Trauma Training Tip Each of the 5 Elements, when nourished and flexible, offer us what I call critical capacities for living well in community. The Metal both “Awakens Arousal” in the Self-Protective Response, and when it is healthy and flexible, has the capacity to awaken us to new things in our environment with curiosity rather than a sense of threat. We live life in a somatically mindful way that is expansive and enriching. When a new family moves in down the street that speaks a different language or dresses differently, we are curious, and not threatened. Curiosity is parasympathetic. A key …

Trauma Training Tip It’s Fall here in the Mid-Atlantic. Air is crisp(er), skies are clear and sparkly, and leaves are just beginning to turn. In the Self-Protective Response, the energy of Metal, the element most resonant with the vibration of Fall, supports our capacity for somatic mindfulness. Hence the start of the Tao of Trauma series is in the Fall! (Early Bird deadline extended to October 1!) The Po — translated as Animal Soul — is the spirit of the Metal. It helps us recognize the messages in our bodies — what PolyVagal theory calls our interoceptive awareness. Our Po helps us use primal …

Trauma Training Tip It’s the season of the Earth. My favorite season for eating! Mother Earth is providing us with amazing fruits and vegetables – nourishing us and preparing us for the colder and harsher months to come.  In the 5 Element cycle, one of the Earth’s jobs is to “control” the Water Element. The Water Element’s emotion is fear; it Signals Threat. The Earth’s emotion is sympathy; it helps us Digest Gristle and Harvest Lessons – lessons that expand rather than contract our capacity to live in community. When our Earth is working well, we feel grounded, anchored, and …

Trauma Training Tip We’ve just passed the summer solstice, the high point of the season of the Fire Element. Our Taoist ancestors encourage us to live in harmony with the energy of each season as the foundation for our health. In the Fire season, we have enhanced access to “all matters of the heart.” At our conception, Yin (egg) and Yang (sperm) united to form what is called our Ancestral or YuanQi. Our Yuan Qi informs the creation of our connective tissue and brings this information to all of our organs and tissues. It is our essential imprint and is carried by our Triple Burner meridian.  The …

Trauma Training Tip We are heading rapidly to the Summer Solstice and the height of the season of the Fire Element.  The other 4 Elements have 2 organs to help organize their various purposes and functions. The Fire Element needs 4! Matters of the Heart are quite complicated for us to manage!   The Pericardium – also called the Heart Protector or the Circulation-Sex Official is like an envelope that protects the Heart. It “guides the subjects in their joys and pleasures” and helps us find and enjoy dynamic sexual expression and pleasure. It is especially important where there has been relationship-based …

Trauma Training Tip We are closing in on the end of Spring or the Wood season and moving into Summer or the Fire season.  The job of the Wood in the Self-Protective Response is to orient to danger or life threat, strategize a survival response, and then mobilize a “fight,” a “flight,” or the more complex “fawn” to best ensure our survival. Ideally there is enough flexibility in our Wood that responses commensurate with the level of threat we are experiencing are created. Discerning whether we need a tack hammer or a sledge hammer is important for living in community! …

Trauma Training Tip It’s Spring here in the Northern hemisphere. The season of the Wood Element and the Sympathetic Nervous System. There’s a yang aspect to the Wood – aggressive, protective, and when it lacks a relational brake – violent and rageful and without social intelligence. Polygon data is generated by Database Center for Life Science (DBCLS), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons There’s also a yin aspect to the Wood. The Liver Blood is moist and juicy. It helps keep our tendons and ligaments pliable and soft. It gives us a place for our mind to rest when it is …

Trauma Training Tip It’s Spring in the Northern hemisphere. The season of the Wood Element in Chinese medicine – and the Sympathetic Nervous System in the West. Lots of “fight or flight” in our world right now – some on behalf of those perceived as more fragile, some in defense of our own safety and well-being, and some blind rage. A healthy Wood Element, a healthy Sympathetic Nervous System, is able to mount protective, defensive responses that are commensurate with the level of threat being experienced. Sometimes we need a tack hammer and sometimes we need a sledge hammer. A …

Trauma Training Tip In honor of Black History Month, I would like to lift up the work and vibration of Joy DeGruy, MSW, PhD, author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing. Dr. DeGruy is a nationally and internationally renowned researcher and educator.   Her research focuses on the intersection of racism, trauma, violence, and American chattel slavery. She has over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the field of social work. She conducts workshops and trainings in the areas of intergenerational/historical trauma, mental health, social justice, improvement strategies, and evidence-based model development.  From her …

Trauma Training Tip Like many of us I suspect, I spend some part of each day longing to somehow contribute to a greater capacity for diplomatic solutions to the violence in the Middle East. The history of trauma and threat and the ongoing loss of life that is both overwhelming the region and providing fodder for more and greater dysregulation in its future citizens is overwhelming. The burden of traumatic stress on the bodies, minds, and spirits of all of us who care for life and long for peace gets heavier and heavier every day. The arc of trauma in …