IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ECHO TRAINING, LOS ANGELES
2nd, 3rd, 4th April 2019
embodied
childraising
body wisdom when parenting gets tough
Change your response to challenging behaviour
Stay open, engaged and curious in those moments you would normally attack, retreat or collapse.
Be your child's safe, steady anchor
Foster a felt-sense of trust, safety and connection, even when you have to take a stand against the behaviour
Take deep care of yourself, too
Reduce the risk of shame and burn out, by acting with integrity, finding inspiration, and taking in nourishment for your attachment and nervous system
Learn Simple Tools to Transform Your Parenting
We know the importance of being a calm, safe anchor for our child. But when they respond to our care and authority with attack or rejection, this is naturally distressing to experience. We end up escalating rather than easing the situation. We behave in ways that violate our values, ethics and beliefs. Over time, our child’s trauma, rage and shame may become our own.
Having good intentions is vital, but that doesn’t mean we can respond peacefully or skilfully, when it matters. That’s because we don’t just parent with our heads; our hearts, histories and habits come along too. And its the body that holds the charge.
The good news is, the body is also the key to change. In this 3 day training, you will learn practical ways to connect to your innate wisdom, dignity and support, and stay connected to them even in the face of incoming pressure. You will explore how to take compassionate action in the heat of the moment, and sustain your strength and resilience over the long-term.
This stuff is gold dust…it’s the what, the why, but most importantly the how. A triple whammy of in-the-trenches parenting strategies, with body-based learning to put it into practice, and someone who really gets it, because they’ve been there. It’s what I’ve been looking for all along
Step Mum and Teens Counsellor
What Will You Learn ?
Experts say that verbal and non-verbal, congruent safety cues – aligning words and action, having an open and engaged stance, with the healing attitudes of playfulness, acceptance and curiosity – are the ingredients that help reduce blocked trust and melt our child’s defensiveness. But that’s easier said than done.
It’s precisely when we need to extend our compassionate care the most – when are children are at their worst – that we end up feeling triggered and reactive.
How do we stay compassionate when our love is spat back in our faces?
How do we remain playful when our offers are rejected?
How do we keep our eyes shining in the face of so much distress?
The usual self-care advice won’t cut it. That’s why in this unique, experiential training you will learn practices that act as an antidote to feeling helpless and powerless, help you engage more skilfully with the intensity of parenting, and support you to be a powerful advocate for yourself and your child.
Outcomes
Hold steady to what matters, in the face of pressure
By the end of the the three days…
You will have increased your capacity to respond to pressured situations with your child, with greater confidence, compassion and ease.
You will move from a place where calm and peaceful parenting are not just nice ideas that gets lost in the face of stress, but are an embodied way of being.
You will know how to foster a felt-sense of safety, trust and connection within the relationship, even when need to take a stand against the behaviour and set firm limits.
You will test out in practice how some responses lead to better outcomes than others- for example, how curiosity and playfulness can be more influential than coercion and control
You will learn simple ways to nourish your own attachment and nervous system and detoxify shame and rage so you don’t drown in empathy at the end of the day. You will learn how to take care of your deeper concerns, so you can sustain strength and resilience over the long term
You will go home with concrete practices to continue your learning.
It takes practice, but it’s not more hard work
When we already feel overwhelmed, adding more interventions can push us further into compassion fatigue, and we end up feeling worse, before we feel better. Support becomes another burden. The good news is, with simple shifts in intention, awareness and posture, we have an accessible and short cut route to changing how we think, feel and act. It takes practice, thats the hard bit, but that doesn’t mean it feels like hard work, because along the way we are soaking up all the good, nourishing stuff that helps us feel safe, capable and supported.
About Kirstie Seaborne
Kirstie specialises in empowering parents and professionals who are at risk of compassion fatigue. She is an international teacher and founder of Embodied Parent Education, which grew from her experience as a therapeutic parent and mental health mentor. Her clients have included The Carers Trust, special schools, clinical directors and leads of NHS trusts, social workers, educators and therapists. She is a Certified Leadership Embodiment Coach and Compassion Fatigue and Resiliency Educator, with a Masters in Movement in Education from Laban, a PGCE, and certificates in Traumatic Stress Studies, Trauma-informed Care, Mindfulness for Youth, and trauma-parenting models.
