Finding Home Within
“Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Holding nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.”
—John O’Donohue
As we return to in person classes I am reflecting on the incredible change that has impacted our community. Our artists who teach and guide our young people are experiencing various degrees of loss and transformation as the creative industry literally stopped overnight. Investment, passion, focus and simply paying the bills is being tested beyond anything we could have imagined and yet our team reflects the exceptional resilience and fluidity the creative world brings to our society. The ability to improvise, find ways to support each other and to create continues to manifest and though there are huge questions and challenges surrounding government support and the fact that working class and low paid artists are being hung out to dry there is a sense of hope.
The young people who access our creative, therapeutic and advocacy services have also experienced deep loss, as an unaccompanied minor it’s the luck of the draw in terms of housing and support. Many of our young people live in assisted housing, some with foster carers. Social workers are dotted around the UK as many of the young people who live in Croydon and the surrounding areas are actually in the care of local authorities like Southend or Worcestershire. Services that they have relied on for education, socialisation and wellbeing stopped suddenly. The assumption from the wider community that these young people have access to computers, iPads or even the internet shows how little is understood about the life of an asylum seeker or refugee in the UK. But again, the pervading feeling when we have reached out and connected with the young people we support, is one of hope. Our fellow grass roots organisations have done everything imaginable to ensure that Zoom instructions have been translated into as many languages needed, that devices and internet access have been offered, that educational, creative and sporting activities have been led in one way or another, online therapy here at PFP and across many other organisations continued online throughout.
So, as we return to Croydon and begin our creative and therapeutic groups again, I am focusing on our need to find a home within. It’s so interesting that many of the qualities our society needs as a whole right now to get through this pandemic are qualities our young people are deeply aware of and even adept at. Patience, compliance, sitting with the unknown and waiting for government officials to decide the way our lives shape and look. One of the shared responses from across our community of young people, educators, therapists and artists is the varying degree of anxiety, exhaustion, sleep disturbance and loss that has been felt. For that reason, the term ahead is going to focus on breath.
The stress response floods the human body with adrenaline and cortisol which in moments of real danger get us moving, we fight, flee or freeze. This efficient system easily lends itself to ill health. If there is no real imminent danger but we are overworking, overstimulated by the sounds and speed of life around us, lacking down time or sleep, or if the memories of past traumatic events have not been processed then our stress response stays activated. It becomes chronic. The way this presents for most of our young people is in the body, sleep deprivation is one of the most talked about concerns. Worrying thoughts, flashbacks, an inability to hold information and learn are also high up on the list. What many of our young people have in common is their inefficient breath patterns, many find it hard to sustain inhalations or exhalations for more than a count of one or two, they also have problems engaging the diaphragm and dropping the breath into their bellies, the lower lungs, which is the most efficient way of activating our relaxation response. The accessory muscles of the ribs, chest and neck take over and this very movement activates the sympathetic nervous system, the stress response, and the cycle of stress continues.
The stress response is not only perceived in the breathing patterns of our young people, it also makes sense that they find sleep challenging. When the body is flooded with stress hormones and chemicals it communicates to the body that it has to conserve energy, so the digestive system and the immune system are downgraded, the heart rate increases, blood pressure raises, and breath becomes shallow. The brain moves into survival mode, switching off the thinking brain which allows us to respond, learn and remember and relies on the reactionary fight flight or freeze response.
What is powerful about creative work with young people is how well it lends itself to activating the relaxation response. The shape of a session we lead allows for grounding, stimulation, dynamic engagement, sharing, relationship, awareness, stillness and a return to grounding. Working with musical instruments encourages mindfulness, being in the moment and aware of the sounds created and the way the body moves and engages with the instrument to create the sound. Parts of our session engage and use anxious energy, so it has a place to be expressed and then we ensure grounding and rest follow. We strongly believe in consciously approaching our work, bringing in layers of psycho-education so our artists are aware of the impact their teaching has. In this way we aim to help young people bridge the activity they have explored in class and utilise in other areas of their lives. A breath practice with an instrument, chanting and singing together to close our group, exploring the here and now can all be used to create safety and relax the body before bed hopefully impacting the quality of the young person’s sleep.
This term we are going to employ the mantra of ‘dropping into the belly’ finding this home within. Our tutors and therapists have the freedom to explore different and unique ways to bring awareness of the belly breath and the body but collectively we have an agreed foundation. The emphasis here when working with stress, anxiety and potential PTSD is consistency, modelling and gentle heartfelt repetition.
