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Author: E. Kyren Epperson

Mindful Living in the Chaos of Covid-19

I’m someone who lives with a lot of anxiety more generally. As I half-jokingly tell my beginning students, it’s why I started meditating. It’s also why I started training in martial arts. But that’s not why I keep meditating; why

E. Kyren Epperson March 23, 2020March 24, 2020 Uncategorized No Comments Read more

Two Common Pitfalls for Allies of Trans and Non-binary folks

Growing up, I used to hear people say, “I don’t see color.” When I was young I didn’t question it. At the time, it seemed like a useful way to convey that I like people for who they are, not

E. Kyren Epperson March 5, 2020March 6, 2020 Uncategorized No Comments Read more

6 Ways to be More Supportive of Trans and Non-binary Folks

Let’s begin with a story: Someone in our life—maybe a friend, family member, or colleague—reaches out to us and tells us they’re transgender, non-binary, or genderqueer. “Ooh, I got this!” we think to ourselves. “I need to be an ally

E. Kyren Epperson November 19, 2019November 20, 2019 Uncategorized 2 Comments Read more

The Role of Confidentiality in Cultivating Trust

As I begin to unpack part four of Brene Brown’s BRAVING inventory, “vault,” I realize it feels extremely personal. Why is this, I ask myself? All of the first three items (Boundaries, Reliability, Accountability) are—objectively speaking—no less personal. After all,

E. Kyren Epperson September 17, 2019 Uncategorized 1 Comment Read more

Mindfulness for Everyday Safety

You might be asking yourself what does mindfulness have to do with safety or self-defense? After all, when we hear the word mindfulness, it often conjures ideas such as calm, awareness, being fully present, peacefulness and the like. Whereas, when

E. Kyren Epperson September 6, 2019November 10, 2019 Uncategorized No Comments Read more

The importance of apology in conflict resolution

I’m in the middle of a tense conversation and the other person says, “You hurt my feelings and I’m really upset.” I’m flabbergasted! I never meant to hurt anyone and I certainly wasn’t trying to hurt anyone’s feelings. Why should

E. Kyren Epperson August 30, 2019August 27, 2019 Uncategorized 1 Comment Read more

Cultivating accountability in our lives

How do we know when someone in our lives is trustworthy? Brene Brown, PhD, LMSW, uses the acronym BRAVING when talking about and assessing behaviors that allow us to trust others (and to trust in ourselves!). We’ve so far tackled

E. Kyren Epperson August 27, 2019August 27, 2019 Uncategorized No Comments Read more

Overcoming Barriers to Reliability, Earning Trust

After “Boundaries,” an important characteristic of someone who is trustworthy is reliability (“R” in the BRAVING acronym). This may seem fairly obvious—after all, we all intuitively know that someone who doesn’t follow through on promises and commitments is harder to

E. Kyren Epperson August 23, 2019August 27, 2019 Uncategorized No Comments Read more

Assessing trustworthiness through BRAVING

How do we know when someone in our lives is trustworthy? Brene Brown, PhD, LMSW, uses the acronym BRAVING when talking about and assessing behaviors that allow us to trust others (and to trust in ourselves!). The B in the

E. Kyren Epperson August 19, 2019August 27, 2019 Uncategorized No Comments Read more

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I came in quiet, hesitant to use my voice. I was skeptical of my ability to protect myself. I surprised myself by how comfortable I felt using my voice, and how powerful+ protective that felt. Thank you. I will take these lessons with me.

Emily Public workshop participant

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