The JOY of climbing to the top!!!! I was so full of joy after I auto-belayed down. I did it! I actually wasn’t expecting to get to the top. I remember thinking half-way up, this is amazing that I got this far, and I think I’m gonna belay down now. But then I kept scanning…
Tag: traumahealing
The Gift of Compassion
Each July, my body reminds me that August is the month when I lay half dead on the side of the road after my car rolled seven times off the 101 freeway. Even this July—14 years out— part of my body tenses up as it implicitly remembers the pain and trauma it went through in…
Finding A Good Path Forward In the Midst
When my community and world have been on fire, I’ve needed to adjust my expectations, for one, as well as try to honor the needs of myself and my family. One evening in February, when my youngest was asleep by 7pm (which rarely, if ever, has happened), I had a moment of stillness and creativity…
Interview with Hello Darkness
I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the YouTube channel Hello Darkness: Stories that Transform. In the interview, I share: It was such a special experience, and an honor to do. I hope it’s encouraging!! Here’s the interview if you’d like to listen: Warmly,Robyn Feature Image: This was a recent “glimmer moment”! I took…
The Start of My Healing Journey
I haven’t shared this information here, but doctors said I had a 3% chance of surviving the multiple extreme injuries from my rollover car accident in 2011. At the time, I didn’t know this—nor did I know that I’d make a full recovery years later. During the years of recovery— when so much was unfamiliar,…
Available For Joy in the Midst of Pain
I got to speak at Westmont College earlier this month! I shared my trauma story as well as two of the things that helped me be available for joy in the midst of pain. It’s been through the deeper pain that I’ve been able to experience greater joy. The two things that I shared are:…
How Lengthening Movements Helped Me Heal
Bessel Van Der Kolk says that for healing to happen after trauma, we need to feel ways and do things that “directly contradict the helplessness, rage and collapse that are part of trauma, and thereby regaining self-mastery” (The Body Keeps the Score, page 4). Even though my body underwent huge trauma after being collapsed in…
Indelibly both/and
Pain and joy oftentimes live right next to each other. And that’s my experience of the month of August: August is the month where I endured the most pain and trauma that I’ve ever experienced in my life. And it’s also the month where I’ve grown to stand in awe of how much healing and…
Let our Internal Resources Strengthen Us
Resources can regulate us. They can make distressing things a little more bearable. They can help our nervous systems sink into relaxation (whether momentarily or for a sustained period of time). They can help us when we are totally dysregulated (ie. and not in control of our emotions at all). They can also help us…
Find Our Unique Basket of “10% Solutions”
When I worked on the Perinatal Wellness team at Providence St. John Hospital, I met a woman who is a certified laughter yoga instructor. Have you heard the phrase that laughter is medicine? Well, turns out there is a ton of research behind this. There’s even a science of laughter, it’s called gelotology. And get…