trauma and somatics

In order to overcome trauma people need to feel safe enough to open up their hearts and minds to others and become engaged with new possibilities. This can only be done if trauma survivors, and their communities, are helped to confront and confess the reality of what has happened and are helped to feel safe again. In many non-Western cultures this... See more

The implications of these findings may seem dire, suggesting that parental trauma predisposes offspring to be vulnerable to mental health conditions. But there is some evidence that the epigenetic response may serve as an adaptation that might help the children of traumatized parents cope with similar adversities. Or could both outcomes be... See more

As children grow up, they may harbor guilt since they feel conflicted between wanting to live out their authentic truth yet fearing they could lose their mother’s love if it’s perceived as a rejection of her teachings. They may unconsciously respond by developing adaptive survival mechanisms to secure their mother’s love

When my students walk through the threshold of my classroom, they not only carry the weight of these experiences with them, but they also reproduce negative and destructive interactions with one another because they haven’t often experienced a world of safety and empathy.

Active music therapy, especially the actions of singing a song or singing along in a group can be very therapeutic for trauma survivors. Singing can create a sense of social reciprocity because it relies on being connected to the rhythm and lyrics of a song and to sing at the same time as others in a group (Hussey et al., 2008)

My grandmother loved us with her whole heart. But, like so many Americans, she had a lot of trauma stored in her body, and she passed on some of that trauma—as well as her love and resilience—to her children and grandchildren.