Mindfulness for Trauma and Self Awareness

Mindfulness as a practice has now been researched to be useful across so many conditions and health concerns. Trauma is something many of us have experienced, from loss of loved ones to the sudden loss of jobs and the more sever scenarios of domestic violence, sexual abuse or even drug abuse.

In this interview I speak to Nam-Hee a trained psychologist who has trained in the Hakomi method and had over ten years experience working with refugees and many who've escaped war torn countries.

Her work in the field made for a very interesting discussion on trauma, Hakomi, and the application of mindfulness to help support those who might be struggling with significant past or current traumas.

Mindfulness and Trauma

Krystle: Thank you so much for joining me Nam Hee. It's great having you, and welcome. Thank you.

Nam Hee: Thank you for having me, Krystle.

Krystle: Now you've had a depth of experience and a wealth of knowledge, and so I want to ask you a few questions and I'd like to start in particular with your experience and work that you've done with asylum seekers and, people that have struggled or dealt with trauma. And I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about that.

Working with Trauma and Grief

Nam Hee: So, I'm a clinical psychologist, trained and I've worked at STARTTS in a capacity for 10 years. It’s an organization which is based all across new South Wales providing services to refugees and asylum seekers. So, yeah, and it was that I've gained, it was an honor. I mean, it's an honor to work with them.

Nam Hee: The depth of the experience and, and the trust and the amount of generosity that they give to be able to be with them and to also witness and to walk with the the experiences to have gone through.

Nam Hee: And I've had the therefore led to work with people. Who's had a lot of prolonged and multiple layers of trauma and grief, and loss, and also the resilience in themselves and they're finding the strength within themselves to overcome.

Nam Hee: There are among them were also attachment wounds. So, there are people just like you and I working through extraordinary experiences that out of the ordinary experiences. So they also were spaces to look at their early attachment was, and some people experienced war and refugee experiences quite early on in their childhood, which sort of, you know, went all across their lifespan, most of their lifespan. So also, being able to work in those sorts of areas too. So that's been my experience.

Nam Hee: It's a place where, you know, I would feel like I could stay there forever too, too, because there's always something to learn and to go in depth. So, um, yeah, it's been quite an honor, I'm going to stay to work with them. And so that would be my experience with STARTTS.

Nam Hee: I have actually left STARTTS this year, cause I'm also a mother of two children, um, in primary school years and I wanted to be more of flexible hours to work. Um, and I'm in private practice now for that reason, but I would, I have, has always had a soft spot for STARTTS and working with refugees and asylum seekers. So, I'll be there, you know, if there's a need.

Krystle: I imagine that that experience, um, would really extend quite beautifully into your private practice now though, because that's quite an extreme example of, of trauma. And, um, I think that it's, it's interesting because I think most people have experienced trauma on some, some level.

Krystle: I think it would be fair to say that maybe not at that extreme and at that length of time, but you know, things like, um, drug abuse or domestic violence, or even something like a divorce or a family breakup can be quite traumatic. would you like to speak a little bit to that in terms of how perhaps trauma might impact one's journey?

How the Body Manages Stress

Nam Hee: So, what I mean by sort of stress and trauma, it is like you say, it's on the same spectrum. And so, for me, the stress is sort of lies on every day. We have some level of stress, you know, even now sitting here is quite anxious and, you know, can be quite stressful and, you know, moments where it can be challenging or, or I would be, you know, planning something and it doesn't work out that way and I feel quite stressed.

Nam Hee: But our body and mind is equipped and to be able to what we call it, you know, metabolize to be able to process those level of stress and we can digest it and they can use the metaphor of, you know, digestive system. And there's an input of stress and then we can actually have an output.

Nam Hee: And it sorts of has this flow and you can move on, you can go to the next activity, not to, you know, disjointed dysregulated. You can sort of flow into the next activity really well, but the the trauma is, um, lies on the other side of the spectrum where it is those, the level of stress is so intense.

