…or more accurately, the definitions of trauma i’ve encountered via wise others and integrated into my approach :) while you consider our compatibility for your healing journey, i believe it is important for you to get a sense of how i define trauma. gratitude to these people mentioned below. i so invite you to go check out their work and learn from their wisdom.

Resmaa Menakem - “The body is where we live. It’s where we fear, hope, and react. It’s where we constrict and relax. And what the body most cares about are safety and survival. When something happens to the body that is too much, too fast, or too soon and we don't get enough safety or regard it overwhelms the body and can create trauma. Contrary to what many people believe, trauma is not primarily an emotional response. Trauma always happens in the body. It is a spontaneous protective mechanism used by the body to stop or thwart further (or future) potential damage.

Trauma is not a flaw or a weakness. It is a highly effective tool of safety and survival.

Trauma is also not an event. Trauma is the body’s protective response to an event — or a series of events — that it perceives as potentially dangerous.”

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Nkem Ndefo - Trauma is any experience that asks or requires us to sacrifice our safety, dignity, and/or belonging. Often, it is an experience that asks or requires us to choose one of these at the cost of the others.

Manuela Mischke-Reeds - Trauma: is always adaptive (there is an inherent intelligence to the body), causes disconnection (on any scale, in any realm), and is never isolated within the individual (always embedded in a collective experience).