After you have had the opportunity to watch the recording:
- Please offer any additions you would like considered for the Group Agreement. Consider your needs as someone who may often depend on the Recordings.
- Share any thoughts/questions/observations you may have regarding the Discharge/Energy Release section of Trauma-Informed Sequencing
- Share your reflection of the Ahimsa discussion, including what you feel may be additional barriers to non-harm in our world
1. Being aware of excessive talking that draws attention away from the actual lesson that is being taught is a respectful way I restrain myself during each session. I get excited because each lesson hits home for me in so many different ways on my current experiences. I actually forgot about the forums until yesterday, which is an excellent way for me to talk about my experiences and how the classes are affecting and applying to EVERYTHING lol
2. I realized that the only forms of yoga I have done have actually been with trauma informed yoga instructors based off of this section. The movements have always been fluid with attention to transitions and personally catered to every body form.
3. I can honestly say I have been practicing non harm in the past week, not even knowing this would be a part of my live session. I see where others around me don't know how to process it on this level and spiral out with emotional outbursts of negative energy hurting everyone around them including themselves...
I am grateful for this process... Shadow work in motion and now I am not even upset about it anymore.
- Please offer any additions you would like considered for the Group Agreement. Consider your needs as someone who may often depend on the Recordings.
The agreement is excellent the way it is. I do appreciate the group input of being respectful in disagreement, we are not always going to agree on things, but we can value and respect perspectives that differ from ours. Another thing that stood out to me was "pause for emotion." so often, I react in my emotions, and I would really like to incorporate this practice in my daily life and in the group, which will be easier than in my personal relationships oddly enough.
- Share any thoughts/questions/observations you may have regarding the Discharge/Energy Release section of Trauma-Informed Sequencing
"Keep it light" what beautiful advice for practice and in life. I also appreciate the idea of play and letting go in order to connect with your body. I spend so much time in my head that I forget to do that.
- Share your reflection of the Ahimsa discussion, including what you feel may be additional barriers to non-harm in our world
Jen, Thank you for your transparency in sharing your story and the harm that you experienced. That was brave to share something so sensitive. I could relate to parts of what you shared and racism in members of my family growing up. I am grateful that my parents didn't share this view, and we were exposed to a more open-minded view, but even still, there were harmful things said and judgments of groups or things that weren't understood. I remember my mom telling me she would disown me if I ever "came out" at 13. Yet we had/have LGBTQ friends and family members, but that experience told me my mom's love was conditional. I am straight, but had I not been, I can't imagine the damage that would have caused. It is a reminder to be open to everyone else's lived experiences. I love how you talked about staying curious. I always want to learn and grow.
- Share any thoughts/questions/observations you may have regarding the Discharge/Energy Release section of Trauma-Informed Sequencing
I really enjoy the freedom of moving how I feel is the best for me at the beginning of a class - it's the very opposite of how I teach in a studio setting where participants have already come to stillness / lying down / seated and quite still for the most part - this makes me think of the freedoms we have where we can choose (to some degree) how we spend our days / our time. We can pause and slow down and change our environment to help support ourselves. Those incarcerated cannot. To move freely in our bodies is a privilege.
- Share your reflection of the Ahimsa discussion, including what you feel may be additional barriers to non-harm in our world:
I have found that my thoughts have been an at times significant barrier to non-harm. When I did a 50hr self compassion based meditation teacher training on the Brahma Viharas (Buddhist teachings on the immeasurable qualities of the heart) I learnt that language and how I talk to myself especially is so so important - these teachings have stayed with me ever since. Australians can swear (ALOT hahaha) but I don't so much anymore - no judgement to anyone who does! I just used to quite a lot and found a softer part of myself when I choose different language to express myself.
So for me - language is a large piece of practicing Ahimsa as it is powerful, potent and has the potential to heal or harm very easily.
@elevatingexpressionsllcgmail-com - thankyou for sharing this, so nice to read. I feel you on the excitement of wanting to share in each session we have as the content is so rich. I find myself practicing patience for which I am really grateful.
Hi all
I'm so glad we are recording these sessions because there is always so much great information to take in! I keep having work carry over past 2pm my time, so I have been unable to join class right when it starts. What jumped out for me in the recording is the invitation at the beginning to check in about the energy from my communities I am showing up with, and then bringing up the mindfulness that we bring our own experiences in our communities to our collective community in our teacher training group. I have never heard this level of awareness and mindfulness when greeting participants and starting to create a group agreement. I am going to incorporate this in all groups I am able to facilitate.
I have really been enjoying the invitational, non-judgmental, and accepting approach to the energy release portion of the yoga session. I liked the ideas about different kinds of movement elements that can be incorporated depending on whatever we think would be useful for the group--dancing, range-of-motion, awareness of our physical body, awareness of the energy in the room, and adding any other movement to bring ourselves to the present moment in the class. We had a great discussion in the small group about our own personal experiences with yoga and movement and our comfort level in incorporating an energy release segment at the beginning of class.
regarding Ahimsa, to acknowledge that we come with our own personal experiences is a way to reduce the harm that can come out of creating a sense of expectation that everybody in the group conform to some kind of standard.
I'm looking forward to class tomorrow! Thank you to Jen and all my wonderful classmates for all the open hearts, curiosity, and wisdom you bring to our group! I hope you all have been having a great week!
I feel like the Group agreement is wonderful. I have no new ideas to add at this point.
I had never put much thought into the concept of "energy release" at the beginning of yoga until this class. Having practiced and taught in a Recovery Center it is such a genius idea. The first few minutes of centering, or "coming into the space" was hard for so many....never once did I see the need for energy release.
The discussion on Ahsima was certainly enlightening. I have never seen myself as bias or judgmental. My thoughts certainly are not, but I have never concentrated on my Embodied Sensations. I have learned that even though I have taught myself what is appropriate, there are definitely some deep down Generational Lores that I have not addressed. Thank you for that!
I appreciate the group agreements and I do not have anything to add at this time. They are beautifully written
Share any thoughts/questions/observations you may have regarding the Discharge/Energy Release section of Trauma-Informed Sequencing.
When thinking about discharge/energy released I reelect on how I would incorporate this in my current class inside of the prison's. I think about when we all sit down and check in. We ask one another how do you feel emotionally, physically, and mentally. I think about this as a discharge energy. I think that by sharing what they are feelings in those three areas, it allows them to let go of those feelings, taking them into a relaxing state allowing them to become grounded. I think that with yoga, this would be a great way to start the class, allowing everyone to let go of whatever energy is with them, and coming back to centering themselves.
Share your reflection of the Ahimsa discussion, including what you feel may be additional barriers to non-harm in our world
When speaking of Ahimsa while working with the incarcerated I think about all the barriers they do have while being there. When we talk about additional barriers to non-harm, it's always nan interesting perspective when talking about how to go about non-violence inside of an area where there are politics to stay alive and the mind set to just make it another day. I believe that bringing in trauma informed yoga allows a safe space where they don't feel they need to harm someone else or themselves.
1. I like the agreements and I don’t have any to add.
2. I like the discharge energy release, but I need to work on it so that it seems more fluid. It is choppy as I do it now.
3. I personally think that one of the biggest barriers for being of service communally is self-destructive behavior that’s directed at the self. I have been both committed to helping others and committed to numbing myself since a very young age. I think the numbing of the self gets in the way of truly being able to be of service to others. I think I’ve been a great service to many through the years, but I’ve also been fucked up a lot of the time. This is also the situation with almost every family, great hearts, great work, but also great personal suffering.