signs of trauma exposure response

I recently read Laura van Dernoot Lipsky’s book Trauma Stewardship on the recommendation of one of my professors. The book is, as its subtitle succinctly puts it, “an everyday guide …

the chakra healing workbook for your inner child

I’m really excited to share my latest project with you! A few months ago, I had a yoga lesson that revealed that the root of a lot of my current …

grad school (!)

hi friends and lovers! Welcome to a personal update post that I’m very excited to be writing! Last week I became a double duck and started my masters program at …

please don’t call me a survivor

content warning: SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE  by amanda swan I flinch when I hear the word survivor. My tummy curls in, and so do my toes. survive: continue to live or exist …

eight yoga poses i didn’t think i could practice in my body

by amanda swan I grew up in the lululemon yogasphere. The era of Bikram and his wannabes, tight pants designed for tiny sizes, and studios brimming with small, duplicate bodies. …

thicker than water

by amanda swan I guess it’s true that you “can’t choose your family,” because my family never chose me. They publicly displayed me. They privately disapproved of me. They constantly …

too chaotic for community: connection in the age of convenience

by amanda swan Trauma is a human experience. There is nothing more universally understood than the dichotomy of pain and pleasure. It is the lifeblood of our experience in this …

i reported, and it sucks (part iii)

content warning: SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE This is the third part of my story of reporting sexual assault to the police in the PNW United States in 2021. The first part of my …

i reported, and it sucks (part ii)

making a police report about my sexual assault content warning: SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE This is the second part of my story of reporting sexual assault to the police in the PNW …

i reported, and it sucks (part i)

making a police report about my sexual assault content warning: SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE It was a warm summer night and I was sitting on my porch wearing a black wrap dress …