Recreating Songlines
from Trauma Trails
Reflecting on a gathering where Indigenous wisdom, Somatic Experiencing®,
story, movement and relationship came together in a shared exploration
of healing and connection.
A Shared Experience
Healing through story, body, relationship and Country
In April 2026, people gathered at Lake Ainsworth on Bundjalung Country
for three days of story, movement, ceremony, reflection and connection.
Recreating Songlines from Trauma Trails brought together
Indigenous knowledge holders and trauma practitioners in an experience
centred on the relational, embodied and cultural dimensions of healing.
Rather than approaching trauma only through what has happened to an
individual, the gathering invited a broader question: what becomes
possible when healing also includes our relationships, our bodies,
our stories, community, culture and Country?
Held by Country
More than a place to gather
Lake Ainsworth was not simply a venue for the weekend. The surrounding
environment created space to slow down, orient, listen and notice.
The gathering moved between shared spaces and the natural environment,
continually returning participants to relationship with the world around them.
This reflected one of the deeper ideas woven throughout the weekend:
healing does not necessarily happen in isolation. It can emerge through
relationship — with ourselves, with other people, with culture,
community and Country.
Healing can ask us not only to understand our story, but to notice
what the body, our relationships and the world around us are communicating.
Two-Eyed Seeing
Different ways of knowing, meeting in respect
A central thread of Recreating Songlines from Trauma Trails was a
Two-Eyed Seeing approach — creating space for
different knowledge systems to meet without reducing one into the other.
01
Indigenous knowledge
Storywork, culture, Country, ceremony and Aboriginal ways of
knowing, being and doing formed an important foundation for
the gathering.
02
Somatic practice
Somatic Experiencing® brought attention to physiology,
nervous-system responses, movement and the body’s innate
capacity to move towards regulation.
Embodied Healing
Listening to what the body already knows
Somatic Experiencing® offers a body-oriented way of working with
trauma and stress.
Instead of focusing only on the narrative of an experience,
attention can also be given to sensation, movement, activation,
settling and the responses of the nervous system.
At Lake Ainsworth, this sat within a much larger relational
and cultural context.
Across the Weekend
A journey through story, body and connection
The program was designed as a progression rather than a series
of disconnected presentations. Participants moved through
practices, conversation and experiences exploring safety,
story, grief, identity and reconnection.
Establishing safety
Ceremony, orientation, movement and shared practice helped
establish the relational foundations of the gathering.
Country holds the space
Country and relationship remained central to understanding
the wider contexts in which healing takes place.
Listening to the body
Somatic practices brought attention to regulation,
physiological responses and embodied experience.
Finding our stories
Story, dialogue and reflection created opportunities
for experiences to be heard and understood.
Moving with what is felt
Movement and embodied practice helped participants
explore feeling, grief, loss and choice.
Returning to wholeness
Reflection, identity, connection and closing practice
brought the shared journey towards completion.
Beyond the Individual
Healing happens in relationship
Our nervous systems do not exist separately from the people
and environments around us.
Families, communities, workplaces, schools, cultural systems
and relationships can all influence how safety and connection
are experienced.
Trauma-informed practice is therefore not only about the tools
used with an individual. It is also about the conditions
created around them.
The Lake Ainsworth gathering invited participants to experience
this relational understanding rather than simply discuss it.
What We Carry Forward
Respect. Reciprocity. Relationship. Renewal.
These principles offer something important to carry beyond one
gathering. They ask us to consider not just what we know about
trauma, but how we show up in relationship with the people whose
experiences we are invited to witness.
They remind us to listen carefully, honour different ways of knowing,
recognise the importance of culture and Country, and create conditions
where people can experience greater choice, dignity and connection.
Recreating Songlines from Trauma Trails
What happens when we make space to listen differently?
The gathering at Lake Ainsworth brought people together around
a shared exploration of trauma and healing that extended beyond
any single model, profession or way of understanding.
Across story, ceremony, movement, conversation and embodied practice,
participants were invited to consider healing as something relational,
cultural and collective — as well as deeply personal.
It was an invitation to listen to the body, to one another and
to Country, and to continue asking how we can create spaces where
connection and restoration are possible.