Nam Hee: And it's so quick that it's very hard for the mind capacity for our mind to process, to digest and to metabolize it and find an output to let that flow through our system. And so, you're right, when there has been a domestic violence for a young child to experience intense emotions very quickly, abruptly in the household.

Nam Hee: And, um, and they could be, you know, sexual abuse. It could be, you know, lots of other, you know, car accident and, you know, or a loss of, uh, you know, a family member.

How Trauma Impacts the Body

Nam Hee: And when one feels too, too difficult, too quick to digest them feels like it's quite traumatic. It's quite traumatic to the body. It's quite traumatic to the mind in a sense that it's very difficult and hard to digest them.

Nam Hee: So, you're right. That I've had, I have a chronic extensive experience and working in trauma, but I feel that that's what I can bring in my private practice - is that I can see from that lens that, you know, in everyday life, although it is not so out of extraordinary, and it kind of varies, you know, obvious, impactful like, or, and, displacement experiences, when we find that in everyday life or, you know, life around us, um, that we do get to experience those events. That is, it hard to, um, process and digest.

Nam Hee: And that's where I, you know, I am able to support you and, and, and through that way so that we can, um, study your response to those experiences and to be able to help your process and metabolized these experiences in a safe environment and a safe relationship.

Nam Hee: The things that you could have been able to, or missing experience at the time, wasn't that resources when you to be able to do them in a therapy session.

Krystle: And speaking to that, application of, of, of tools and resources, I know that, uh, one of the tools that you're trained in and, and apply in your practice is the Hakomi method. And so, um, can you, can you tell us a little bit about, about what, what that meant?

What is the Hakomi Method?

Nam Hee: Yeah. Sure. It was introduced to me by a colleague of mine, um, she was my supervisor, um, about on this method, something called Hakomi method. And, um, because I was working in a trauma field, um, and you may also heard that, so in trauma work, um, any number to work that provide support for people who've been through trauma.

Nam Hee: The few things that are quite important to establish is, like I mentioned, it's a sense of safety the trauma, what it also does, is because of its impact, it's, it's has an impact on within yourself, a level of disconnection.

Nam Hee: It causes the experience to be very painful, the mind automatically wants to, in order to survive disconnect from that pain. So, there's a lot of fragmentation disconnection within yourself that you may feel, do you not want it to survive to, to help you to be able to function.

How the Body Is Wounded During Trauma?

Nam Hee: You know, you need to go to work that day. No, you do need to do that, but still like, you know, you have a lot of pain that's running through you and you manage it. And, um, and so the relational piece that the relationship piece with, of you and the other, uh, you and of the world. Yeah? That it's actually quite wounded – it has been impacted. So, the relationship piece is very, also very important, you know, to our work.

Nam Hee: And also, you may have been made aware there's a lot of things in the literature now and awareness that, um, our body in the in trauma work here, we kind of leading in the field where our body stores, it keeps the score of that trauma.

Nam Hee: Our body holds that memory of that trauma. And so, I found it, you know, being in the trauma field, working with people who've been through the trauma experience, the Hakomi method was, had all that ingredients to seamlessly to be able to provide that support.

The Focus of Hakomi Therapy in Sessions

Nam Hee: So that's how I was really drawn and resonated a lot with me. And there's another piece that I wanted to add. The reason why I also found Hakomi, I was ruled to Hakomi. And I, when I'm working a lot in the Hakomi method to work with trauma.

Nam Hee: He said the Hakomi because it has very importance in the relational piece that we are coming from a place where our committed therapist, or the therapist that is trained in Hakomi, is also aware of what the therapist also bring in the session.

Nam Hee: So, the cultivating and looking at your own work and how, you know, your own presence, your even already, um, nervous system. And what that brings into the session and how that shows up in this session is also looked at and developed.

Nam Hee: And so, I really found that it's one of the methods where I found where there's a really a sense of genuineness and authenticity in the piece where I'm also at, you know, appear in the therapy session.

