Navigating the In-Between
A supportive series for trans and gender expansive folx waiting for gender affirming care
This is a new, ongoing series I’m starting on moving through something that’s very real for so many trans and gender expansive folx: Waiting for gender affirming care. It’s something I’ve gone through personally, something I’ve supported many of my clients through, and something that, let’s face it, can be emotionally and physically excruciating.
As trans and gender expansive folx, we should not have to jump through the hoops we do in order to receive the care we deserve. And yet, the realities of the current political climate make it a part of many folx’s gender journeys.
Through this series, I’ll guide you through somatic and IFS-informed practices to help you feel supported during the hard moments, help you access joy and hope, and help your system feel understood.
I’ll continue adding more parts as they are published. Sign up for my newsletter to get alerted when I publish a new part.
**Coming soon: A self-guided course based on this series that includes videos and reflection prompts
*If you are a therapist or other type of provider who is using these meditations in your work with clients, and have access to financial means, please consider making a contribution to the labor involved in creating and sustaining this work. Your contribution continues to make it possible for me to keep these offerings free of charge for the trans and gender expansive community. To make a secure contribution, follow this link.
The series
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A short video explaining what this series is about and who it’s for.
Part 1: Mapping out our parts: A short article from my Queerly Embodied newsletter and an IFS inspired parts mapping exercise
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Offering support to our parts
The article: How to slow down and offering presence to the parts that are struggling during the waiting period
The guided T4T Meditation: In this guided meditation, I invite you into some light somatic grounding, and then guide you through a process of saying hello to the parts that are present right here, right now. I also invite you to draw on the supports of your community and your transcestors so that you feel what’s holding you as you hold your parts. -
The article: Getting real about medical gatekeeping and how to support ourselves through it
A Guided T4T Meditation: You’ll be guided to slow down, get in touch with what arises when encountering medical gatekeeping, listening to those parts, and from there finding an affirmation your system needs in the moment to be seen and understood. I’ll invite you to repeat the affirmation three times, and notice the shifts that occur in your system as you do so.
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The article: This week, I’m talking about subtle dysphoria and our own internal gatekeeping parts. (If your dysphoria is loud, stay tuned, I’ll be publishing a part on that experience soon.)
This part talks about the more subtle kind of dysphoria. Instead of an avalanche, it feels like a slowly dripping faucet. Instead of a thunderstorm, it feels like a quiet rumble in the background. Sound relatable? You’re not alone. I’ve experienced it, too. -
The article:
“What if this means I’m not really trans?”“What if I’m not trans enough?”
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. So many folx - myself included - experience variations of these thoughts throughout our gender journeys. Sometimes it can feel like trans imposter syndrome.
Today, I’m offering some tools on how to be with yourself on the days you don’t feel trans enough.
The guided T4T meditation -
On the days you can’t be in your body
The article: As trans folx, there are some days and some seasons when we can’t be in our bodies. Some days and some seasons, we need the permission for that to be ok. And on those days and seasons, we still deserve safe points of connection to hold us, even if it’s not inside our own bodies.If you ask your body if it’s ok to inhabit it and the dysphoria says “no,” the following practice invites ways for you to feel connection and support in something in the natural world outside of your body. Even this small shift can help your experience feel less raw and isolating, and give your nervous system the felt sense of connection.
A reminder for this practice: Queer ecology teaches us that nature is queer, and that queerness is essential to thriving biodiversity. As we give ourselves the invitation to connect to nature, we can remember that the natural world embodies queerness and mutual aid.
The recorded practice: Click this link -
The practice: This week’s T4T meditation is a guided practice in which you connect to and embody a tree. When we embody trees, we embody queerness in all of its forms. We embody care and community. And we embody home.
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The entire collection
Access my entire collection of T4T Meditations here