Gentle Embodiment: Trauma-Informed Mindful Movement

Join Kalyana Bliss for gentle and trauma-informed mindful movement exploring the sensations arising in the body, followed by time for questions and reflections. 
 
This session will provide an opportunity to cultivate embodiment—the felt sense of inhabiting the body. 
 
In our typical daily lives, movement is often a means to accomplish a seemingly never-ending list of tasks. We might pay little attention to our moment-to-moment bodily experience unless we notice pain or a biological need. Intentionally bringing friendly awareness to the movements of the body can help infuse our whole, dynamic lives with the mindfulness we cultivate in the relative stillness of the mat.
 
As we move through a series of gentle and optional movements in this session, you might notice: 
-an array of sensations, thoughts, and emotions
-your body’s current abilities and limits and how you relate to them
-familiar and surprising ways you hold tension and create comfort
-changes in the body’s felt sense of “before” and “after” practice
 
This session will be led with focus on trauma-sensitivity, placing each participant in control of the depth of practice, with full awareness that each of us is the expert in our own bodies. This practice can be done sitting and/or standing with the option to lie down at the end. Mats will be provided and there is no special attire or equipment needed. You are warmly invited to come as you are.
 
Kalyana Bliss is an MSc student in the Mindfulness Based Approaches Programme at Bangor University, an MBSR teacher, a Kripalu yoga teacher, and has trained in trauma-informed mindful movement and Somatic Experiencing. She has trained in Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness with her mentor Dr David Treleaven, author of Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness. Kalyana’s sitting and movement practices have helped her understand and co-exist peacefully with a history of trauma, chronic pain, and anxiety.