12:13:00 So, but first, as I always do start, I'd love to invite you into just about a maybe a four minute hype ball park it, but around a four minute just grounding practice as an invitation to arrive.
12:13:12 In our session together with just a little more presence and perhaps even with a little more ease.
12:13:19 And… In the spirit of trauma sensitive mindfulness, as I invite you into This meditation I invite you to approach the meditation with some gentleness and some flexibility.
12:13:33 Because for some connecting with the breath and body It feels natural and for others it might feel complicated and maybe even challenging so Whatever your experience know that there's your experience no right way or wrong way to be here just simply
12:13:49 Being present with yourself in whatever way is accessible can be an act of care.
12:13:54 And healing and so healing Finding a posture that you'd like to be in for the next few minutes, again, maybe just four minutes or so.
12:14:03 And keeping your eyes opened or closed whatever works for your body.
12:14:10 And if the breath is comfortable, you might start with a few intentional slow and deep breaths.
12:14:27 And with those breaths, you might begin to connect. With your body resting on the chair or whatever surface that you are Resting in.
12:14:43 Just sensing into those touch points of connection to that surface.
12:14:47 Connection between your body and the Surface.
12:15:05 And you might shift to recognizing how you are arriving for this lunch and learn, whether it's live or Recording.
12:15:16 It could be bringing awareness to your level of energy.
12:15:23 Your mood.
12:15:28 What thoughts are here?
12:15:35 If there are any sensations in the body.
12:15:45 Just taking a moment to pause. And acknowledge that this is what's happening right now.
12:15:54 For you. Not trying to change anything.
12:15:59 Just knowing what's happening. As it's happening.
12:16:18 And when your mind wanders into the past or future, and it will because that's the nature of the mind.
12:16:27 Just also recognizing that that's not a mistake. Part of the practice.
12:16:37 So just noting what's on your mind and then gently coming back.
12:17:11 And give the next few breaths. The invitation is to begin to move out of this brief grounding practice in whatever way feels right.
12:17:23 You might invite some deeper breaths. Or some gentle movement of the body.
12:17:37 And when you're ready, either lifting your gaze or opening your eyes.
12:17:56 As our practice completes.
12:18:08 Okay.
12:18:17 Thank you for your practice. All right, I'm going to shift now to our now
12:18:28 So this is just our roadmap for our time together. We've already had the invitation to a grounding practice.
12:18:37 I'm just doing a time check. So I'm going to talk a little bit about this is a huge topic.
12:18:43 And it's a core aspect of the course I teach and takes up a lot of our 36-hour course. And so this is a lot of Again, just sort of touching the surface, but I want to create a context around trauma.
12:18:56 And then I want to share something called the Medusa myth with you and something called the window of tolerance that kind of brings trauma sensitive mindfulness into greater focus.
12:19:05 And then the connection to some trauma sensitive mindfulness considerations. And again.
12:19:10 You might be here for your own practice. You might be here because you are bringing mindfulness into your work, whether that's in teaching or working in higher education in some way.
12:19:21 With students or without. And so hopefully you'll Again, as I mentioned, find some things that resonate and support what you're doing.
12:19:32 So I wanted to start with, as I always do. I know I'm not sure if I've got my I'm going to put this in front of my face.
12:19:41 A reading from or a meditation from Richard Wagames who wrote Ember's One Ojibwe's Meditation.
12:19:49 And Richard Wagames was a writer and a storyteller. And he wrote this book and many others.
12:19:59 And he calls these meditations, and I thought this was a nice way to start this particular Lunch and Learn.
12:20:06 He wrote, When I allow myself to feel my body. When I can inhabit it and allow myself to close off the world beyond my flesh.
12:20:16 I become who I am, energy and spirit. I am not my mind. I am not my brain.
12:20:23 I am Stardust, comets, nebulae, and galaxies. I am trees and wind and stone. I am space.
12:20:30 I'm emptiness and wholeness at the same time. This is when my body sings to me.
12:20:36 A glorious ancient song redolent with mystery seeking to remain mystery.
12:20:41 Connecting to it, living with it, becoming it even for a moment, I'm healed and made more.
12:20:47 Ceremony, whatever brings you closer to your essential self. And so… he says it so much better than I could, but just around the gift of being embodied.
12:21:05 But also being in the body as an entry point for presence is a practice.
12:21:12 And it's not easily accessible. Or equally accessible for everyone. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that as we go more deeply into this topic.
12:21:24 So just to create a context around trauma, I just wanted to share a few definitions with you.
