TEAO - Trauma and Embodiment Association of Ontario, Kitchener, ON (2026)

03/21/2026

Educational Resource: Why it’s Important to Unpack.

Unpacking this matters because real systemic change isn’t just about improving services—it’s about shifting power.

When systems are built on control, compliance, or hierarchy, they often recreate the very harm they claim to address, especially for those already marginalized or traumatized. The moment we move from “power over” to “power with,” we begin restoring agency, dignity, and choice—core conditions for healing. This shift challenges dominant models that prioritize authority over lived experience, and instead invites collaboration, trust, and community-led solutions. Without examining this, we risk calling something “healing” that still quietly disempowers people; with it, we create systems that don’t just treat harm, but actively stop reproducing it.

03/19/2026

SOLD OUT.

But this was never about numbers.

Gathering of Sharings, a day rooted in collective care, embodied rest, and awakened healing. This gathering is part of the Collective Care Series, offering a community-centered space where people can reconnect with themselves and one another through gentle practices, creativity, reflection, and shared presence.

A ‘Gathering of Sharings’ is about
coming home to self,
to each other,
to the parts of us that have been waiting to be felt.

We’re ready to hold, witness, and be in this together.

See you in the space 🌿

03/17/2026

There is something deeply powerful about seeing our own step into facilitation.

This is what it looks like when healing is not just taught… but lived, shared, and returned to community. ♥️

At TEAO Canada, our Peer Support Personnel are not just participants of learning — they are leaders, space holders, and bridges of trust. When they facilitate in community spaces like this, it reflects what we believe at our core: that care becomes most impactful when it is led by those who understand it, embody it, and come from within the community itself.

This matters — not just to us, but to the systems and funders we are working to shift.

✨ It demonstrates capacity building — equipping community members with skills that extend beyond a single program
✨ It reflects sustainable impact — where knowledge is not extracted, but circulated
✨ It centres culturally responsive, community-led care — which we know creates deeper engagement and lasting change

And most importantly… it reminds us that healing spaces don’t need to be imported — they already exist within us.

Learn more here: https://www.teaocanada.com/peer-led-services-directory
—

Repost from
•
Find your balance through movement, breath, and community. ✨🧘🏾‍♀️

Join us for Mind-Body Movement with Varsha Gobin, a 6-week session designed to support your physical and mental well-being. Whether you’re new to mindful movement or looking to reconnect with your body, this space is for you.

📅 Fridays | April 10 – May 15
⏰ 12 PM – 2 PM
📍 Victoria Hills Community Centre, Kitchener

Come move, stretch, and recharge in a supportive community environment.

03/15/2026

What is Somatic Peer Support? (we get this question a lot at our community info-booths) 🫶🏾♥️

One question we often receive at TEAO Canada is whether people are expected to share details of their trauma in our Somatic Peer Support groups.

The answer is no.

Our Somatic Peer Support space is not designed for recounting traumatic experiences. Instead, it focuses on helping participants build awareness of their nervous system and develop practical tools for regulation and self-support.

The group centers on body-based practices, reflection, and community presence rather than storytelling.

In these sessions, participants explore:

• Practical tools for nervous system regulation
• Building self-awareness and embodied resilience
• Experiencing community support without pressure to disclose personal trauma
• Gentle grounding, breath, and body-based awareness practices

Participants are always invited to share reflections if they wish, but sharing personal trauma is never expected.

Sometimes the most supportive environment is one where people can simply show up, learn tools, and practice being present in their bodies alongside others.

Many participants find that practicing these tools together helps them feel less alone while strengthening their capacity to care for themselves in everyday life.

If you’re curious about our Somatic Peer Support spaces, you can learn more about TEAO’s community offerings here:
https://lnkd.in/gFQr3xvb

03/11/2026

What if securing your place in Costa Rica only cost $10 today?

We are opening 10 Founding Doors for the next Collective Pause Retreat — and the first ten participants can reserve their space with a $10 deposit & claim your gift 🎁

You asked. We’ve heard you. Accessibility to Care in our travel retreats.

A door is opening.

Before we finalize the venue for our next Collective Pause Retreat in Costa Rica, we are opening 10 Founding Doors for those who feel called to step in first.

At TEAO Canada, our retreats are not about escaping life. They are about returning to ourselves.
Returning to the body. Returning to breath. Returning to a pace where healing and community can actually meet.

