Interview with Catherine Braxton

To adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are redirecting all of our resources to support folks who have been laid off by COVID-19. This week we are featuring, Catherine Braxton, who will be leading us in a Trauma-Informed Yoga Session this upcoming Monday, April 13 at 8 pm EST.

Laurel Oldershaw: Can you please give a self-introduction?
Catherine Braxton: Sure. My name is Catherine Braxton, pronouns they, them, theirs & she, her, hers, and I am a Trauma-Informed Healing Advocate. 

LO: Can you tell us more what “Trauma-Informed” means?
CB: Something that I realized as I was on the journey of just finding myself as a young adult was that my childhood was very traumatic and I don't say that as a like “Oh, pity me please!” but just as a fact of life. Most Black and Brown children in the US and outside of the US in low economic stability are growing up with a lot of trauma. And so, in order to find a space for myself but also to find a space for my community, I really started to look at ways in which we find spaces to heal. I’m Black American, meaning that my ancestors are a result of American Chattel Slavery & Great Migration of the 1920s and so for me, a lot of that work came from movement initially, and came from dance. I grew up dancing in Harlem, New York, and then from there kind of sprang out to yoga and sprang out to viewpoints work, which is a way of devising experimental theater, but I realized that all of these kind of different forms and the rituals and Ancestral awareness that I grew up with could be used to facilitate healing for Black and Brown communities, but also just for people in general. Trauma Informed work is using various healing platforms to make space for folks who experience trauma. 

LO: What does a Trauma-Informed Yoga Session look like?
CB: A lot of slow movement work with space, to process. One thing when dealing with people who have been severely traumatized is the lack of choice. A lot of times you’ll hear people who - I’m also a birth worker and really passionate about reproductive justice as a Survivor of sexual violence - and a simplified example is in the birth room, a lot of times you’ll hear people talk about their birth experiences as being traumatic, as being something that really jarred them and took away their option of choice. So when we’re talking about a trauma-informed yoga session, we’re talking about restoring the act of choice, listening and using intuition as a guide for the practice. What does it look like when I say “Ok, if you’d like to roll your neck around to the right, you can, but also feel free to discover what it is your body might want to do in this moment”? And for a lot people, it’s like “woah, what? I’ve never been to a movement class where I’m encouraged to find what works for me”, but I often find that facilitates healing in a variety of different ways throughout a persons life. Even though you’re being asked to find what works for you in this moment, you can also apply that to what works for you in life. You can apply that to going to a grocery store during a pandemic and how can I remember to breathe and how can I remember to find what’s’ right for me, and so it’s really really important, especially now to be able to tune into yourself on a deeper level. 

LO: Do you have any recommendations for how someone can prepare for one of these yoga sessions? Or prepare for what comes up afterwards? I imagine these classes can potentially bring up some emotions. 
CB: Absolutely, I think the most important thing is to be present with yourself. I think in this society that we live in, especially now, a lot of folks are experiencing prolonged unemployment maybe for the first time in their lives, and find themselves in an element of “what do I do?” And I think one of those things, is to put down the cell phone and to just really get in touch with your breathing. I think breath work is really important just in terms of figuring out where you are, and that doesn’t have to look like “Take five deep breaths,” but just being aware of how your breathing is throughout the day, either before or after class. I am not a medically-trained professional so I’m not gonna be like go find a therapist, but I definitely think that after class what I find truly helpful is to make a cup of tea, and just sit, and not really expect myself to do a lot of things or to be “productive”. The class is about coming as you are and leaving as you are and whatever it is to create more space for yourself to have those calm moments, I think that’s gonna be the most important take away from the class. 

Introducing The Upwind Institute

Alright, so you’ve probably read “The Upwind Institute” once or twice, and here is the backstory of the transition. As of a few weeks ago, Upwind Ultimate LLC dissolved into two separate companies, The Upwind Institute and Upwind Productions LLC. The Institute will cover all non-profit projects such as education, outreach, and policy creation, whereas Productions will manage our for-profit venture that will work on events and consultant projects. When I started Upwind, I always knew it would be two companies (one for-profit and one non-profit), and I got it started on a small budget and an unclear strategy on how to be both companies in one. After some time off of Upwind while I pursued other projects and career growth, and after recently getting laid off by a couple jobs, I’m excited to jumpstart Upwind back into life and really excited about its potential. Over the next few months, we’ll be rolling out a schedule of events to support folks who have been laid off by COVID-19. After this pandemic settles, we’ll release our updated Strategic Plan and Board. Keep an eye out for the website in the next couple of weeks! 

If you have any more questions, please reach out, my email is theupwindinstitute@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Laurel Oldershaw (She/Her/Hers)
Executive Director

Coming Up Next

To register for events, and to donate to our COVID-19 employee relief fund, use the following handles:

Venmo: @TheUpwindInstitute
Paypal: theupwindinstitute@gmail.com