From elementary academic institutions to psychotherapy offices, mindfulness meditation can be an increasingly mainstream practice. At the same time, trauma remains a fact of lifestyle: the majority of us will experience a distressing event in our lifetime, or more to twenty percent folks will establish posttraumatic stress. This means that anywhere mindfulness is being practiced, somebody in the room may very well be struggling with injury.

Initially, this is apparently a very important thing: injury creates stress, and about Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing mindfulness is a successful tool for reducing it. But the reality is not so simple.

Drawing on a decade of study and clinical encounter, psychotherapist and educator David Treleaven demonstrates mindfulness meditation-practiced without an awareness of trauma-can exacerbate symptoms of traumatic pressure. Instructed to pay out close, sustained attention to their inner world, survivors can encounter flashbacks, dissociation, as well as retraumatization.

This raises an essential question for mindfulness teachers, trauma professionals, and survivors everywhere: How can we minimize the dangers of mindfulness for survivors while leveraging its powerful benefits?

Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness offers answers to the question. Part I has an insightful and concise review of the histories of mindfulness and trauma, including the way modern neuroscience can be shaping our understanding of both. All the way through grounded scholarship or grant and wide-ranging case illustrations, Treleaven illustrates the methods mindfulness can help-or hinder-trauma recovery.

Part II distills these insights into five essential principles for trauma-sensitive mindfulness. Within the part of interest, arousal, romantic relationship, dissociation, and sociable context within trauma-informed practice, Treleaven offers thirty-six specific modifications designed to support survivors’ protection and stability. The effect is usually a groundbreaking and practical approach that empowers those looking to practice mindfulness inside a safe, transformative way.