Developmental Trauma Training Institute

01/15/2026

🌱 Three New Ways to Go Deeper with Developmental Trauma Training Institute 🌱

We’re excited to share three new opportunities designed to support you - not just as a practitioner, but as a human doing deeply relational work in complex times.

✨ Conversations with DTTI: A Monthly Gathering ✨️

A soft-landing space where practitioners gather each month to slow down, breathe, and explore the themes that shape the human story.

For 1.5 hours, we step into conversation - to explore what it means to hold space for healing. Each month focuses on a different topic woven into developmental trauma work: the tenderness of attachment wounds, the quiet pulse of resilience, the ache of shame, the protective brilliance of addiction, the way the body remembers and longs to free itself.

🛠 Digging Roots Advanced Integration Labs 🛠

A full-day immersive experience for Digging Roots–trained practitioners. These Labs are a one-day, hybrid (online and in person) experiential opportunity designed specifically for Digging Roots trained practitioners that want to deepen their skill, confidence, and clinical fluency with the model.

This Lab is about integration, not performance. It’s a space to practice, make mistakes, get support, and grow your clinical intuition inside the Digging Roots approach—with other practitioners who speak the same language.

🌿 Digging Roots Masterclasses 🌿

An advanced experience for Digging Roots trained practitioners who want to move beyond following a model and into truly attuned, responsive, artful clinical work.

These masterclasses focus on the clinical craft of layering and sequencing interventions—learning how to draw from multiple techniques and frameworks based on what the nervous system and attachment system are telling you in the moment.

This is where Digging Roots becomes less about steps and more about clinical listening, timing, dosing, and precision.

❤️ Join us to deepen your connection with yourself, your clients, your work, and your community.

Because this work was never meant to be done alone. ❤️

01/13/2026

Shame is a deep, visceral emotion—something we feel in the body long before we have words for it. Rooted in early experiences, shame can resurface again and again when the conditions are right, shaping how we relate to ourselves and others. In this Facebook Live with Steve Sawyer, we explore how shame forms, how it shows up, and what it means to meet it with awareness and compassion rather than avoidance.

If this resonates, watch the video and consider joining the Shame talk this Friday Jan 16 and/or the 3 day Shame course to deepen your understanding and support real integration.

Virtual Shame Talk with Steve and Josh: Jan 16: https://www.eventzilla.net/e/shame-the-land-between-living-and-dying-webinar--15-hours-2138677409

Virtual Shame Course, March 27-29: https://www.eventzilla.net/e/shame-the-land-between-living-and-dying--online-training-event-2138677752

01/13/2026

Let’s talk about shame — and why it so often makes therapy feel stuck.

If you’ve ever thought, “We keep circling the same material… why aren’t we moving?” there’s a good chance shame is sitting at the center of the work.

In developmental trauma, shame isn’t just a belief to challenge — it’s structural. It lives in the nervous system and in identity. It shows up as collapse, numbing, perfectionism, compliance, or “I understand this, but nothing changes.”

Shame is also great at hiding. It often gets mislabeled as resistance, lack of motivation, or “not ready.”

When shame is running the show, we often get:
👉 Insight without movement.
👉 Skills without embodiment.
👉 Awareness without real change.

And as clinicians, we start to feel ineffective, over-responsible, or stuck too.

Shame doesn’t heal because it’s argued with or challenged.

It heals when the nervous system experiences something different in relationship.

If your work feels stuck, it may not mean you’re failing.

It may mean you’re touching something very important.

And shame is guarding it.

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Want to learn more about working with Shame? Tune in today to Trauma Responsive Tuesdays Facebook Live and hear from Steve Sawyer

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Looking for a deeper dive? Enroll in our upcoming Shame: The Land between Living and Dying Webinar

01/12/2026

It’s okay to admit it: sometimes we lose ourselves in the work of helping others.

For practitioners, this disconnection is part of the arc — the journey of learning to be in and holding space with others without losing touch with yourself. You might notice it as exhaustion, going through the motions, or feeling numb in your work.

Simply noticing it is a crucial step. Coming back to your body and your felt experience strengthens your presence, deepens connection, and allows you to show up more fully for those you serve.

Embodiment is how we stay effective in our work.

Explore the full reflection on this part of the practitioner arc here:
Read the blog → https://openviewyoga.home.blog/2025/12/31/listening-from-the-inside/

Or take the next step in your practitioner arc with our training: https://www.openviewyoga.com/services-5

01/09/2026

There's been so much excitement around our 2026 Developmental Trauma courses and trainings, we thought we'd give folks a road map to help with your planning!!!

