Creating space between the stimulus & our response.

This was the overarching aim for the Becoming Nervous System, Trauma & Neurodivergent Informed training I delivered at Chalice Well Trust in Glastonbury.

In the space between stimulus & response, according to Victor Frankl, is our GROWTH & FREEDOM.

In the space there is a CHOICE ...

to react or to respond
to repeat or to repair
to be unconscious or conscious

to be extractive & dominating or reciprocal & relational
to move from I to we
to consider logic AND emotions & sensations

to choose who we want to be as a collective
to be humane & humanitarian & value diversity
to tend to our survival responses & regulation

Becoming a Nervous System, Trauma & Neurodivergent Informed organisation means ...

CHOOSING - to become educated about:
bodymind & it's diversity
the nervous system & how bodies respond to stressors
how to create space between stimulus & response

ENGAGING - individually & organisationally:
in space creating practices, resourcing & engaging in change-agency & evolution

EMBODYING - individually & as leaders:
regulation, co regulation & conscious, holistic, responsive relating.

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation

​Delivering a three day training earlier this month at Chalice Well in Glastonbury to support the staff & trustees to become nervous system & trauma informed through a neurodiversity affirming lens, was one of the greatest honours of my life.

I've never felt more welcomed, heard & respected as a facilitator & have never had a more conscious, reflective & heart-led group of training participants.

A beautiful community which I hope to be a more active part of going forward.

Grateful.

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #glastonbury #chalicewell #conscious #community #consciousliving #nervoussysteminformed #traumainformed #neurodiversityaffirming

​Our human need for & experience of meaning, purpose, belonging & connection (to something greater than ourselves)

The quality of being concerned with the spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things

I depathologise & educate about our spiritual needs & experiences & advocate for them to be met across society & institutional spaces.

#educateevolveembody #spirituality

​Our connection & attunement to the wisdom of our bodies (emotions, sensations) #fleshyknowing

The tangible form & incarnate experience of our essence, soul & lifeforce 

I depathologise & educate about embodiment through a nervous system lens & advocate for embodiment across society & institutional spaces.

#educateevolveembody #embodiment

​Depathologise: cease treating as a medical disorder or abnormality & instead view as a normal aspect of human diversity & experience.

Rehumanise: to restore independent thought, feelings, autonomy, dignity, etc; essentially, to make someone, something, somewhere human, humane & hospitable again after they/it has been dehumanised.

I depathologise the needs & experiences of our bodyminds & our spiritual needs & experiences. I work to rehumanise society & its institutional spaces.

#educatevolveembody #depathologise #rehumanise

​Absolutely loved this graffiti (aka free art!) on a wall in Glastonbury which is a fantastic Alice in Wonderland imagery, metaphor & character mash-up.

Glastonbury (Avalon) is a place I deeply love, which resists societal normativity & offers discovery, growth & choice.

Whilst there this month I recalled the research & findings of my undergraduate dissertation titled Near Death Experiences & the Survival of Consciousness, which concluded that consciousness exists & operates independently of the brain.

I was 20 years old when I wrote it. 31 years later lived experience has given me the empirical knowing it's findings are true.

Now I'm pondering the impact of consciousness & non materialist perspectives (including spiritual dimensions) for mainstream health, social care & education services - and the scientific worldviews they are built on!

Freedom is coming.

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #consciousness #nonmaterialism #spirituality

​"To access joy, I had to liberate my body from societal conditioning and ‘normative’ ways of being. The expectation to move in a certain way, communicate only through words, and suppress my natural rhythms created a disconnection within me.

I had to unlearn the belief that valid expression is only verbal or logical.

I had to disengage from the world of should and analysis—the rigid frameworks that had kept me constrained—and step fully into felt experience, my instinct, intuition, and hyper-sensory aliveness.

It was only in doing this that I could reclaim the joy that had always been waiting beneath the surface."

Read the latest @ndconnectionuk blog 'My Embodied Experience of Autistic Joy' in full here 👉 https://ndconnection.co.uk/blog/autistic-joy-embodied

#neurodiversitycelebrationweek #embodied @neurodiversityweek #joy

#educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing

"As the neurodiversity paradigm becomes more recognised and conversations grow, so do resources and communities. Podcasts have become a powerful and accessible way to share stories, insights, and advocacy within the Neurodivergent community.  

If you're looking for neurodiversity-affirming podcasts that offer support, education, and validation, here are some of the Neurodiverse Connection team’s current favourites."

Favourites include @the_emerald_podcast
@squarepeg.community @yourewrongaboutadhd

Full @ndconnectionuk blog here: https://ndconnection.co.uk/blog/neurodiversity-affirming-podcasts

#neurodiversitycelebrationweek #ipodcasts @neurodiversityweek #neurodiversity #autismacceptance

​Hi all, so here we are - in March - heading towards Ostara, the Spring Equinox, and the moment of perfect balance, of being and doing, light and dark, day and night.  

In addition, as this is the month when the astrological year ends and a new one begins, it is a simultaneously a time of endings and beginnings.  Sometimes we are not sure what they are and that’s ok and sometimes we find that things change form.


In this newsletter I’m sharing:

reflections on the impact of returning to full-time work

two completions here : a second episode I recorded with Sandra Bargman for The Edge of Everyday podcast and this year’s SST Flesh and Blood Theologies Conference

a beginning: I’m resharing the spring/summer cohort information of the NdC Neurodivergent Wellbeing Approach Training which I’m facilitating

and something which is changing form: information about the new neurodiversity-positive research informing campuses across the UK, part of York St John University Institute of Social Justice, which I have been and remained involved with as part of the Participatory Advisory Group (PAG)


Are you aware of your completions, beginnings and changing forms yet?


I’m travelling a lot in March so expect to be quieter on social media this month but am looking forward to connecting again in April to see where we have all landed after this transformational month.

Best wishes,
Kay