About the Shame-Free Community
The Shame-Free Community is an online gathering of people who are experiencing shame – where they can get tools and support to help them on their healing journeys.
The focus of the resources in the community is to help you:
- Connect with yourself more deeply – through yoga, meditation, self-compassion and journaling
- Establish bonds with others in the community – through live meetups, a dedicated chat page and weekly discussion prompts
- For those who want it, help to connect with the divine – through imaginative prayer practices from the life of Jesus
I believe that these resources combined in a short daily practice can lead to deeper connections, more embodiment, a greater sense of belonging and a reduction in shame.
The resources in the community are not the same thing as therapy but can be used alongside therapy.
About Yoga
Yoga is a powerful healing practice that can help you come into the present moment, calm your nervous system and inhabit your body more deeply. Rather than just being a form of physical exercise, it’s more a way of life, incorporating ethical living, breathwork, meditation and spirituality.
About soul care tools/contemplative prayer
Contemplative prayer is all about experiencing and deeping your relationship with God. It is meditative and reflective and goes well with other practices such as yoga and mindfulness.
About connection with others
Brené Brown defines shame as a fear of disconnection – the belief that if people knew what we were really like they would reject us. Her research showed that the people who overcome shame are those who are wholehearted and authentic and fully vulnerable.
About meditation
Meditation – in different forms – exists in almost every culture and religious community around the world. The most popular form of meditation in the west is mindfulness, which originates from eastern religious practices, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, but the concepts are common to many other faith traditions too.
About self-compassion
Compassion means ‘suffering with’ and, like empathy, it is all about understanding and accepting a person’s feelings. Compassion is often defined as ’empathy plus action’ so it also looks like taking action to comfort a person and reduce their suffering. Self-compassion is simply compassion turned inwards. You might think of it as treating yourself as you would a good friend.
About restorative yoga
Restorative yoga is all about resting your body and activating your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest). It’s a unique form of yoga where postures are held for between 2 and 20 minutes. It may seem a bit like yin yoga, where the focus is on stretching fascia and connective tissue and holding stretches for a long time, but in restorative yoga we don’t stretch or strengthen, simply rest.
About pranayama
Pranayama is the yoga technique of controlling your breath. Prana means ‘life energy’ and ayama means ‘to control or expand’. We might call it breathwork or breath control in English.
About grounding exercises
Grounding exercises help you to come back to the present moment and calm your nervous system when you are feeling overwhelmed. They are particularly used for people experiencing trauma symptoms. Grounding exercises are rooted in trauma science, including somatics and polyvagal theory.
About journaling
Self-reflective journaling is a tool to help you get to know yourself better. It has many benefits, including giving you space to process your thoughts and emotions, increasing mental wellbeing and reducing stress.
