Day 1 - Self-Injury Awareness Day

March 1st is Self-Injury Awareness Day 

"Self harm is an unspoken issue in the wider community and in particular has a higher incidence with people who have suffered trauma or suffer from mental illness.

This video is meant to help break down the stigma and explain the reasons why people do it. Dr. George Forgan-Smith speaks about self-harm, what it is, why people do it, and how to work through it."





This amazing video was shared with Borderline by Mason Jefferies. 


Materials: ice cube, washcloth/paper towel/towel 

Set up: Once you've gathered your materials,  find a place to sit, where you feel comfortable and are able to ground. Spend a few moments getting in your body. Notice you're feet on the ground, follow your breath in and out. Let yourself be in sensation. 

Practice: Observe  and Describe** the ice. Take the ice cube and hold it in your hand. Observe how the ice feels in your hand, notice any other body sensation. Run the ice, softly, over your wrist. Stay in sensation and remain connected to your body. If your mind wanders, gently bring yourself back to the practice at hand.  When the ice is melted, dry yourself off one mindfully. Notice the texture of the towel. When you're finished thank your body. 


* Observing is sensing or experiencing without describing or labeling the experience. It is noticing or attending to something.

** Describing is using words to represent what you observe. Describing is “just the facts.” Judging is labeling something in an evaluative way

31 Days of Body Centered Mindfulness

I'm starting a 31 Days Challenge, on Borderline. The focus is on Body Centered Mindfulness. The intent is to, "Get in Your Body."  

What is Body Centered Mindfulness? 

Body Centered Mindfulness is my  way of saying, do something somatic one mindfully. For me it also fuses ideas from Nia and DBT. It's a blend of Nia's body awareness  paying attention to sensation and DBT's Mindfulness and Distress Tolerance skills.  

What exactly do I have to do to be apart of the challenge? 

Honestly,  that is up to you. To give you a better idea,  I'll be doing: 

•  Nia's 7 Minute Workout 
• Honoring my body, and my addiction to soda and other sweet drinks, by only drinking water and  Kombucha for 31 Days. 
• Embodying the routine Passion 
• Sharing a Body Centered Mindfulness everybody can do once a day.
• Cheering on other people doing the challenge. 

I invite you to spend some time to decided what you want  out of the challenge and and share it with all of us. This is a chance for you to commit to your body and have support for an amazing community to remain accountable and connected to your goal. 

Who can do the challenge? 

Just like everybody can do Nia, everybody can do this challenge. 

How do I get involved? 

Step One:  Like the facebook page, here. I'll be using facebook to post the daily updates. (You can also subscribe to my youtube channel here to be the first to get video updates.)

Step Two: Check in with facebook * (daily or as often as you feel comfortable) and tag @Borderline so that I, and other people from the challenge, can cheer you on.  &/or If you prefer you can leave a comment (or a link to your blog post or video) on Borderline every day sharing what you've been doing. 

Step Three: Cheer other people on. Connect with community. Leave comments. Share ** the challenge with people. Help me shine the light! 

* If you don't use facebook - you are welcome to use other social media. If you don't use social media you can email me  (and with your permission I'll share them with the community) and I'll cheer you on!  

** Hash tags for the challenge are: #31Days #GetInYourBody #Borderline.K 

When is this starting? 

I'm starting March 1st, but you can start whenever you need too. Don't worry about missing a day. If you aren't in a place where you can do something Body Centered that day, honor your needs. The challenge will be here when you're ready. You can always cheer other people on. 

Why are you doing this? 

I was inspired by Nia's new campaign, "Get In Your Body," and my desire to remain on my journey to dance through life as I create a life worth living, I mentioned on facebook that I was playing with the idea of doing another 31 Challenge. This time the focus would be on the body. The response was overwhelming positive and I'm grateful for that.  

