Hi everyone,
What happens when life is challenging? At some point it becomes stressful. What happens when stress is chronic? For some it shows up as anxiety, insomnia or depression, while others feel frustrated, impatient or just generally pissed off much of the time. Symptoms might also be physical, e.g. GI distress, low back or neck pain, tight shoulders or headaches. For some people, the most noticeable experience is that spinning thoughts make concentration really difficult, or a sense of just feeling chronically overwhelmed.
And — where is the joy? The sense of feeling fully alive to life? Or even just feeling safe enough to really let down? Sometimes the ultimate result is that we stop feeling the deeper feelings as numbness and deadening begin to take over. Then if we can just stay busy enough, the inner sense of heartache, fear, disappointment and quiet desperation can be kept at bay.
Beyond the typical day to day, many in the US who have never been politically active have recently jumped in to get involved. I often worry about them as activism really takes a toll on the nervous system. We invite people to engage – but how often do we teach people to how to stay well when they do? Chronic stress detracts from the ability to empathize and be compassionate — do we really want to ignore it?
Honestly, in a world where it seems like only slogans get taken note of, I want to say, “TRE — don’t do activism without it.” Of course there are other things people do to stay well, but the point is, most people aren’t doing any of them, and TRE offers something quite unique. (What is TRE?)
Given our current societal dilemmas, for 2017, I put three Intro to Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) workshops on the calendar. One was in January, one in February, and now, this week, the third one. I am not sure when a “next time” is going to be, so if you have any interest at all, I would strongly encourage you to not wait, make time for this one, and be there on Wednesday, March 22, 7p-m. If you attended in January or February, please consider attending this one also as the repetition can be extremely helpful.
Details and registration for Wednesday, March 22 7p-9p are here:
Intro to Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE).
***ALL PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT LIVING UBUNTU***
No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Contact us if you are experiencing financial hardship.
In the spirit of Ubuntu,
Barbara English, LMFT, CBT, TRE® Certification Trainer
Co-founder and Executive Director, Living Ubuntu
livingubuntu.org | facebook | donate »
living vegan (facebook) | plant powered oc (facebook)
occlimateaction.org | facebook
(949) 891-2005
Intro to Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) – time to register!
Wednesday, March 22, 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Newport Beach
A Screening of Before the Flood (OCCA)
Friday, March 24, 7:00pm – 9:30pm
Irvine
Spring Veggie Garden Workshop! (Plant Powered OC)
Wednesday, April 5, 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Costa Mesa
Vegan Meat-Up: A Safe Space for the Curious Carnivore – w/Moby, Gene Baur, Allison Argo
(Soka PAC – Critical Conversations)
Wednesday, April 12, 7:00pm – 9:45pm
Aliso Viejo
A Screening of Speciesism w/filmmaker, Mark DeVries — a pre-conference event (GWC)
Thursday, April 20, 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Huntington Beach
Thursday, April 27, 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Fullerton
11th Annual Golden West College Peace Conference
“A Sustainable Peace: Equity, Equality, and Environmental Interdependence in the 21st Century”
Friday, April 28, 8:30am – 5:00pm
Crises in the Ocean: How Compassionate Action Benefits Us All – w/People’s Climate March after
Living Ubuntu Blog 