Episode #36 TCSW ft. Linda Thai

Embracing the Dark Night of the Soul: Linda Thai shared her thoughts on facing life’s challenging phases, often termed as ‘the dark night of the soul,’ and the transformative lessons they bring. She emphasized the importance of acknowledging and navigating through these periods for personal growth and healing.

Connecting with Wildlife and Our Inner Animalism: The conversation explored deep connections with nature and wildlife, underlining how embracing our inherent ‘animalism’ can lead to a more integrated and authentic self.

Finding Comfort in Alaska’s Environment: Linda discussed the unique experience of living in Alaska, focusing on adapting to and finding comfort in its extreme climate and landscape, and how this influences one’s sense of self and place.

A Relational Approach to Education and Social Work: Linda’s perspective on integrating relational approaches in education and social work highlighted the importance of building secure, empathetic connections for effective teaching and healing practices.

Trauma and its Somatic Impact: The conversation delved into how trauma manifests in the body and affects our behavior and relationships. Linda’s expertise in the somatics of trauma offered insights into developing healthy aggression, boundaries, and addressing annihilation energy.

Reconnecting with Ancestry and Stories: The significance of ancestral connections and the power of stories in understanding our past and shaping our present and future was a key part of the dialogue.

Gratitude and the Spirit of Thanksgiving: The episode concluded with a focus on gratitude, its role in healing, and the significance of embracing the present moment.

Linda has a beautiful spirit and is delightfully conversational, she makes a great point of connecting with nature and feeling as if nature is asking her to take a step forward. Her comments about our connections with nature around us reminds me of how we are in their environment and we are coexisting with the animals and plants. Lindas story of how the moose was undisturbed by her doing her business outside since, its as she said, “an animal in nature”. But when she took her camera outside, the moose left – a camera is not something an animal has. Lindas story of how she lived though the Vietnamese war, took refuge in Australia with her family is a detail that adds to her knowledge and experience of life. Her most important point is how she learned how Australian and Vietnamese she is, how Alaska brought her to become Alaskan. All of these points making up who she is, accepting her identity, she opens her senses to her environment and talks about the ways she is living in mutuality with the land and other humans.

Her points on her Australian education, with a teacher and educator relationship. How she had to have her students to unlearn to learn, she addressed her students by names. Then students were shocked by her addressing them by name since they were used to the colonized education they experienced prior to her teachings. Lindas guest speakers in her classes would speak on their own experiences instead of someone speaking on the field they work in and what they’ve seen others experience. This would help students learn if this was the field they really wanted, instead of being goal orientated it was process and relationship orientated. The ways she went about reconstructing her classroom system actually benefited her students by disrupting the barriers of education.

Linda speaks on how the decolonized approach to de attachment is what actually helped her, how to take care of the land – how to take care of each other. Secure connections to our ancestors, including bloodline, professional, religious, activist ancestors and cultural bearers. She speaks on how all ancestors and connected to each other, soul, story, movement and silence. Secure attachment to our bodies, the 5 senses and 3 hidden senses. She talks about narratives written by us for us and about us, instead of reading narratives written by someone who is not like her. These narratives opened things up for her which is important in having someone to connect to in terms of storytelling.

Fight: toughen up as a way of preventing being victimized again/inhibited ability to fight back

Flight: always having an escape route

Freeze: analysis paralysis

Submit Collapse: why even bother

Attach Cry: inhibit asking for help