I've spent the last 6 months in Texas working on my body. It was an amazing to have such a supportive community and to have the space to practice Nia daily. Now that I'm going "home" I want to keep honoring my body, and I want to maintain (and grow) my connection with community. 

In December, inspired by my aunt, I said I wanted to shine my light on Borderline. I had gotten shy about sharing, and I had lost sight of why I created Borderline in the first place. I wanted a map of my recovery, I wanted to be the brave and fearless person who was honest about the road I walked. I wanted to inspire others. 

In January, motivated by Helen Terry's 28 Day Challenge, I did a 31 Days of Mindfulness Challenge. Having to be accountable, and knowing that people were cheering me on, really helped me stay on track and made me brave enough to share again. I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started the challenge or where it was going. It ended up leading to me making youtube videos, writing a blog post for the first time in ages, connecting with new and old friends on a deeper level, a greater connection with myself, a new project, and more stability in my mental health. Plus now I have a map of 31 Days that I, or anyone else can start, whenever we need too. 

I don't know where this is challenge is going either but I'm excited about it. Here's to another map!  

Day 28

Today's mindfulness is inspired by my craving for: "awesome crepes, grape soda & ginger beer (mixed)." I find cravings challenging and it's harder for me to practice mindfulness when I have one. My tendency is either to go out and get whatever I'm craving or I ended up eating mindlessly everything else around me. I often find if I let myself get whatever 'fix' I need, I'm less likely to over eat or start bingeing. 

This isn't always the case and since I currently don't have away to get my 'fix' of any of the things I'm craving I thought I'd try something else to ease my gut-wrenching need. I went to the fridge and grabbed my trusty, shiny, red water bottle. Just the coolness was enough to start taking the edge off. I spent a few moments just observing the bottle in my hand, and then a few minutes describing the bottle and accompanying body sensations. When I felt grounded I opened the bottle, one mindfully, and started to drink the water. It was a refreshing experiences that has left me feeling very grounded. When I have a kick of the craving I take another slow, long drink of water. An when I finish this update I'm going to make myself a healthy and tasty dinner. 

Today's Mindfulness (Day 28 ~ 31 Days of Mindfulness) 

 Get yourself a drink of water. If you can pour the water into an interesting glass or mug. Spend a few minutes observing* and describing** the water and your glass. Pay attention to body sensations. When your ready slowly drink your water. Pause between sips to notice and observe the journey of the water from your glass, to your lips, and down your throat. 

If you don't enjoy the taste of water, I recommend this post from Helen Terry. She offers some helpful suggestions to make water more tasty and talks about the benefits of staying hydrated are. You can combine making your drink with this mindfulness.  

DBT Definitions

*Observing is sensing or experiencing without describing or labeling the experience.  It is noticing or attending to something.  The benefit of this practice is that the mind becomes quiet.  Eventually, you will be able to observe things without a running commentary of a talkative mind.  Preoccupation, rumination, distraction, and daydreaming are all examples of a talkative mind.   

**Describing is using words to represent what you observe.  Observing is just noticing and attending; there are no words. Describing is a reaction to observing; it is labeling what is observed.  Such acknowledgement is an expressed recognition of your experience. Describing is using words to represent what you observe.  Describing is “just the facts.”  Judging is labeling something in an evaluative way. 

You can read more about DBT What Skills here. 

One Mindfully

What is Mindfulness? 

Mindfulness has to do with the quality of awareness that we bring to what we are doing and experiencing, to being in the here and now.  It has to do with learning to focus on being in the present, to focusing our attention on what we are doing and what is happening in the present. We have to learn to control our attention. Many of us are distracted by images, thoughts and feelings of the past, perhaps dissociating, worrying about the future, negative moods and anxieties about the present.   It's hard to put these thing away and concentrate on the task at hand.

What is One-Mindfully? 

One-mindfulness skill is an effort to help us focus our attention on the here and now, to be able to absorb the information and take part in the present. It requires lots of practice and willingness to learn. Be patient with yourself.