When elephants fight, it is the grass below that suffers.

When elephants fight, it is the grass below that suffers.
– African proverb

Hi everyone,

It is beyond time for the collective to deepen its understanding of trauma. The vast majority of social ills we struggle with are rooted in unresolved trauma. Many of us have been deeply disturbed by the trends we have seen this year, suggesting many others among us have lost their way, becoming deeply embedded in destructive mis-perceptions. It is a dangerous thing to ignore the state of our collective nervous system. When fear has its way with us, that which is self-serving takes over. When numbness and disconnection rule the day, we fail to experience that we are part of the greater natural world. Yet, when we are in health, in calm, in subjective safety, we are available one to another. We are able to seek and support the common good, for all living things. As part of the whole, we become more compassionate.

As we near the end of the year, here are a few highlights of what Living Ubuntu accomplished in 2015. We started out the year with our 10^th Birthday Celebration and greatly enjoyed the privilege of having Dr. David Berceli out here teaching Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) in person as part of that celebration. Our research project, Trauma Recovery for East African Refugees in San Diego, continued its success and expanded beyond the female-only groups to include two groups for the men. We provided scholarships for several members of the refugee community to begin training to become TRE Providers. We also participated in two well-received community events, Neurogenic Yoga in the Park, one in San Diego and one in Orange County.

Orange County for Climate Action (OCCA) also had a busy year, raising awareness on a variety of highly significant issues ranging from Water, to Animal Agriculture, to Carbon Fee & Dividend, and more. We held our first ever climate rally and followed up with a second that was extremely well-attended.

You can see our 2015 events here. You can see many of our photos on our website or Facebook.

As climate change progresses, it increases the risk of expanding our collective trauma. Both urgently need more attention and resources.

Please consider including Living Ubuntu as part of your year-end giving. Donate here.
Your generosity is greatly appreciated and will directly enable our teeny-tiny little, all-volunteer-run grassroots organization to keep addressing these critically important issues.

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and support.

Happy holidays,

Barbara English, LMFT, CBT, TRE Certification Trainer
Co-founder and Executive Director, Living Ubuntu
livingubuntu.org
(949) 891-2005

[Ubuntu] n. Every human being truly becomes a human by means of relationships with other human beings

:::UPCOMING EVENTS:::

TRE Group Shake
Thursday, January 7, 4:00pm – 5:00pm
Newport Beach

“This Changes Everything” Tugg Screening – ticket deadline: Jan. 5
Wednesday, January 13, 7:30p
Aliso Viejo

Grace, Grief & Gratitude:
Using TRE to Increase Resiliency & Compassion in a Traumatizing World – more info soon!
Saturday, January 16, 9:30am – 12:30pm
Newport Beach

Orange County for Climate Action (OCCA) Meeting
Wednesday January 20, 6:30-8:00p
1151 Dove Street #210, Newport Beach CA