The Origins of the Hakomi Method

Nam Hee: It's not just about clients, it's about how I show up how I bring it up, how I'm being in the therapy session. So, yeah, so there's, uh, there's, I found that was also very, important to me as a therapist. And so, um, now, so that's how the Hakomi and the trauma works sort of intertwined for me to have, and for me.

Nam Hee: So Hakomi, it sounds like a Japanese word and, a lot of people were sort of, sort of say like, it's like, that's like origami or halloumi, but I actually a native Indian word from America.

What Does Hakomi Mean?

Nam Hee: It's a Hopi language comes from Hopi language and Chubb tribe in America and developed by a man called Ron Kurtz. And its origin of the name Hakomi, um, means, “Where do you stand in relation to many realms?” So, it's asking effectively, “Who are you?”.

Nam Hee: “Where do you stand in relation to many realms?” So that realms could be an in a realm, uh, different parts of you, or the experiences within yourself, and also, you know, it applies to the realms outside, how you stand in relations to this world. And that the entire world.

Mindfulness using the Hakomi Method

Krystle: Amazing. It sounds like a really beautiful practice and so many points I want to touch on that you just mentioned, but I think where I'd like to start first is the mindfulness aspect that's present in Hakomi and, um, can you speak a little bit to that?

Nam Hee: Sure. So, Hakomi is also translated into what we called a mindfulness based somatic psychotherapy and Ron Kurtz actually, has his own version of explaining what Hakomi is. He sees it as assisted self-study. And now I'd like to speak having that in the background. I like to speak a little bit more about mindfulness and how that, uh, what role it has in, in, in Hakomi method.

The Ordinary State of Consciousness of the Mind

Nam Hee: So, now the quality of the mind is such that we very in this sort of ordinary state of consciousness of state. Like you and I are in right now. It has, it's also a beautiful quality each has. Um, it is, you know, it is engaged in our mind in such a way. I have thoughts arising. I have ideas coming up to me now, arising in my mind.

Nam Hee: And so it has quality that where our behavior, there is a pattern, it's sort of my ideas, sort of, I had a sense of where these ideas come from and where I want to go, you know, go with, you know, I have, I have the sort of sequences is a flowing logic and sometimes the sequence to, to, to what I'm doing, where I'm at and where I'm going with it as I'm talking to you for example.

Nam Hee: And so, it has a flow and its um, and, but it is quiet, the quality of it is quite fast. It feels a little fast and it has, it has a flow, it has a sequence, and then it has a pull to a certain direction. And so, it does also have a sort of a, like a, what should I say? It's, it has, it's kind of has a flavor of really quite automatic, like the way I speak and the way I would do, and what the next thing is.

Nam Hee: And it has a, some sort of flow and therefore it has some sort of sequence and a pattern. Okay? Instead of a pattern now and, Oh, yes. so, the word habitual, so it can be quite habitual.

Nam Hee: Now the mindfulness has few things that it brings that helps us to be able to study the materials that I want to study, or things that I'm not quite comfortable with, or I'm in a lot of pain with.

What is Mindfulness?

Nam Hee: And I can see how I'm doing the same thing over and over again, but I want to bring a shift, and this is where most people come to therapy for. Yeah? And so, the first thing that I feel that the mindfulness, the effect of mindfulness does to this work in, in terms of psychotherapy is that it's, first of all, slows you down.

Nam Hee: So, when you break, so mindfulness is pretty much, it's just noticing what is. So therefore, what it does is it should be able to notice just to notice what is, it actually, in order to do that, we need to slow down within ourselves, cause, things actually flow quite fast.

Nam Hee: And so, when you bring your attention inward and I get the client to just notice what is, and what is here, what is arising with where your attention goes to? As soon as you close your eyes, it has an effect of just slowing it down. Yeah. So that we'd be able to study that he's quite fast because of nature or genetic nature. And I sort of sequence to it.

Being an Observer in a Mindfulness State

Nam Hee: Another thing that it does, mindfulness, is that, um, it actually brings in it up, um, an observer on board in order to be able to notice, we actually need to have a part of us stuff that feels like it's noticing, observing something.

