Staying Centered: A Virtual Breather for 
People Supporting Survivors 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank 
you for joining our session today, "Staying Centered-- A Virtual 
Breather for People Supporting Survivors." 

It's wonderful to see so many people back today. Some of you 
are new joining us. Some of you have joined us before. Welcome, 
everyone. And thank you so much for your patience as we 
ensured access for all. 

My name is Jacki Chernicoff. I'm with the Center on Victimization 
and Safety at the Vera Institute of Justice and the National 
Resource Center for Reaching Victims. 

Right, so for those of you that have been with us, you know we 
just have a few quick logistical items to go over before we begin 
today so everyone can use the Zoom room effectively. 
Participants are in listen-and-view-only mode, which means we 
should not be able to hear you, but you should be able to hear 
us. And you should be able to see the American Sign Language 
interpreter. 

If you would like to turn the captioning on, please go to the 
closed captioning symbol at the bottom of your screen and select 
the arrow to the right of that icon. You can either select "Show 


Subtitle" or "View Full Transcript." Once you do so, you will see 
the words I am speaking appearing below my video or to the 
right of your Zoom window. 

If you cannot hear the presenter speaking or if you're having any 
difficulties with the captioning or interpreters or any other 
technical difficulties during this session, please enter a message 
in the chat pod at the bottom of your screen. This is the best way 
to communicate with me or my National Resource Center for 
Reaching Victims colleagues who are providing technical support 
throughout the virtual session today. 

Just a few more things. We're not going to be using the Q&A pod 
today. We will be chatting with one another via the chat pod. 
When we open up the discussion for questions at the end, we 
probably won't have much time. But we'll try to make some space 
for questions. 

If you're using the chat pod to communicate with others today, 
please select the option to respond to all panelists and attendees. 
This is an option in your dropdown when you chat, "All Panelists 
and Attendees." This is the only way that everyone can view what 
you are sharing. 

Right, so if you want to go ahead and test that, you can go to the 
chat pod now. Select "All Panelists and Attendees." Say hello to 


us. Let us know where you're joining from. Great. Welcome, 
everyone. 

Another quick note about the chat pod while you're typing away, 
you are not going to be able to save the chat, nor will you be able 
to copy and paste any resources that are shared into the chat. 
This is a security measure. But as host, we're able to save the 
resources. And following the session, if there's anything shared, 
we will get those out of the chat and post them for you. 

I see as some folks still in the chat just hitting to "All Panelists," 
which is amazing because that means we can see what you're 
writing. But it means your friends on this session are not able to 
see. So just another reminder, "All Panelists and Attendees" is 
what you want to put in there so everyone knows where you're 
joining us from. 

So speaking of recording, we're going to be recording today's 
session. A link to the recording along with any resources shared 
during this session will be made available on our National 
Resource Center website-- www.reachingvictims.org. You can 
also find links to previous sessions on the NRC website. 

Just one quick note about your view and functionality in Zoom, if 
you've joined this session via web browser, you may have more 
limited options than if you joined via the Zoom app. 


And finally, we're creating a multilingual space today. As you can 
see, we have an American Sign Language interpreter, as well as 
spoken languages interpreting happening behind the scenes, as 
well. 

So I just want to, again, sort of welcome everyone. This is a time 
that is unprecedented. And in our crime victims field, it's really 
important that we take time to manage stress and anxiety in our 
day-to-day practice. 

And in this session, we are joined by Zoe Flowers-- advocate, 
healer, writer, poet, and filmmaker. Zoe's going to guide us 
through a number of activities to really help us continue to stay 
grounded and manage our stress and anxiety. So, thank you, 
Zoe, for joining us. The floor is yours. 

ZOE FLOWERS: Thank you. I was having so much fun giving 
shout-outs to the states. 

[LAUGHTER] 

OK. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us again if 
you're a return visitor. And if you are a first-timer, welcome, 
welcome, welcome. So, as Jacki said, I'm Zoe Flowers. And we're 
going to just get into it. So hopefully you've had time to settle in 
to wherever you are. Oh, Virgin Islands in the house. See, now I 
can't stop. [LAUGHS] OK. Now I can't stop. OK, so we're going to 


get into the meditation. And hopefully if we have some time at 
the end, I'll be able to take some of your questions. 

So I'm going to turn these chimes back on. And I'm going to 
actually put this link from YouTube in the chat. I've been listening 
to Tibetan chimes quite a bit. I listen to them anyway. But during 
this time, I've been listening to them quite a bit. And so that is 
the first offering to you all. It really helps to bring a sense of 
peace. It's really good to also like, clear the energy and change 
the energy in whatever room you're in. And so, yeah. So we're 
going to just get into it. I'm going to turn it down low, though, so 
that it's not too high for the interpreters for me talking. 

[CHIMES RINGING SOFTLY] 

Yeah. And so it's actually a nice mix of Tibetan singing bowls and 
the crystal bowls that you're hearing. And so they're very, very 
nice, as I said, to bring a sense of peace. 

And so my glasses are off. So if you put things in the chat, I will 
not be able to read them. I'll put them back on when we're done. 

