Last Sunday, Erin Henshaw, co-founder and lead instructor of the Mind Body Project, led a two-hour Trauma-Facilitation workshop. Close to 15 people joined her workshop via Zoom, where she guided the group to learn about various mind-body tools, including deep-breathing, reflection, and sensory awareness.
The group consisted of people from a variety of professional backgrounds, including mindfulness instructors, designers, executive coaches, practitioners, and more. Erin started the workshop having everyone introduce themselves and getting them to reflect on what they were grateful to have during the scope of the pandemic. This allowed everybody to open up with one another and build a basic foundation for an emotional connection to be developed later in the workshop.
While the Zoom environment couldn’t allow people to be in the physical presence of others, it enabled people from all over the globe to connect and build a community. Individuals tuned in from countries, including the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Spain.
The workshop served as a space for instructors to come together and understand a critical element in communicating and engaging with their teammates, their loved ones, and even themselves. "This pandemic we are all in is a collective trauma. It’s important that we understand how to navigate it together,” says Erin.
Western culture has increasingly dictated working in chairs, prioritizing information flow to our frontal lobes and seeing our emotional responses as a hindrance to “achievement.” We have grown accustomed to learning from experts instead of a more experiential teaching model.
Fortunately, the neuroscience-backed field of mindfulness reminds us of what we are missing: authentic teachers, emotional intelligence, self-insight and whole-body learning. As part of this program, we will explore how to integrate traditional standards of achievement with whole-person facilitation with respect to trauma theory and tools.
Upon completion of the Trauma-Sensitive Facilitation Training Workshop, participants were left with skills and confidence to authentically lead introductory trauma-sensitive mindfulness programs or integrate these trauma-sensitive teachings with facilitation/leadership practices in their current field.
To learn more about the program visit our page here.