Category: wellness

Healing Developmental Trauma Through Somatics: Why It Works and Why It Matters

Understanding Developmental Trauma

Developmental Trauma is a word we’ve been hearing amore and more in the world of healing, therapy, and wellness. But what exactly does it mean? And why are somatic (body-based) approaches proving so powerful in helping people heal from deep wounds?

Developmental trauma isn’t the same as a single shocking event, like a car accident or sudden loss. It’s something chronic and subtle:

  • It happens in childhood
  • It results from ongoing misattuned caregiving, neglect, chronic stress, emotional, physical, sexual abuse, or lack of a felt sense of safety in some way.
  • It affects not only the child’s emotions but also the developing brain, body, and nervous system.

Because it happens during critical periods of brain development — when the nervous system, stress response, and sense of self are still forming — this kind of trauma gets “wired in” at a deep level. The body and brain adapt to the early environment by learning survival strategies: hypervigilance, shutdown, avoidance, tension, or numbing to name a few. These patterns are not conscious choices — they are automatic, protective responses that helped the child cope at the time.


The challenge is that these survival responses often continue long after the original danger is gone. The nervous system doesn’t easily “update” on its own, and without support, it may keep reacting as if the world is still unsafe. This can affect everything from relationships to stress tolerance to physical health. Somatic approaches help the body and brain begin to recognize present-day safety, so new patterns can emerge — creating more flexibility, resilience, and capacity for connection.

Healing Needs More Than Words

Many people with developmental trauma find that traditional talk therapy alone only goes so far.

Developmental Trauma is Often Preverbal and Implicit

Developmental trauma occurs in early childhood when the brain and body are still forming. Many of these experiences happen before a child has developed language:

  • The memories of these traumas are stored in implicit memory—felt in the body and nervous system—rather than as clear, verbal stories.
  • Talk therapy relies heavily on conscious verbal processing, but the root of developmental trauma lies beneath what the client can easily put into words.

As a result, survivors may intellectually understand their experiences but continue to feel dysregulated or triggered.

Cognitive Processing Doesn’t Reach Survival Responses

Developmental trauma deeply impacts the autonomic nervous system, shaping chronic survival states (fight, flight, freeze, collapse, fawn):

  • These patterns are automatic and somatic—they happen faster than conscious thought.
  • Talk therapy focuses on insight and cognitive reframing, but it cannot directly access or shift these deep nervous system states.

Without addressing these embodied responses, clients may struggle to feel safe or stable even after years of therapy.

Relational Wounds Require Relational Repair

Much of developmental trauma stems from disrupted attachment and early relational experiences:

  • Trust, safety, and the capacity to co-regulate with others often need to be rebuilt through embodied, attuned relationships.
  • Traditional talk therapy can sometimes feel too cognitive or distant to foster the kind of deep relational healing that’s needed.

Approaches that emphasize the facilitator’s embodied presence are often more effective.

The Body Holds the Story

Trauma isn’t just in the mind. It lives in the body. In fact, Developmental trauma shapes:

  • Breath and muscle tension patterns
  • Nervous system responses (fight, flight, freeze, fawn)
  • Movement patterns
  • Emotional regulation
  • The sense of self that’s felt in the body

Trauma is not just a psychological experience—it is also a deeply physiological one. The body “remembers” trauma through patterns of posture, muscle tension, visceral sensations, and even chronic health issues. These embodied expressions often persist beneath conscious awareness. When therapy focuses solely on talking, it may bypass these somatic layers, leaving significant aspects of the trauma unresolved and unintegrated.

Body-oriented therapies engage the nervous system and somatic processes that are central to how trauma is stored and expressed, facilitating more comprehensive integration and resolution than cognitive approaches alone.

The Limits of Insight

Finally, while talk therapy fosters insight, knowing why one feels or behaves a certain way does not always translate into feeling differently:

  • Developmental trauma can leave emotional imprints that persist despite rational understanding.
  • Healing often requires experiential processes that foster new felt experiences of safety, agency (I can change the way my body feels), and connection.

