Wisdom of the Body

a Hakomi Approach to Healing Trauma with Vicky Gaughan and Gabriela Valdés Villarreal

The body is our primary teacher; attuning and feeling our body, being in our body, is the basis of Wisdom of the Body. We offer this necessary and powerful approach for healing trauma, as it views learning in an experiential, embodied and mindful way.

In the training:

We foster respect and care for each person.
We see each one of us as whole and with inner wisdom, resource and strength.
We understand that trauma and our experiences can limit our access to our power and we provide space to become more empowered.
We hold a non-pathologising perspective that has essential relevance when working with and understanding how to support trauma healing in our clients.

We are senior trainers, with two lifetimes of experience between us. We have explored and trained in diverse methods and we teach approaches that are effective and give results in the healing process.

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It has been recognised in the last few decades that the effects of trauma can keep people stuck in their healing journey.
If not attended to, unprocessed trauma can chronically affect our state of mind, body and spirit, making it difficult to create and live our lives freely and can cause countless conditions, including:

Depression
Fear and anxiety
Difficulties in relationships
Distorted perception of self and the world

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With advances in the understanding of trauma, a missing piece has been uncovered and it opens possibilities for healing.

We believe it is essential to present this body of consciousness to the wide range of caring professionals and individuals who encounter the effects of trauma and want to support healing.

Find out about our training

Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness. - Peter A. Levine

Our Story

When Gabi & Vicky went into nature to stay together to prepare for a workshop on trauma for the Hakomi Conference Mexico in 2024 little did they know that they had called up a passionate power that was waiting in both of them. Bam! Sitting out in nature surrounded by medicinal trees and the hum of cicadas, they began pooling ideas and realised how beautifully they work together. They both hold a well of experience and knowledge. Both know about trauma from the inside out, and as Hakomi trainers, we have the privilege and the platform to call upon others who may share our interests and passions. The Wisdom of the Body is a calling, it is imperative to share this essential knowledge that can support healing for many. We invite you to join the journey together!

Voices we want to bring

The body of knowledge that contributes to our offering is wide and varied. Our programme plan includes global majority voices that are non-eurocentric and a range of theorists drawn upon underrepresented wisdom keepers from around the world. We honor and value the richness of the many cultures who have been marginalized, and we call on the other than human to help us align with our nature.

To understand how systems of oppression influence people’s experience of harm is a way to build trust, safety, and accountability across our different lived realities. We live inside of social and economic structures that are designed to respect and create safety and opportunity for some groups, while systematically disregarding others. - David Treleaven

The experience and impact of trauma vary considerably across individuals and communities due to factors like age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, family history, and cultural background.

We understand how the dominant culture hurts us all, and we are approaching a pedagogical paradigm where the received inspiration for the content of Wisdom of the Body is broad and novel.

We seek to create a feminine framework, heartfelt community, and we aim to offer an equitable and respectful relationship between all involved in the emergent learning process, wherever people are on the journey.

My body & mind can be friends

My body is a resource

My body is resistance

My body is a sanctuary

When you learn, teach, when you get, give
- Maya Angelou

Are you working with people who have experienced trauma?
Are you concerned about how you hold traumatised clients in a safe way?
Are you worried about the possibility that they may feel re-traumatised inadvertently in your work room?

We are excited to share this training with you.

Find out about our training sessions

Why does the world need this training now?

Trauma affects the whole of us; body, mind & the spirit, these aspects are inseparable.
Our nervous system influences how we perceive and respond to situations in our daily life.

If not attended, unprocessed trauma can affect our state of mind and body experiences chronically. It affects the perception of ourselves and our capacities, the perception of the world and what we can expect from life.

This brings us to the importance of understanding how trauma affects us and learning how to support its healing.

What you will receive

At the ground of each of our trainings you will find:

How trauma works and its effects in our shared human experience.
An experiential methodology for healing trauma that draws upon the uniqueness of Hakomi attunement and self discovery
Practices to cultivate a stable and safe place to hold the healing process.
Practices to harness inner wisdom, resources and strength.
The importance of including global majority wisdom in the professional worldview.