Nam Hee: So, it also has an effect of bringing a little bit of space between what you want to study, um, whether it be motions, or thoughts, or behaviors. As soon as you bring mindfulness into it and you get a client to notice it, it has, it brings up an observer, that's noticing it. So suddenly you create a space between what you want to study and the end date, a part that is observing.

Nam Hee: And so that reminds me of, um, of a Tibetan monk, actually giving an analogy. If I can just use a metaphor here that he said, in order to study the mountain or villages, or to understand the mountain that you're in, you have to actually go to the other mountain, to be able to see what mountain you're on. So, it's a bit like that.

How to Invite Mindfulness in Ourselves

Nam Hee: And so we are bringing mindfulness, not to, I have a result of relaxing you or self-regulating you, we're not looking, we not, um, inviting mindfulness in that sense to achieve or to get a client to somewhere. It has that effect sometimes, but it's actually not.

Nam Hee: It's actually were using mindfulness, engaging mindfulness as a tool or as a way of studying, um, slowing down and bringing the observer on board so that we can study what's going on with pattern and automatic things that happens within us.

Krystle: Beautiful. My, um, this reminds me of something that my, my teacher shares all the time when he's teaching us some of the yoga philosophy.

Krystle: Self-study is a very important pillar as well. And he says, you know, try not to think too much. You just hold the concept and then reflect again and again and again. And he says that all the time, just reflect again and again.

Nam Hee: Yeah. Yeah.

Krystle: I feel like this is, touching beautifully on a very similar, similar teaching of, of that creating that space in order to allow you to, um, observe or some people have also called it, connecting to that silent witness, you know, that other part of you. So, that's beautiful.

But I Can’t Do Mindfulness of Meditate

Krystle: And so, see, I get students that come to me Nam Hee, a lot, and they say, I can't do mindfulness, I can't meditate. I can't, I can't sit still for a minute. You know, I it's really challenging. What do you say to this?

Nam Hee: Actually, there's a wisdom in maybe depending on the person to person, there is a wisdom in the mind or the body having maybe difficulty sitting still or in a, or being mindful you see one thing also that I'm mindful that I'm also adding the truth piece of work in, in working in a mindful state and bringing the client to mindful state that, there's maybe a one maybe category of group of people that finding it, maybe difficult to be in mindful state because being in mindful state actually, because your attention is going inward and you're still your mind.

Deep Feelings Surfacing During Meditation

Nam Hee: Actually the sensations of the physiologic pool or what you are feeling or what coming up for, you can feel very intense because the ordinary state of consciousness or the quality of the mind is very good at keeping us busy and on the flow.

Nam Hee: Not to touching into something really deep or feeling it too much. So, it can have a wisdom in a bit if there is some piece that have too intense for them to feel, there is a mind trying to manage to not to try to feel too much.

Nam Hee: So, it's, it's a way of trying to protect and manage it. So, they could be a wisdom in that the why they doing that? And so, you know, I would be acknowledging that, that, that it must be, for some reason it can be very hard.

How to Support Someone in Mindfulness Meditation

Nam Hee: And I get really curious about what is it trying to do for them and that them to become aware of what is it doing for you? And, you know, getting them curious together is that what must be in there that is making it very difficult for you to be mindful? There are so many reasons.

Nam Hee: I've been keeping an eye on maybe some sort of distress or stress or trauma, you know, it could being there that something might feel very too much to feel to process right now, if I tap into it, I feel like I'm going to break down. It could be that. Um, and so I, and I, yeah, and, but yeah, that's right.

Nam Hee: So that, that's something that I feel that I would have in mind. So I'll be actually going them really gently with them while getting curious and just becoming more aware of, I want to just keeping them, what is it that unsettling, the other thing is that, so in that case, but they're curious, they're wanting to, you can see that they want to go in that direction, but they can't.

