prepping for an intro session
Hello!
Here are details on preparing for our gatherings and an overview of content for our sessions together.
There's a lot of info here! I invite you to take your time in reviewing these--review in chunks, take breaks, come back as needed. I will almost certainly have said something that could be clearer, so full and open invitation to reach out and ask questions. I'll be giving a brief review of this at the beginning of our first session as well.
Table of Contents (clickable!)
What is the Resilience Toolkit?
- "A somatic framework for first-stage trauma healing and real-time stress navigation." --Lumos Transforms. I extend an enthusiastic invitation to read more about the Toolkit directly on their dedicated page here.
- What the Toolkit ISN'T*: therapy, therapy replacement, trauma-diving, out-of-body experiencing, life-coaching, spiritual bypassing, all "love and light", one-directional learning, "positive thinking", hierarchical, linear, building increased capacity just to endure more mistreatment/abuse/systemic inequity
- *This isn't to say you will/won't experience insight about yourself or life clarity or more hopeful thoughts by being able to more readily find moments of safety in your day-to-day life, just that we do not facilitate, "dig for / chase", or center those things specifically.
What Can I Expect? / Loose Agendas
An optional workbook will be provided to hold your notes and reflections in one place, but you can also take notes in whichever way works best for you. We'll be taking a screen break for 2-5 minutes approximately every 30-45 minutes. Any slides used during our gathering will be emailed out shortly after, along with a session recap of any resources shared. I'm also available for a 30-45 minute 1:1 in between sessions for general questions that come up between our group meetings. I'm considering potentially setting up some "office hours" availability where folks can drop in and ask questions as well--I'll ask about that after our first session.
These loose agendas are for a 3-part series. They may change depending on what we're able to cover in each session, and how many sessions are in your particular series.
Session 1:
• Intros + guidelines
• Brief orientation around what we mean by stress and resilience, and how we work with both
• General exploration - what currently affects your stress-relaxation landscape?
• Introduction to simple frameworks of conceptualizing stress and resilience
• Learning Toolkit tools
• Toolkit practices + aftercare
• Optional reflection between sessions
Session 2:
• Check-in, review, and practice
• Learning more Toolkit practices
• frameworks for implementing Toolkit practices as tiny habits
• Toolkit practices + aftercare
• Optional reflection between sessions
Session 3:
• Check-in, review, and practice
• Support in making our Toolkit practice sustainable
• group brainstorming in continuing our practice after this series
• Toolkit practices + aftercare
• Reflection and closing
• Optional reflection between sessions
Space Prep
Folks are welcome to be on or off camera and on or off audio in whichever ways are comfortable in any given moment.
While none of these are required to participate, here's a list of suggestions to peruse in putting together your physical space in preparation for our sessions. I will demonstrate tools in a variety of sitting, standing, and reposed positions. Take what works for you and leave the rest:
- yoga mat or soft, relatively comfortable space for sitting/lying down (sofa, favorite chair, bed, etc.)
- cushions/blankets for creating any back/leg/neck support that may be needed as we go through the practices
- water
- a journal and something to write with
- anything else you need in your space that contributed to feeling safe connecting, speaking/vocalizing, moving, and/or any other ways you plan to participate
Content notes / Content Warnings for series material
- While we may bring up the names of different types of trauma, discussion will be focused on the mental, emotional, and physical ways in which different types of trauma show up in the body--specifically as it relates to how different tools may address (or not address) these sensations/experiences. We will actually be avoiding diving into the details of any specific traumatic experience as much as possible.
- We may give general examples of what it may look like to be in different states of stress/relaxation (e.g. fight, flight, freeze, fawn, etc.), but no graphic detail of specific situations will be used.
- We may give general examples of different predator/prey interactions within animals as rough analogs to different stress triggers, which may include brief but general descriptions of how animals react to being hunted or caught by other animal predators.
- While not a content note, I think it's good for folks to know ahead of time that I may gently interrupt or steer discussion away from folks giving details/lengthy recounts about their own traumatic experiences beyond the bodily sensations and emotions it brings up in the current moment and which tools may feel helpful in supporting us through those sensations. This interruption of recounting the experience may feel distressing in and of itself, but it is to steer clear of being retraumatized in the retelling/reexperiencing of the story.
- Not that these stories don't deserve to be held at some point, but to attempt to do so would be unethically beyond the scope of what types of processing this container is specifically set up to hold (and not hold). If you have any questions about this, you're fully invited to reach out.
Contact Info
Since this is a public page, please refer to your confirmation email for our contact channels.Above all, I invite you to take your time as you move throughout this series. Nothing missed in class will be missed forever. I will be available for questions as they bubble up outside of class, and I'll be doing my best to create reference documents and tools that hopefully make it easy to review material, and I am happy to answer the same questions over and over again--a necessary part of learning!
Thanks again for being here and see you soon!