An Ivy League university invited me to participate in a study on how teachers support students when trauma surfaces in meditation. I declined.

Instead, I shared how many mindfulness practices meant to help can actually reinforce trauma, spark shame, and encourage us to override our feelings.

I’d like to share with you my response to that invitation since I’m often asked why I stopped teaching trauma-informed mindfulness meditation:

Hi E,
Thanks for reaching out and sharing information about your study—it sounds fascinating!

As you now know, I'm both a Certified Inner Relationship Practitioner and Trainer, as well as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. Prior to learning IRF, I combined SE and meditation to teach trauma-informed mindfulness meditation. This supported students in ways directly related to your study—helping them be with their experience and the reverberating impact of trauma, which can sometimes unexpectedly emerge while meditating. (* I was also certified to teach mindfulness meditation by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.)

However, I no longer teach trauma-informed meditation, and I have stepped away from my own personal meditation practice, because many mindfulness meditation practices and principles can inadvertently reinforce the very patterns we want to disentangle from. For example, from my perspective, the so-called "hindrances" often reflect survival adaptations— strategies our bodies developed to help us get through impossibly hard times. Anxiety, for example, may feel like a hindrance, but it emerged for a good reason. A protective reason. And the more we try to breathe it away, bring light to it, and treat it like a hindrance ... as something bad and wrong ... the more it will dig in, and we will remain stuck.

From an SE perspective, practices that encourage controlled breathing can be harmful for trauma survivors, as the nervous system is intricately linked to breathing patterns. I've worked with clients who, after attending meditation classes or retreats, found themselves unexpectedly triggered by practices that promised ease and calm. And they left feeling even more distraught and disoriented.

Inner Relationship Focusing (IRF), on the other hand, offers a gentle, trauma-informed, body-oriented process that invites us to be with our experience just as it is — without fixing it, changing it, softening it, or overriding it. This process creates an inner environment where tension eases, wounds heal, next steps emerge and a connection to one's self deepens and expands. No forcing. No pushing. And definitely no spiritual bypassing.

For these reasons (and many more) I don't think I would be an appropriate participant for your study. That said, if you or your team is curious to learn more about how mindfulness meditation practices can inadvertently reinforce trauma, induce shame, encourage overriding one's feelings and more, I'd be happy to discuss this further. As you might be able to tell, I'm very passionate about this topic!

Feel free to reach out if this raises questions for you, or you’re curious to learn more about how I can support your healing and well-being. You can reply directly to this email or schedule a chat by clicking here.

Here’s to living fully in these hard times!

Lauren

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