Trauma-informed mindfulness.
Within the world of mindfulness practices,
There are countless approaches because people's dispositions,
Proclivities,
And affinities are so diverse.
So it is not one method fits all.
At different times in our journey,
We need different approaches.
For someone living with trauma,
There are approaches to mindfulness that are sensitive to trauma triggers and the specific needs of such an individual.
I'd like to offer you a guided practice of trauma-informed mindfulness now.
Generally speaking,
Trauma-informed guided mindfulness practices are invitational.
You are invited to engage with mindfulness while trusting your own wisdom around what feels safe to focus upon,
As well as the intensity or duration of the session.
As we proceed,
Please feel free to ignore or modify any instructions as you see fit.
Also,
Please trust your sense of how long to stay engaged with the meditation.
Now,
I invite you to begin noticing what the experience of being you is at this moment.
Feeling yourself with a curiosity,
Mindful of whatever sensations of your body or mind are arising.
Noticing the experience of being you at this moment.
And as much as feels comfortable,
Mindfully accepting whatever sensations of your body or mind are arising.
Mindfully accepting whatever sensations are arising.
Anytime it begins to feel like too much,
Feel free to focus instead on something in the environment,
Such as looking at something or listening to the sounds in the room.
Accepting with mindfulness whatever sensations of your body or mind are arising.
And now I invite you to begin letting go of thoughts about the past,
As if you were unplugging a cord from all the things that have already come and gone in your life.
Mindfully disconnecting from events and experience that have passed.
Letting go of thoughts about the past.
Letting the past be the past.
And I also invite you to begin letting go of thoughts about the future,
As if for now you put them all away in a drawer.
You put away all the lists of what needs to be done,
All the lists of what you're concerned about.
Letting go of thoughts about the future and letting the future be what it will be when it comes.
Letting go of thoughts about the past,
Letting go of thoughts about the future.
And now to deepen present moment mindfulness,
You may wish to focus on an aspect of the present moment with a more exclusive focus.
Letting that focus be the center of your attention.
You may want to choose the sensations of your hands,
The sensation of where your bottom contacts what you are sitting on.
You may want to choose an area of the visual field to rest your eyes upon.
Or you may want to listen to the sounds happening in the room.
Wherever feels safe,
Whatever you want to deepen present moment mindfulness with,
Focusing upon that.
I'll use the hands for guiding the meditation,
Yet the instructions apply to wherever you are focusing.
So I invite you now into focusing on your hands,
Beginning to be mindful of their sensations.
As if you're tuning into their sensations.
Tuning into the sensations of the hands.
Feeling directly your hands and feeling them closely with a curiosity about their sensations.
Noticing whatever you are noticing.
What are the sensations that tell you that you have hands?
Tuning into that experience that shows you,
That tells you,
That you have hands.
What is it like?
Feeling them closely with a curiosity.
And if you like,
As if using a powerful microscope,
Zoom into the hands,
Getting closer to the sensations.
Being mindful of the minute details of this experiencing of the hands.
The minute details.
And letting these sensations be the center of your attention.
Feeling them closely,
Mindful of the ever-changing experience of the hands.
Accepting these sensations as much as feels safe.
Welcoming the arising sensations of the hands with mindfulness.
And you may want to expand this mindfulness to your whole self.
Feeling the ever-changing experience of your body-mind.
Accepting the sensations of your whole self as much as possible.
Embracing yourself with open mindfulness.
So that was a basic and universal approach to mindfulness with trauma and sensitivity to individuals who are practicing with trauma.
The basic equation of mindfulness is acceptance plus presence.
When this is practiced at the right time in our lives,
It is a healing equation.
We begin to live in a deeper connection to ourselves as we dwell in the present moment.
Welcoming the experience of what is.
This can be considered a universal skill for managing trauma.
We can be mindful with the sensations that are unfolding inside and out with a growing capacity to stay in this direct feeling contact.
We also,
Because we are more sensitive to our own intuition,
Our own wisdom,
We also develop a capacity to honor our autonomy and our needs around the practice.
In this way mindfulness can aid our ability to take care of ourselves with compassion and sensitivity.
