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.

The aim of meditation such as mindfulness is to be aware of your present moment experiences without judgement. It’s not about emptying your mind of thoughts but being aware of the thoughts that come up and not judging them. It’s inevitable that thoughts will come up and that’s not something that gets in the way of the practice.

You don’t need to have a formal sitting practice to live more in the present moment but it can help you to be more aware generally.

Meditation and shame

Mindfulness practice has been linked to increases in self-esteem, and approaching emotions such as shame in a ‘non-judgemental’ way (a key feature of meditations like mindfulness) has been found to help people heal from shame.

However, meditation can inadvertantly trigger feelings of shame – particularly if the teacher sets expectations about feeling a certain way (e.g. relaxed) when the person is finding it hard to relax. A person may also feel shame for being uncomfortable, having to move positions or not sitting in a fully upright posture. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced all of these far too often and so I now teach meditaiton in a way that is intended to minimise shame – not telling people how they should be feeling and offering options for those who are struggling with certain elements of the practice. I also give people a choice about their body position and whether or not they move (after all, you’re not automatically more mindful just because you can sit up straighter than other people or stay still for longer than others). There’s no one right way to positition your body when practicing meditation and mindful movement is a form of mindfulness!

Meditation and trauma

Meditation, and particularly mindfulness, is known for its stress-reduction benefits, and this can also help with managing trauma symptoms. But meditation can also retraumatise people and trigger trauma symptoms, including dissociation. It’s easy to become overwhelmed when focussing inwards and people with trauma are often hyper-aware, so focussing your attention on something can feel stressful. Focussing on your breath can trigger your sympathetic nervous system and put you in fight or flight. Additionally, people with dissociative symptoms may find it hard to feel parts of their body at all so a body scan can be frightening for some.

Trauma-sensitive mindfulness is a way of modifying meditation practices and allows people with trauma to practice in a way that doesn’t trigger their symptoms. I’m not a certified trauma-sensitive mindfulness facilitator but I have learnt about how to teach in a trauma-sensitive way and I apply this to every meditation in the Shame-Free Community. Some principles of trauma-sensitive mindfulness include:

  • Offering choice and autonomy
  • Using invitational language
  • Giving people permission to stop and step away whenever they need to and normalising that
  • Offering tools to help regulate your nervous system (such as gentle movement or noticing what’s around you)
  • Giving people a choice about whether to open or close their eyes
  • Giving people permission to skip certain parts of the practice.

Useful resources

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