Talking helps us understand our story — but it doesn’t always help integrate the implicit (non – consious) body and nervous system patterns shaped by early trauma, so they can adapt to present-day experience. That’s where somatic work comes in.

Somatic Work Unlocks Deeper Healing

The body and brain are in constant conversation. Here’s what we now know from neuroscience:

The Body Is the Brain’s First Language

Before a child can speak, the body — breath, heart rate, muscle tone, sensations — is already shaping emotional experience. Trauma is stored in these non-verbal, bodily pathways. Somatic work helps us reconnect with these channels through:

  • Breath awareness
  • Movement
  • Sensation tracking (interoception)
  • Relational presence

Neuroplasticity: Rewiring the Nervous System

The brain’s ability to change (neuroplasticity) is enhanced when experiences happen in the body, not just in thought. The nervous system learns patterns from early experiences — and sometimes these automatic reactions can show up in ways that don’t really match the present moment. Because these patterns are wired into both body and brain, somatic work helps by creating new pathways. Over time, this helps you feel more aware and in charge of how you respond, instead of feeling stuck in old reactions. Many somatic approaches pair mindful awareness with body-based experiences that can help:

  • Build new patterns of personal safety in the present moment
  • Expand the nervous system’s capacity for balance
  • Integrate early survival patterns so they align with present-day safety and connection

Trauma often leaves the nervous system stuck in:

Hyperarousal (anxiety, panic, reactivity)

Hypoarousal (numbness, collapse, dissociation)

Somatic work helps restore balance — allowing clients to live more fully in the “window of tolerance” where growth and connection are possible.

Why Somatic Work Is a Key Part of Lasting Healing

Developmental trauma shapes both brain and nervous system patterns, somatic approaches are essential for supporting the kind of deep, lasting change that leads to real healing.

It enables whole-person healing

We are not just our thoughts — we are body, mind, emotions, and nervous system, all deeply connected. Early experiences shape not only how we think and feel, but also how our bodies hold tension, how our nervous system reacts to stress, and even how safe or connected we feel in the world. True healing happens when we work with both body and mind, we create the possibility for deeper, more lasting change.

It builds resilience and freedom

By resolving the trauma stored in the body, clients often experience:

  • More emotional resilience
  • Greater capacity for relationships
  • Increases agency (I can change the way my body feels)
  • Expands capacity for choice in everyday life
  • Builds a more positive relationship with self and others

It reflects what science now confirms

Modern neuroscience affirms that healing is an integrated process—body and brain function as one, each shaping and informing the other. Somatic practices support this interconnected system, helping to restore balance, safety, and resilience throughout the whole person. When we engage both the physiological and psychological aspects of experience, we create the conditions for deeper, more lasting transformation.

Reflection

If you’ve ever felt “stuck” in talk therapy, there is hope. Approaches that engage both body and mind can open new pathways for healing—often reaching places that words alone cannot. When the whole system works together, deeper change becomes possible.

Yoga for Every Body: Accessibility Belongs at the Center

In too many yoga spaces today, unspoken expectations can quietly alienate those who don’t “fit the mold.” Whether you’re navigating trauma, disability, chronic illness, body shame, or simply feeling out of place, western yoga spaces may not always feel safe or welcoming.

Trauma-sensitive yoga offers a different path.

It doesn’t just include accessibility—it is rooted in it. This practice is built on the belief that every person deserves a space where they can reconnect with their body, breath, and inner wisdom—without pressure, judgment, or the need to perform.

Making yoga accessible is not about simplifying the practice—it’s about broadening the pathways so that everyone, regardless of ability, size, age, trauma history, neurodivergence, or socioeconomic background, feels welcome, safe, and supported.

Accessible, trauma-sensitive yoga doesn’t dilute the practice—it deepens it. t’s a powerful reminder that yoga is not about what we can do, but how we relate to ourselves and others while doing it. It’s a practice of reconnecting—to breath, body, community, and inner truth.

Whether you’re a facilitator, a student, or someone simply curious about yoga, remember: You don’t need to be fixed, changed, or reshaped. You’re welcome to move into a yoga practice however you are showing up in the moment – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Accessibility Is Not an Add-On—It’s the Foundation

In trauma-sensitive yoga, accessibility isn’t a separate offering. It’s the very structure that holds the practice. This is not about making yoga “easier.” It’s about making the practice of yoga deeply respectful of the body’s wisdom.

