Written by Sarit Zimmerman Rogers, ERYT, SEP
Photo by Sarit Zimmerman Rogers
Even when there is chaos, we can slow down just enough to become aware of something less chaotic.
I have taught trauma-informed yoga in the shadow spaces, the places we avert our eyes from–the places we pretend don’t affect us: prisons, jails, homeless drop in centers. I support clients somatically in rehabs where there is often a felt sense of being trapped. In prisons, we would practice where we could, often in the midst of commotion – the common areas, where there were people walking around, staring, calling out to one another, and there was an underlying current of hypervigilance amongst the incarcerated folks, including the COs there to watch over us. I would add that even as a teacher walking in, there was hypervigilance running through my system as well.
In Somatic Experiencing®, as part of the stabilization processes we might orient, use grounding strategies, we search within ourselves and outside of ourselves for resources, things that help us feel more alive and the way we want to feel, movement, et cetera. With yoga, centering/grounding, movement, internal and external resources are also key.
I never expect someone incarcerated to completely “drop in.” However, I do invite curiosity in order to feel moments of ease, moments of softening, a involuntary, full cycle of breath. And I discovered over time, there would not only be one cycle of breath, there would be several.
Most of us can’t imagine what it feels like to sleep with one eye open, or what it’s like to sleep in the daytime when you are unhoused simply because it’s safer. Or what it’s like to sleep with your back to the wall, your boots on and eyes half-mast because your cellie isn’t someone you feel relatively safe with. Or what it’s like to live in a DV situation where a felt sense of safety is fleeting.
Most people have no idea what it means to be in these circumstances.
Many choose not to know or even be curious about these environments because it is “easier” to look the other way.
Outside of institutions, we have other systemic issues inhibiting our ability to move through the world with ease: being in a marginalized body, Black, Latinx, Jewish, Muslim, Disabled, Elderly, and on and on. I am sure I have unintentionally missed a group. If so, please accept my humanness and an apology.
How can we find a Pocket of Peace when systemic trauma is impacting us daily?
I cannot save the world, nor do I want to. I do this work as part of my practice of Tikkun: the Hebrew word for “repair, improve upon, do something with.”
It feel it on a cellular level to witness this level of what feels like indefatigable suffering. While it is not shocking that human beings treat others so aberrantly, it doesn’t make sense. It takes my breath away to see what human beings do to each other. I hope it never does make sense to me.
Zooming out from my own experience, when I name this suffering, I am talking about a bone cold, winter wind rustling through the pores of the heart. Bearing witness to this is potent medicine, it’s necessary forme, and in and of itself can provide a Pocket of Peace. We need to be seen, and those who are otherized are rarely ever truly seen.
Pockets of Peace – I invite you to imagine this offering as a buffet: please take what you need, what serves YOU and YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM, and leave the rest behind:
Grounding practices
1: Sitting practice:
Sense into any area where you can feel a downward sensation of gravity: Is it your seat, your feet on the floor or tucked underneath you?
Is it your hands resting on your lap?
As you pay attention to these places of contact, what else do you notice?
Is there a sense of connection? Can you feel the weightedness of your hands or seat on a chair, couch, cot, ground, et cetera?
Is there a sense that you are landing or arriving?
Is there is an involuntary, deeper breath?
Did your shoulders drop and/or soften a little bit?
Press your feet into the ground, alternate feet as though you are walking. See if you can begin to feel rhythm in your legs and hips, an essence of your aliveness. What sensations do you feel? Does your breath change?
We are looking for one CYCLE OF BREATH where one feels even a little bit at ease ( 1 -5%), that is a Pocket of Peace.
2: Standing practice:
Stand with feet hip distance apart or any distance if you are in a space where you need to be stealth.
Wiggle your toes and sense into the edges of your feet: heels, toes, sides. Move your toes like a cat’s paws when they’re happy and kneading.
