The Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness Podcast

Grounding In Nature Guided Meditation • Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven

A guided meditation by David Treleaven on appreciating the body.

In this solo episode, David speaks about the reasons he’s stepping back from TSM and three of the most important lessons he learned over the years: the importance of practicality, the inability to meet everyone’s needs, and the pros and cons of focusing on safety in trauma-sensitive work. David also shares his gratitude for the community and his visions for the future.

In this episode David speaks with Meena Srinivasan, an expert in the field of mindful education and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). They discuss the relationship between SEL and mindful education, the mental-health crisis of Covid and the particular forms of stress that educators are facing in school systems, the difference between mindfulness as a path versus mindfulness as a tool in education,...

In this episode, David speaks with Joe Flanders and Andrew Rose, two leaders in the field of psychedelic-assisted treatment. They discuss the current movement around psychedelic treatment, conditions that support healing and transformation in psychedelic therapy (including mindfulness), working with “stuckness” in psychedelic treatments, and the relationship between mindful awareness, traumatic ac...

In this episode David speaks with Katherine Metzelaar about the relationship between mindfulness, trauma, and disordered eating. They discuss the prevalence of eating disorders, the ways undernourishment can impact our capacity to be mindful, how the spectrum of eating disorders connects to trauma, cultural assumptions around thinness and fatness, and why a trauma-informed lens is so powerful in a...

In this episode, David speaks with Simon Whitesman about mindfulness and trauma in the context of South Africa. They discuss how mindfulness practice can increase the capacity to face historical trauma, the importance of elderhood in contemplative and trauma-healing spaces, the power of non-judgemental awareness in clinical work, and the reason trauma-sensitive mindfulness is so important in a Sou...

In this episode David speaks with Willoughby Britton and Jared Lindahl, co-authors of the Varieties of Contemplative Experience (VCE) study—a landmark investigation into the nature of meditation-related difficulties, including trauma. They are two of the world’s experts in studying the difficulties people can encounter in meditation, as well as the factors that contribute to these experiences.

In this episode, David speaks with Anjuli Sherin, author of the book Joyous Resilience: A Path to Individual Healing and Collective Thriving in an Inequitable World. They discuss the relationship between trauma and resilience in clinical and contemplative practice, the way resilience can be a counter-balance to over-focusing on traumatic stimuli in meditation, and cultural aspects of resilience.

In this episode David speaks with mindfulness author, speaker, and educator Diana Winston. Diana is Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, founding board member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association, and teaches meditation worldwide. They discuss the relationship between mindfulness research and practice, the professionalisation and standardi...

In this episode, David speaks with writer and educator Dan Siegel. Dan is Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA Medical School, founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, and author of a number of books including The Developing Mind and The Mindful Brain. They discuss mindfulness practices for COVID-19, the relationship between “monitoring” and “modifying” in meditation (...

In this episode, David speaks with Kai Cheng Thom, an award winning writer, social worker, and meditation teacher who teaches about trauma and conflict resolution. They discuss the impact of trauma on groups, the role of mindfulness in conflict resolution, and a meditation practice for working with contradictions.

In this episode David speaks with Thomas Hübl—teacher, facilitator, and author of the book "Healing Collective Trauma." They discuss the ways that mindful attention and attunement can support groups in a trauma healing process, the connection between personal and social change, and what Thomas refers to as the human rights of being, becoming, and belonging.

In this episode, David speaks with Oren Jay Sofer, a meditation instructor and trauma professional who also teachers Nonviolent Communication—a process of interpersonal communication designed to help navigate conflict. In their conversation, Oren and David discuss the philosophical roots of nonviolent communication and how they apply to mindfulness and trauma; ways that an understanding of trauma...

In this episode, David speaks with renowned meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg. They discuss Sharon's conceptualization of trauma and how this informs her meditation teaching, the role lovingkindness can play in trauma recovery, how to help people find agency in the face of distress, and the trauma-informed work Sharon has been doing with survivors of gun violence. Sharon Salzberg is a central fig...

A conversation with Mushim Patricia Ikeda. In this episode, David interviews Mushim Patricia Ikeda—a poet, Buddhist teacher, and social change activist. Mushim teaches at the East Bay Meditation Center (EBMC) in Oakland, California, where she leads an award-winning yearlong mindfulness program called Practice in Transformative Action. In their conversation, David and Mushim talk about her inclusiv...

A conversation with Liz Stanley. This episode's guest is Elizabeth Stanley, a professor at Georgetown University and author of the book "Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive During Stress and Recover from Trauma." Liz is a U.S. Army veteran who came to practice (in part) to help her with PTSD. In their conversation, David and Liz discuss contemporary definitions of trauma and h...

A conversation with Sydney Spears. This episode features Sydney Spears, a trauma-sensitive mindfulness and yoga teacher, clinical social work, and trauma-sensitive care. Sydney teaches Mindful Self-Compassion with a particular focus on diversity, oppression, and trauma. In their conversation, David and Sydney discuss the role of mindfulness and compassion can play in helping heal trauma and oppres...

A conversation with Staci Haines. This episode's guest is Staci Haines, is co-founder of generative somatics, a multiracial organization that offers somatics, embodied leadership and trauma healing to social and environmental justice organizers. She is also the founder of generationFIVE, an organization whose mission is to end the sexual abuse of children within five generations. David and Staci's...

A conversation with Rick Hanson. This episode's guest is Rick Hanson, a psychologist, a Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and a New York Times best-selling author. In their conversation, David and Rick talk about what resilience means and its connection to mindfulness; the distinction between “working with” and “being with” when it comes to meditation; and the practi...

A conversation with Zabie Yamasaki. Zabie Yamasaki is the Program Director of Trauma-Informed Yoga Programs at UCLA, and created a trauma-informed yoga program that’s being used at over 20 college campuses in the US. In this episode, David and Zabie discuss the difference between observing and absorbing adversity and stress in a leadership role; strategies to support self-regulation to best suppor...

A conversation with Shelly Tygielski. This episode's guest is Shelly Tygielski, a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher, who's also deeply involved in offering trauma-informed mindfulness programs to communities who have been affected by gun violence and mass shootings in the US. In their conversation, David and Shelly discuss what Shelly’s learned in creating trauma-sensitive environments fo...

A conversation with Rebecca Crane. This episode's guest is Rebecca Crane, a teacher passionate about mindfulness teacher competencies—particularly "who" we need to become in order to offer mindfulness to others. In the episode, David and Rebecca delve into the questions: What makes a mindfulness program a mindfulness program? Where does trauma fit into all this? And where is the field going? Rebec...

A solo podcast by David Treleaven. In this special podcast, as opposed to interviewing a particular leader in the field, David interviews, well... himself! After a brief opening practice he discusses: The way our own healing needs to be at the center of TSM; the reason David thinks of trauma as Winter in the seasonal cycle; and how mindfulness (and particular supplemental practices) can help us tu...

A conversation with Paula Ramírez. In this episode, David interviews Paula Ramírez, a mindfulness teacher currently working with humanitarian workers and trauma survivors at the United Nations. Paula and David discuss her adaptations of mindful body scans when working with differently abled people, cultural adaptations Paula has made in offering mindfulness to displaced and traumatized communities...