Tag: TraumaInformedCare

Devon Hornby, LMT, ABT

In our rush to “fix” pain, resolve trauma, or just get back to our lives, we often bring the same productivity mindset that led us into dysregulation in the first place. We want quick results, tangible outcomes, and to return to “normal” as fast as possible. But the body has its own timing, and it speaks in the language of presence—not performance.

The Myth of Progress

Many clients come to healing work expecting a linear path: Do the right thing, get the right result. But healing—especially from trauma or chronic pain—is nonlinear, cyclical, and deeply relational. It unfolds in layers, often surprising us with the ways old wounds surface as we begin to feel safe again.

This is why presence is essential. Without it, we may push through symptoms, override the body’s messages, or re-traumatize ourselves by trying to “perform” healing.

Nervous System Regulation Happens in Slowness

Trauma is often described as an event that was too much, too fast, or too soon. Recovery, therefore, requires the opposite: just enough, just right, and in good timing. This process cannot be rushed. Somatic therapies like Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) or gentle manual work invite slowness, not as a delay but as the ground for real change.

Presence allows the nervous system to shift from survival states (fight/flight/freeze) to safety and regulation. Studies have shown that mindfulness-based somatic practices reduce sympathetic arousal, improve vagal tone, and enhance interoceptive awareness—all key components in trauma resolution and pain recovery (Farb et al., 2013; Mehling et al., 2011).

Pain as a Call to Presence

Chronic pain is not just a sign of tissue damage—it is often the body’s way of signaling unresolved stress, emotional holding, or disconnection. When we meet pain with presence rather than urgency, we open a door to understanding its root. Through mindful awareness, clients often discover that beneath the ache is a protective impulse, a part of them still waiting to be met with compassion.

Presence doesn’t mean passive waiting. It means active listening. It means respecting the body’s wisdom enough to follow its pace rather than impose our own.

Healing Is Not a Productivity Project

You cannot schedule breakthroughs. You cannot outperform your pain. What you can do is show up with care, with curiosity, and with patience. As therapist and trauma educator Peter Levine writes, “Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness” (Levine, 1997). Presence—your own and another’s—is what allows that holding to unwind.

So the next time you’re tempted to push through, ask instead: Can I be with this?
Not fix it. Not rush it. Just be with it.

Because true healing begins when we choose presence over productivity.

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References:

• Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. V., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. 2013. “Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2(4): 313–322. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsm030
• Mehling, W. E., Price, C., Daubenmier, J. J., Acree, M., Bartmess, E., & Stewart, A. 2011. “The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA).” PLOS ONE 7(11): e48230. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048230
• Levine, Peter A. 1997. Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.

Devon Hornby, LMT, ABT

In our hustle-oriented world, productivity has become a virtue, a badge of honor we wear to demonstrate our value. We track our steps, our screen time, our sleep cycles, and our schedules—all in pursuit of greater efficiency. But what happens when the very drive to be productive begins to erode the core of our well-being—our capacity to be present, to relate deeply, and to experience our lives fully?

The Productivity Trap

The modern workplace and culture valorize output over presence. We’re conditioned to equate our worth with how much we do rather than how we are. This “productivity trap” isn’t just exhausting—it’s harmful. Research shows that constant striving for efficiency is linked with higher rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, and even cardiovascular disease (Liu et al., 2022).

Moreover, our obsession with productivity isn’t making us happier or more fulfilled. A 2021 study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology found that people who oriented their lives around intrinsic goals—like presence, connection, and creativity—reported higher life satisfaction than those focused on extrinsic goals like success, status, or financial gain (Hope et al., 2021).

Presence as an Antidote

Presence is not the absence of productivity but its wise counterbalance. Presence is the ability to be attuned to our internal state and our environment, to engage fully with the moment, and to connect authentically with others. Neuroscientific research suggests that practices fostering presence—such as mindfulness, slow movement, or even focused conversation—can regulate the nervous system, reduce inflammation, and enhance emotional resilience (Tang, Hölzel, & Posner, 2015).

Choosing presence doesn’t mean opting out of responsibilities. Rather, it’s choosing to relate to them differently. When we slow down, we begin to see clearly: the moment-to-moment invitations to rest, to listen, to connect. It is in these moments that healing, creativity, and joy often arise.

The Social Consequences of the Productivity Obsession

Beyond individual burnout, our productivity compulsion fractures the social fabric. A society addicted to doing tends to undervalue care work, community building, and the invisible labor of emotional support—most often performed by women and marginalized groups. As sociologist Hartmut Rosa argues, the acceleration of time in late modern society has created “resonance deficits”—we have less time to resonate with others, nature, or even ourselves (Rosa, 2019).

When presence is sacrificed for production, relationships suffer. Parents are too busy to connect with their children, partners become co-managers of a household rather than companions, and friends become names on a to-do list. Presence becomes a luxury good, available only to those who have already achieved a certain level of “success.”

Reclaiming the Present

What would it mean to prioritize presence over productivity—not just in our personal lives but as a collective value? This could mean making time for stillness, slowness, silence. It could mean protecting space in our schedules for deep listening and non-outcome-oriented activities. It could mean rethinking systems of work, education, and care to center human and ecological well-being rather than perpetual growth.

Presence isn’t passive. It is a radical act in a system that wants you busy, distracted, and always consuming. When we reclaim presence, we create a space for healing—not only for ourselves but for the world around us.

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Sources:

• Hope, N. H., Karris Bachik, S., & Snyder, C. R. 2021. “Purpose, Presence, and Personal Fulfillment: A Positive Psychology Approach.” Journal of Positive Psychology 16(5): 563–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2021.1880149
• Liu, Y., Croft, J. B., Wheaton, A. G., Kanny, D., Cunningham, T. J., Lu, H., & Greenlund, K. J. 2022. “Association Between Long Working Hours and Adverse Health Outcomes.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(1): 456. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010456
• Rosa, Hartmut. 2019. Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World. Translated by James C. Wagner. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Tang, Y. Y., Hölzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. 2015. “The Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 16(4): 213–225. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3916