Nam Hee: And so I want to, I'll probably really want to support both that part of the it's something, making it very difficult for them to be standing still and looking at the materials or feeling whatever has come up or the images or whatever the mindfulness state is willing to allow the materials from underneath to come up.

How to Slow Down and Listen to the Body

Nam Hee: And I would also be supporting the part that wants to get there by just maybe noticing the body so you can keep it really simple and you can get them to just feel it a little bit and you bring them out to something, something safe.

Nam Hee: So, to more talkative sort of a thing, and so, Oh, you just feeling like you just said it, some can see the agitation huh, so just noticing just the agitation and yeah. like your body sort of really rattling, you know, stay with that rattle and see where, and then, you know, so just really just meeting them where they're at and just getting them to notice the body, the physiology just be mindful of - just that, um, yeah, engaging where they're at, how much they can be mindful to mindful.

Nam Hee: Now mindfulness can be really going in, you can be mindful about what you see, what you experienced just at that level too

Krystle: Fabulous. And you've touched really beautifully on, on another area, which I really wanted to talk to you about. And, um, and that's the role of the body and, and, uh, in particular with the Hakomi method, um, the body plays an important role. So, can you speak to that?

Using the Hakomi Method in Mindfulness and in Yoga

Nam Hee: Now, I'm quite excited about sharing because we're in yoga practitioners. And because I think you both are familiar or, or practicing towards this, you know, with mindfulness state and also, you know, bringing that state of mind into when you're working with your body.

Nam Hee: Your being with the body and experiences of physiological sensations and so the movement and the bodywork. So, the way that we, also engage the body in Hakomi method of psychotherapy, is that, like I mentioned before, when we at our emotions are actually an embodied experience.

How Emotions Manifest in the Body

Nam Hee: So, when we, as a human being, when we experience, or we feel things. And our emotions arise actually from our body and in other words, it has a physiological sensations and origin to it.

Nam Hee: And so for instance, when you feeling like a fear, since a fear, your body contracts, so, and, and you know, the heart races, there's sort of physiological sensations that arise as first when you're triggered.

Nam Hee: And then there's the information sort of travels up to the brain. The brain will then say - she's scared. I am scared. Yeah. It's not like I'm scared. And then you have these situations. And so...

Krystle: That at least a couple of times

Nam Hee: That's right. You relate then. And then you have, you know, a feeling of joy that you feel that expansion in your, you know, and warmth in your chest and your shoulders sort of relaxing and sort of, there's an openness. Yeah. So, you feel that, and then the sensations, so the information travels up in the brain, Oh, this is really joyful experience.

Your Body Has a Memory and will Remember Trauma

Nam Hee: I just want to have you keep in mind that our emotions and experiences actually flow through our body and then it's interpreted. Yeah. And so, a body has a memory.

Nam Hee: So, when there is a, like a car accident is a trauma, a body will remember, and it will store that sensation somewhere in our body. And then you will be trying to process what just happened and what does it mean for me? And you know, what?

Nam Hee: I needed an X and so on and so follows through because of that quality, the body holds a wealth of information and it actually can provide a shortcut to those experiences, early experiences that is connected to how, the way we hold when we actually activated how we respond.

Nam Hee: How we lean forward, you know, pretty much how we hold our body throughout the day? You know, how we sit.

How to Be Reflective in a Mindfulness Session

Nam Hee: Yeah. Um, and how we hold attention. And so, um, so what I do is I bring the client to mindful state, to be able to notice whatever, what sensations or what's happening in the body. And once I access that, it actually can interject, like you said, stay with it reflective. It's a kind of, we have another word for it. Stay, just stay and see what happens next.

Nam Hee: Let's see what else you’re noticing. So we just waiting for anything that is connected to the way the body is and how it, you know, the information that holds in our body, um, to the only experiences that is actually met, or organize that kind of posture or, you know, the way you've managed that experiences like that.

Nam Hee: And, um, and so, you know, it, it, it, it has, when you stay with it, you notice that there could be an image or a memory or an impulse, um, or another physiological sensation, or sometimes nothing at all that is connect to that bodily sensations.