For the past two retreats shared in Costa Rica, we have witnessed something powerful when people gather in intentional spaces of trauma-informed care, embodied practice, and collective rest.

So this year, we are inviting 10 founding participants to help open the door.

Founding Door Offer 💫
The first 10 people can secure their retreat space with a $10 founding deposit.
Once the first 10 doors are claimed, the retreat moves to the standard $100 deposit to reserve your spot.

All retreat registrations and travel coordination are being supported through our travel partner IslaBlu Travel.

We also recognize that accessibility matters. Flexible payment arrangements are available, because healing spaces should not only exist for those who can afford them easily.

🌿 Collective Pause Retreat Includes
• Trauma-informed embodiment practices • Nervous system restoration & regulation • Collective care circles • Time for rest, reflection, and nature • A small intentional retreat community • Ocean, movement, and spaciousness

🚪Founding Doors are open now
When the first 10 doors are claimed, the retreat container and venue will be finalized.
If something in you is feeling the call to pause, trust that.

DM “PAUSE” or visit the link in our bio to learn more.

Sometimes the most powerful step is simply allowing yourself to slow down — together.
— TEAO Canada

       

03/06/2026

BIG NEWS, COMMUNITY… WE’RE DOING IT AGAIN. 📣

In 2022, TEAO officially launched with a simple but powerful belief: healing happens in community.

We weren’t just talking about change. We were gathering it, dancing it, laughing it, and embodying it together.

From samba rhythms to shared stories, that night carried the spirit of what TEAO would become — a living, breathing community rooted in collective care, peer support, and embodied healing.

Since then, that same energy has rippled outward through: ✨ youth lead spaces  ✨ trauma-responsive peer trainings ✨ healing retreats ✨ community circles ✨ partnerships across Ontario

And now…

We are coming back together again.

📣TEAO Celebration of Hearts & Spirit Gala 📣 📍 Cambridge, Ontario 📅 June 20, 2026 🕔 5:30PM (doors open)– Evening Celebration to Follow

A night of humanity, laughter, fashion, music, ceremony, and connection as we gather to celebrate the hearts & spirit of community.

This time we are bringing it home locally — while welcoming guests traveling in from across the province.
 Hotel accommodations are already arranged for those joining us from out of town, option.

This is more than a gala. It is a reunion of hearts.

A moment to pause, celebrate, and remember:
We are one. We are community. We are the work.

🎟 Tickets are now available (Link in bio) or [https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/teao-celebration-of-hearts-spirit-gala-tickets-1984088305532?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl]

Come alone. Bring friends. Bring your partner. Bring your heart.
Let’s gather again.

         CommunityHealing

03/04/2026

I know how to derive a function.... but not how to set clear boundaries

What They Don’t Teach in Class is a youth focused evening at Café Clementina hosted by TEAO. Youth teaching youth about their experiences on real-life topics we’re all navigating — work, relationships, money, burnout, confidence, and everything in between.

The night will include:
• Short, relatable talks from youth speakers
• Open conversations and audience interaction
• Music + a relaxed café atmosphere
• Food and a small giveaway

Bring a friend and join us to share honest insights and lived experiences.

📍 Café Clementina ()– 17 Benton St, Kitchener
📅 March 21
⏰ 5–8 PM
🎟 Free Entry (Limited seating available)

REGISTER USING LINK IN BIO**

Interested in speaking? DM us or reach out to Nicole directly at nicole@teaocanada.com

Thank you to this amazing community cafe for hosting this event as support to TEAO Canada initiatives and mission towards community care in the Region, especially for our youth 🫶🏾♥️

03/03/2026

This Week at TEAO Canada 🫶🏾♥️

On Wednesday, we gather again in community.

Our Trauma-Informed Care Circle is happening this week - a space rooted in trauma-responsive, peer support practice.

Cambridge Public Library - Hespeler Branch
5 Tannery St. East, Cambridge, ON
Wednesday, March 4 6:45 PM - 8:00 PM

These circles are non-clinical, community-based peer support spaces. They are not therapy sessions and not support groups in the traditional sense. They are structured, consent-centered spaces to slow down, reflect, and be in community without pressure to perform healing.

If you or someone in your network is navigating stress, overwhelm, or simply seeking grounded connection, you are welcome.

Registration is open here:
link in bio or https://linktr.ee/TEAOCanada (Trauma-Informed Circles: Peer Support Spaces)

We look forward to holding space midweek.

