Trauma wisdom and therapeutic approaches that bring us safely into our body are expanding our ability to become a connected whole after childhood trauma. There are, however, impediments to healing that require more attention, such as entrenched mechanisms that silence children and adult survivors, especially those who experienced childhood sexual abuse. 

This presentation explores the layers of silencing inherent in the world around us, our foundational relationships, and our inner, private spaces. It is based on a three-part article, ‘Silenced, Not Silent’ published by Blue Knot Foundation, July 2023, and a related model developed for the Boston International Trauma Conference, May 2024. This distillation of lived experience, trauma wisdom and underlying social dynamics brings clarity to the complex in ‘Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’. 

Being silenced, through subtle or overt, unintended or systematic means, is traumatising, in itself. Breaking the silence is not a simple, one-off choice. The child/inner child often needs to take on the world whilst having no words for what happened; challenge caregivers/multiple generations invested in pretence or cover-up; and become their own parent/therapist while others strive to perpetuate the silence. 

The truth, however, can not hide for long within our bodies or behind our emotional weather patterns when our subconscious knows we are safe. To balance the cognitive load of the content, this presentation will offer a seated, gentle experience of yoga.* This will give signposts to subcortical connections/pathways that nurture us physically, mentally and emotionally – ways that yoga and other somatic therapies work with various systems to help us transform trauma, at our own pace, with protective guidance from the sub-conscious. We can all become more authentic, whole and clearer about what happened to us, and, if we wish, more vocal about it.

*A separate submission for a workshop will extend this experience