What
May 1 through July 31, 2018
Three months learning and practicing how to soothe our nervous systems, come into our bodies by connecting to our boundaries, and process and sit in uncomfortable emotions & sensations
Love letters, exercises, journaling prompts and videos arriving in your inbox every Tuesday
Discussion prompts three times a week in our private Facebook group
Three live group calls
$79/month for three months or a one time payment of $237 (USD) (Partial scholarships available. To request a partial scholarship contact me directly at gwynn at gwynnraimondi dot com) Note: By registering for this program you agree to the Office Policy and Client Service Agreement terms and conditions.
Registration is currently closed. To learn of future offerings, please sign up for my newsletter right over here.
Unprocessed trauma lives in all of us. Be it from the traumatic events of our own lived experience or that of our ancestors or the traumatic impact of living in our patriarchal culture.
Trauma impacts us emotionally, psychologically, and physically. It alters our DNA. It affects the ways we are able to interact in the world.
Some of the signs that we have trauma living in our bodies:
- Unexplained or “illogical” fear
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Hyper-vigilance (also related to fear and anxiety)
- Extreme irritability
- Emotional dysregulation (mood swings; cannot soothe self easily; once triggered into anger or sadness or fear cannot easily come out of it)
- Disassociated from the body (cannot feel your body or sense your physical boundaries; bumping into walls or furniture, not knowing where bruise or cuts/scrapes have come from)
- Disassociated from the present (stuck in past and or future thinking)
- Inability to concentrate and stay focused on one thing for an extended period of time
- Self-isolation (withdrawing from or not connecting to others)
- Feelings of shame and self-blame and claiming responsibility for things that are out of your control
Additionally the following physical health issues are also associated with trauma:
- autoimmune disorders
- gastrointestinal disorders
- reproductive system disorders
- fatigue
- thyroid and or adrenal dysfunction/endocrine system disorders
- insomnia and/or nightmares and/or night terrors
- racing heart beat and shortness of breath (panic attacks)
- muscle tension
- sexual dysfunction
- migraines
Our bodies and minds are interconnected. When we experience a traumatic event not only are our minds and brains impacted, our bodies, and all the systems within our body, are too. Studies have shown how trauma lives within our bodies, in not only our DNA but also in our muscular and cellular memory. Other studies have shown that in order to truly process trauma, we need to utilize both talk therapy and somatic therapies – in other words, we need to connect with another person and with our body to truly process the trauma that lives within us.
This three month program, previously called Self Care for Challenging Times, offers the basic elements of the first three parts of Level 1 of the Trauma Informed Embodiment (TIE)™ approach I have developed over the last six years. In this program we will focus on what is called “stabilization and safeness” through learning practical tools that will help you calm your sympathetic nervous system (where our fight-flight-freeze response lives) and activate your parasympathetic nervous system (where your “sex, rest & digest” response lives); become connected to your personal boundaries so you do not become overwhelmed and burnt out; and learn to tolerate uncomfortable and difficult situations by staying present in your body, in your environment, and with the person(s) you are interacting with.
I believe that finding our own sense of “safeness and stabilization” is both part of our own self care and also vital to being engaged in our changing world. We are on a precipice socially, politically, and culturally and we will all need the tools, and techniques to help calm and soothe our systems so we can continue to shift and change our culture to one that is consent-based, egalitarian, and just.
About Gwynn
I am a licensed marriage and family therapist associate in the state of Washington in the US. My main focus in my work is trauma, grief, embodiment and their intersections. I deeply believe in the power of community. Because of this, much of my work is offered in circle or group format. Being witness to and holding space for a group of people on similar and yet incredibly unique journeys is beautiful. Watching how each group comes together, offers support for each other, allow themselves as individuals to be witnessed and supported, is its own special kind of magic.
To learn more about me and my work, you can go here.
The outline for our three months together is:
Who
This workshop circle is open to all persons, of any gender. This workshop will be especially helpful for those who have experienced trauma in their lives, find themselves feeling overly anxious and/or triggered due to the current political and social happenings, are activists who need tools for self care to stay in the fight for the long haul, and/or therapists and coaches who not only want to learn new tools for themselves, but also to pass on to their own clients.
Essays related to our work
On Safeness, Stabilization, & Self Care :: Definitions
Shifting from Overwhelm to Safeness & Stabilization
Have questions?
I have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for this program coming soon.
I’d love to have a 30-minute chat with you to explore if this program is right for you right now (no sales, I promise! Only answering questions. If this program isn’t right for you right now, I’m happy to offer other resources and referrals). To set up a consultation meeting you can click here.
You are also welcome to connect with me in the free Facebook group I offer right over here.
Interested in working with me individually instead? You can learn more and request a get to know each other meeting here.