Lived Experience Blog
Food for Thought
Conveying the experience of living through a dorsal vagus lens to someone who has never felt it is profoundly difficult. Having experienced life through both a dorsal and ventral lens, it's clear that the difficulty goes both ways. Just as it's nearly impossible to convey the weight of dorsal to…
From the Safety of Ventral
If you’ve been fortunate enough to spend most of your life in a ventral vagal nervous system state, you might not fully understand what it’s like to experience a dorsal state. You may not realize the toll it takes when an overactive inner critic constantly drives negative self-perception at every…
Imposter
What is Imposter Syndrome Really? Imposter Syndrome is often described as a persistent lack of self-belief — a chronic sense of self-doubt. At its core, self-doubt is a loss of trust, both in our own judgment and in the judgments of others. This loss of trust is, in many cases, a trauma response.…
Area of Compromise
There are many of us in the world who can find it difficult to express our thoughts and emotions.. struggling to articulate what we truly think and feel. Why is that? Some may believe we simply have nothing valuable to say. Others assume it’s due to a lack of intelligence or convince themselves…
How I Think About Me
“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius This timeless quote from the Roman emperor reflects a profound truth: the quality of our lives is shaped by the quality of our thoughts. When Marcus said this, he emphasized the power of the mind in shaping how we perceive and respond to…
Dysregulation
Good Morning! Drawing on research in interpersonal neurobiology, Polyvagal Theory, and trauma-informed practices, we have developed a workshop aimed at fostering emotional regulation in schools. By blending these scientific insights with lived experience, our workshop provides practical strategies…
Underpinnings
You may have heard the saying, "What we put out into the world is what comes back to us." This couldn't be more true. When I finally understood that my choices were keeping me stuck in a cycle—different faces, different places, but the same situations—it was clear that the only way out was the…
Complex Trauma
People who have experienced complex trauma, often confuse feeling familiar with feeling safe. We may not know what real safety feels like, so we choose familiar and end up with more of the same… ‘different faces, different places, same old set of circumstances, same unhealthy relationships, same…
What does the opposite look like?
Lived Experience Insight Trauma alters our perception .. Very many years ago … although my eyes were showing me that connection, belonging, joy, love, calm, safety, happiness, peace etc existed… it only existed for others as far as I was concerned… It was impossible to comprehend that the same…
How do you feel?
‘How do you feel?’ Is a question I ask people frequently … Not everyone has the words to express how they feel… ‘Okay’! … is a popular answer -but what does ‘okay’ actually mean? T truth is, not everyone knows how to feel their emotions let alone knowing how to describe them. Have you ever…