To make yoga accessible to all bodies is to make yoga aligned with its true purpose. The roots of yoga emphasize union, compassion, and self-awareness. Accessibility honors these principles by ensuring yoga is not just a physical activity, but a holistic, inclusive path to well-being. Accessibility is about removing barriers, not lowering standards. It’s about centering people over postures. And it’s about recognizing that every body is a yoga body—and every nervous system, every story, and every lived experience deserves space to breathe.

Facilitation Tips for Accessibility :

Offer invitations, Not Commands

Yoga is not just a personal practice—it’s a relational practice. Whether we’re guiding a class or participating in one, we’re entering into a shared space shaped by trust, vulnerability, and communication.

And in that space, language matters. The words we use as facilitators don’t just guide movement—they establish tone, shape relationships, and define power dynamics. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, our cues, metaphors, and phrasing can either:

  • Empower students to listen inward,
  • Or reinforce a hierarchy where the teacher is the authority and the student is expected to comply.

Instead of commands, offer invitational cues like:

  • “If it feels useful for you…”
  • “One option you might explore could be….”
  • “You’re welcome to move out of this form at any time and for any reason.”

Words carry weight. Even well-intentioned adjectives like “comfortably,” “gently,” or “peacefully” can carry subtle expectations. Instead, use descriptive, not prescriptive cues.

Avoid cues that assume a universal outcome, such as:

“Feel the comfort of this pose”

“Let the body melt softly”

“Relax into the support”

These might sound gentle, but they prescribe an experience that not every student will have—especially those with trauma histories, physical discomfort, or heightened nervous system responses.

This language shifts authority from the teacher to the student, fostering a space that allows the participant to empower themselves.

Let Go of the Idea That There’s One “Real” Yoga Form

One of the most harmful messages embedded in mainstream yoga culture—often subtly and unintentionally—is the idea that there’s a “correct,” “full,” or “real” version of a posture. This belief centers a narrow standard rooted in aesthetics, ableism, and performance, not in the true spirit of yoga.

Whether you’re practicing in a chair, using props, modifying a pose, skipping a movement altogether, or simply sitting in stillness—you are doing yoga. There is no hierarchy of value based on what it looks like from the outside

Make it normal to offer a range of ways to engage with a form, including:

  • Seated or chair-based options
  • Wall-supported variations
  • Supine (lying down) alternatives
  • Gentle flows or static holds

The purpose of a yoga posture is not to fit your body into a fixed shape—it’s to use the shape as a framework for exploration. All expressions of a yoga form are valid.

Use Props for Exploration

Props are not signs of inadequacy—they’re instruments of exploration. Normalize props by using them yourself and integrating them into every class—not just when “needed.”

  • Blocks and bolsters to bring the floor closer
  • Chairs or walls for balance and support
  • Blankets to cushion knees or assist in seated poses

Create space for participants to engage in the practice

Yoga is not a one-size-fits-all practice. It is a deeply personal, embodied experience that shifts from person to person, and from day to day. When we allow each individual to discover what yoga feels like in their body—on their terms—we are doing more than offering a variation or cue.

We are honoring autonomy, dismantling hierarchy, and inviting healing that is rooted in truth rather than conformity.

Participants could explore:

  • How a form feels in their body rather than how it looks
  • The possibility of skipping shapes if that feels useful
  • Quieter spaces and reducing overwhelming music or scents
  • Predictability through class structure & transitions
  • Empowerment through choices
  • The possibility of participating as much or as little as they would like

Let the Practice Belong to the participant

Creating non-coercive spaces is not about removing structure—it’s about removing assumption. It’s not about removing care—it’s about removing control.

It’s about trusting that when we step back from directing outcomes, we make space for something more powerful to unfold: a genuine, self-directed relationship with breath, body, and presence.

When we focus on giving an experience—something that feels soothing, beautiful, or transformative—we risk centering ourselves as the authority. We risk deciding how someone should feel, move, or heal. And we unintentionally override their nervous system’s signals in favor of our vision for the class.