12:21:30 Besser Vandelkoch, who wrote a book called The Body Keeps the Score.
12:21:36 Define trauma as an event that overwhelms the central nervous system in a way that keeps the imprint of pain or fear living inside someone in the present moment, even if what happened to the person or community of people happened in the past.
12:21:50 And Pat Ogden, who's also done a lot of work around trauma.
12:21:54 Has defined it as any event or series of event that leaves us feeling helpless, terrified.
12:22:00 And profoundly unsafe. So the experience of trauma can be a single event or a series of event.
12:22:08 It can be experienced by an individual. By a community of people. It can be experienced intergenerationally.
12:22:16 And we know you know, depending on the research around 5% to 7% experience post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD.
12:22:27 And around 70% of the population has experienced at least one traumatic event within their lives.
12:22:36 Whether we're experiencing trauma in the moment, many of us have had experiences of trauma.
12:22:41 And how we experience trauma is impacted Of course, by the events that occur.
12:22:49 But also by our own experience, our histories, our biology. Our behaviors, what we understand and know.
12:22:57 What we've been exposed to. And so… we can't override all of that but there's some there are ways that we can support ourselves to manage our experiences. And that's what we'll be talking about today, especially when it comes to
12:23:13 Thinking about and leading practice and or practicing. So what does this have to do with mindfulness? Well, the research shows and this body of research now is maybe, you know, it's really come into the consciousness of the mindfulness of the mindfulness
12:23:30 Community in the last seven or eight years and mostly from someone named David Terlevin who wrote a book on trauma-sensitive mindfulness.
12:23:38 And he said that mindfulness can both support and burden people.
12:23:42 Who've been exposed to chronically stressful and overwhelming experiences. So mindfulness can be a double edged sword.
12:23:49 We know from research that mindfulness, when someone is able to practice in a way that supports them, it can actually help folks heal from trauma and traumatic experiences.
12:24:01 But it's often assumed that anyone can engage in any practice, any mindfulness practice and benefit from it.
12:24:09 From a trauma sensitive perspective, we know that trauma aspects of mindfulness practice can be triggering.
12:24:16 And so there are ways that we can reduce the risk of being triggered in mindfulness so that we can benefit From all that we know.
12:24:27 It can offer us.
12:24:34 To explain this, I want to share something called the Medusa Myth.
12:24:38 And the Medusa myth is Peter Levine, who's done a lot of work around trauma use this to bring this to trauma into trauma greater focus and understanding.
12:24:50 So the Medusa myth, the story about Medusa was that she was a gorgon.
12:24:55 And that she had superpowers so that if you looked straight into her eyes, you would freeze and turn to stone.
12:25:02 And Perseus was someone who was tasked with defeating Medusa. But he didn't know how to do it because he thought, how do I approach Medusa without turning to stone, without looking at her?
12:25:16 And so he went to Athena. Who was the goddess of knowledge and said, how do I do this? How do I protect myself?
12:25:22 And defeat Medusa for the benefit of the community. And Athena said, you need a shield.
12:25:29 Because if you approach her without a shield and without protection, you will turn to stone.
12:25:35 So Peter Levine likened this thinking about trauma so that when someone has experienced traumatic stress or post-traumatic stress disorder.
12:25:45 They need a shield to be able to approach their experience of trauma.
12:25:51 And so… David Trelevin, who's done a lot of work around trauma-sensitive mindfulness, used this Medusa myth to think about how do we create a shield or protection when practicing mindfulness or leading mindfulness so that we are less likely to be triggered into a trauma response.
12:26:12 And it's important to say here that there's been a bit of an overcorrection two things. There's been sort of a It's been called linguistic creep with the term trauma.
12:26:26 In that trauma is sometimes used to describe something that's uncomfortable or something that's stressful. I've had a traumatic day or that interaction with that person was if it was an argument with traumatic. So there's something called linguistic creep.
12:26:43 And also, there's been this sort of messaging around trauma sensitive mindfulness almost an Overcorrection to say that if someone has experienced traumatic stress or emotional overwhelm.
12:26:54 That they shouldn't be practicing mindfulness. And that's not the message here.
12:26:58 The message is that there are ways we can practice that keep us more safe in practice.
12:27:04 And more stable and grounded in practice. And when we have access to practicing, it helps us to become more skillful.