Learn Through Doing
The course is very practical in nature, with some partner and group exercises. Using light touch on the shoulders, wrists and back, our partners acts as gentle ‘pressure simulators’ so we can study our physical stress response, and practice upholding our strength dignity in the face of that incoming pressure. This gives us a way to practice new responses to difference challenges, and wire that new learning into our bodies and brain, so its available to us when we need it most
Presence-based approach
The work is not about changing who you are or offering solutions, it’s about giving you access to more choice in how you think, feel and act, because some choices lead us towards greater integrity, integration and outcomes than others. We don’t promise to solve all your parenting problems, but you can trust you can act more wisely more often when you can access a resourced, regulated and integrated state
Unique Framework
This innovative, pragmatic approach draws on the power of embodied wisdom and relational practice. It blends cutting edge applications of somatics and neuroscience with traditional mindfulness and martial arts practice (which allows us to practice mindfulness-in-action-and-under-pressure). It also draws on non-violent, therapeutic parenting models, somatic attachment and relational trauma therapies, shame transformation, sensory motor/nervous system regulation and developmental movement.
I guarantee Kirste walks her talk, which is why I refer clients to her. Her work is valuable, necessary and should be available in every workplace, especially where supervision is lacking. It goes beyond surface self-care, it makes a real and deep difference and it is what our bodies, hearts and communities are crying out for
From one pre-workshop conversation Kirstie instantly got what we were about. We trusted her to train all the staff together in one room on one day, bringing discordant and mis-trusting groups towards a collective vision grounded in shared ethics. We achieved so much more than we thought possible and we had a great time!
Absolutely invaluable! The course did what it said it would; which was unexpected, because it promised a lot. The themes relate to the way I live my life as well as being relevant for work
Kirstie has been my beacon of light. I was feeling hopeless, helpless and worthless and knew I had to call her for support to help me change my opinion of myself. She uses a direct approach, humour and a clear vision of what you can acheive and it’s all within your grasp. You can use her techniques immediately, they are easy to put into practice. They have given me so much strength and reassurance, it’s now becoming second nature.
Thanks so much for the the training it was BRILLIANT and I’ve already had a lot of informal feedback from participants to say how much they enjoyed it. The risk of retraumatisation in this project was high but we now have the knowledge and tools to go ahead safely and confidently
I’m a senior embodiment teacher and parent coach myself, but in the tough moments when I struggle with my daughter’s worst behaviours, it’s Kirstie I turn to and rely on for mentorship and wisdom I can trust
“The workshop was challenging but invaluable. I finally feel like I know how to make a REAL difference to my family. I’ve already had many opportunities to use the techniques we practiced; I definitely feel more empowered, and they always help. I now see my role in escalating conflict with my kids, and I have tools to change it
“I had the privilege of working with Kirstie several times and I am blown away by her work. Not only is it proving helpful in every day matters, but I can honestly say it is life changing. I can really see my relationship with others changing and my own relationship to conflict changing too “
I’d become an angry Dad, something I thought I’d never be, I was feeling powerless, ashamed and disconnected from my children. I am now on my way to being a stronger, more protective and calmer parent, thanks to Kirstie’s help. I have a long way to go ,but its already making all the difference to me and my family
Learn more about Kirstie’s work
www.embodiedparents.com
www.kirstieseaborne.com
Contact Kirstie directly here for more information about her trainings, to enrol directly for the three day training contact Echo at info@echotraining.org
” When the child we are trying to love and heal is the same child who attacks and reject us…we risk taking on their anger, shame and trauma as our own. Through practice we learn to embody an unwavering stance that says,
‘Your rejection fires more love in me. Your hardness fuels more compassion. Your rage inspires my ferocious commitment to protect you from further harm.
And when you push me away for the thousandth time, because no one taught you how to stay, the steadier I will stand on your behalf, until you can trust this relationship is strong enough to take trauma’s weight, and you feel safe enough to lean into my care
Kirstie Seaborne
Frequently Asked Questions
who is this training for?
Parents, carers, educators, social workers and other professionals who want to learn accessible, practical tools to bring more confidence, compassion and ease to their interactions with those they serve.
if we are using the body, Will it be like yoga or dance?
No. The practices are based on everyday movements such as sitting, standing and walking, but sometimes with a little playful push, pull and resistance introduced !
Do I have to be physically ft?
No. So long as you have a body, you can do this training. However, there will be some movements that introduce a playful push, pull and resistance, so some general physical resilience is helpful and you are expected to take responsibility for your self-care. Consent is vital in this work – you always have the choice to decline, this will be explained and we will even explore what embodied consent may feel like. This kind of learning may be new to your body and brain, you may experience tiredness over the three days as with any course, however participants tend to report feeling inspired and energised, and there are breaks for integration through the day.