Our job as facilitators isn’t to make people feel something. It’s to offer exploration points—clear, neutral options that allow each student to decide what supports them in that moment.

Offer Choices, Not Experiences

Every time we offer a choice within a yoga form, we invite students to practice sovereignty. We remind them that:

There is no one right way to do this.
Your body gets to decide.
You don’t need to have a specific experience to be doing it right.

You can support autonomy by:

  • Providing several entry points into a pose or shape
  • Giving possible choices of embodiment within the form itself
  • Letting people know they can skip any movement, stay still, or try something entirely different
  • Framing postures as invitations, not expectation
  • Stopping, Pausing or moving out of a yoga form as a normalized experience

Honor Inclusivity

At its core, yoga is about dissolving separation—between breath and body, mind and heart, self and other. If certain people are excluded from the space due to ability, body type, identity, trauma history, or financial status, we’re not practicing yoga—we’re practicing exclusivity under the guise of wellness.

Inclusivity is the living practice of yoga’s intention: belonging for all.

  • Use language that avoids assumptions
  • Create spaces where all students feel seen and heard
  • Respect the roots of yoga by acknowledging its South Asian heritage without appropriation
  • Highlight voices from diverse backgrounds

Offer rest as legitimate and meaningful

Offer the freedom to choose stillness or movement moment by moment. Avoid linking moving out of a form in a negative light. Why?

  • Stillness can be productive
  • Skipping a posture is respected
  • Students don’t need an “adequate” reason to move out of a form

Accessibility is an evolving commitment.

Accessibility is not a fixed checklist—it’s a living, evolving practice. In yoga, accessibility is not about reaching a final destination where everything is “inclusive enough,” but about continually listening, learning, and adapting in response to the needs, voices, and experiences of those in the space.

Listen, Learn & Adapt –

  • Be open to Feedback from participants
  • Continue to learn through training, anti-oppression understanding, and trauma-informed practices
  • Collaborate with advocates to gain more understanding and awareness

Want to explore trauma-sensitive, accessible yoga? Reach out for resources, class info, or guidance on building inclusive wellness spaces.

#TraumaSensitiveYoga #YogaForAll #HealingInCommunity #EveryBodyIsWelcome #InclusiveWellness #EmpoweredMovement #YogaIsForYou

10 Ways of Being I’ve Learned in the Helping Field

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10 Ways of Being I’ve Learned in the Helping Field

By Keri Sawyer 

In the helping professions, we often focus on what we can do to support others—but just as important is how we choose to be. Over time, I’ve realized that our way of being—our presence, alignment, and self-awareness—impacts others far more than we might imagine.

These are 10 ways of being I’ve learned, practiced, and come to trust as cornerstones in my work and life.

1. Your Practice Matters

Are you using the tools you suggest to others? Whether it’s breathwork, journaling, boundaries, or somatic regulation—are they alive in your daily life?

We can’t authentically offer what we haven’t integrated. It’s tempting to teach new material right after a workshop, but wisdom takes root through repetition, reflection, and embodiment. If we want to share something powerful, we must first let it shape us.

We can’t give what we haven’t practiced. It’s one thing to talk about grounding; it’s another to know what helps you ground in real-time, under stress, and to teach from that place of knowing.

2. Self-Study is the Foundation

Introspective teaching starts with us.

Are you aligned with your own values? Or are you unknowingly teaching from inherited beliefs? It’s easy to pass along what we were taught without checking if it still fits who we are now. Self-study helps us stay honest about where we are, where we’re headed, and whether our work is truly serving the people we aim to help.

Are you working from your authentic center, or from values passed down from a mentor, teacher, or family system? Do you feel uncomfortable with how you’re showing up or what you’re teaching? If so, don’t ignore it. Lean in. Self-alignment is a living practice—and when you align with your truth, you begin to teach and support from a place of grounded clarity.

3. Teach from Your Truth

Teaching from someone else’s truth may feel safe—but it’s not sustainable.