We are offering a series of training sessions where we are crafting this path. We are offering an opportunity to walk the whole path or a section of the path.

Through undertaking the Wisdom of the Body series you will reinforce your practice to be trauma informed. Learning to support the integration of the trauma in yours and others bodies, leads to the resources needed to respond to the diverse experiences in your work room.

This Invitation is for…

…practitioners from all walks of life, if you are a:

Counsellor,
Psychotherapist,
Body worker,
Yoga teacher,
Carer,
Shamanic Practitioner,
Parent, Teacher
Doctor,
Healer,
Person who loves life,
Person who has a dream

Come join us!

Find out about our training sessions

What people say

I have attended 2 of Vicky and Gabi's Wisdom of the Body sessions and have been nourished and enriched by them both. The sessions are predominantly experiential and somatic, with teachings and wisdom from the world of polyvagal theory and how to work with trauma interwoven into the trainers' rich understanding and experience of Hakomi and Mindfulness. I have come away from both sessions feeling more empowered and confident to offer some of what I have learned and experienced to therapy clients and can feel the benefit of expanding my understanding of my own responses and reactions to the trauma I carry in my own body.

Karen Allan

- Cost options -

We are offering options to sign up to the trainings and in each one we are including a concession. These are the values we invite to support ourselves; the facilitators. Based on the economy of the country and situation you are in, please choose conscientiously a value from the two options.

We are aware of life inequalities, If you are interested but unable to participate at this time because of your financial situation, we invite you to contact us – Vicky: therapy@gojackrabbit.co.uk, Gabriela: aluzando@gmail.com – and we are sure that we will find a way to accommodate everyone’s needs.

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Who are we

Gabriela Valdés Villarreal from México

I am a Hakomi Trainer and practitioner, and I am grateful to accompany people and trainings with the beauty of self discovery. It is a source of awe to listen to the inner wisdom through the body and support the natural healing process. My own personal journey guides me to bring what I find necessary and valuable; this has led me to trauma healing work which has made a big difference in my life and It is an essential knowledge to support healing. I weave the gifts of community, dancing, singing, art and nature. I live in Mexico City.

Vicky Gaughan from the UK

My body and my ancestry are built from the steel industry. Steel is my resource and it’s metaphorically in my cells. The deeper I go into my history the more resources I find. Blades of steel are not weapons to me, but they are powerful metaphors that give me the ability to cut to the chase, slice through injustices, and spread love.

I am a psychotherapist, and Hakomi trainer with my own lived experience of individual, collective, and historical trauma…and healing. I use my extensive experience in therapy and in particular somatic therapies to support others to recognise and safely release trauma through resourcing the body. As Bessel van der Kolk tells us, ‘the body keeps the score’ and Stephen Porges says, ‘safety IS the therapy’ These two statements are guiding principles and are the foundation of how I practice.
I’m from Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

What supports Gabriela & Vicky in our work?

* Hakomi Trainings & Connections * Somatic Experiencing * Internal Family Systems * NonViolent Communication * Right Use of Power * Awareness of inequalities * Inspiration in Indigenous and Global Majority wisdom * Wheel of Consent * Biodanza & 5 Rhythms * Art * Nature * Silence and Presence * Family * Life Long Curiosity * Showing Up for Each Other * Beauty * Plant Medicine * Moments of Awe * Liminal Realm * Wise Elders

We hold the reality that we are not immune from trauma. The territory we find ourselves in means each class will emphasize self-care and we will use simple rituals leading to self-discovery and connection in your learning community. We will weave theory into experiential exercises to activate the healing process for our bodies and our nervous system as well as our academic appetite. This will be a rich & deep experience.

So where to start? The body of course! … and specifically the nervous system… with an essential understanding of the Autonomic NS. This pathway leads us to the Wisdom of the Body.

This series will appeal to Practitioners of all kinds.

Find out about the sessions

Spreading

the word

It has long been known that word of mouth is the best way to promote a course.
We thank you for telling your friends and colleagues about our courses.
In honour of endorsement, if someone you know signs up for our training, we will share with you a 30% discount. Please contact us if you are interested.