*Women’s healing trauma group
We need safe places to speak our truth. To be listened to, believed, and to experience the trust that grows from a foundation of kindness and respect. This group can be that place for you.
This can be where you share and people "get it". Here you are listened to with an open curiosity to know about you, and where we listen with the same attention. The foundation is somatic mindful awareness and presence.
Many experiences happen in our early life where we disconnect from ourselves, from our sense of value, and from the present moment. We develop patterns and ways of coping that lead to feelings of unhappiness. Our nervous system is activated and overwhelmed, and we don’t know how to come down from that.
“Through a polyvagal lens, we understand that actions are automatic and adaptive, generated by the autonomic nervous system well below the level of conscious awareness. This is not the brain making a cognitive choice. These are autonomic energies moving in patterns of protection. And with this new awareness, the door opens to compassion.””
How does this course work?
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You will absorb the essentials of “how it works” so you understand your body, feelings, nervous system, shame, judgment and the essential role of social trust and connection.
You strengthen your capacity to see through and release identification with experiences that commonly lead to core deficiency beliefs of unworthiness, unlovability - that feeling like there is something basically wrong with you.
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Our group is based on mindfulness inquiry. The focus during group is on your own internal experience. We are sharing from our own heart and the pace might be slow at times. There is room for reflection before we share. There is room to ask for what you need, like a moment of silence before you speak about what is coming up in the moment.
We are participating through our attention, deep listening and through sharing our own experience. This is a somatic (body) mindfulness inquiry process. We use words to express ourselves, and with practice we become more skilled at staying present in our body and not getting so wrapped up in thought.
Read more about Somatic Mindfulness Inquiry (add link)
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Each group begins with a guided somatic mindfulness inquiry for about 20 minutes. We then move to small groups of 3 or 4 people to share with each other. We come back together and participants can share, ask Lynn questions, and reflect on their experience. Each person will have the opportunity to share in the larger group over the 8 week period, although not everyone will share in the larger group each time.
Note: This is different from the small women's healing trauma groups in previous years.
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We see through our conditioning as women, drop our sense of shame, build individual strength and resilience in our nervous system, and experience a sense of community. We are more alike than we are different. Our group time is a deep meditative inquiry and witnessing. We’re training ourselves to be present with ourselves and the people in the group. What transforms us is the repeated experience of feeling safe with me and within the group being present with each other.
“I am grateful for Lynn’s sensitivity, integrity and skill as she holds the space for me to feel the fear I’ve unknowingly avoided my entire life. Lynn’s gentle intelligent guidance through inquiry has helped release the velcro that kept my thoughts welded to my gut-wrenching feelings that drove my self-defeating behaviour. Anyone considering this work could only benefit from Lynn’s compassion and expertise.”
The next cohort begins February 5th, 2023
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Register here
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The next cohort begins February 5th, 2023 | Register here |
Frequently Asked Questions:
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* I have received questions about who can join the women’s healing trauma groups. The past few years are a time of curiosity and possibility for exploring ways we express our gender and sexuality outside heteronormativity and the gender binary. If you are not sure or would like to explore this with me prior to joining a group, please email and we can have a conversation. lynnfraserstillpoint@gmail.com
* These affinity groups are women only because we live in a patriarchy. We need spaces to connect and explore our experience with each other without the presence of men. Cis-gender ** males live in a world where their voices are advantaged, they have more power and money, and they are responsible for almost 100% of the violence against women and children of all genders. This is not a judgment about all men.
In these “Women’s” healing trauma groups, you may find people with a range of gender identity including nonbinary, transgender, and cis-gender ** plus a range of sexual orientations. 2SLGBTQIA+ is an acronym for two-spirit (Indigenous), lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual while + includes people who identify in other ways.
My gender identity is a cis-gender woman, gender non-conforming, and my sexual orientation is queer/lesbian. My pronouns are she/they.
* *cis-gender: person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their sex assigned at birth
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Even thinking about sharing can make us feel exposed. The group begins with personal somatic inquiry then we break into small groups of 3 or 4 people to share our reflections. When we come back to the large group, some people will share and others won’t. It is up to you how much you share.
Experience in the small groups is that people feel comfortable sharing to an engaged accepting audience. We are not judged. People won’t comment or give advice.
Sharing in these groups can be a way to practice in a safer container.
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No. The primary practice is internal mindful awareness in our body, sensations, thoughts and emotions.
When we share, we keep the back story to only what is needed for context. We are sharing our feelings and responses to our experiences, and in this way, we internalize that our responses are normal. We understand more about trauma and that our nervous system responses are not our fault.
We are inspired by knowing we are not alone. We can say our truth and be listened to with respect and care.
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Part of our mindfulness in sharing is that we don’t share traumatizing details. This is not like therapy where we might explore traumatic memories in a trusted setting.
We might say “my parent would rage at me” and talk about our experience with that or the beliefs we formed from that, but we wouldn’t go into details about what they said.
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Trauma is what happens inside of us in response to what happened to us.
This group is for people with a range of trauma backgrounds and experiences. Living in the patriarchy is traumatizing. Our culture is traumatizing. Sharing our truth is powerful.