How to Slow Down and Bring Mindfulness to Oneself

Nam Hee: And you’ll have access to the early experiences that have connected and organize your own and organize the way your body needs to be in order to be with the world. So, you'd noticed that, and the first thing is to bring the mindfulness to it.

Nam Hee: So, you slow down and see what kind of state you're in and you contact that. And the starting point is just being with it to be able to bring that observer in, bring a little space to it, and to be able to just notice it and that's there.

Nam Hee: And you can start with just very basic things that you can observe. You know, my shoulder’s up, my jaw’s a bit tense, my breath is shallow, there's a bit more holding you, I'm moving a little forward. Um, yeah, there's tension in my neck. So just, just those things.

Nam Hee: So just by contacting and just being with it, and now you can be in that state from that place, but also what you could do is you also know there's a part of you and that you have also probably witness in yourself.

How to Be Compassionate to Yourself when in a Mindfulness Session

Nam Hee: There are times where you are very soft and compassionate and gentle. And so, you also know a little bit about that state.

Nam Hee: So, what I’m thinking is that I would like you to be with it. As non-judging, not trying to change that state. We’ll just see if we can just be with it and see if we can also bring, you know, what, so before it brings so much that stay kind of need?

Nam Hee: I would ask that question, what, what do, what would the state really like in this place? And so, um, I'm sort of looking for, what would be the missing experience and what is now missing here that he needs?

Nam Hee: And so often I found that it's that compassionate, a soft part sort of comes in, cause I'm, I'm, you know, I'm asking that question, as soon as I'm asking a question, it starts looking for what it needs.

Nam Hee: And it's often is that the one nurturing, so gentle companionship, part that is unjudging, but just being able to be with. And so, and I, and I bring some so that I invite that I can come in and you can be with it and see what happens.

How to Use Mindfulness in Self-care Meditation using Hakomi Method

Nam Hee: So, for instance, for example, I was just checking you at what state I was and what kind of what part was present in one of the exercises. And I have this very industrious part, a part that, you know, wants to work and get things done.

Nam Hee: And so, and then an image came up of me during HSC, very studious, you know, doing the work in some, I was sweating, and my seats were really sweaty and just really dimensionally working. And I could see myself, my body tracking that was very tired. I need to rest. That was what was missing.

How to Heal Trauma in Self-care Meditation using Hakomi Method

Nam Hee: Yeah. I needed to pace myself. And then, so that sort of, that comes and I have sort of another part, a compassionate part, the soft part I could see it entering is I was just questioning like, what do I need right now?

Nam Hee: And that part was sort of sitting next to me. And I realized that as soon as that part entered , that I was in very lonely doing that study in that moment when I was studying, I, I must've felt really lonely because that companionship felt really nice that was right.

Nam Hee: And somebody next to me, and they were just like having someone, stroking the hair, you know, just like tucking it in and then just saying, Hey, pace yourself.

Nam Hee: Just something gentle something wisdom that's arising. So, you can take a bit of rest and bring you to feed small bites. And so that I could see my whole system, the other States are relaxing and allowing a little bit of that.

How to do a Mindfulness Practice Weekly for Self-care

Nam Hee: Just, it's not a big break, but it was just a pause from that intensity. And you just only needed a few seconds just to pause and my body to sort of, you know, ease. And then, and, and, and so that whole experience was also that in moment we wait, you know, something else happened.

Nam Hee: And so I'm just wondering if, you know, if that can be practiced or that week, we could sort of think of that example and, and bringing to this, you know, little moments, you know, when, so the first thing is just be with it, become aware of it, just checking the mindfully, what state you're in, and then just asking what is, what is part of me needs and what the state needs this moment.

Nam Hee: And then there's more of a gentle, ask, compassionate soul. So, this sort of state at, you know, where else somewhere in your heart and in your mind bringing that in, that usually would come in, Oh, that was for me. And then, you know, that something else can happen in something thoroughly right. Very helpful. Okay.

