Survivors Blog: 

Karen

Hi. I’m Karen Baker supervised by Rick Reynolds. In this video, I'll lead you through a short, guided meditation on compassion. Opening our hearts and practicing self-compassion and compassion for others can help us accept and give space to our anxieties. Sometimes, focused and kind attention is all we need to feel more at peace and ease. Experiencing betrayal is a deeply traumatic experience, and your whole being becomes incredibly dysregulated at a moment's notice. Compassion for others and even for ourselves might seem impossible right now. And, of course, it does. But I encourage you to follow along, take what works for you, and leave what doesn't. And notice without criticism and judgment, all that shows up. If you can't follow along now, bookmark this video and listen to it at a later time when you need help coming back to the present moment and feeling…

I’m Karen Baker, a graduate counseling intern for Crossroad Counseling Associate, supervised by Rick Reynolds. In this video, I'll lead you through a short, guided meditation on compassion specifically for anxiety. Opening our hearts by practicing self-compassion and compassion for others can help us accept and give space to our own anxieties. In this meditation, we will extend compassion to a loved one. Let me preface this and say that it can be anyone. It doesn't have to be your partner. It could even be a younger version of yourself. Experiencing betrayal is deeply traumatic. Your entire being and whole self can become dysregulated at any moment's notice, and amid deep hurt, compassion for others and even for yourself might seem impossible, and of course, it does. But I encourage you to follow along, take what works for you and leave what doesn't, and just…

My name is Karen Baker, and I'm the graduate counseling intern at Crossroad Counseling and Associates, where I am supervised by Rick Reynolds. In this video, I will lead you through a short, guided meditation. Experiencing a betrayal is a profoundly traumatic experience. Your whole self can become completely dysregulated and flooded at a moment's notice. If you can't follow along now, bookmark this video to listen to at a later time when you need help coming back to the present moment and feeling more grounded. I invite you to take a moment to pause this video and adjust your space. Find a comfortable seated position in which you can relax and where you can move your body a bit if necessary. I invite you to close your eyes and tune into your breath. Notice its natural cadence and depth of your breath. Feel the air flowing in and out of your nostrils, down…

Hi. My name's Karen Baker, and I'm the graduate counseling intern at Crossroad Counseling Associates, being supervised by Rick Reynolds. Experiencing betrayal trauma is incredibly jarring. Your whole system becomes dysregulated and flooded at a moment's notice. In this video, I'm going to lead you through a short, guided meditation to help you come back to the present moment and feel more grounded. If you can't follow along now, bookmark this video to listen to later. So, take a moment to pause this video and adjust your space and find a comfortable position for you to relax in. In a comfortable position, laying down or seated, I invite you to close your eyes. And imagine that you are a bright light, gracefully suspended in the vastness of space. And in your mind's eye you see Earth slowly turning below you. Inhale deeply as you watch the Earth rotate. Watching…

Hi, my name is Karen Baker. I’m the graduate counseling intern for Crossroad Counseling Associates, supervised by Rick Reynolds. In this video, I will teach you several different diaphragmatic breathing exercises that you can use to emotionally regulate and tone your Vagus Nerve. Your breath is the first place to connect with your body, stay present, and become more grounded. To quickly recap a previous video, the autonomic nervous system has two parts: the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system triggers the fight, flight, and freeze response when something threatens us or we perceive it as threatening. The parasympathetic nervous system oversees homeostasis, or what we call rest and digest, basically helping us calm down after we are no longer under threat. Every aspect of the autonomic nervous system functions…

Hi. My name is Karen Baker, and I'm the graduate counseling intern for Crossroad Counseling Associates, being supervised by Rick Reynolds. Experiencing infertility is an incredibly jarring experience, and that's why we call it betrayal trauma. In a previous video, I discussed why and how we become dysregulated, as well as the importance of emotional regulation. In this video, I'm going to lead you through a short guided meditation. You can follow along now or bookmark this video to listen to it later. So take a moment to pause this video if you need to, and adjust your space and find a comfortable position for you to relax. And now I invite you to find a comfortable position lying down or seated, eyes opened or closed. Remember, if your mind wanders, it's okay. You're human. If distressing or intrusive thoughts arise, lovingly invite those thoughts to step…