David Treleaven
 on Teaching and Practicing
Trauma-Informed Mindfulness

While mindfulness doesn’t cause trauma, it does uncover trauma we’ve been hiding. So, what can leaders in the realm of mindfulness and meditation do to support and empower people who’ve had traumatic experiences? How can we recognize symptoms of trauma in our students and prevent retraumatization?

On this episode, David shares his definition of trauma, explaining why he focuses on whether the nervous system is supported by a given meditation practice—or dysregulated by it. He walks us through the four R’s that characterize a trauma-sensitive approach, describing how mindfulness reveals trauma we’ve been hiding and what contemplative communities can do to include people who’ve had traumatic experiences. Listen in for David’s insight around the integration of trauma work with social and political change and learn how to implement trauma-informed mindfulness in the groups you lead.

David Treleaven, PhD, is a writer, educator, and trauma professional working at the intersection of mindfulness and trauma. He is the author of the acclaimed book Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, which was a #1 New Release on Amazon. David's work has been adopted into multiple mindfulness teacher training programs around the world, including UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center, the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, and Bangor University’s MA in Mindfulness program in the UK. He is currently a visiting scholar at Brown University. 

Key Takeaways

• The difficult experience in David’s personal practice that inspired his interest in the relationships among mindful tension, meditation practice and traumatic stress
• David’s insights about the ubiquity of trauma
• How David defines trauma and why he focuses on how an event impacts the nervous system vs. the event itself
• The challenge in finding a balance between demonstrating great care without coddling people
• The connection between a leader’s awareness of the social conditions that shape a person’s lived experience and their effectiveness in a leadership role
• The four R’s that characterize a trauma-sensitive approach
• How mindfulness reveals the trauma we’ve been hiding
• What makes trauma more than a negative emotion and why it usually requires more than mindfulness to untangle
• David’s explanation of the window of tolerance and how we grow when we work at the edges of that window
• What contemplative communities can do to include people who’ve had traumatic experiences
• Why it’s important to integrate trauma work with social/political change work
• David’s strategies for implementing trauma-informed mindfulness in the groups you lead

Connect with David

• David’s Website
• David’s Events and Courses
  

Other Resources Mentioned

• Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing by David A. Treleaven
• UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center
• Engaged Mindfulness Institute
• Bangor University’s Masters in Mindfulness
• David’s Dissertation Video on Meditation & Trauma
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, MD
• Pat Ogden
• ‘Concept Creep: Psychology’s Expanding Concepts of Harm and Pathology’ in Psychological Inquiry
• Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Christopher Germer
• SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach
• Books by Antonio Damasio
• Dr. Dan Siegel
• Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive During Stress and Recover from Trauma by Elizabeth A. Stanley, PhD
• Tara Brach
• Elizabeth Stanley
• National Domestic Workers Alliance
• Generative Somatics