12:27:13 So when we learn about how to practice and offer mindfulness in trauma sensitive ways, we're offering the opportunity for folks to become more skillful at managing what comes up if they are triggered into a trauma response because in any experience that we have in life, we cannot control as educators, as staff working with students with
12:27:34 When whatever capacity we are in. We cannot control someone's response, but we can do our best to make sure that we're offering those shields and that kind of protection so someone is less likely to be triggered and also has the skills to know what to do if they are
12:27:51 So I wanted to… First, I wanted to share a story with you. I'm going to go back to the Medusa myth.
12:27:59 And I wanted to share a story with you. And I have a lot of them, but I always go back to this one because I think it's most illustrative.
12:28:08 That in practice, I have two stories I want to share. I'll probably share both of them.
12:28:13 The first one is a couple of years ago. I was in a community practice with someone who there was a big group of us and the facilitator was inviting us all into practice.
12:28:24 Much like the introductory brief practice I invited you into, which was sort of to move between focusing on the body maybe focusing on the breath a little bit.
12:28:34 But the language that was used was directive and well-meaning this mindfulness teacher, wonderful person and well-meaning And before they were trained in trauma sensitive mindfulness, perhaps.
12:28:47 So they invited folks into practice and asked the participants asked to focus on their breath.
12:28:57 And afterwards, asked for feedback. And discussion. How was that experience for you? And the research shows when we invite people to share what their experience was in practice, it helps to to consolidate and really bring attention to what our experience really was.
12:29:12 And also for others to hear what a typical experience is and perhaps what a typical experience is and So this participant was sharing that she got really uncomfortable when she was directed to focus on her breath.
12:29:26 That she started to feel a little panicky. And her eyes started to water.
12:29:31 And she wondered what that meant. And the facilitator sort of doubled down on the instruction which was the initial instruction was to bring it back.
12:29:41 There's sort of this saying, bring it back to the cushion in traditional mindfulness meaning Whatever it is you're experiencing, just bring it back to the cushion so bring focused attention to it.
12:29:53 And the problem with that was, and I have no idea if this is true, except what I was observing and what this participant was sharing but it sounds like this person was triggered into a response and possibly a trauma response. I don't know, but it was very uncomfortable. She talked about her eyes starting to water and starting to feel panicky. This is not an experience
12:30:14 That should be typical or we want for someone who's experiencing mindfulness, it's a red flag.
12:30:20 So being invited to bring her attention back to her breath when that happens was actually the wrong move for her because It was focusing on our breath that was causing her to be dysregulated.
12:30:32 And so… it was really akin to this person being asked to look straight into Medusa's eyes rather than finding another way to do the practice in a way that was protecting her. So having a shield to approach her practice, in other words.
12:30:48 And so what was happening with her was that she was getting outside of what's called our window of tolerance and the term window of tolerance was coined by Dan Siegel, who's a neuroscientist also writes about mindfulness.
12:31:01 And this image in front of you is Think of it as an optimally working nervous system and that sort of wave is our When we think about when we go through our day, we have this ebb and flow of emotions throughout the day.
12:31:17 And this ebb and flow of a stress response. And when we're in our window of tolerance.
12:31:22 We're still experiencing the ebb and flow of emotions and stress.
12:31:27 And if we have an optimally working nervous system Influenced by many things, we're able to manage that.
12:31:35 Ebb and flow of emotion and stress as we go about our day. We have the tools and strategies to metabolize it.
12:31:41 Doesn't mean we don't feel uncomfortable. Doesn't mean we don't feel stress, but we have the capacity to be able to ride the waves of it.
12:31:51 And when we don't have the capacity. And for folks who've experienced unrelenting ongoing experiences of stress.
12:32:02 For whatever reason. We start to either move outside of our window of tolerance that happens, which means we aren't able to handle the ebb and flow of our emotions as easily, the stress that we experience as easily.
12:32:18 Not only that, but the window of tolerance shrinks. So I always go back to my experience during the pandemic and I practice, I've been practicing mindfulness now for 25 years. I have a daily, very committed practice.
12:32:32 And during the pandemic, especially, and during times of great distress, grief, challenge.
12:32:39 I notice when I'm starting to edge outside of my window of tolerance because I don't have the same capacity to manage stress or to manage my emotions in the moment.
12:32:48 And that can change and fluctuate given the day or the week or the month or lived experience.
12:32:55 But in general, our window of tolerance is something that is cultivated over time.
12:33:00 And we can change our window of tolerance and expand our window of tolerance through many things, including mindfulness.
