When we get triggered our first response should not be an effort in self-soothing. That would be unnecessarily hard to accomplish as long as we are not oriented in time, space and body. Our nervous system is still reacting to the past. First we need to realize that we are safe in this situation, then […]
mindfulness
Mindfulness for emotional regulation
Many trauma survivors are annoyed by their therapists persistence in trying to teach them mindfulness. The exercises seem weird and we can’t comprehend how that is supposed to help us with our PTSD. We might not understand it right away, but mindfulness is the key to emotional regulation. As we have explained here, trauma changes […]
Calming racing thoughts (mindful imagery)
Sometimes when we try to relax, our thoughts are all over the place, keeping us busy and tense and even creating negative feelings. We can use imagery and mindfulness to calm our mind and slow the racing thoughts. This combined exercise is specifically aimed to support relaxation before going to sleep. If you want to […]
The Leaves in the River (mindful imagery exercise)
The Leaves in the River is an ACT exercise that combines the concept of mindful observation with imagery work. The main idea is to learn to let go e.g of your thoughts. [ACT could be a valuable addition to your trauma therapy, especially if you struggle with chronic conditions as well. It’s probably not a […]
The sense and nonsense of mindfulness
A lot of survivors have a love-hate relationship with mindfulness. Some say it’s working, some say it doesn’t. We need to take a closer look to understand why. I define mindfulness as guided attention that is marked by curious observation without evaluation, description without interpretation and the possibility to wait and let things pass instead […]
Grounding activities for mild dissociation
Sometimes when life is stressful and there is a lot going on inside, we are not fully connected to the body. It rather feels like a fuzzy cloud without clear boundaries. When we are already stressed and overwhelmed, it is not always smart to go for the hard DBT Skills for the body because they […]
Learning to guide your thoughts (mindfulness meditation)
Our thoughts are often like monkeys, jumping from one tree to the other. With depression or PTSD they might also be circling and sometimes become tornadoes that suck us into a dark place. It takes practice, but we can learn how to gain more control over our thoughts through meditation. Nobody is “good” at meditating. […]
The A-Z of pleasure and enjoyment
We experience the world around us through our senses. Trauma has often taught us that these experiences of contact with the world are painful, scary, dangerous and need to be avoided. Some were taught to fear all their sensations, especially the pleasant ones. And so we learned not to experience the world through our senses […]
The Distant Observer (Mindfulness)
With the distant observer we imitate something, that most of us experienced through dissociation. We will take an inner position that makes it possible to watch ourselves and what is going on inside of us from a distance. Not a detached, dissociated state, but the dispassionate ideal of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a form of guided […]