Creating Safe Spaces Through Mindful Awareness. Abby Seyfer, LISW RPT

Transcription

1 Creating Safe Spaces Through Mindful Awareness Abby Seyfer, LISW RPT

2 Objectives Provide opportunities for: Discussion of what mindfulness means An understanding of how trauma impacts the brain, mind, and body Exploration of how mindfulness benefits the brain, mind, and body Our responsibility as adults to utilize mindfulness for our own self-care Practical applications to use with our children/teens/young adults

3 Today s Safe Space What do we need from you? Honor that everyone has a different lens through which they view the world be open to differences. All questions are welcome Do not take away from the safe space encourage where others are on their journey.

4 Invitation to Notice Setting the Stage for Mindful Awareness

5 Give yourself permission

6 Practice of Noticing

7 What is mindfulness?

8 What does it mean to be mindful? Can be considered a state, a trait, or a practice. We can have a moment of mindfulness (state) but also have a habitual tendency of mindfulness (trait). We can also do the intentional formal practice of mindfulness using different postures and activities. The awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment. State of Being, Not a State of Perfection Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn

9 What is Trauma? Any experience that leads a person feeling hopeless, helpless, fearing for their life/survival/safety. This experience can be real or perceived Occurs on a sensory level. No score card when it comes to trauma

10 Trauma and the Brain Upstairs Brain vs. Downstairs Brain

11 Trauma and the Body Sensations, Sensations, Sensations

12 Trauma and the Mind Goals of Children/Teens/Adults with Trauma/ACES

13 Mindfulness and the Brain How does it benefit? Softens the chronic stress-response system. Allows for a pause in the activation loop that continues to repeat itself Chronic Stress = body is pumping with cortisol. Helps orient to time and space, so as not to be viewing the present through past experiences. Allows time for the pre-frontal cortex to initiate its own pause response. Brain scans in those adults who have participated in Mindfulness Based Stress- Reduction exercises demonstrate the following: Increased gray matter (the good stuff) in the hippocampus (memories) Decrease in gray matter in the amygdala (emotional center) More activation in the pre-frontal cortex The brain is plastic and able to create new neural networks! It is through regular practice that these networks get strengthened. What is fired together, wires together.

14 Mindfulness and the Body How does it benefit? Decreased stress Tissue inflammation goes down (think heart disease, diabetes, upper respiratory infections). Enhanced ability to deal with illness, whether acute or chronic (decreased tissue inflammation). Lower heart-rate/blood pressure Quicker recovery from illness or trauma to the body. Better relationship between brain/mind/body = interoception I notice that when I m mad, I feel heat and tingles my hands, which I want to curl into a fist and hit someone with. I notice that when I m sad, my chest feels heavy and like it s sinking, which leads to tears and wanting to be alone.

15 Window of Tolerance Staying within our window

16 Mindfulness and the Self How does it benefit? Mindsight our human capacity to perceive the mind of self and others. Allows for an uncoupling or a distancing between our sensations and our sense of who we are as a person. I am sad vs I feel sad Power of mindfulness is in our ability to develop a relationship with our thoughts and emotions instead of them defining us or something we try to get rid of immediately. Allows for the understanding that this is a temporary state that will change. I am a depressed person vs I feel extreme sadness having just lost that significant person in my life. I am a failure vs I just royally screwed up at work and I feel embarrassed and disappointed. I am mad vs I feel lonely/invisible for not getting invited to that party.

17 Mindfulness and the Self How does it benefit? We often relate to our thoughts, whether they re intensely negative or not, as a reliable statement of the truth Mindfulness of thoughts (aka mindsight) allows you to be aware of a thought or strong emotion as a kind of storm in the mind or an event in awareness. Once you see it as an event or storm, it no longer has the same power over you. Jon Kabat-Zinn

18 What is our role as adults in the healing process? Noticing

19 What is our role as adults in the healing process? Shift in Mindset Challenging students aren t that way because they are inherently bad kids or intentionally creating difficulties in the classroom Kids do well if they can. She is a bad kid vs She is struggling to manage because she has yet to learn the skills she needs to help her be successful. The REAL work is recognizing what emotions/thoughts/stories are being stirred up in your own mind/body when you re met with these challenges. The story I m telling myself

20 What is our role as adults in the healing process? I am feeling this way The most challenging kid is not inherently challenging as a human being but I need to own that it s challenging for me to work/be with them. Once I take responsibility for my own emotions, I am now in a position to transform them. Awareness Ownership Change your relationship with that feeling (distance, uncoupling, creating a pause before responding)

21 Benefits of Mindfulness Stronger Sense of Self Benefits of Mindfulness Non-judgmental awareness If we don t expect to beat ourselves up for our flaws, we may be more willing to take a clear look in the mirror. If mindful people notice change and improvement in themselves, they can shed ingrained beliefs that are no longer true like I m not successful enough or I m too shy.

22 What is our role as adults in the healing process? Story of staying home with a sick child It is these countless tiny moments of hearing, listening, acknowledging and being astonished by our kiddos that accumulate to create the fabric of their self-worth.

23 Mindfulness Activities Poems for Young Children I breathe slowly in, I breathe slowly out. My breath is a river of peace. I am here in the world Each moment I can breathe and be. Excerpted from Breathe and Be: A Book of Mindfulness Poems by Kate Coombs, illustrated by Anna Emilia Laitinen. Published by Sounds True, 2017.

24 Mindfulness Activities Poems for Young Children I watch the stream. Each thought is a floating leaf. One leaf is worry, Another leaf is sadness. The leaves drift slowly away. Excerpted from Breathe and Be: A Book of Mindfulness Poems by Kate Coombs, illustrated by Anna Emilia Laitinen. Published by Sounds True, 2017.

25 Mindfulness Activities Mindful Games Choose your breathing anchor Tick tock Seeing Clearly Drop the monkeys! Butterfly body scan Mindful Kids Sitting With It Heart Garden Rain Shower Squeeze and Release Reflection Pond Tummy Ride

26 Mindfulness Activities Yoga Pretzels

27 Mindfulness Activities Older Kids/Adults Basic mindfulness meditation: First, bring your awareness to an anchor: sensations or movement in your body, the breath, ambient sounds, counting, or even an image you found powerful or calming. Anything can be the anchor for your attention. Just invite your mind to rest there. Pretty soon, you will notice your mind begin to wander. That is completely normal. Each time you notice it wandering, notice where it goes and then gently guide your awareness back to your anchor. HeadSpace app

28 Invite Self-Compassion Self-Compassion Is: A warm, loving, connected attitude and feeling one that exists in our bodies as well as our minds. Is NOT: an intellectual exercise, where we fight the self-critical thoughts in our heads with logical arguments for self-acceptance. Involved 3 steps: Mindfulness: Being aware of our suffering, without becoming overwhelmed by it. This is a moment of suffering or This is hard. Common humanity: Recognizing that our suffering is part of the human experience, connecting us to others. Suffering is part of life or Everyone has their own struggles. Self-kindness: Caring for ourselves when we suffer, by soothing our pain and offering ourselves understanding. May I be kind to myself?

29 Invite Self-Compassion Ultimately, what we re practicing with self-compassion is what do I need in this moment, and can we give ourselves what we need?

30 Resources Books: Mood Cow Meditates Mind-Up Curriculum Sitting Still Like a Frog Dr. Dan Siegel (any of his books) Brene Brown Websites: Activities: Mindful Games Mindful Kids Yoga Pretzels Abby Seyfer aseyfer@tanagerplace.org