When the Body Is Not a Neutral Anchor: Adapting Mindfulness Practices for Trans and Nonbinary Adults

 

When mindfulness is taught, the body is often presented as a reliable and neutral anchor for attention. Yet for many people, including some trans and nonbinary individuals, the body may also be a site of complexity, dysphoria, ambivalence, or social stress.

 

Drawing on emerging research, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), trauma-sensitive mindfulness, and gender-affirming frameworks, this session explores how body-focused mindfulness practices may be adapted to support greater psychological safety, choice, and accessibility without losing their essential intention.

 

Participants will be invited to consider practical adaptations related to language, pacing, consent, attentional flexibility, and teacher stance, while reflecting on how mindfulness can remain responsive to diverse experiences of embodiment.

 

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Charles Zeng (he/they), LMFT, LPCC, is a psychotherapist, Certified Group Psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, and mindfulness teacher based in California, USA. He is currently completing an MSt in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy at the University of Oxford, where his dissertation explores adaptations of body-focused mindfulness practices for trans and nonbinary adults. Charles is the founder of Taming Shame Psychotherapy, a group practice specializing in trauma-informed, LGBTQIA+-affirming, and neurodiversity-affirming care. He is an AGPA Fellow and has held leadership roles within the Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles and the American Group Psychotherapy Association. His work sits at the intersection of mindfulness, group psychotherapy, neurodiversity, and LGBTQIA+ affirmative practice.