Trauma Healing, Retreats, and Breathwork

Soaking in the Sabbatical and What's to Come

Nov 27, 2023

Since I am on sabbatical, I’m trying to get in as many sunrise beach walks as possible. At the same time, I’m also prepping for classes that start in January. I regularly teach about trauma and healing in my freshman composition course. (I know, heavy stuff, but I’m wired for facilitating hard conversations). We study the basics of how trauma works in the body and brain (Porges’ Polyvagal Theory. ACEs, and sections of Van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score). Throughout the 12 weeks, in addition to learning how to write, students study educational trauma and healing (Kendall’s Hood Feminism and a few documentaries) and racial trauma and healing (Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands ). They have the option to share their own experiences, and most see the relevance and are highly motivated to share. We do a lot of healing work in class, and I highly recommend the book.

The final unit is on collective trauma, where students get to choose any specific group who have been through an event that has caused or is causing trauma, and they then apply everything we’ve learned and upack that group’s trauma and and analyze their healing journey. Topics students choose range wildly from survivors of natural disasters, plane crashes, various forms of violence/abuse, internment, conversion therapy, Indian boarding schools, juvenile incarceration and, of course, current topics like health workers & COVID and the Ukrainian War. I’m now curious to see how students are processing the genocide in Palestine. This isn’t the first time I’ve had the Palestinian occupation arise as a topic in my class, but this is the first time it has been so widely covered in the media.

I will likely take Menakem’s lead and recommend students limit their social media intake, pause and check in with their own bodies, and remember to experience the humanity of each other in the classroom environment. To have a hard conversation, or to learn at all, students and I need to feel safe, and that’s my number one priority.

Before George Floyd’s murder, I had been teaching about stereotype threat, racism and police use of force for five years, and so I felt ready for the influx of newly aware students with lots of feelings, questions and positions. Similarly, in our Menakem text, he speaks at length about how victims who don’t heal their trauma are susceptible to becoming victimizers, and he discusses many groups including Israel and Palestine. I will be taking a lot of big breaths as I guide this fully online class and their discussions.

The Miracle Way

A few weeks ago, I attended The Miracle Way Facilitator training and retreat hosted by my mentor and friend Meg Sylvester. The Miracle Way framework has facilitators adopt a collaborative, circular type of leadership that is fueled by deep communication and understanding. It was the perfect mix of practical knowledge, deep dives into Human Design, and somatic practice—an powerful breathwork session that ended with a big primal scream!! That was a Rrrrah I needed. If you own a small business that is in the realm of healing or wellness, I highly recommend this training. I learned a ton and shared a room with my two friends Christine and Holiday, with whom I co-hosted our California retreat in October. Here we are ready for our graduation as certified facilitators.

With the space and time to do inner work and connect with people from very different parts of the world, I became clear about what the next steps were for Between Breath and Sea, and my path forward. After I experienced The Miracle Way location, V Entertainment in Barva de Heredia in Costa Rica, the owner Vicky, and the V Entertainment family, I was inspired to inquire about hosting my next retreat at this very location.

Upcoming Retreats

Vicky enthusiastically agreed, so while I’m still putting details into place, save the date July 22-26, 2024 for Tranquilo: A Retreat for Parents of Neurodiverse Children a V Entertainment in Barva de Heredia, Costa Rica. This one will be for parents only and just a 30 minute taxi ride from the San Jose airport. Lots of Gateless Writing, Breathwork, fun Nervous System regulation sessions, hikes, time for a free massage and more.

I’ll be co-hosting with my friend Chrissy D’Agostino, an educational consultant who works with parents, teachers and non-profits teaching relationship based co-regulation and connection. Chrissy has been serving neurodiverse families for decades. Chrissy, along with her speech therapist husband, Lucas, founded and ran Wellsprings Educational Services in California for several years before moving to Massachusetts. She was also my son Harrison’s first teacher at Oak Hill, an autism school in San Anselmo. So, we’ve known and supported each other for over 14 years. I am thrilled to be co-hosting a retreat for parents to be fully nurtured in community with those who are walking a similar path.

Chrissy and I are also finalizing a location for the next Tranquilo: Wellness Retreat and Surf Camp for Neurodiverse Families in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica. (early August 2024). This one will be for both parents and their neurodiverse children. Daily surf and time for parents to connect, learn supportive strategies, and rest.

Other retreats on the horizon include two with my soul sisters Christine and Holiday in late Spring (May/June). Women’s Wellness Retreat again in Mill Valley, California and a weekend long glamping retreat on a ranch in Mendocino, CA. More details on both of these soon.

If you aren’t on social media and want to know more about these offerings when they happen, just send me an email or text and I’ll add you to the mailing list.

Breathwork

I have officially graduated from Pause Breathwork Facilitation program. 🎓 I am so grateful for the community, mentorship and other breathwork facilitators I met. I even met a recent graduate from Pause at my Miracle Way training. (Yay, Tawnya).

It’s not easy to get my family to breathe with me, but I’ve been sneaking in micro-moments with Lazlo, who now says, “I better meditate,” when he’s getting frustrated with me. Haha. and long morning breathing hugs with Michael, super grounding for all of us. I’ve learned a regular breathwork practice is a great way to manage stress, process emotions we don’t have the space to express, and slow down racing thoughts.

Thinking about Breathwork?

I’ve started hosting online breath sessions with a handful of folks. If you are interested in online breathwork sessions 1:1, online group breathwork or breathwork combined with Gateless writing sessions, I have some options for you. And via PayPal you can pay in installments.

And if you want to know more before signing up, just send me a note on email, FB, IG or text me. Can’t wait to connect. I leave you with a poem that has taken on new meaning to me recently.

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Breath by Rainer Maria Rilke

Breath, you invisible, unseeable, poem!
Constant pure exchange of our beings with
the world’s space.  Counterweight
from which I rhythmically become.
 
Singular wave, whose
Gradual ocean I become;
Sparest of all possible seas, -
Accumulating space.
 
How many of these places in space have already been
inside of me?  Many winds
Are like my son.
 
You, air, still full of places once mine, do you know me?
You, once smooth bark,
The rounding and leaf of my words.

Between Breath and Sea