April holds a lot.

It’s a month of awareness—
for child abuse prevention,
for sexual assault awareness,
for experiences that so many people carry quietly in their bodies.

And when we hear the word awareness,
it’s easy to think…

Learning more.
Understanding more.
Talking about it more.

And all of that matters.

And, I want to gently offer something deeper this week:

Awareness isn’t just something that happens in the mind.

It also lives in the body.

I came across these words this week when reading Natepostlethewait’s Substack and they stayed with me:

“Trauma recovery is not healing from one event.
It is grieving over the seasons lived in survival mode.
It is shedding the judgment and projections from how they were treated when they asked for help.
It is the heartache of what could have been…”

And I felt the truth of that—not just as an idea…

…but as something my own body knows.

Because trauma isn’t only what happened.

It’s what the body had to do to survive what happened.

The tightening.
The shutting down.
The over-accommodating.
The bracing.
The disconnecting.

(These are my main body patterns. What else does your body do?)

And all these patterns don’t just disappear because we understand them with our mind.

So when we talk about awareness and prevention…

In the mind, it might sound like:
“Know the signs.”
“Understand the patterns.”
“Speak up.”

And yes—those matter.

And….in the body, awareness and prevention can look like something else too:

Learning to notice when something feels off
even if you can’t explain why.

Recognizing a tightening, a hesitation, a pull to override yourself…

…and beginning to trust that those signals mean something.

Signals don’t have to be a problem to fix— they can be information to listen to.

Because many of us were taught to override those signals.

To stay quiet.
To be polite.
To not make it a big deal.
To disconnect from what didn’t feel safe.

And over time, that becomes less of a choice…

…and more of a pattern the body runs automatically.​
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So part of healing is rebuilding awareness inside.

Not just:​
“What should I look for out there?” And then respond to that…..

But also:​
“What do I feel in here?” And can I sit with this?

If you’d like, here is a simple way to explore that today:

A Gentle Body Awareness Practice

1. Pause for a moment and let your eyes softly look around the room.
   (Let your body register where you are.)
2. Bring one hand to your body—heart, belly, leg, other hand, (what part of your body is calling to you?)
3. Think of a recent moment where something felt:
   • off
   • uncomfortable
   • or maybe you overrode yourself
4. Gently ask:
   What did my body feel in that moment?
5. Notice what comes up:
   Tightness?
   Numbness?
   Pressure?
   Nothing at all?
6. Whatever you notice, can you let it be okay….
7. Then ask:
   If this feeling had a voice, what might it have been trying to say?

(No need to force an answer—just listen.)

This is the kind of body awareness that begins to shift patterns.

Not overnight.
Not perfectly.

But slowly…

from overriding → to noticing
from disconnecting → to relating
from reacting → to having choice

And if your body doesn’t give you clear signals yet…

that’s not a failure.

That’s often part of the survival pattern too.

Body Awareness can start very gently:
with breath
with orienting
with simply noticing that you’re here

This month isn’t just about understanding trauma.

It’s about creating space for a different relationship with your body.

One where body awareness isn’t overwhelming…

but supportive.

One where prevention isn’t about being on guard…

but about being connected.

And if this feels like something you want more support with—

you don’t have to figure it out alone.

I offer free 30-minute chats where we can explore what your body has been holding
and what support might look like for you.

You can simply reply to this email and say “chat”
and I’ll send you the link. Or you can click on this button.

Sending compassion to the parts of you
that learned to survive…

and space for the parts of you​
that are learning something new now.

Remember, ❤️

You Matter. Your Healing Matters. You Are Worth It!

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