The Truth About
Mindfulness and Trauma
How to Mitigate Risks and Promote Healing for Trauma Survivors
A No-Charge, On-Demand Webinar
The Truth About
Mindfulness and Trauma
How to Mitigate Risks and Promote Healing for Trauma Survivors
A No-Charge, On-Demand Webinar
When it comes to trauma, mindfulness is a double-edged sword.
ARE YOU EQUIPPED TO KEEP TRAUMA SURVIVORS SAFE AND ACTIVELY SUPPORT THEIR PATH TO HEALING?
If you’re reading this, you likely know how powerful mindfulness can be.
You may have experienced the many benefits of practice such as increased mental clarity, enhanced emotional regulation, and a greater sense of self-awareness.
Because of this, you may be offering mindfulness practices to others—as a meditation or yoga teacher, for instance, or a therapist, coach, or religious or classroom teacher. Inspired by what mindfulness can offer, you’ve taken on the responsibility of guiding people through practices that can significantly improve the quality of their lives.
But are you aware of the challenges people struggling with trauma can face when practicing mindfulness?
Unbeknownst to many, mindfulness practice can exacerbate trauma symptoms. By asking someone to pay close, sustained attention to their inner world, people struggling with trauma can experience flashbacks, dissociation, and even retraumatization.
This means that as practitioners, we can unintentionally lead people into the heart of wounds that require more than mindful attention to heal.
Discover the Risks Mindfulness Practice Holds For Trauma Survivors So You Can Keep Your Students and Clients Safe
At the same time, mindfulness can be invaluable for trauma survivors. It can increase body awareness, one’s capacity for attention, and emotional regulation—all essential assets for trauma recovery.
So what can you do?
How can you help minimize the potential pitfalls of mindfulness practice for trauma survivors while leveraging its powerful benefits?
The answer lies in developing an understanding of the liabilities of practice and specific skills in working with trauma.
These skills are intended to help people self-regulate, work effectively with their own trauma, and access the benefits of mindfulness practice. They include:
- Mindful embodiment practices to create safety and self-trust
- Resourcing and resilience practices that support self-regulation
- Self-compassion practices to heal trauma-related shame
- Advanced modifications to body scan practices
These skills are not substitutes for mindfulness, but supplements. Paired with mindfulness instruction, they can increase people’s ability to self-regulate and ultimately support their trauma recovery.
So how can you ensure that traumatized students and clients are practicing safely and effectively under your care?
The first answer is awareness. The more you understand the reasons mindfulness is a double-edged sword for trauma survivors, the more effective you’ll be in your role.
Given how important this awareness is, author and educator David Treleaven, PhD, has created The Truth About Mindfulness and Trauma—a no-charge, on-demand online event designed for mindfulness practitioners.
At the same time, mindfulness can be invaluable for trauma survivors. It can increase body awareness, one’s capacity for attention, and emotional regulation—all essential assets for trauma recovery.
So what can you do?
How can you help minimize the potential pitfalls of mindfulness practice for trauma survivors while leveraging its powerful benefits?
The answer lies in developing an understanding of the liabilities of practice and specific skills in working with trauma.
These skills are intended to help people self-regulate, work effectively with their own trauma, and access the benefits of mindfulness practice. They include:
Mindful embodiment practices to create safety and self-trust
Resourcing and resilience practices that support self-regulation
Self-compassion practices to heal trauma-related shame
Advanced modifications to body scan practices
These skills are not substitutes for mindfulness, but supplements. Paired with mindfulness instruction, they can increase people’s ability to self-regulate and ultimately support their trauma recovery.
So how can you ensure that traumatized students and clients are practicing safely and effectively under your care?
The first answer is awareness. The more you understand the reasons mindfulness is a double-edged sword for trauma survivors, the more effective you’ll be in your role.
Given how important this awareness is, author and educator David Treleaven, PhD, has created The Truth About Mindfulness and Trauma—a no-charge, on-demand online event designed for mindfulness practitioners.
Get Immediate Access to the Workshop and Begin Better Supporting Your Students and Clients
This event is designed to support mindfulness practitioners like you to become aware of the inherent risks of practice for trauma survivors—and, even more importantly, to consider the importance of acquiring specific, supplemental practices to support trauma recovery.
During this 60-minute event, David will reveal:
Common mistakes mindfulness practitioners make when offering practices
How to identify “at risk” students and clients who are struggling with traumatic stress
The primary reason trauma survivors often require supplemental practices to support their trauma recovery
A foundational practice you and your students can adopt to continually assess safety and regulation
Join David has he illuminates the risks and rewards trauma survivors can experience in mindfulness practice so you’re prepared to identify trauma, respond skillfully, and guide people on a path towards healing.
Get Immediate Access to The Truth About Mindfulness and Trauma At No-Charge Now
The Truth About
Mindfulness and Trauma
How to Mitigate Risks and Promote Healing for Trauma Survivors
ABOUT DAVID
David Treleaven, PhD, is a writer and educator working at the intersection of mindfulness and trauma. He is the author of the acclaimed book Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (W. W. Norton) and founder of the Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (TSM) Community—a group committed to setting a standard of care within mindfulness-based practices, interventions, and programs.
Through workshops, keynotes, podcasts, and online education, David focuses on offering mindfulness practitioners with the knowledge and tools they require to meet the needs of those struggling with trauma. He is passionate about connecting his audience with on-the-ground experts, and is closely engaged with current empirical research to inform best practices.
What experts are saying about David’s work…
JOHN KABAT-ZINN, PhD
Founder, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
“An essential ‘upgrade’ for anyone who thinks of her or himself as a mindfulness teacher, or is in training to become one.”
ZABIE YAMASAKI
Program Director of Trauma-Informed Yoga, UCLA
“Indispensable training for yoga and meditation teachers, as well as mental health professionals who are passionate about integrating mindfulness into their clinical practice.”
TARA BRACH, PhD
Author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
“Essential reading for meditation teachers, mental health practitioners and all those who have suffered from trauma and want to engage on a meditative path in a wise and healing way.”
SUSAN PIVER
NYT bestselling author of The Four Noble Truths of Love
“David Treleaven’s expertise is beyond valuable for students in our meditation instructor training programs—it is essential.”
ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN
NYT bestselling author of Pleasure Activism and Emergent Strategy
“An accessible and loving guide through the complex territory of trauma and healing.”
RICK HANSON, PhD
NYT bestselling author of Buddha's Brain and Hardwiring Happiness
“A rare combination of solid scholarship, clinically useful methods, and passionate advocacy for those who have suffered trauma.”
PRENTIS HEMPHILL
Former Healing Justice Director, Black Lives Matter
“We all deserve the kind of allyship and thoughtful practice this book calls us towards.”
REBECCA CRANE, PhD
Director, Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University, UK
“David’s work on trauma-sensitive mindfulness is providing much needed clarity on this vital issue… his book is now on the essential reading list for our students!”
JESSICA MOREY
Executive Director, Inward Bound Mindfulness Education
“David is attuned, responsive and masterful in his teaching and presentation of these vitally important skills. . . he embodies the kindness, sensitivity, and presence that he guides us to hold as we bring mindfulness to wider audiences.”
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