12:33:08 So what was happening with this participant was that she was being pushed out of her window of tolerance, meaning Focusing on the breath. And I'm just going to imagine here was triggering her in some way And she started to move out of her window of tolerance and then couldn't manage
12:33:24 Sitting calmly and being able to use some strategies to come back into more regulated state.
12:33:33 And sometimes called sort of a functional range. So… So what do we do about this?
12:33:41 Trauma sensitive mindfulness. Whether we're practicing ourselves or whether we are offering lifeless to others, it requires flexibility.
12:33:52 Support, safety. And choice. And so I want to take a little bit deeper dive into what that means.
12:34:00 So I will always say if I'm doing workshops with teachers in school settings privately.
12:34:08 At OYZ, working with graduate students. And if anyone ever says to me, give me your most powerful strategy? What is the most powerful mindfulness practice or strategy that you know of? And I always say it's your practice.
12:34:22 Because your practice is your best teacher. And we know from trauma sensitive mindfulness, if you're offering mindfulness to others.
12:34:29 It's important to start with your own practice so you have an embodied understanding of what it means to practice.
12:34:35 To be in the challenge of practice. And to… Bring awareness to your experience.
12:34:43 Because who you are. And sort of the activation of your nervous system, whether it's in a calm state or dysregulated state.
12:34:53 That will impact those around you, whether that's friends, family. Colleagues.
12:34:59 Fellow graduate students your own students, if you're working with students in some capacity So because we co-regulate and we know our nervous systems impact the nervous systems of those around us, we know this from research around mirror neuroning.
12:35:14 So when we are in a state of calm and awareness, we're more likely to be aware of our responses and our behaviors and our and our impact. And so starting with your own practice is key.
12:35:27 It's important to recognize that feeling safe in the body is a privilege and it's shaped by life circumstances and our early experiences.
12:35:37 So someone who is able to calm themselves very easily with the breath doesn't necessarily mean they're more skillful. It might mean that they've had early and lived experiences that have allowed them and given them the privilege of feeling in and tapping into
12:35:52 A sense of safety and more ease towards feeling regulated, getting to that regulated state.
12:35:59 And so important to recognize the context around that that folks who are coming in, a lot of people come in into a mindfulness class or course into their own practice because they want to feel calmer and to manage their stress response. So really important that we recognize
12:36:18 Some of the conditions that contribute to that stress response and they are not equally those stressors are not equally distributed in our society.
12:36:27 So really important to recognize that. Important to understand that the breath whoops Hit the wrong button there. The breath as an anchor is not always neutral And oftentimes when people are introduced to mindfulness, the breath is sort of the go-to anchor home base.
12:36:46 We focus on something at the exclusion of something else. That's what we do in mindfulness because we need something to bring us back over and over again.
12:36:55 In our practice. I liken it to an anchor in a boat. If you imagine a boat that's floating in water.
12:37:03 But it's anchored the weather conditions might kick up and the waves might get pretty big and the the boat will start to inch away, but the anchor will always make sure it doesn't get too far and it brings it back over and over again.
12:37:17 So in a mindfulness practice, we use an anchor and we choose whatever it is. It could be the breath.
12:37:23 It could be if sound's available to us, the landscape of sound vision is available to us. It could be something that we're looking at.
12:37:32 It could be an object that we're holding on to. It could be a mantra.
12:37:37 We're choosing something to focus on. And when we get distracted, and we will because it's part of the practice and the nature of the mind.
12:37:45 And it's not a mistake. We bring our attention back to whatever that is, the breath or the sound or whatever we see or something we're holding on to.
12:37:53 That's the practice. That's how we strengthen those neural pathways. And oftentimes in practice, folks are invited to focus on the breath as an anchor. Now, there's nothing wrong with inviting someone to do that.
12:38:06 Or for us even trying that, but recognizing that some people who've experienced trauma Because the breath is connected to our central nervous system are parasympathetic and our sympathetic. And the sympathetic nervous system is our stress response.
12:38:23 And when we get stressed, it impacts our breathing. And so there's this connection sometimes made, especially for folks who've experienced trauma.
12:38:30 And it impacts the breathing or our ability to feel like we can breathe.
12:38:34 Focusing on the breath can be sometimes dysregulating and feel really uncomfortable.
12:38:40 And so… offering choice.
12:38:44 Offering a choice of anchor, not just the breath. I will invite people into practice and invite people to, I'll do a breath awareness practice, but I'll always say if the breath isn't comfortable.
12:38:55 For you as an anchor, choosing something else that feels more right for you.
12:39:01 Just that offer of a choice can be enough to have someone tap into even just a sense of safety because there's a sense of agency and control.