Do you know your truth? Are you living it? Are you speaking from it, or quoting a mentor whose voice is louder than your own? Authenticity invites trust. When your words rise from lived experience, people feel it. And they listen differently.

If your guidance doesn’t land, pause and ask: Is this really mine? If it’s not something you’ve embodied, integrated, and tested in your own life—it may still belong to a past teacher. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong, but it does mean it may not be yours to teach yet. Let your truth evolve. Share from the realness of your journey—not perfection, but process.

4. Use Your Voice

If the world stopped to listen for one minute, what would you say?

Your voice is a tool of service. What is your message? What makes your heart beat faster? Get clear on what matters to you, then share it in grounded, courageous, and helpful ways. You don’t need to be loud—but you do need to be real.

Your voice is sacred, and your story holds power. Ask yourself: What do I care so deeply about that I’d want to scream it from the rooftops? Find the grounded version of that message, and speak it in a way that helps others. Your voice may be exactly what someone else needs to hear to come home to themselves.

5. Self-Care is Non-Negotiable

You are not a machine. You are a vessel.

The way you care for yourself directly impacts the care you offer others. Rest, nourishment, boundaries, and play are not indulgences—they are professional necessities. When your cup is full, your presence becomes a healing force.

You matter. Your nervous system, your body, your energy—all of it influences your work. You can’t support others from depletion. Tending to your own well-being is not selfish—it’s the foundation of sustainable, effective, and ethical helping. You can’t pour from an empty vessel, and you don’t need to try.

6. Learn Your Presence

Presence isn’t just being in the room—it’s being fully here.

That means tuning in to your body, your surroundings, and the person in front of you—without drifting into the past or jumping ahead to what’s next.

Start by checking in with yourself. Are you grounded? Holding tension? Breathing? Your body often reveals your state before your mind does. Notice the subtle shifts—tightness in the jaw, shallow breath, restlessness. These are signs, not flaws. They help you recalibrate.

Then, expand your awareness outward. Feel your feet. Listen to the sounds in the room. Soften your gaze. When you’re truly present, you’re able to listen actively, notice subtle cues, and respond with attunement instead of habit.

Stop planning your reply or worrying about outcomes—and instead, witness and connect.

This kind of presence is the root of strong relationships. It builds trust, fosters mutual understanding, and makes others feel deeply seen and heard. In a world full of distractions, your full presence is a rare and powerful gift—and it starts with you being here now.

7. Live Harm Reduction as a Practice

We often think about harm in big, obvious ways. But harm can be subtle—tone, impatience, projection, avoidance.

Do your actions ripple wellness or tension into your relationships? Are you self-regulated enough to respond instead of react? Harm reduction isn’t just a philosophy. It’s a daily, embodied practice. It starts with awareness—and leads to action.

Ask: How might my presence impact someone who’s vulnerable today? Am I rushing, rescuing, or controlling? Or am I spacious, responsive, and grounded?

To reduce harm, we must also acknowledge our scope. Are we staying within it? Are we doing our own healing so we’re not unconsciously seeking to heal others as a proxy for ourselves? Moving from thought into action in non-harming takes time—but it’s the heart of ethical helping.

8. Relationships Are Sacred

People want to feel seen, heard, and understood.

Are you making space for that? Inclusivity, accessibility, and genuine compassion matter. How are you showing that others matter—through your words, your energy, your posture, your availability?

Connection is a healing intervention in itself.

Being relational means slowing down. Making eye contact. Letting someone know they are not alone. It means asking: How am I energetically, verbally, and physically communicating that this person matters? Because the truth is: they do. And how we show that—consistently—is what builds healing relationships over time.

9. Release Attachment to Outcomes

Helping can easily become rescuing.

We want to make things better. We want people to succeed. But crossing the line from witnessing to controlling another’s journey—even with good intentions—can be deeply harmful.

Ask yourself: What part of me needs to manage this outcome? Am I uncomfortable with uncertainty? Am I trying to protect them from discomfort—or myself?

It takes courage to stay with someone on their path without trying to shape it. But when we trust their inner wisdom, even when it’s messy, we honor their autonomy. And we free ourselves from the pressure to fix, save, or carry what was never ours to hold.

