Setting Out on the Path is a collection of guided practices that teach a somatic, trauma-sensitive approach to Buddhist meditation. Beginning with the basics of posture, mindfulness, and breath awareness, you’ll move through meditations that work with common challenges in the nervous system, and explore the foundational skills of focus, inquiry, energy cultivation, and working with emotion.

What is a “somatic” approach to meditation?

“Somatic” means “body-based,” and is used to describe practices of body-centered awareness. I consider most meditation practices to be fundamentally somatic, but because we are training the mind in focus, continuity, and discernment, meditation and mindfulness can easily feel like “mental” exercises. Somatic meditation practice foregrounds sensation, energetic presence, and processing emotion and energy through the body rather than through analysis or more detached types of awareness. Keeping the body central in our practice deepens and strengthens mindfulness and helps protect us from hindrances like rumination, anxiety, and spiritual bypass.

What makes a meditation “trauma-sensitive”?

Trauma-sensitive mindfulness is a way of resolving challenging mental, emotional, and energetic states through staying present in the body in a way that is not overwhelming or disorienting, which some forms of meditation can be for some people. Mostly this means understanding our habits of mind, slowly increasing our tolerance of intensity, and learning pathways to stay grounded or return to ground when energy begins to move. Meditation is meant to open us to the deepest aspects of our lives and existence, but it is possible to do so safely, in a way that doesn't startle the heart. All of our practice aims to be trauma-sensitive, but working with trauma is as much an internal skill as a quality in the practices you’re choosing. In these meditations, the old practice working with energy gently, in a low-intensity way, developing the discernment and skill to navigate through more challenging energies when they eventually arrive.

Whether you’re new to meditation or here for a refresher, these instructions are offered to get you back on the cushion in a way that’s pleasurable, sustainable, and nourishing for your path.