12:39:14 Because when someone comes into practice and there's someone who's teaching or facilitating.
12:39:19 And someone's directing them, it can feel like this is probably the right way to do it and there must be something wrong with me.
12:39:25 If I can't focus on my breath or I better not practice mindfulness because I can't focus on the breath, mindfulness isn't for me.
12:39:32 So that's a big one. So it really leads into the next one which is the greater choice, which is to practice or not.
12:39:40 If you're thinking about bringing mindfulness into the classroom, whether it's in kindergarten or in higher education.
12:39:47 Knowing that it's always an invitation. You can't force anyone to practice mindfulness anyway, unless you can get inside their heads.
12:39:55 To do that, but always offering it as a choice. And sometimes folks will just naturally come to practice over time as they start to feel more comfortable or not. It's not for everyone. It's not a panacea.
12:40:09 So always offering it as a choice and not a requirement.
12:40:13 Where to practice if that's feasible. So if you're in a physical space, if you're in a classroom.
12:40:18 Inviting students to sit stand or lie down. That's really a posture. Some people feel more comfortable moving and walking.
12:40:26 If they need to practice, they might feel comfortable sitting leaning against a wall, lying on the ground.
12:40:32 Finding a position in a posture that feels comfortable and also folded in there is also maybe perhaps an inner wisdom of knowing what feels safe, safer for them.
12:40:45 Having eyes opened or closed. So I'm still in spaces where someone will say, so I just was on Monday taking a course And the facilitator said, you know, so everyone, you know, now please close your eyes. Again, not a problem for a lot of people, most people.
12:41:01 But for someone who's experienced trauma. Having a directive and being told the move is to close your eyes and there's no choice around that that can feel really dysregulating.
12:41:12 And then offering breaks. And usually that's at the beginning of a practice saying something like.
12:41:18 You know, in whatever language you might use, doing whatever feels right for your body. If you need to take a break Keep your eyes open or closed, doing whatever makes most sense for you. Because again, in traditional practice There's thinking about sitting on a cushion in lotus position
12:41:36 And oftentimes the direction was if you feel an itch on your face, just be with the itch.
12:41:43 And there's nothing wrong with that kind of direction. But when we're thinking about folks have experienced trauma and are being told they can't meet a need, like maybe scratching an itch.
12:41:57 But I would say in today's practice that's secular that the move really is to move the direction really is to do whatever feels right. So of course, move, get up, scratch the itch, do whatever you need to.
12:42:12 And that will actually probably help you stay more present. Letting someone know how long the practice will last.
12:42:20 And for you, if you're practicing, if it's a guided practice on an app, for example, taking a look at how long the practice will be.
12:42:27 It's a simple thing. It seems like it's a no-brainer, but it is often missed when someone's guiding practice to say this is how long the practice will be.
12:42:36 And so for me, I know when I go into a practice and someone doesn't say, I think, is this going to be five minutes? Is this going to be 20 minutes?
12:42:43 And again, having a sense of what's coming can help us tap into a greater sense, even just a sense of safety and agency and control.
12:42:52 So really important. This practice will be around, and I've always ballpark it because I don't know how long it will be, but I usually say around four minutes or around 10 minutes or whatever it might be.
12:43:04 Inviting movement where that's possible. Again, some of the traditional kind of directions for mindfulness are to be as still as possible.
12:43:12 And for me, when I talk about stillness, I'm actually really referring to inner stillness.
12:43:17 And you can absolutely tap into inner stillness and be moving. Those two don't necessarily need to be happening at the same time.
12:43:26 So if someone needs to move, if someone has characteristics of ADHD. If someone feels more safe when they're moving.
12:43:35 Invite movement if it's safe to do so and possible. Avoiding directive language. So again.
12:43:44 This is the difference between and so You know, I was in a i was in a I'm just looking at the time. I was in a mindfulness community of practice on Monday.
12:43:53 And there were a large group of us and we've been coming together for a long time.
12:43:58 And someone was in the group. So we have our practice, then we have a bit of a discussion, and then we share about our experience in the practice.
12:44:05 And someone was in the practice who was in the practice who who's been coming for a long time, who lost her home in the Los Angeles fires that are continuing.
12:44:15 She lost everything Two children, single mom, they lost everything, everything.
12:44:21 And so obviously an experience of trauma And the person who was, people take turns, a very large group and people take turns facilitating. So the person who is facilitating was giving directives. So things like, you know, close your eyes
12:44:35 And bring your attention to your attention your breath and now bring attention to your feet on the ground and i think her Her direction was bring your feet to the ground and feel the stability of the ground beneath you.
