I built Safe Within for survivors of relational and systemic trauma, for all the generations of abused women, future and past, and to alchemize our collective grief and suffering by turning poison into medicine. The offerings here are derived from a foundation of lived experience, my therapeutic training, healing my own attachment wounds as an adoptee, and from navigating traumatic relationships with numerous family members dealing with severe mental illness.
As an anthropologist, writer, single mother, and mindfulness teacher, I’m deeply aware of how bringing curiosity and care to our human experience can support us in reconnecting with our inner child parts, reparent ourselves, and heal our hearts so that we can navigate these uncertain times and our relationships with greater compassion and equanimity.
My passion is helping trauma survivors find refuge in the present moment, reclaim their power, and come home to their authentic selves.
My wish for you, is that the practices and skills within these pages will offer you the tools to acknowledge your wounding, put out the welcome mat for yourself, and give yourself the gift of the care and attention you so deeply deserve.
You are not alone. You belong here. Healing is possible.
Emotional Abuse IS Domestic Violence
Cynthia’s Story:
In my own post-divorce and co-parenting relationship with an undiagnosed narcissist, the abuse came in the form of endless harassment via digital communication. For many years, my ex-husband lashed out at me regularly, the tone of his messages corresponding with his cyclical psychotic episodes and the continuous ups and downs of his mental illness.
Even thought his words were just lines on the screen of my phone, they pounded me over and over again like kicks to the kidneys, leaving me bruised and bleeding internally. But I was too ashamed to tell anyone what I was going through. Other than the way my body buckled and strained under the emotional weight of the continuous abuse, there was never any external evidence of an attack, so I wondered, did it really count?
If he never actually hit me, was the fact that I was always terrified of what was coming next enough to justify asking for a divorce, blocking his messages, and shutting him out of our daughter’s life? The guilt and fear that he would commit suicide haunted me constantly, and the torment never seemed to end.
His mental illness and anger overwhelmed my every moment, and kept me from ever feeling peaceful or safe. A feeling of constant terror permeated every cell of my body, and I felt helpless and trapped. Accumulated emotions of despair, grief, and betrayal boiled under the surface, and every little trigger sent me into an explosive rage.
Until I started practicing trauma-sensitive mindfulness and somatic therapy, this endless emotional violence had complete control of my life. Intrusive thoughts and chronic pain were my most pervasive symptoms of post-traumatic stress, and once I was able to put language to this, and to identify my experience as trauma, then I could finally develop an effective treatment plan and embark upon a healing pathway.
About Me
Cynthia Garner is a certified mindfulness instructor, somatic psychotherapist, public speaker, single mother, former classroom teacher, and author.
Her passion is helping trauma survivors find refuge in the present moment, reclaim their power, and come home to their authentic selves. As a coach, she works with educational leadership and survivors of domestic violence, offering practical coping skills, secular mindfulness, and in-the-moment interventions for managing reactivity and breaking the patterns of generational, systemic, and relational trauma.
Cynthia studied counseling at Regis University, earned a doctorate in Body-Mind Health from the Parkmore Institute, and is trained in group psycho-education through the UCSD Medical School, the Centre for Mindfulness Studies, Inward Bound, Mindful Schools, and the Hakomi Institute.
Work with me: Start your Healing Journey
My mindfulness practice and somatic therapy training brought me home to myself, after years of alienation, betrayal, and emotional violence. Understanding how trauma is stored in the body and learning tools to regulate my nervous system offered me the opportunity to reclaim my mental real estate, stabilize my attention with anchors in the present moment, and tend to my wounded heart.
Gradually, one baby step at a time, I began to widen my window of tolerance, develop the capacity to ride the waves of emotion, and to learn how to disengage from the conflict in a non-violent way.
I am so grateful for the lessons that my experience taught me, and that now I have the opportunity to raise my daughter in a regulated and compassionate environment, and that I get to share these practices and teachings with other survivors of relational trauma who don’t know where to start.
There are a few different ways you can work with me to learn mindfulness, heal your relational wounds, and come home to yourself:
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These intimate groups are open for enrollment 3 times per year in February, May, and September. Groups meet online for 12 weeks on Saturday mornings and include trauma-treatment, grief work, mindfulness-based interventions, somatic practices, and reflective writing prompts. Join the Waitlist.
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Sometimes we need individual therapeutic support to identify our core beliefs and discover the deeply engrained patterns that keep us from moving forward. When we work together one-on-one, you’ll be guided in gentle somatic awareness practices and mindfulness meditations to help you make space for feeling what you feel, and retraining your nervous system to rest in the present moment. Schedule an introductory session.
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In this 12-week, live online workshop, you’ll be guided in somatic mindfulness practices, reflection, and writing prompts to support you in welcoming yourself, reconnecting with your inner child, and soothing your wounded parts. Our focus will be on identifying our core experiences, how they shaped our sense of belonging in the world, and through writing we will offer ourselves the care we did not get to have when we were young. The program will include live practice sessions twice per month, with writing prompts and workbook material released to you on the alternating weeks. This series will be facilitated by Dr. Cynthia Garner, a certified mindfulness instructor, somatic psychotherapist, and author.
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This group for leaders of trauma-impacted school systems will focus on prioritizing wellbeing, managing reactivity, and nonviolent communication. We will meet via Zoom every other week on Friday mornings, 10-11:30 am MST, for the duration of the spring semester. Participation will include access to the self-paced Mindfulness for School Leadership Course. Our practices will include trauma-informed interventions, attentional training, somatic awareness practices, and reflective inquiry. Spaces are limited. Enrollment period closes January 23, 2024.