Imagine you have suction cups on the bottom of your feet (think lizards or frogs when they climb a wall!).
Imagine roots growing into the earth from your feet, connecting you, grounding you. Imagine the support of the Earth rising up to support you.
If you are able to use movement of any kind, begin to sway from the ankles, side to side, maybe even forward and back. Notice how you are still connected. Are you still breathing with the images above?
If you are unable to do movement and are working covertly, and if you have access to your breath, try this:
Bring in an image of your inhale calling up energy from the earth, ascending the front body, then bring in an image of your exhale descending back down the back body and into the Earth. You are creating a circle of grounded energy around you. No one needs to know what you are doing. You can do this sitting or standing wherever you are!
Boom: A Pocket of Peace!
Orienting:
This one is tricky. Inviting folks to orient in a prison and asking them to find something that helps them feel safe or more like themself is not a good option. I made this mistake once and was fortunate to be met with kindness as I offered repair and took responsibility for my oops.
We can orient to sound, touch, taste!
This is what I do now in institutions:
I invite folks to orient inward, noticing anything in the body that feels pleasant or less bad. If folks are open to closing the eyes, I might ask them to orient to something in the mind that feels pleasant or neutral.
Another thing I might do is invite folks to orient to self-contact that feels soothing: hand to the heart, hands on thighs, gently movement back and forth.
We need to be able to orient in order to for our nervous system to know we are relatively safe. Exploratory orienting is part of our social engagement (ventral vagal of the polyvagal system). Defensive orienting is what happens in the threat response and is what I witness the most in these environments: it looks like scanning, and actively tracking for threat or danger. Inviting a more exploratory practice inward offers a …. Pocket of Peace!
Some other stealth practices:
Lean on a railing, notice the support. Is there an involuntary exhale?
Lean on a wall, notice the support. Is there a deeper breath?
Soften your tongue. Notice if there is any internal breath.
Take your right hand under the left armpit and your left hand on your bicep (looks like you’re crossing your arms). Sense into the contact, the pressure, the sense of being hugged. Does this illicit a breath or settling of any kind?
A hand on the belly, solar plexus or heart, that can also feel supportive for some.
Find what works for YOU: you are the wise one in regards to what feels good.
The basic idea is to use kind and gentle awareness to notice what is happening right now, in THIS moment. Where can we find even 1 cell of ease.
We want to encourage awareness of the here and now. Trauma takes us to the “then” and “when.” Being present, invites a pause, and potentially a cycle of breath.
Outside of institutions, there is still an institution of oppression out in the wider world: Not everyone can walk through the world with more ease. It’s normal to carry an element of vigilance if you are in a marginalized body or living in an environment where safety is fleeting.
In these cases, I will support people in accessing a Pocket of Peace when they are in safer places: home, a friend’s house, a favorite coffee shop, a religious or spiritual place, nature, a library. Where are your relatively safe spaces?
We can find moments of settling in these spaces. For example, when I am in a synagogue, my body settles when I see security there. When I am inside and we contemplate, pray and sing, my breath deepens, my shoulders soften, I feel softer. I feel the resource of generations past having my back. Sometimes that softness is fleeting, sometimes it’s only for an hour, but it’s there and when I find it, I hit the “save” button. It’s a reminder that our nervous systems DO know how to settle. Those moments are invaluable. We can increase them over time.
Now, when I teach yoga publicly at One Down Dog in Echo Park, that 75 minutes can offer a reprieve: it’s a relatively safe container, you have choice, and that can facilitate a reorganization in our internal safety structures.
A lifer once said this to me after I taught in a level 4 prison: “I may be imprisoned here, but I am a free man on the inside.”
That is ultimately what I hope to inspire: a door opening to internal freedom.
May you find ease. May your heart be soft and undefended. And may you know that you have a right to be here.
For trauma informed training and support, please visit the Therapist Directory, TILA Trainings and the Speakers Bureau.