[EXHALES DEEPLY] So let's just start, as we always do, with a 
few collective breaths together. And when we breathe, let's just 
take our left hand, and let's just put it in the center of our chest 
to ground ourselves. We are in a season, actually, of grounding-- 
Taurus season, for all of you Taurus earth sign folks. 


And so we're not jabbing our heart area. But we are just kind of 
applying a little bit of pressure, a little bit of pressure. Grounding 
ourselves. And with our right hand, we're going to let that just be 
face up. Up is to receive. Down is to ground. So we're starting in 
a place of receptivity. Sometimes it's so challenging for those of 
us in the helping profession to receive. 

Left hand in the center of your chest. That might cause you to 
lean back a little bit more into whatever you're sitting on. You 
want to be as firm as possible. Back flat. Seat firmly in whatever 
you're sitting on. Feet firmly planted in the ground, on the 
ground. 

And see if just that act of actively grounding yourself, what does 
that feel like? Maybe let the tailbone sink a little further into the 
chair or the floor or whatever you're sitting on. Send the tailbone 
down so that you are grounded. Square the shoulders back. 
Taking a deep breath in-- [INHALES] 

--exhaling out. [EXHALES] 

And now let that left hand drop down by the left leg, both palms 
up. You should feel like you're almost in a perfect square. Eyes 
closed at this time. 

If your mind begins to wander, as it often does, you can send 
your gaze to the tip of your nose. So even though your eyes are 


closed, you can send your gaze to the tip of your nose. If it's hard 
for you to kind of go cross-eyed and do that, sometimes it's 
easier if you take one of your index fingers and just gently tap 
the tip of your nose. I don't know why, but sometimes it makes it 
easier to keep your attention on the tip of your nose when you do 
that. 

Bringing the neck back a little bit, straightening the spine, 
dropping the shoulders, palms up. Paying attention now to the 
quality of your breath. Are you holding your breath right now? If 
you are, now might be a good time to breathe. Take a deep 
breath in through the nose. 

[INHALES] 

Exhale the breath out through the mouth. 

[EXHALES] 

Take a deep breath in through the nose. And as you inhale, the 
shoulders raise just a little bit. Exhale, the shoulders drop a little 
bit. Tailbone stays firmly planted. 

Taking another deep breath in through the nose, shoulders raise. 
Exhale it out, shoulders drop. The gaze is still turned inward 
towards the tip of the nose. 


If your shoulders are slightly raised as mine are, go ahead and 
just let them drop with intention. Just bring the shoulders down, 
almost into like a slouch now. Let the neck relax. That might 
mean the head wobbles a bit. Let the belly relax. Let those 
internal organs relax. 

Turning your attention now to the heart, the internal gaze is 
downward in the direction of the heart. So now we're moving 
down from the tip of the nose, down to the heart. 

Paying attention to the quality of the breath now, is it slower? 
What about the heart rate? Is the heart beating fast or slow? Now 
would be a good time to tell the heart to slow down. Tell the 
pulse to slow down. 

Everything is slowing down. What is the quality of the breath? Is 
it cool going in as you inhale? Is it warm? Is the breath shallow, 
or is it choppy? Do you feel your body pulsating or rocking now 
that it's had a chance to slow down? Doing a body scan. 

Starting at the top of the head, the tippy-top of the head-- what 
we call the "crown"-- see, sense, or imagine a beautiful yellow 
light swirling around the top of the head. It's almost like a spiral-- 
starts in the middle of your head and spreads out. And that spiral 
travels down over your eyes. Beautiful yellow light. Like a 
beautiful sun-shiny day. Beautiful yellow light. 


Travels down over the nose, over the mouth, over the ears, 
encircling you. Over the throat, engulfing the shoulders, traveling 
down the back body and the front body, over the bellybutton, 
over the hips, over the thighs, over the knees, over the calves, 
ankles, encircling your feet. See, sense, or imagine that this 
beautiful yellow light is like your own, personal cocoon-- a warm 
cocoon. 

And that cocoon travels down through your floor, down through 
the earth, down to the very center of the earth. And maybe 
there's something you need down that the earth can provide for 
you. Perhaps you need more peace and quiet. Perhaps you need 
more spaciousness. Perhaps you need a little time to yourself or a 
lot of time to yourself. 

See, sense, or imagine that yellow light spiraling at the center-- 
[AUDIO OUT] 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: Hello, all. This is Jacki. It looks like we lost 
Zoe. So we're just waiting for her to reconnect. 

[CHIMES RINGING SOFTLY] 

ZOE FLOWERS: She's back. 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: She's back. OK, no more of my voice now. 
[CHUCKLES] 


ZOE FLOWERS: OK, OK, OK. So we are back. And wherever you 
are, take a deep breath in through your nose. Relax it out 
through the mouth. Another deep breath in through the nose. 
Relax it out through the mouth. 

And I'm going to ask you to see, sense, or imagine that that 
yellow spiral that we had traveling from the top of our head to 
the center of the earth is put back in place. And so how do we do 
that? We start at the crown, closing the eyes, relaxing the 
shoulders. 