Krystle: Very helpful. Okay. I like at that in that moment, you know, that when you, when you're checking in and asking that question, what does this state need? I think that's and waiting for the wisdom to come from within, because all of the answers are, they're there, right?

Trust What Your Body Tells You

Nam Hee: Yes. And that's the, um, one of the, you know, principles that I really, really respect and, and learning to respect more and more as I see and witness the unfolding experience of it. Um, it's, it's trusting in that organicity and that the body has a wealth of wisdom and, you know, my Keegan teacher, and I agree with him may sound a bit, a bit left field, but a body not only stores the earlier experiences and the wisdom and the knowledge of our own lifetime, it has a genetic code from our ancestors.

Nam Hee: So, it has a very ancient, very ancient wisdom of knowledge and power way to survive. We used to be. And so, it's all there and just needed the right kind of a, um, a state of mind to be able to let that arise and let us speak within us. And we just need to follow that.

Nam Hee: That's all there. And when we just cultivate and we just wait for that and support that and assist that, that's, that's our role.

Krystle: Beautiful. And so there's one more question, which you have already briefly touched on, but this idea of, of patterns and, um, you know, in, in yoga philosophy, they speak to this idea as well, that most of our actions, um, come from unconscious patterns that exist, um, showing us that, that they're there from earlier experiences.

Krystle: And so you've, you've touched on these, but, um, I was wondering if we could go maybe a little bit deeper on this topic of if we're experiencing something, play out in our life again and again, and we find ourselves thinking, um, you know, I, I really wish I could have a different experience to the one that I'm currently having. Um, whether that be, you know, in relation to ourselves, our body, but also in relation to others and, and our world around us, um, how, how can Hikomi, um, help us, well perhaps with that.

How to Heal Trauma using the Hakomi Method

Nam Hee: Yeah, sure. So, coming from a place where something doesn't feel right, or something's not comfortable sitting comfortable with you and you see there’s a pattern. Yeah. Okay. And it's kind of automatic, Hey, the way where we, even though you want to change, it's so dramatic and so great. Yeah. You see it over and over again. Yeah. The way we respond. So, we, yeah. So, we come, yeah.

Nam Hee: We come from a place where that can be at that sequence can be, first of all, slowed down as here's the way the role of mindfulness when coming first. So first we need to slow down that sequence to be able to introduce something new or direct that channel into a different course.

Nam Hee: So this is what I would say again, I'm sort of reinforcing that, how that mindfulness is one of the most effective tool that I've experienced to be able to first slow down, to be able to study that sequence.

Nam Hee: We need to know how these things, patterns pan out. And so, once we do that and you become aware, Oh, this is the way in which this flow. And it ends up in a way from A to Z. Okay, then we go back to, yeah, the physiology that, that sort of, you can track and contact that it starts with, you know, activated when the world or some responses of stimulus comes, happens.

Nam Hee: And then you are able to see your early experiences that is connected to that, that has got you to react and propel towards that direction, which is the Z direction. And so, what we do, like also, there'll be just like, I think pretty much I'm summarizing all the things that I feel like I have just said.

So, there's a mindfulness, there's so much existing too. And then we're looking at and ask somewhere in the point that that sequence felt there wasn't enough resource, or that was something that needed that was a missing experience wasn't met. Yeah.

Well, something else needed to happen. You listen to your own impulse and need a sequence of bodily release needed happen, but they couldn't, it was held back or whatever the reasons. And so we look at, and we explore that what is there, and we actually, as these sort of experiences are booked in the present moment, we actually see if we can complete that sequence or actually have those needs met, um, in, in therapy sessions by, um, over if it needed somebody to hold them or somebody to, um, to hold a hand or that person needed to reach to me like an example go somewhere.

Nam Hee: Um, uh, yeah. Or yeah. So, so we actually bring those missing pieces in therapy somehow in a somatic sort of a sensitive somatically net. Um, so we might have a blanket around them, you know, like a baby needed to be held in a muslin.

