Nice, Jules. The exploration of adverse events in meditation, especially as they relate to mindfulness meditation, that is, quiet sitting with focus on various things such as the sensation of breathing, has been of great interest to me as both a meditator and a teacher who includes a more active, expressive form of kundalini-like meditation in my emotional release work.

Dr. Britton wrote the foreword to David Treleaven, Ph.D.’s "Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness" (2018). In that foreword, Dr. Britton discusses how Dr. Treleaven’s work actually provided the missing puzzle piece for him, writing: “For years, I’d been looking for a clear framework that I could offer to the struggling meditators who came to me — including those who were teaching them, and researchers who were interested in meditation mindfulness. Suddenly, I’ve found it. The puzzle pieces clicked into place one after another.”

The book provided an important realization for me too. Coming from a deeply troubled and traumatizing childhood, I turned as an adult to Buddhist meditation, Kabbalah meditation, and secular mindfulness meditation, hoping quiet sitting practice would help alleviate my emotional suffering. Instead, that form of meditation seemed to intensify the pounding, ruminating thoughts and dissociation rather than ease it. I simply could not find relief through those practices myself. Many of my students have shared similar struggles, which has only deepened my trust in a more active, expressive form of meditation.

As Treleaven points out in his book, for some survivors, for example, those who were sexually abused as children, quiet is not always experienced as safe or healing. Many were explicitly warned by their abusers to be very quiet, very still, or face serious consequences. In that context, practices that ask a person to sit silently and pay close attention to internal experience can unintentionally evoke aspects of the original trauma rather than relieve it.

Dr. Treleaven explains that when survivors are invited to pay mindful attention to what is most predominant in their field of awareness they may naturally latch onto remnants of trauma. This can include upsetting flashbacks or particular sensations linked to survival-based responses which can quickly become overwhelming.

That understanding was deeply clarifying for me. It helped me see that the struggle was not a personal failure, nor a lack of discipline, but often a matter of trauma, nervous system activation, and the need for a different kind of meditative approach. It also helped many of my students feel less alone in their own difficult experiences with traditional mindfulness practices.

As an aside, I hope it’s okay to mention this here simply because it may be supportive to someone. Given the intensity of the current environment, I've been offering free monthly online Elevation Ceremonies — an active guided expressive space for working with fear activation and nervous system overwhelm. It's intended especially for those who do not find traditional quiet sitting practices regulating or supportive. I’ll leave the link here in case it serves. beccawilliams.org/eleva…