10. Focus is a Form of Integrity

You can’t be everything to everyone.

So where is your energy going? Are you scattered, or focused? Let your efforts follow your calling—knowing that your focus may change as you grow. Letting go of distractions isn’t selfish—it’s how we make space for meaningful work.

What are you drawn toward right now? What distractions are pulling you away? Focus doesn’t mean rigidity—it means alignment. As you change, your purpose may evolve. But your capacity to discern what matters—and honor that—will always serve you and those you help.

Reflection 

These aren’t commandments—they’re invitations. Invitations to slow down, look inward, and remember that who you are is just as powerful as what you know.

Let these ways of being guide your process. Revisit them when you feel off track. Come back to them when you need grounding. And trust that your presence, your intention, and your alignment are some of the most impactful tools you have.

Forging Our Path Forward : Yoga Focused Recovery

Change is inevitable and is part of life as time moves forward. However, what might happen if we make changes on purpose and with purpose? How do you intend to live today? Who do you intend to be or not be?

Intention is an important part of change. Defining where you want to go or where you want to be and then intentionally moving in that direction – maybe it’s with your thoughts, your actions or both.

Forging our own path and starting to live intentionally also includes a true self honesty where we can take a look at our present reality and ask ourselves what we are happy with… what do we want to keep, what would we like to change? Perhaps even allowing for some space of not being exactly sure who we want to be or where we want to go.

There is also the question of who will I become if I make changes and start to live with intention? What will I lose? Change can be hard and might feel risky or scary. There can be a real sense of safety in staying the same. Uncounsiously not growing or moving forward in life to stay safe. The thing is, safety comes from within instead of what is happening on the outside of us. Personal safety comes from the relationship that we have with ourselves – mind, body and soul. The relationship that we have with ourselves can and will change. Caring for or loving yourself might sound like a hippy yoga thing, however, learning how to or continuing to care for and love ourselves right here and right now is an important aspect of forging our own paths no matter who you are.

Change can sometimes feel like you are taking two steps forward and one step back. Falling into old habits comes more easily than moving in a new direction and can embed in our lives and bodies so that when we are not present or aware we resume to those old ways of being. It’s like living on auto pilot. Living with intention includes discipline and a present moment awareness.

So what does this have to do with yoga? Embodiment bring us into the present moment and into a place of awareness – of what is happening inside of us and outside of us. It allows us create a relationship with our whole being and bring in the experience of feeling safe and predictable within ourselves. We can learn to make choices based on our present moment experience and can find resilience and flexibility mind body and spirit. Many times the intentions we set practicing yoga on the mat, move off of the mat with us into our daily lives. For instance we might start to feel more balanced emotionally and see choices in our lives that we’ve never noticed before. Or possibly we start to pause and move into action instead of reacticing to a situation. Or perhaps we find ourselevs noticing what we need and take the necessary steps for self care.

Personally, many changes are moving toward me right now and I get to have a choice in how I want to live. There is something so empowering about creating your own intended path instead of just letting life lead you. Here is something I know for sure…. It is important to create your own path in this life, to gain personal empowerment while following your purpose, and to forge forward into new adventures.

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Creating Safety Through Embodiment

At first glance might think this is easy or basic, however, feeling safe is one of the most overlooked parts of recovery and healing. A basic sense of safety within one’s self is needed in this world to function and live happy decent lives. Feeling safe when stress or anxiety hits matters. Feeling safe going to the grocery store around others matters. Feeling safe at night so you can sleep and gain needed rest for your body and soul matters. The body and the brain knowing that sensory input from the environment is safe matters. We don’t find real safety outside of ourselves. Real safety is found within.

Those who have suffered from trauma or addiction can feel past experiences move into their present through sensory input. For instance, the smell of alcohol could trigger a flight/fight response from an extremely stressful situation that involved the same smell. Many times it’s the sensory input that moves our brains into fear and thus produces automatic trauma/fear responses even when the danger has already passed. Parts of our brain and body will believe that the traumatic experience is still happening even though other parts know that it is over. We can change the way our brains and bodies experience and perceive fear. We do not need to be triggered to find change. We can find change right now in this moment.