12:44:48 As you breathe in and breathe out. So this person who was in the After we were sharing, she said.
12:44:57 I was She shared that she had lost her house in the fire.
12:45:01 And she was coming to the practice just to be in community and to practice.
12:45:06 And on her phone. And she said she was triggered because she was triggered she was being asked to being told to is more like a directive, but the languaging was felt like a directive.
12:45:20 And being asked to focus on her breath and feel her feet on the ground and the connection to the ground and the stability and safety of the ground.
12:45:28 Wasn't resonating with her because the ground beneath her went up in flames.
12:45:33 So she was a bit triggered. And so we had the conversation around, which was really a great learning experience around learning experience you know and not shaming the person who is facilitating, but for all of us, and again, a big group talking about the importance of
12:45:46 Just shifting our language even just a little bit. Instead of close your eyes now, feel your feet on the ground, even something like, if it feels comfortable for you.
12:45:56 If it works for your body. If this feels right, and you don't have to say that in front of every move, but as long as you're sending the message that the person who's practicing is in choice at every point.
12:46:12 That these are just suggestions. You can shift your attention, do whatever way feels right.
12:46:17 So avoiding directive language. Softening, just inviting or saying you might try this or You know, some of the language I used when I was inviting you into the opening practice was You know, the invitation is the invitation You might now turn your attention to what's happening for you right now, whether that's your mood
12:46:40 Or so just even saying you might now rather than turn your attention to.
12:46:45 So it can seem subtle, but the difference is quite profound.
12:46:50 Inviting post-practice check-ins or sharing. Again, if you have the capacity to do that.
12:46:56 In a 50-minute lunch and learn You know, I'm going to invite some discussion and some Q&R.
12:47:05 But sometimes in space, there isn't enough for everyone to share their experiences but for giving the opportunity for at least a few people to share their experiences gives the group access to what a typical or atypical experience is. So someone has a sense of
12:47:22 You know, if I was feeling that way, actually, that's not the right way to feel. And I can't tell you how many times You know, I teach a dedicated course on the theory and practice of mindfulness and education.
12:47:31 And I teach courses in mindfulness and I can't tell you how many times And I invite people to, I ask people to keep a journal And how often folks who are practicing will say, well, I did a guided, this is even after we've talked about trauma sensitive mindfulness.
12:47:48 Oh, I did a guided practice on this app And I started to feel like I started to feel really uncomfortable when I was, you know, focusing on whatever it was, maybe focusing on my belly. I have some some body issues and focusing on the belly felt really uncomfortable and I felt sense of shame and I
12:48:06 And they continue to practice. So important to really speak about the importance of not necessarily having to do any of what the guiding is, to really follow what's comfortable. And I think it's a message that needs to be shared over and over again because we are so used to following instruction.
12:48:26 That it can sometimes feel like moving outside of that feels like then it's a lesser practice or it's not doing it the right way or I'm not being a good mindfulness students. So important to really to really underscore that.
12:48:41 Avoiding inviting difficult memories into practice. So oftentimes, and I will not do this in my classes and my courses, unless I've been working with someone in an perhaps in a small group over a long period of time.
12:48:56 Because we know, and this is not a problem for many people If you're invited to think about a memory that was something that was challenging with you, whether it was interpersonally or an experience that you had, you might be able to go to
12:49:08 A challenge that you might have had with someone and work with that in a really comfortable and safe way.
12:49:13 But folks who have experienced trauma Well, often we know from research, will reflexively orient to traumatic stimuli, meaning I could even say, and I used to say, on a scale from 1 to 10, Choose a memory, a challenging memory or interaction with someone or experience in your life
12:49:33 That's on a one to three on a scale of difficulty and challenge.
12:49:38 So it could be even something from the day before. Just choose something that was mildly annoying.
12:49:44 People who've experienced trauma will often not go to something that's on a scale from one to three. They go to the 10.
12:49:51 They'll go straight to the most difficult experience they've ever had.
12:49:55 And so we want to make sure when we're working, if we're practicing ourselves, if you're invited to go into a memory.
12:50:03 Really be aware of that if you've experienced trauma, you will likely orient to that most difficult time you've had and there's a chance for triggering into a trauma response.
12:50:14 And also, if you're inviting someone into practice. Being really careful about inviting a challenging or difficult memory, knowing that this is what happens with folks who've experienced trauma. What I want to say again here, and I said it before was that
12:50:28 Again, we don't, when we're inviting folks into practice and offering trauma-sensitive considerations.
