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A good way to find out about other effects of mindful meditation and how to approach it

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Essential reading for Mindfulness-based practitioners

Eye opening in the context of social and personal trauma, and has good advice in how to navigate difficult situations

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Amazing so Insightful

This book was amazing. There were so many concepts in here that I have felt deeply/believed in but not been able to articulate. This book has put them into words perfectly.

I particularly loved how they described the freeze response in terms of getting stuck in Medusa's glaze that was beautiful.

The author covers a staggering range of topics and yet they all seem to flow nicely into each other. While this book is mostly targeted at practitioners clients can use it too. While their are some 'technical' terms it is easy to understand and very clear.

I also liked how the book acknowledges personal and systemic trauma. And the part society plays in this as well. And how what may seem like a small thing to one person can have a big impact on someone else.

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Safety in PTSD and Trauma Therapy

A must read for all who are involved in the area of PTSD, CPTSD, recovery and growth. This excellent contribution to the important area of the treatment of those suffering in mind, body, and spirit from the adverse effects of PTSD and trauma is a major move forward in avoiding re-traumatisation of patients, clients, and dare I say it some well meaning but as yet unenlightened therapists. This may seem judgmental but as one who has been recovering from and studying CPTSD for over 40 years I have seen it, done it, and got the T-shirt.

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1 person found this helpful

So important I’m going to re-read parts

Not only does this book touch a nerve the ideas around social norms and experiencing discrimination are hard to deal with because they are true- like a stone in our shoe. When we experience this stone can we welcome it, allowing the unexpected guest to teach us something? How do we experience this thought in our own body - where do we feel it? Can we turn towards the place of discomfort with mindful compassion breathing in and out that part of our body and noticing what happens? Maybe we’re experiencing less than 1/1000th the pain someone dealing every day with this discrimination is experiencing. What does this show us about our own therapeutic window? Can we use this insight to help us relate better to someone who is going through trauma reliving it day in day out?We begin to see just being mindfully with the pain - the first arrow - can be too much because the pain is so great. It’s the skilful teaching about how to bring compassionate wisdom to that: so important. Long meditations for trauma victims can be too much. This book raised an important question and begins to show a way through. There are other mindfulness audiobooks notably Tara Brach’s work with RAIN meditation in Radical Self Acceptance that are also helpful.

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5 people found this helpful

A must-read for all Practitioners!

The book went far beyond expectations and made the case for being aware that trauma may be present among many of our pupils and this consideration should be at the forefront of any Mindfulness teacher.

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Retraumatised by this book

I'd suggest caution when reading this if you're anything like me and are prone to excessive rumination, catastrophizing, etc. I'm sure this book was written with the best of intentions and the utmost professional dedication, care and expertise. However, what we focus on grows, so it's no surprise that this type of content that comes with a heavily negative slant is sometimes counter-productive and might do more harm than good.

The book borders on fear-mongering - as if trauma victims don't already inflict enough of that on ourselves; I don't want, or need, to live in any more fear of my own mind than I already am. The descriptions and examples given in here, detailing how (and why) mindfulness might induce more trauma, are extremely triggering for me. All it has done is put me in a heightened state of hypervigilence and excessive introspection. I didn't realize this initially, but drew the connection after listening over a period of days and growing increasingly fearful, agitated. I found myself ruminating excessively on whether or not I was in a state of "mindfulness-induced retraumatisation", and every other negative outcome this book cautions against. I'm only halfway through, but unfortunately I'll have to stop right here before actual damage is done to my already damaged psyche.

As a sidenote, I experienced the same mental and emotional heaviness and dread when listening to talks by Willoughy Britton on the same subject, and now I understand why this is so.

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Helpful but poorly presented

Interesting and insightful examples, but some of them are corrupted by some woke narrative which I find as completely useless and non practical.

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