Though a predictable safe space, exploration of our inner landscape creates experiences of safety in the present moment without bringing in the past. When we are noticing or feeling a muscular dynamic, we are fully in the present moment right now. When we are in the present moment, we are not in past trauma and have the opportunity to feel safe within ourselves. Imagining a “peaceful or safe place” is somewhere outside of ourselves and is not a real life safety that can be counted on to be there in daily life. We can not feel an imagined safety within our bones. Instead, we can turn inward and experience what it feels like to be safe. Inner safety creates feeling safe in the outer world as well.

Through embodiment in the present moment a sense of real safety can start to flourish within. Feeling safe is the foundation of healing. taking risks to change our lives is hard. What will happen? Who will we become? When safety is previewed the world becomes a bigger place that allows for exploration, investigation and growth.

5 Benefits of Embodied Healing

Many who have suffered from trauma, addiction and/or alcoholism have seen tramatic or very stressful events in their lives. Our bodies are absolutely amazing and part of our body/brain unconsciously works for survival. You may have heard of flight, flight, submit, freeze, and fawn where the Limbic system takes over to protect from danger. These are life-saving autonomic processes that can continue after the danger has passed. An example could be a veteran whose body would quickly respond to loud noise as a life-saving process. However, after the war, that same vet wouldn’t be able to go out or walk down the street without fear of excessive anger or feeling like they need to fight for life with sudden loud noises. Another could be a child who does everything they can not to make their alcoholic parent angry however when they become adults the trauma response kicks in when they hear their partner walking in the door and rush to “fawn” over them in order to survive even though the situation has changed. These automatic (non-cognitive) trauma responses can cause shame and feelings of worthlessness. The rub here is that even after the danger has passed, these responses can still be deeply embedded within our bodies, minds, and spirits.

How do embodiment practices help?

Many times in order to block out sights, sounds, touch, smell, etc that are all implicit reminders of terrible events our bodies “shut down” or weaken interoceptive pathways from our bodies to our brains as a means of protection. The less that is felt or the more that is felt (overwhelming information) the fewer trauma responses your body, mind, and spirit reacts to. Many live separate from the body in order to tolerate life. Feeling and living within one’s self is being fully alive. Embodiment is vital for healing and for long-term healthy living.

Here are 5 ways embodiment can help heal survivors of trauma or addictions:

  1. Finding safety within one’s self. You might think this seems easy, but it is one of the most overlooked parts of people recovering and finding healing for themselves. A basic sense of safety within one’s self is needed in this world to function and live a happy decent lives. Feeling safe when stress comes up matters. Feeling safe going to the grocery store matters. Feeling safe at night to gain needed rest for your body and soul matters. Your body and brain know that sensory input from your regular environment is safe matters. We don’t find real safety outside of ourselves. Real safety is found within.
  2. Strengthening Interoceptive Pathways to Change Behavior. We have interoceptive (Felt Sense) pathways from our body to our brain that have been encoded by past experiences. These pathways tell the brain when there is danger. A simple smell or touch that reminds the body and then the brain about a past event can set off alarm bells and a trauma response can ensue automatically. These pathways can be changed through the practice of safe predictable embodiment by building more robust interoceptive pathways that hence directly or indirectly change behavior through healing pathways that were encoded with danger.
  3. Feeling and Connecting with Emotions. The number one issue most therapists talk about is clients not being able to connect with and identify feelings. How do you know when you’re sad? You might know from feeling a lump in your throat when you’re holding back tears or maybe you feel a heaviness in your chest for instance …. not everyone feels sadness the same. Many can struggle to feel their body or to notice that lump in their throat which makes it impossible to connect with or label an emotion. Embodiment practices strengthen the ability to feel – to feel your heart beating, your breath…..the lump in the throat when sad.
  4. Feeling true Kindness toward one’s self. Many people who have been through trauma or addiction can struggle to just tolerate themselves. Through a non-prescriptive approach to embodiment and allowing clients to have their own real experiences (without giving them one we think they should have) they can start to approach the concept of friendliness toward oneself. Friendliness opens the door to curiosity and exploration of the whole person.
  5. Your Body as a Resource. Many times when people talk about healing, they might start talking about relaxing or calming. This can feel scary to someone who is hyper-vigilant and on the lookout for danger. Many of our balancing the nervous system is different than down-regulating or calming. It is possible for self-regulation to occur through embodiment however let’s note that self-regulation can be a part of the healing process but it is not the whole healing process. What is really important is to be able to find what works to feel safe, grounded, and empowered in that moment, right now. Remember what works today might not work tomorrow and what works for you may not work for someone else.

