
So check out his work.
He is amazing.
So for our meditation today,
Why don't we practice the opportunity to be in choice piece?
So I will give you a few suggestions over the next couple of minutes,
And I would love for you to intentionally decide with each one,
Do I agree to that?
Does that match how I'm feeling?
And if yes,
Feel free to join me.
And if no,
Feel free to do your own thing.
This is your chance to rebel.
This is your chance to do it your way.
I would really love for you to practice because like I said,
It's not that easy.
So here we go.
So if you'd like,
You can join me in taking a deep breath.
And now if it feels good,
Maybe look around you,
Notice what colors do you see?
Do you see anything red?
And do you see anything green?
And now if you'd like to,
You can join me in feeling a few textures around you.
Can you find three distinct textures to feel?
You can use your hands or any part of your body you'd like to touch against the textures.
Notice how they feel.
And we're going to end this very,
Very short practice today by just noticing how is your heart?
You can place a hand on your heart if you'd like to.
Feel into your heart.
How is your heart today?
Saying hello to your heart today.
And when you're ready,
If you'd like,
You can join me in a breath.
I really appreciate you joining me for this different episode today where we just had a little bit of a talk about trauma-sensitive mindfulness,
Trauma-informed mindfulness.
May we always remember to listen to our wisdom whenever anybody is telling us what to do.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy,
And your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
Remember to breathe today if you want to.
Breathe and expand.
And I hope you join us again next time.
Please consider inviting a friend.
