Becoming Safely Embodied

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Deirdre, the work you do is making such a difference in people’s lives. I am so thankful for your willingness to not only share your personal journey, but to help others along in theirs. You have been such a blessing to my life!
Thank you,
— F.P.
I have known Deirdre Fay for many years as a colleague and as a companion on various facets of the transformational journey. No matter what context I have shared with Deirdre, I have been impressed over and over again with how completely and consistently Deirdre is present for people. She exudes a very rare combination of brilliance and heart; I have been moved to tears just observing how she offers her insight and understanding with so much love and compassion. Her deep commitment to her work of helping people to break free and thrive is inspirational.
Deirdre is definitely the real thing and she delivers every bit and more of what she promises. If you have a chance to work with her, say yes quickly and begin the journey of a lifetime.
— Barbara McCollough, LICSW
Boston, MA
www.barbaramccollough.com
Hi Deirdre,

I so enjoyed your workshop on Saturday. I want you to know that I was inspired by your presence, your gentle and wise compassion. I was touched and fed and so glad that I attended. That's what I see you doing with the skills you teach - you have figured out how to guide the way, create the signs, make the map that fills in the spaces.
Thank you. I'm having fun exploring your website and blog - lots of nice connections.
— Evelyn Gladu
Therapist, Arlington, MA

About Deirdre

DeirdreWelcome to Becoming Safely Embodied. My name is Deirdre Fay and I started leading Becoming Safely Embodied groups back in 1997. The various skills come from my own experience healing my own trauma history.

When my trauma history came up I was living in a very safe environment at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, which is a holistic community. I was drawn there to learn about love. I had gone there for a workshop and been amazed to be among people who were dedicated to living a loving life. Something awakened in me – I really wanted to learn to live an unconditionally loving life, as undefended as I could.

I’m not there yet! But I’ve learned a lot. Part of my journey was to have my own trauma memories surface. I went from being able to get up at 4:15 in the morning, head down to morning meditation and yoga, living a very active and healthy lifestyle to feeling incredibly depressed, unable to get out of bed, and now that I know the language, I realize I was triggered a great deal of the time.

Play Look and Feel Video Even though I was graced to be with some incredible therapists the field of trauma treatment was really just developing at that time. I was confused why I could go from being able to meditate and do yoga for a couple hours a day to all of a sudden, not be able to be in my body, hating to do yoga, unable to meditate. My mind was restless, upset. I felt terrified for no reason. What was going on?

As I came out of the deep plunge I had gone in I began to see a whole subset of people at Kripalu who were afraid to be in their bodies. In talking to them I noticed a surprising correlation – many of them had trauma histories.

Knowing I wasn’t alone helped. I’m motivated often for others more than for my self. I wanted to know what to do, how to help.

That’s been one of my driving motivations over the years. How can I help?

The Becoming Safely Embodied skills are one of the ways I found to help. After I left Kriplau I went to Smith College School for Social Work, got my degree. While I was at school I did some training at McLean Hospital for a year. People were interested in what I was doing with meditation, yoga and trauma, so for a period of time I led a group on one of the dissociation units exploring what language helped and what practices worked better than others.

One of my good friends and colleagues, Sarah Stewart told Bessel van der Kolk about the work that I was doing. He invited me to join the team at the Trauma Center in Brookline and there I got to lead more groups.

When the Becoming Safely Embodied groups got going I was amazed at how the simple skills and concepts made a difference to people. Over the past ten years I have been honored to have helped people and been a part of people feeling better about themselves and learning to trust their own wisdom.

I hope these skills will benefit you in the same ways. Please feel free to explore the website and see the various things that are here. Try one and see if it works. You are welcome to sign up for my free ezine which always has a practice component to it. You may also be interested in exploring the Safely Embodied forum and community that we have started.