Healing through embodiment is a personal hopefully noncoercive process that when met with a non-prescriptive approach and empowerment can change lives.

Stay tuned as I dig deeper into each of the 5 ways embodiment can help heal trauma!

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Trauma Informed Breath & The Nervous System

Breath is the doorway to the nervous system, meaning that yogic breathing techniques can change the way we feel quickly. Many times in yoga these breathing practices can be meant for calming or revving up the nervous systems to gain energy. For those who have suffered from trauma, it is important to tread lightly when approaching breath.

Trauma informed breathing is meant for interoception – being able to feel or notice that your breathing to help heal and balance the nervous system system through interoceptive pathways from body to brain. However, because breath is so sensory and can greatly effect a person – it can also be triggering for those who have been through complex (more than one trauma or re-experiencing) or developmental trauma (trauma started as children). Triggering means that the person can feel great fear, become highly anxious or a trauma response could kick in.

Another aspect around breath is how quickly and strongly it can change your nervous system. Many survivors of trauma are already hyper vigilant with revved up nervous systems and it usually isn’t beneficial to continue to raise energy even if it feels “good” in that moment. When we are using breathing techniques that are not meant to up regulate the nervous system if the breath work is practiced incorrectly due to teaching or embedded automatic breathing patterns due to trauma these “calming” breath practices could also up regulate your nervous system causing dysregulation like panic attacks, severe anxiety, difficulty sleeping or insomnia – just to name a few.

You might start adding in breath work to your class or with your clients by noticing the breath in movement or connecting movement and breath. Remember just showing up and noticing or feeling their body is a lot for those who have been through trauma. Other trauma informed breathing practices could be added in after some time as a higher dosage.

So the point of this blog is to tread lightly and understand how to facilite trauma informed breath techniques – our clients deserve that kind of seriousness and deep ahimsa practice from us a practitioners.

Finding Our Center : Recovery Focused Yoga

Feeling discombobulated? Off kilter? Out of balance?
I have felt exactly that way at different times in my life. In fact, it showed one day during a yoga training. The teachers at the time commented that maybe they needed a”discombobulation” room to put people in until they were more grounded. Well, that didn’t feel good and note to self – could have been said in a more compassionate way. Never the less, it was another reminder of what it feels like to have my energy moving in every which direction. To feel rushed and breathless as my mind runs a hundred miles an hour moving from one thought to the next.

Finding our center creates a strong connection and balance between body, mind and spirit that enables us to withstand or embrace the energy that surrounds us. Grounding creates a resilience that connects deep within the soul. We gain an acute awareness of what is happening around us and are able to act with thought and integrity.

When we are centered, we are our most authentic selves. Authenticity allows us to be who we truly are from the core of our being. With regular practice, we can show up to life with a sense of stability and peace with that spreads outwards and vibrates in the world around us.

Centering ourselves can be a simple regular practice and it may not look the same for us all and it also may not look the same depending on what is happening in our lives. Perhaps you start by noticing your feet in your shoes as you are waiting line somewhere or maybe you notice each time your feet touch the ground as your walking. Possibly you’ve started a mindful movement practice or a meditation practice of some kind. Maybe you’ve started a quiet gardening practice and you can feel the earth as your planting. Perhaps you sit in nature creating art work or start journaling regularly in a safe quite space. Centering is the practice of calming the mind and connecting with the earth or universe around you.

🙏🏻 openviewyoga.com, Yoga Focused Recovery, 4 series session starting April 2023 : https://openviewyoga.com/apps/webstore/products/show/8264531?siteId=134605852&locale=en-GB

#resilience #recovery