12:50:36 It's not in some, for example, if someone's not comfortable focusing on the breath.
12:50:40 And we know it. So if I know it in my courses and my classes, if someone's not comfortable focusing on the breath, I will still lead with invitations to focus on the breath because I want to make sure that someone becomes more skillful with working with that, knows how to switch their attention.
12:50:58 But also, my hope is that over time, that person will slowly, and Peter Levine who does work around trauma talks it about talks about titrating, slowly focus on the breath, maybe even just one breath and then move out.
12:51:12 And then maybe the next day or two days later, focus on a couple of breaths and move out.
12:51:17 Because the point of mindfulness is to bring awareness to our experience and then to become more skillful at managing that experience. So it's not to avoid altogether.
12:51:27 It's to learn to become more skillful with being whatever comes up.
12:51:33 In the practice that I invited you into. I invited you to just bring attention to what was coming up, whether it was a mood.
12:51:40 Our physical sensations. And not to change anything, just to be with whatever's showing up.
12:51:46 And that's what mindfulness practice is. It's being with whatever it is, not trying to change it.
12:51:51 Yes, we might want to change our circumstances over time, of course.
12:51:56 But in this moment, in this very moment. It's not possible for you to change those circumstances, perhaps.
12:52:03 So can you be with that in the moment? You're here with it now.
12:52:07 And so how can you learn to be with that moment with a little more ease and presence?
12:52:13 And this list is exhaustive. Again, this could be its own course. I'm just choosing some to share with you.
12:52:18 Co-creating with students if you're bringing mindfulness in. So thinking about their backgrounds, their experiences, their lived experiences, the kinds of practices they could bring in.
12:52:27 Allowing them to name some of the practices, allow some of them to maybe if you have like a a little bell that you ring, having them ring the bell.
12:52:36 Having them invite someone into practice co-creating this with your students so that they feel themselves represented in the practices And in the invitations.
12:52:48 And what's not on here is to say so much not on here, but to say.
12:52:53 Never invite students into practice or ask students to practice as a punishment or as a way to, you know, the class you know, it's getting a little rowdy in here. Let's practice because then you're sending that association that it's around compliance.
12:53:08 Rather than just finding that inner sense of presence and ease.
12:53:13 And agency. So those are just really a few things.
12:53:17 So just a few resources for you and then just open it up for any comments.
12:53:21 Our shares, lots of expertise I know in the group so i would love to hear from you.
12:53:28 Within the library, there's a book, I wrote a book called Fostering Mindfulness. It's in the library.
12:53:35 Both physical copy and digital copy. Trauma sensitive mindfulness written by David Trelevin.
12:53:41 Pardon me. It's available in both versions in the library too And the inner work of racial justice, healing ourselves, transforming our communities through mindfulness by Rhonda.
12:53:52 Mcgee. And that is also in our library. Fantastic books. I have some meditations.
12:53:57 There are many apps out there. I know folks using a lot. I have some meditations on Insight Timer. And one is called inner resourcing practice for healing and it invites people to go through a few practices to find a resource that helps them to
12:54:14 Come back into their window of tolerance. And examples of that might be bringing to mind a favorite place of being who's In their presence, you feel a sense of safety. There's sort of a menu of things to try out, so you're welcome to try that out.
12:54:31 And also, as Ari mentioned I facilitate a monthly mindfulness community of practice for educators through the Ozing Wellness Community. I've got a link in the chat I'll give to you our next meeting.
12:54:42 Is January 27th and we… Practice and a few of you here are a part of that community.
12:54:47 It's also drop-in though if you can come once and not come again you're welcome to come.
12:54:52 And I'll put the link in there. We practice, we discuss, we share.
12:54:57 And it's a really beautiful community and I'm going to put that in there right now.
12:55:04 Um. Mari, your question, if you want to share, just know if i have some Window tolerance worksheets outside my door and hard copy if people are interested. Fantastic.
12:55:13 All right, thank you. That's great. Pay.
12:55:18 I don't know if you're still here, but where is your office just for folks Ken.
12:55:25 Not sure if you're still here, but thank you for that. That's great.
12:55:31 I'd love to invite some sharing, some questions some We've got about five minutes left and so
12:55:48 You can just unmute or Veronica
12:55:52 Hi, I really liked what really struck me was that element of choice.
12:55:57 And the way you can phrase things for invitations. And I think that is a good practice in general.
