Resilient Hearts in Times of Collapse: The Art of Self-Regulation and Navigating Complex Trauma in Community (September 2019)
Resilient Hearts in Times of Collapse: The Art of Self-Regulation and Navigating Complex Trauma in Community (September 2019)
Our focus is on what happens in our bodies as we try to adapt to widespread systemic oppression and environmental degradation. Together we will be engaging in self-inquiry and practices to support us in regulating our nervous systems, understanding the trauma each of us carries, and expanding our capacity to stay relational amidst overwhelming crisis.
Date: Wednesdays, September 4, 11, 18, 25
Time: 7-9 pm
Location: SE Uplift | 3534 SE Main St.
Tier A Pricing: $199 ($30/hr or above wage earners)
Tier B Pricing: $149 ($16-$29/hr wage earners)
Tier C Pricing: $99 ($15/hr or below wage earners)
See our Pricing + Generosity Policy for more information on tiered pricing.
PUGS is about both learning and community. Register with a friend and get 25% off with the code YOUVEGOTAFRIEND
Space limited to 15 students.
We are coming from an assumption that global systemic collapse is underway, and we will continue to experience an acceleration of changes that will be incredibly challenging for our bodies, communities, and the earth to adapt to. We believe that this is the result of generations of compounding trauma that impacts our ability to be in connection with ourselves, each other, and all other life forms on this planet. To have any hope of surviving, we believe we need to build resilient relationships in which we are able to hold our own and others complexity and potential, even as we continue to exist within systems that enact violence that is acutely felt by some much more than others. Within this framework, no human being is seen as dispensable and is each needed to transform the reality we are living in to one in which every person is safe and able to get their needs met.
In this course, we will be learning about how to identify when we are in a reactive state, and how to guide ourselves from flight, fight, freeze response into self-regulation. We will be interacting with neuroscience research, dynamics of privilege and oppression, and trauma awareness to understand ourselves and our patterns to create ground to shift them. There are also spiritual elements to this class that are not faith-specific, intended to support people in getting more into our bodies, including group song and ancestral connection.
Week 1: Opening Circle/Welcome. Interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) introduction- understanding the sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous system responses (flight, fight, freeze, collapse). Begin to bring people’s awareness to how our bodies and our world are experiencing/witnessing collapse and what the impacts of this are.
Week 2: Ancestral connection inquiry and practice: what is known and what is unknown? Explore relationship to ancestral/historical trauma. Exploration around systems of oppression: how does white supremacy, cis-hetero-patriarchy, capitalism etc. live in us personally and how do to we see these externalized in the world around us? IPNB of power overview.
Week 3: Group grief ritual - grounding, self/co-regulation, expression of grief
Week 4: Deep harvest from the past 3 weeks. Reflection on how people are wanting to continue with this work of transforming reactivity and systemic oppression while living in a world where well-being and survival are regularly threatened. What support do people need? How can we call in this support? How will we stay accountable to this work? Strategy share with group. Closing.
Natalie Fraver (she/her) is passionate about contributing to healing the collective brain of humanity through trauma work, awareness of how the nervous system functions, constellation work, and abolishing systems of oppression. Natalie has 4+ years of active experience in community/alternative system building, depth work practice, conflict resolution, and group facilitation. She enjoys working and learning with others in groups as a means of understanding group dynamics and identifying personal patterns that impact connection.
Kevin Spangenberg (they/them) is excited about being an active visionary and participant in the co-creation of communities and cultural systems that further collaboration, shared-power relationship, and collective healing. They believe frameworks such as Transformative Justice, Nonviolent Communication, and Interpersonal Neurobiology are concrete tools to bring this vision to life. They have years of experience in offering system design and conflict transformation trainings to Community Organizations, Faith-Based Communities, state and federal prisons, Indigenous Communities, Educational Institutions, Individuals, and Families.