Nam Hee: And he was having to be held tight rather than floundering, with all these intense emotions. So, we bring those experiences back into that body. And so, the body feels *sigh*, and so that sequence is actually has been redirected and actually feels a bit more completed.

Nam Hee: And so that managing the whole, the protector, the managing, you know, all the things that was holding him in a certain way, and there was sort of directing them in a certain direction. It's actually can have the capacity to change its course and respond in a different way.

How to Heal Old Wounds using the Hakomi Method

Nam Hee: So for instance, you know, you, you know, sort of a scenario where, um, somebody says something and it touches on a deep wound that, you know, it's, you may know, or may not know that he said earlier, and so you will react in a certain way, but then in therapy or in your own personal work, you have actually met and nurtured and completed that sequence.

Nam Hee: So, you wouldn't have to be so defensive. You don’t have to bring that protector on and meet that person in a world in that way. And which often led to a different result. One result of that, because that has been, that has been served and that doesn't have to be so reactive and protected that leftover managed energy can be, you now have the spaciousness feels it. Huh? Okay.

Nam Hee: I know where that comes from. I know how to react, I know where the wound is, I know where it's been hit, but there's already the body has already a different experience now. And that's okay. That's, that's the case.

Nam Hee: You can sort of have probably have the capacity to self-soothe and then you'll be able to have more different secrets and we'll add a part there in, come in now and have the energy to come in and say, okay, I have ABC due to respond to this when a problem is ready to, you know, default, you know, set default set, it has different ways.

Nam Hee: So, you'll be able to meet the world in a different way. We're happy to bring that sort of capacity. And so that's how they should and would cover the pattern can change and your life and have more choices to be able to move them too often.

How to Connect with Nam Hee

Krystle: Nam Hee, what a beautiful way to bring it all together, you know, though is, uh, fantastic. And I, and I, I can't thank you enough for making the time to share your experience, um, and also to share all of this beautiful knowledge about the Hakomi method. And, and, um, if people wanted to find you in your private practice, where, where could they do that? Where should they go?

Nam Hee: So, I work in two practices. Um, one is at Brown Mindfully, it's a group practice in Crow's Nest. So, we have likeminded practitioners there. There's another, um, very well experienced. Um, um, Karen Baker, I think I mentioned in that talk, uh, works there, uh, and, um, other Hakomi therapists and that, um, uh, that information is on my website and I’ll be able to send you the link.

Nam Hee: My other practice is also in, uh, North Rocks and, um, I work there two days a week. Uh, so that's the two places they have practice. Um, yeah, now, I'll be more than welcome to if anybody's curious about what you heard today and Hakomi, um, uh, to, to contact me.

Nam Hee: And, um, I'll be happy to explain a bit more or direct you in the right course. Um, and if you are interested in the work, there is also a book that I might share with you. Um, it's called “Grace Unfolding.” Yeah. It's a lovely, easy to read book, a very, um, uh, accessible. It's not very technical at all. It's very short chapters and something very nice for the bedside table. Um, and easy to read that help you to get a taste of yeah.

Krystle: And that's written by Ron Kurtz

Nam Hee: That's right. It's written by Greg Johanson and Ron Kurtz. Yep. It’s almost like a prose. It's, it's, it's, um, really short, um, BA uh, concept like, um, chapters with just the essentials of, of the concept. So, it's beautifully written. I highly recommend that right. Starting point.

Krystle: Great. Um, I'll also pop the link to your website down below, so you can head down there in the description and, um, follow that link, uh, to actually connect with Nam Hee. Thank you so much again. And, um, I'm looking forward to another chat sometime in the future about Hikomi and all of the amazing work that you're doing in your community. So, thank you.

Nam Hee: Thank you very much for having me and provide me what you need to, to share with you about the work. Um, yeah. Thank you very much.

End of Interview

To learn more or find Nam- Here to ask more questions or organise to see her in clinical practice you can find her at this website- www.ourmindsgrow.com

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This personal work is very important indeed I hope you enjoyed the interview Kx