As regular readers know, I regularly utilize mindfulness both in my personal and professional life.   It is often a beneficial practice for people with health conditions as it allows us to attend to the present when our minds get pulled into the past or the future.  

However, mindfulness exercises are not always positive.  For trauma survivors, some of the common practices, such as meditation, can exacerbate post-traumatic stress and and create feelings of shame and distress.  

David Treleaven is a trauma professional and a mindfulness practitioner who offers insight into how to offer trauma-sensitive mindfulness practices in his book “Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness“.

It is a clear and warm offering and directly acknowledges the systemic aspects of trauma along with our social identities.  

If you regularly incorporate mindfulness practices, I recommend checking it out.  Keeping our minds open to the potential pitfalls can aid us in normalizing how trauma can impact us and how we can help ourselves and others to adapt practices to be aware of the possible experiences of trauma survivors. 

For those who want more in-depth training in this area, he also offers online training:

The Complete Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Training