Introductory class on Introspective Awareness
Meditation and Mindfulness are like exercise; the benefits are directly tied to effort. This trauma informed open class is designed to expose you to the necessary skills for developing a new practice or reawaken an existing one. We will spend the evenings learning the art of practice, including the how, where, when, and why. Introspective Awareness is easy to learn and yet like any art form hard to master. Introspective Awareness is not only a sit down and "be present" activity, but an ongoing expansive relationship between your feelings, inner thoughts and the world you interact with 24/7. This practice can be used to:
Gain Insight into your behaviors
Deepen intimacy
Develop Resiliency around Triggering
Increase empathy and connection
and sometimes just to calm down and be happy
To register or for further information please contact Das at das.chapin@gmail.com.
Six session beginning class: Mindfulness for Female and Male Survivors and their Partners: Now Closed, will be offered again.
A class for Male and Female Survivors of sexual abuse and their Partners to explore the issues of being a survivor and its effects on relationship, intimacy, trust, and sexuality using mindfulness or more specifically introspective awareness as a guiding principle for relatedness. Communicating in a loving, empowering way is hard enough. When you add the impact of sexual abuse things can become seemingly impossible. At a minimum the effects of abuse can cause unfortunate misunderstandings with our partners, in other circumstances the question, “where did the love go?” can be very real. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming and hopeless. However, the same qualities of survival from sexual abuse that are at the root of relationship dysfunction can lead to a level of compassionate love that is hard to find. This six session conversation is designed to help survivors and their partners experience renewed intimacy, empowered communication, and new tools to help each other live in trust, care, and love.
First Session
How does the practice of introspective awareness impact the issues of childhood sexual abuse and why being mindful will help me understand myself and my partner and lead to greater intimacy, acceptance, and perhaps a deeper sense of love and kindness within my relationship.
Second Session
Betrayal and manipulation are an integral part of sexual abuse and we explore how it affects a relationship’s basic roots of trust, intimacy, vulnerability, and acceptance.
Third Session
Free and open communication and how it may be deeply undermined by sexual abuse. “I want to be open and honest, but…”
Fourth Session
Femininity/Masculinity as survivors and how sexual abuse interrupts our expression of who we are and how we present ourselves, especially in an intimate relationship.
Fifth Session
Sexuality and intimacy: A safe, open, and honest conversation about intimate self-expression within our relationships.
Sixth Session
Incorporating mindfulness into our intimate relationship on a moment by moment basis, leaving us with resilient bonds, shared intimacy, and deeper love.