And we let that yellow light travel down over the eyes, down over 
the shoulders, down over the heart, down over the hips, down 
over the feet, down to the center of the earth. Keeping the 
breathing slow, telling the heart to slow down. 

See, sense, or imagine that whatever it is that you want to call 
in, or that you've already called in-- whether it's more peace, 
whether it's more love, whether it's more spaciousness, whether 
it's more humor-- see, sense, or imagine that that thing is 
present at the center of the earth. 

Putting whatever color you want to that thing, see, sense, or 
imagine it traveling upward. So if it's more peace, imagine that 
peace traveling upward. If it's more quiet, imagine that quiet 
traveling upward, up through the earth, up through the floor, up 
through the soles of the feet, through the ankles, filling the 


calves, traveling up to thighs, into the heart, up through the 
throat to the top of the head. 

See, sense, or imagine being completely filled with that thing that 
you need and that you desire. Taking a slow, intentional breath 
in, exhaling it out. [EXHALES] 

Settling, settling, settling, settling. And when you're ready, you 
want to bring your attention to the soles of your feet. And so 
maybe you just wiggle your toes a little bit. Maybe you wiggle the 
fingers. 

Bringing your attention back to the sounds of the room, the 
smells of your home. Having awareness of your breath again. 
Thinking about what day it is. Knowing that you can return to this 
feeling at any moment. 

And so when you're ready, I'm going to invite you to slowly open 
your eyes. And we're going to take our left ear, and we're going 
to let it drop over our left shoulder, giving us some space on the 
right side of the neck. Letting the right shoulder drop down, away 
from the ear. 

Bringing the head back to center, taking the right ear, letting it 
drop over the right shoulder. Letting the left shoulder drop away 
from the left ear. Bringing it back to center. 


This time, taking a deep breath in as we bring the left ear over 
the left shoulder. Deep breath in, left ear over left shoulder. 
Exhale out. Head back to center. Deep breath in, right ear over 
right shoulder. Exhale. Head back to center. Last time, left ear 
over left shoulder on the inhale. Exhale. Head back to center. 
Last time on the right side. Inhale, right ear over right shoulder. 
Exhale, bringing it back to center. 

Now taking the head in a full circular motion, counterclockwise. 
Bringing the head back to center. Exhale, bringing the head 
counter-clockwise. Bringing the head back to center. 

Now we're going to take our shoulders, and we're going to bring 
our shoulders up to our ears, right. So we're going to raise our 
ears all the way up and drop them. Raise our shoulders all the 
way up to our ears and drop them. Raise our shoulders all the 
way up to our ears and drop them. 

Taking a collective deep breath in-- [INHALES] 

--exhaling out. [EXHALES] 

Putting our arms out in front of us. Stretching our arms out. 
Giving ourselves an embrace. Bringing it in tighter if that is 
possible. Turning our head over our left shoulder. Bringing it back 
to center. Turning our head over our right shoulder. Bringing it 
back to center. Bringing our arms down by the side. 


And if you're still-- so many of us carry tension in the back of our 
neck-- and so you can take your right hand, put it over your left 
ear, and bring your head down a little further over the right side. 
Bringing it back to center. Left hand over the right ear, bringing 
the head over to the left. This side is very tight for me. And then 
bringing it back to center. 

And then you can take both hands, hook them around the back of 
the head, elbows together, bringing the elbow down to the heart, 
stretching out the top of the spine, and bringing it back to center. 

Giving yourself a deep bow of gratitude, hands in prayer position. 
Giving yourself some gratitude, as we always do, for showing up 
anyway, for doing the work anyway. Deep breath in. Exhale out. 
Thanking yourself for showing up, for hanging out, for hanging on 
the line, for sticking with it every single day. And when you're 
ready, let your hands drop down by your side. [SIGHS HAPPILY] 

And so that is what we have for today. If folks want to put some 
questions in the chat just quickly, I want to make sure that we 
have time for that. If there's any specific questions that you 
have, we'll be back next Wednesday. 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: This is Jacki. Thanks so much, Zoe. We are 
at time. And I want to be mindful of everyone's time. But if folks 
have questions, they can also connect with you directly. They can 


find your contact details on the reachingvictims.org website. Or, 
Zoe, you can put your email maybe in the chat quickly. 

ZOE FLOWERS: Yup. 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: All of the recordings from the sessions are at 
reachingvictims.org. And we will have another live session next 
Wednesday. 

ZOE FLOWERS: Yes, we will be back next week. 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: Yes. And if you want to connect with Zoe 
directly, it's info@iamzoeflowers.com-- info@iamzoeflowers.com. 

ZOE FLOWERS: And it's also "iamzoeflowers" on Facebook and 
Instagram. So you can feel free to reach out to me. 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: Yeah. 

ZOE FLOWERS: There are some questions about how folks can 
sign up for next week. I'm sure there'll be an email that goes out 
by the Vera team. 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: Reachingvictims.org website, into the Events 
section, you will find a link to registration there. 

ZOE FLOWERS: And I'll see y'all next week. 

JACKI CHERNICOFF: OK. Thank you. 


ZOE FLOWERS: Thank you all so much.