🚗 Road 1 - THIS IS FOR YOU IF YOU'RE NOT A BRAINSPOTTING TRAINED PRACTITIONER - if you're not a Brainspotting practitioner, but still want to dig into the roots of understanding developmental trauma, our online cohort course Digging Roots Foundations is for you

📅 Digging Roots Foundations 0.5 https://share.google/vwqo7iYkZCoo7X81v

📌 this course has online training modules that you work through plus live meetings with Steve and your cohort to integrate the material

📌 FULL of mind-blowing data, research, and material on Developmental Trauma AND ways to incorporate this wisdom into your work and/or life

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🚗 Road 2 - THIS IS FOR YOU IF YOU'VE BEEN BRAINSPOTTING PHASE 1 TRAINED - if you're a Brainspotting practitioner and looking to use Brainspotting to get to the roots of Developmental Trauma with your clients, we've got a couple opportunities for a bundle of Digging Roots Foundations 0.5 + Digging Roots 1.0

📅 Hawaii; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/bATKT8Rf6cJ203dS0

📅 Los Angeles; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/OS5VnkHma5hfZE2Jq

📅 Indianapolis IN; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/mnVy6S9HNkYLKw8Jg

📅 San Francisco Area; Foundations .5 & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/5ISc7BXg43CiIiWbk

📅 Asheville NC: Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/uV9V1c77VGs3Bx08s

📅 South Dakota; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/6qcdadi1krn6l83qQ

📅 Bozeman MT; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/WQWSbEJhf4spuIXD4

📅 Los Angeles; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/GWyMdb8VnGAoXBOp8

📌 you get BOTH the online Foundations 0.5 course to complete before the In person training + the In person Digging Roots 1.0

📌 absolutely a practice-changing combo!!!

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BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE 🙄🤣

🚗 Road 3 - THIS ROAD IS FOR YOU IF YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN TRAINED IN DIGGING ROOTS 0.5 AND DIGGING ROOTS 1.0 - if you've already started your Digging Roots journey, we have two opportunities for Digging Deeper 2.0

📅 Digging Roots 2.0: Digging Deeper - Dayton Ohio Area - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/3VMsXhZv8TIgtIQ1J

📅 Digging Roots 2.0: Digging Deeper - Los Angeles CA area - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/OepBDhGJsjWmZvBgL

📌 the ultimate way to deepen your practice, integrate the techniques - more demos and practices!!!

We hope to see you soon!!!

01/08/2026

Brainspotting practitioners: your work goes even deeper when you understand developmental trauma.

Brainspotting is powerful because it accesses subcortical, procedural memory — the places where trauma actually lives in the nervous system.

But here’s the thing:
🧠 Much of what shows up in the brain is developmental, not event-based.

When clients have histories of early attachment wounds, chronic misattunement, or long-term stress in childhood, what you’re tracking in a Brainspot isn’t just “a memory” — you’re often working with:
✨️Deeply wired survival strategies
✨️Early nervous system adaptations
✨️Implicit beliefs about safety, connection, and worth
✨️Patterns that formed before language

Without a developmental trauma lens, it’s easy to:
😕 Misread patterns of protection as resistance
😕 Move too fast for a nervous system built on early threat
😕 Miss the attachment story organizing the symptoms
😕 Or misattune to activation and reinforce activation avoidance

With a developmental trauma framework, you start to:
✔️ Spot when you’re working with symptoms of developmental trauma
✔️ Better pace and dose your Brainspotting work
✔️ Understand why some clients need more or less resourcing, more titration, more relational safety
✔️ Work more precisely with shame, attachment injuries, and long-standing patterns

Brainspotting shows you where the nervous system is holding something.

Developmental trauma theory helps you understand why it’s there — and how it got organized in the first place.

When you integrate both, your work becomes not just deeper… but safer, more effective, and more sustainable for both you and your clients.

👉 check out our video "Why Digging Roots" at https://youtu.be/HBNqmgfhH4U?feature=shared

📅 NEXT OPPORTUNITY - Digging Roots Foundations 0.5 & Digging Roots Fundamentals 1.0 in Hawaii🥳🥳

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

01/07/2026

Thank you so much, Angela Gabriel Hasert, for your kind words!!!

We've got good news...