CollectiveHealing

02/24/2026

This!!! We This ❤️❤️♥️

Reposted from .kaizen

In the 1970s, a teacher named Maharishi Mahesh Yogi proposed something most people would laugh at:

That a small group of people sitting in silence could influence the emotional climate of an entire city.

So, researchers actually tested it.

In several U.S. cities, they gathered groups of people trained in Transcendental Meditation and had them meditate daily for a set window of time. Then they tracked measurable, real-world indicators in the city:
• crime rates
• violent incidents
• accident reports
• hospital admissions

The prediction was simple:

If roughly 1% of a population meditates consistently, the collective stress of the area begins to drop.

… during the meditation windows, something strange happened:

Crime rates dropped.
Reports of violent incidents dropped.
Reports of accidental emergencies decreased… all significantly.

Now, this isn’t me saying “meditation magically controls society.

It doesn’t mean there aren’t other variables.
Even the researchers admitted it’s difficult to isolate human behaviour with perfect precision.

But the pattern was strong enough, and consistent enough, that it made both scientists and skeptics pause.

Because whether you believe in “energy fields” or not… we all know one truth:

Humans affect each other.
spreads like a virus.
But so does calm.

So when you regulate your system, you ripple that regulation into your home, your relationships, your environment.
And when groups of people do that together? The ripple gets bigger.

That’s the heart of the Maharishi Effect:

Your meditation doesn’t heal you.
It stabilises you, aswell as the space you’re part of.
It becomes an act of love, quietly benefiting people who may never know your name but will feel the difference in the air around them.

You don’t have to believe every claim.
You just have to acknowledge what you already feel:

A person at peace changes a room.
A community at peace changes a city.
A city at peace changes a country…
And a country at peace? Is free.

And it all starts with a single breath. 🧘🏾

____

02/20/2026

He’s Five Years Old. Never too Young to Teach ♥️

Learn Black History so We Can Unlearn the History You Were Taught: Collective Healing Edition 🫶🏾

TEAO Canada Educational Corner: ⬇️

If you were raised inside systems shaped by whiteness, the history you were taught was never neutral. It centered comfort over truth, omission over honesty, and control over humanity. To learn Black history is to unlearn the distortions that quietly shaped unconscious bias, stereotypes, and the narrow lens many of us inherited.

Embodied Learnings:

Unlearning matters because Black History Month was never meant to be a single chapter of pain or a 28-day pause. It exists because Black life has always been full, expansive, and alive-celebrated 365 days a year. When we unlearn, we stop relating to Blackness only through trauma and begin to feel the truth of Black joy, creativity, intelligence, wisdom, love, brilliance, dignity, resilience, and legacy. This is not about guilt. It’s about responsibility. And relationship. And becoming honest about what was kept from us.

Black History Month is about Black joy, Black intelligence, Black wisdom, Black strength, Black creativity, Black love, Black excellence, Black hope, Black dignity, Black determination, Black perseverance, Black resilience, Black brilliance, and Blac legacy.

And no matter how much people try to erase it-this seems to remain true.

Embodied Equity:
Unlearning is not a loss.
It’s a return to truth.

reel content:

02/18/2026

This Week at TEAO Canada ♥️

Two opportunities to gather in trauma-responsive, community-rooted peer support spaces.

Wednesday, February 18
6:45 PM – 8:00 PM
Cambridge Public Library – Hespeler Branch
5 Tannery St. East, Cambridge, ON

Trauma-Informed Care Circle

A free, non-clinical peer support space for those navigating stress, overwhelm, grief, or transition. These circles are grounded in trauma-responsive care and nervous system awareness.

There is no pressure to share, fix, or perform. You are welcome exactly as you are.

Register here:
https://lnkd.in/eZJAJRM2

Sunday, February 22
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
The Branches
9 Samuel Street, Kitchener, ON

Collective Care Series

An embodied, community-based space focused on relational care, regulation, and strengthening how we show up for ourselves and others.

Care is not just something we talk about. It is something we practice together.

Register here:
https://linktr.ee/TEAOCanada or link in bio.

At TEAO Canada, mental health support is relational. It happens in community, through consent, and with attention to embodied safety.

If this feels aligned for you or someone in your network, we welcome you.

MentalHealthSupport

TEAO - Trauma and Embodiment Association of Ontario

03/21/2026

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