The Way of Violent Realization: Recent Episodes
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This week Sifu and Kristina talk about the need to change our relationship with stress. We also talk about the value of building a stronger sense of community in the workplace and other settings to diffuse the individual effects of stress and trauma that lead to interpersonal conflict or violence.
Warning: This episode addresses suicidal thoughts.
Kristina talks about the ways that we respond and react to emotions, leading to larger discussion with Sifu about how we can learn and grow from emotional experiences.
As we start a new year, Sifu and Kristina talk about the potential for emotions to get the best of us, especially as we recover from the holiday season. We consider the way that animals so quickly recover from physical attacks without evidence of lasting emotions or trauma.
Sifu explains the philosophy of knowing your dragon as a symbol of understanding yourself and your emotions. We discuss the benefits of becoming curious and engaged with all aspects of your personality on this lifelong journey of self-discovery.
This week we build on our discussion about the difference between anxiety and fear, and the ways that our emotions can keep us from recognizing true violence and living a more engaged life.
Trigger warning: this episode includes discussions of violent scenarios.
In this episode, Kristina and Sifu discuss the value of intuition and scenarios that call for a heightened level of situational awareness. We also briefly discuss the difference between worry and fear as we encounter the world and the situations it presents in our daily lives.
Warning: This episode includes frank discussions about physical violence that could be a potential trigger for some listeners.
In this episode, Sifu and Kristina talk more about the Green, Yellow, and Red Zones of violent situations and how potential predators take advantage when we ignore the natural warnings that our intuition sends us. We also talk about the concept of commanding your mat, a critical element of combat training that can be applied to both personal safety and everyday situations in our daily lives.
Warning: This episode includes frank discussions about physical violence that could be a potential trigger for some listeners.
Kristina and Sifu talk about the inherent nature of violence and the importance of trusting our intuition to avoid situations before they occur. We close with the concepts of green-, yellow-, and red-zone interactions as we move through the world to maintain a feeling of calm awareness and personal safety in our daily lives.
On this episode, Sifu and Kristina talk about the ways that trauma affects all of us and the world around us, and how body movement is a fundamental way to accept and move beyond the mental and physical places that trauma traps us. In this way, we can Grow, Learn and Teach, bringing an integrated sense of discovery to our lives.
Sifu and Kristina talk about our capacity to grow from past experiences by creating our own mythology and fully connecting with the community within ourselves and the community around us. Through a lifelong practice of body movement and expression, we are able to joyfully participate with our lives and our communities.
Sifu and Kristina talk about looking in the mirror and as an important tool for connecting with the Self. The more we can recognize ourselves on a deeper level without judgment, the more expansive our universe becomes and the greater potential we have to connect and relate to others.
systemswithinsystems #trauma #traumarecovery
In this episode we invite Annu Dahiya, PhD, co-director and core faculty member of the Durham Arts and Humanities Night School (https://www.nightschoolbar.com/) to discuss the philosophy of the body's memory of trauma. Her coursework addresses not only a person's individual experiences of trauma but also the historical trauma of genocide, slavery, racism, and colonization.
We revisit the work of Bessel van der Kolk, MD (The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/resources/the-body-keeps-the-score) and touch on the concept of normalized chaos as described by Shawn Arango Ricks, PhD that can keep individuals from moving beyond the trauma of everyday life to make space for the work of healing (https://read.dukeupress.edu/meridians/article-abstract/16/2/343/138964/Normalized-Chaos-Black-Feminism-Womanism-and-the?redirectedFrom=fulltext).
Sifu and Kristina discuss how to apply these philosophies to the understanding of Violent Realization practice and opportunities to change our perceptions of physical and emotional pain as we work toward healing.
nightschoolbar #violentrealization #systemswithinsystems #taichi #mindfulnesspractice #trauma #traumasurvivor
Sifu and Kristina talk about the different types of trauma that individuals face in their lives and the need for better empathy as we all face our challenges, big and small. Even the people we know and the celebrities we see in our society who seem to have everything are vulnerable to isolation, mental challenges, and complicated relationships that could benefit from a greater sense of Self and community.
violentrealization #systemswithinsystems #taichi #mindfulnesspractice #trauma #traumasurvivor #freebritney #abusesurvivor
Last week we closed by mentioning the importance of community, so we thought we’d dig deeper into the role of community and self-exploration in this episode. Kristina was inspired to talk about community and the idea of identifying what a community wants and needs by hearing about the research of Sona Dimidjian, PhD, through the Mind & Life podcast (https://podcast.mindandlife.org/sona-dimidjian/).
Sifu talks about the inner community of our body and its own way of communicating with the Self. Identifying with a community through movement helps you connect with others, but also helps you learn so much more about yourself.
violentrealization #systemswithinsystems #taichi #mindfulnesspractice #trauma #traumasurvivor #abusesurvivor
This week, Kristina explains some of the goals of engaging with the body through simple daily tai chi practices that she learned through her training with Peter Wayne, PhD, Stanwood Chang, Jane Moss, Regina Gibbons, and the rest of the community at Tree of Life Tai Chi Center (https://www.treeoflifetaichi.com/). Sifu expands on these concepts and discusses the importance of better body awareness and acceptance.
We also talk about the role of story in our lives and encourage listeners to use their life experiences to craft their own stories. On this note, it is so important to approach your stories with respect and non-judgment and recognize what they have to teach you. It’s in the gray area between the light and the dark that the best stories come to life.
violentrealization #systemswithinsystems #taichi #mindfulnesspractice #trauma #traumasurvivor #abusesurvivor
This week, Sifu Hill and Kristina talk a little about how the brain works, and how it can work against us when we don’t recognize the power of our emotional content on our thoughts and actions. Based on past traumatic events, some of the things we experience in the present put our brains on superhighways to emotional and physical responses before we even know where we are headed. A lot of us are smart and effective every day, but don’t understand the impact of these processes are having on our relationships and our perception of the world outside of our inner experiences. Through Violent Realization we hope to slow down the speed limit or get some of these highways re-routed. In taking on these repairs, we get to know ourselves on a deeper level, better recognize the source of our emotions and physical actions, and open ourselves to a richer experience of our Selves and our world.
violentrealization #systemswithinsystems #taichi #trauma #traumasurvivor #abusesurvivor
This week, Sifu Hill and Kristina talk about addressing the root cause of some of our mental, emotional and physical problems through better connections between mind, brain, and body. We also address the stigma that still exists around mental illness and medication. Medication and other forms of traditional therapy can be important tools, just like the tools we are talking about here. We are designing our program to fill in some of the gaps in care and help individuals get closer to treating their whole body and Self. A better relationship with the body through movement and the ability to explore this inner universe without judgment, but instead with a sense of curiosity, helps expand your inner and outer experiences and bring you closer to reaching your full potential.
violentrealization #systemswithinsystems #taichi #mindfulnesspractice #trauma #traumasurvivor #abusesurvivor
In this pilot episode, Sifu Lawrence Hill and Kristina Woodworth introduce Sifu’s concept of Violent Realization as a visualization strategy to cut through the mental, emotional and physical barriers that keep us from moving beyond trauma, especially for women and those identifying as female.