Resources Library
Post-Traumatic Growth & Resilience
The River of Integration
This illustration reflects the experience of moving between rigidity and chaos, and the possibility of softly finding steadiness within the flowing waters of integration — where coherence, balance, and wholeness emerge.
Inspired by Dr. Dan Siegel’s River of Integration and illustrated by Sonja Cillie.
Introduction: Why This Library Exists 📚
Resources for Trauma-Sensitive Healing & Well-Being
These are books and videos I have read, listened to, and returned to over time. They continue to inform and deepen my understanding of trauma-sensitive mindfulness, nervous system regulation, and healing and well-being in connection.
Together, they reflect careful, science-informed approaches to healing — offered with respect for capacity, choice, and the natural rhythms of post-traumatic growth. These resources offer a glimpse into the foundations supporting Finding Your Way.
A Grounding Frame for This Page
As you explore these resources, it may be helpful to hold a simple understanding in mind. According to Richie Davidson, PhD. (Center for Healthy Minds) well-being is a skill — something that can be learned and strengthened, much like riding a bike or playing the piano. He identifies four core skills of well-being:
Awareness
Connection
Insight
Purpose
Trauma, as described by Dr. Gabor Maté (known for developing the Compassionate Inquiry approach), shifts the nervous system toward survival. Trauma disconnects.
While these protective responses help us endure difficult experiences, they can also leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves. Healing is the process of reconnection.
Integration supports this return to wholeness. The resources on this page draw from mindfulness and healing science to support regulation, reconnection, and resilience — helping the nervous system gradually return to balance and ease.
Softly Understanding Trauma
Trauma is not always one single, dramatic event. As Peter Levine, PhD. (known for developing the Somatic Experiencing® (SE) approach, a body oriented method for healing trauma by focusing on attuning to and regulating the nervous system), teaches trauma is not defined by what happened to us, but by what happens inside us — especially when an experience is too much, too soon, too fast, (or too little for too long) for the nervous system to process.
The word trauma comes from the Greek word for wound. As Dr. Judith Herman ( founding member of the Women's Mental Health Collective.) describes, trauma can arise from anything that overwhelms our capacity to integrate experience. These unprocessed moments often leave imprints in the nervous system that quietly shape how we feel, respond, and relate.
Healing involves softly reconnecting with what has been held in the body and nervous system. Through body-based and trauma-sensitive practices, space expands for regulation and release — in its own time — allowing the nervous system to gradually return to its natural rhythm.
Interpersonal Neurobiology & Integration
Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), developed by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. is an interdisciplinary framework that explores how the mind, brain, and relationships integrate.
In IPNB, well-being is often described using the acronym FACES:
Flexible
Adaptive
Coherent (resilient over time)
Energized
Stable
Integration links differentiated parts of the system so they work together in harmony. Within an individual, integration connects thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. In relationships, it supports empathic connection while honoring individuality.
“Integration is a foundation of health and well-being… Kindness and compassion is integration made visible.” — Dan Siegel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TK62FdzzTs (video)
When we can gently name what is happening — especially in connection — the nervous system often begins to soften.
Mindfulness & Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness
Mindfulness invites us to pay attention — on purpose, in the present moment — with kindness and curiosity. Trauma-sensitive mindfulness adapts traditional mindfulness practices to support healing — with care for pacing, choice, and capacity, so strong emotions can be met without overwhelm.
Key benefits may include:
Increased nervous system regulation
Greater capacity to meet strong emotions with steadiness
Support for post-traumatic growth, with care to avoid re-traumatization
Resources (Videos & Books)
Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing
by David A. Treleaven
This book offers clear, structured guidance for adapting mindfulness practices in ways that support nervous system regulation and capacity following traumatic experiences. David Treleaven integrates clinical insight with practical examples, helping readers understand how mindfulness can be practiced safely — reducing the risk of overwhelm or re-traumatization while supporting healing, resilience, and integration over time.
Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: A Conversation with Dan Siegel
David Treleaven (Podcast episode page)
https://davidtreleaven.com/tsm-podcast-episode-20-dan-siegel/
Explores how mindful awareness supports regulation and integration through practical skills.
Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: The Power of Self-Nurturing (Video)
Tara Brach , PhD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBG3K4nHRb4Explores mindfulness approaches that emphasize safety, gentleness, and self-kindness.
True Refuge: Finding Peace and Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (Book)
Tara Brach
Examines how compassion-based mindfulness supports healing and inner stability.
Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation (Book)
Daniel J. Siegel (Foreword by Daniel Goleman)
Introduces the science of awareness and integration, weaving neuroscience with practical application.
Polyvagal Theory & Nervous System Regulation
Developed by Stephen Porges, PhD. Polyvagal Theory describes how the autonomic nervous system responds to cues of safety and threat, shaping our capacity for regulation, connection, and behavior.
At the center of the theory is the vagus nerve — the largest cranial nerve — which carries information between the body and brain. Approximately 80% of its fibers transmit sensory information from the body to the brain, highlighting the body’s central role in feeling, sensing, and nervous system regulation.
The autonomic nervous system includes:
Sympathetic — fight / flight
Parasympathetic — rest / digest, tend / befriend
Resources (Videos & Books)
Befriending Your Nervous System (Video) — Deb Dana, LCSW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxpxyzZx_rwA conversation between Deb Dana and Tami Simon (Founder of Sounds True, a publishing company) that brings forward the complexity and nuance of Polyvagal Theory, with Tami’s clear questions grounded in her day-day experiences, and Deb Dana’s gift for translating layered science into everyday language
Vagus Nerve Yoga — Easeful Evening Practice (Video) — Arielle Schwartz, PhD. (Founder of the Center for Resilience Informed Therapy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLKtShmHZqwA gentle practice inviting you to soothe your nervous system and deepen awareness of interoception (Inner body awareness) and proprioception (body-in-space awareness).
The practice unfolds slowly, in front of a fireplace — subtly offering the message of self-care. You’re invited to move gently, or simply listen. There is no right or wrong ~ only your nervous system, meeting this moment in its own way.
Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga: Therapeutic Practices for Emotional Health (Book) — Arielle Schwartz
(Foreword by Amy Weintraub, MFA, E-RYT 500, (known for being a pioneer in the field of yoga and mental health, and is the founding director of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute.)
A guiding intention in this work~
“Look for the glimmers.” — Deb Dana
Glimmers are small, everyday moments of safety, connection, or simple pleasantness — moments that gently shift us from a state of threat towards a state of safety—toward calm and regulation
Self-Compassion
Self-compassion supports resilience by creating enough safety to try new things, process trauma, and meet challenges with steadiness.
According to Kristin Neff, PhD. (co-founder of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion (CMSC) with Chris Germer) self-compassion includes three interconnected elements:
Mindful Awareness
Common Humanity
Self-Kindness
Fierce Self-Compassion emphasizes protective action, boundary-setting, and meeting your needs — often described as “fierce like a mama bear, protecting her cubs.”
Resources (Videos)
Attachment & the 4 S’s
Attachment shapes how safe, connected, and resilient we feel. The 4 S’s of secure attachment, described by Daniel Siegel, include:
Safe — emotional and physical safety
Seen — attunement and understanding
Soothed — support during distress
Secure — an internal sense of worth and stability
I often think of the 4 S’s as water and nutrients that nourish the soil of well-being. 🌱
To learn more, you’re invited to visit my About page.
Well-Being Is a Skill
Well-being skills — Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose — can be strengthened through mindfulness, self-compassion, and integration.
Video
The gift of healing trauma is that the woundedness becomes a gateway to freedom, healing and love.”
— Tara Brach