12:56:05 Just as a teacher. It struck me how it can deal with so many situations, but I really like the fact that you emphasized it around the mindfulness practice.
12:56:13 It's good to know that that is something you can actually do.
12:56:19 To support people so choice And invitation. Thank you so much.
12:56:25 Thank you, Veronica. Thank you for underscoring it really just for those educators in the room.
12:56:30 Choice is so important. Absolutely. Thank you, Jacob.
12:56:35 Come.
12:56:38 Hi, I just, that story of when You were telling about that one individual who had trouble like just even breathing and taking a moment to themselves really like struck with me because like we take that for granted and it's as simple as breathing might not be as simple for like
12:56:58 Simple for them, but simple for us and it's really interesting and like It also highlights the importance of how like we really do need to be careful, especially just quote unquote basic everyday things like I don't know. It really kept me thinking and i'm like.
12:57:14 We've got to be mindful. We've got to be careful Always trying our best to like help out and be like accommodating to one another you know always trying to uplift each other
12:57:24 Thank you, Jacob. Yeah, I think… what you said is really important to underscore that we don't want to make assumptions that someone has is able to be, you know, we talk a lot about being embodied in mindfulness practice and make the assumption that everyone has the privilege of being able to land in their bodies.
12:57:42 Or focus on their breath. And especially for folks who have been discriminated against and othered, whether they have a disability, they're racialized, being in the body does not feel necessarily safe or accessible.
12:57:55 And so while it's accessible and can feel safe for many folks, it is not.
12:58:00 Does not feel that way for many people. And so to recognize that as we're thinking about inviting others into practice.
12:58:07 And to honor that because really that safety um some, you know, running out of time, but just to say It's the wisdom of the body sometimes not to feel safe because there's been the need to protect.
12:58:23 And so it's really honoring the wisdom of the body and saying, no, I cannot be in the body right now because I've had to be the opposite to feel a sense of safety.
12:58:32 But the hope is that with practice. And with trauma-sensitive considerations, someone can come to practice and start to feel into a sense of greater comfort and safety slowly and over time.
12:58:46 While it may not be safe on the external. There are ways that we can find an internal sense of safety that doesn't rely on the external.
12:58:54 And those can happen in even just a few seconds at a time in moments.
12:58:59 Thank you for underscoring that.
12:59:05 Yeah, good idea to focus on one or a few breaths in breathing. Yeah.
12:59:09 Titrating, giving it a shot, and then coming out to safety.
12:59:12 Focusing on the breath and coming out to safety. So we're just sort of pendulating in and out.
12:59:19 So that dipping our toe in, often it's called we dip our toe in.
12:59:22 So that we're not completely avoiding, but maybe giving ourselves a chance to maybe build up our capacity.
12:59:35 I know we're running out of time, but do you find that trauma is often excluded when conversations of ableism happen or like do you what kind of about the intersection of ableism and non-physical disability
12:59:53 Yeah, Kayla, what a great question. And that could be a whole course too.
12:59:59 But yes, I think that's part of, you know, we don't know what we don't know until we know it. And I think within the mind, if we're thinking about mindfulness, mindfulness was offered in ways that just made it made assumptions, you know, even thinking, you know, some of the directions are sometimes
13:00:16 Used to be sit up straight with a posture of dignity.
13:00:19 As though it's not dignified if you're not sitting up straight. And there are people who physically cannot sit up straight.
13:00:26 So whether it's whether it's a physical disability, whether it's often called an invisible disability.
13:00:34 We always need to approach our work and i think as Veronica said, anything we're doing, especially if we're teaching but mindfulness, making the assumption that it's sort of almost this universal design for learning that we think about in education.
13:00:50 Planning the way we offer mindfulness, thinking about all ways of being.
13:00:54 All ways of being and not something as an outlier But all experiences and it you know it takes some time and some thought But it's really zooming out.
13:01:04 And thinking about how do we make sure that everyone finds themselves invited no matter how they're showing up in the room.
13:01:10 Whether it's virtually or physically. So much more to say around that, Kayla, but thank you for raising that because it's such an important question.
13:01:18 Around access and equity. No.
13:01:23 Thank you.
13:01:24 Thank you, everyone. And please feel free to reach out to me, shelly.murphy at utoronto.ca if you'd like if you have any questions or want to touch base.
13:01:32 And you're always welcome to the community of practice. Love to be with you. So thank you.
13:01:37 For taking the time today to come here to be in community.
13:01:41 On this topic.