🥳🥳 There are multiple ways to engage with Digging Roots in 2026 🥳🥳

👉 if you're not a Brainspotting practitioner, but still want to dig into the roots of understanding developmental trauma, our online cohort course Digging Roots Foundations is for you

📅 Digging Roots 0.5 Foundations https://share.google/vwqo7iYkZCoo7X81v

👉 if you're a Brainspotting practitioner and looking to use Brainspotting to get to the roots of Developmental Trauma with your clients, we've got a couple opportunities for Digging Roots 1.0

📅 Hawaii; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/bATKT8Rf6cJ203dS0

📅 Los Angeles; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/OS5VnkHma5hfZE2Jq

📅 Indianapolis IN; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/mnVy6S9HNkYLKw8Jg

📅 San Francisco Area; Foundations .5 & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/5ISc7BXg43CiIiWbk

📅 Asheville NC: Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/uV9V1c77VGs3Bx08s

📅 South Dakota; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/6qcdadi1krn6l83qQ

📅 Bozeman MT; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/WQWSbEJhf4spuIXD4

📅 Los Angeles; Digging Roots Foundations & In Person Digging Roots 1.0 - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/GWyMdb8VnGAoXBOp8

👉 if you've already started your Digging Roots journey, we have two opportunities for Digging Deeper 2.0

📅 Digging Roots 2.0: Digging Deeper - Dayton Ohio Area - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/3VMsXhZv8TIgtIQ1J

📅 Digging Roots 2.0: Digging Deeper - Los Angeles CA area - Powered by Eventzilla https://share.google/OepBDhGJsjWmZvBgL

We hope to see you soon!!!

01/06/2026

Addiction isn’t about willpower or failure—it’s deeply connected to how our nervous system learned to survive.

When our system lives in chronic stress, overwhelm, or shutdown, it looks for regulation wherever it can find it. Substances, behaviors, numbing—these aren’t random. They’re the nervous system saying, “I need relief. I need something to feel okay, even for a moment.”

For many, addiction starts as an attempt to self-soothe when safety, connection, or support weren’t consistently available. Over time, what once helped regulate can create more dysregulation—more shame, more disconnection, more threat.

Here’s the truth:
👉 Nothing is wrong with you.
👉 Your system adapted the best way it knew how.

Healing and understanding come from learning new ways to feel safe, grounded, and connected—whether you’re on your own journey of recovery, or a professional supporting others.

✨If this resonates, our Cut From the Herd training is on demand, with integration cohorts starting in February. It’s designed for professionals and those seeking healing, helping you understand developmental trauma, nervous system regulation, and practical approaches to recovery: https://courses.dtti.co/cut-from-the-herd-guided-practitioner-cohort-1

01/06/2026

Join Steve Sawyer this morning for Trauma-Responsive Tuesdays 🤍
8:00 AM PT
A real, heart-centered conversation about trauma and healing, offering thoughtful insights and grounded perspectives for clinicians and others walking alongside healing work, rooted in connection, care, and our shared humanity.
Hope to see you!

01/05/2026

In trauma-informed work, we’re trained in countless modalities — These tools matter. They help us guide, support, and hold space. But there is one element that deeply influences how all of these tools land:

The practitioner’s embodied presence.

Embodiment isn’t a bonus skill or an advanced concept. It is the foundation that allows every method to work the way it’s meant to — and it’s what helps practitioners stay resourced, connected, and steady.

Yet most practitioners were never taught how to cultivate embodiment for themselves in a structured, supportive way.

This matters more than we realize…..
Keep Reading: https://openviewyoga.home.blog/2026/01/05/embodiment-as-a-professional-tool-why-your-presence-shapes-the-outcome/

01/05/2026

Shame rarely announces itself.
It shows up in the way we hold our breath, the way our shoulders round, the stories we tell ourselves about being “too much” or “not enough.”

Shame is one of the most powerful forces shaping how we relate to ourselves, our bodies, and others—and yet it often lives just below the surface.

In this 1.5-hour live webinar, Josh and Steve gently unpack:
• Where shame comes from (early attachment, family systems, culture, trauma)
• How shame shows up somatically—in posture, breath, voice, and nervous system states
• Trauma-informed, body-based ways to safely explore shame with clients
• How to meet shame with more clarity, compassion, and skill

This talk is designed for therapists, coaches, and helping professionals who want to understand shame beyond concepts—and work with it in a way that feels ethical, embodied, and human.

✨ You’ll also receive an overview of their in-depth 3-day Main Course, plus a $75 discount toward enrollment as a thank-you for attending.

If shame is something you encounter—in your work or your own lived experience—this conversation matters.

👉 Register for The Shame Talk and join us live : https://www.eventzilla.net/e/shame-the-land-between-living-and-dying-webinar--15-hours-2138677409