Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
& Trauma Recovery
Trauma in its many different forms anchors itself in our bodies. This can, and often does, have a massive detrimental effect on our health, outlook, relationships and general day to day well-being.
The trauma can be a one-time intense experience or combination of multiple traumas over a period of time. Either way, there is a cause and effect relationship.
The “stress” causes a part of the brain – the sympathetic nervous system (this is the fight or flight response) to be activated. It is a protective mechanism and a great short term response. However, for many people it’s like the switch stays “ON” 24/7 because we don’t know how to turn it off.
Having the constant experience of being under stress creates an on-going hypersensitivity to stress, so little stressors trigger larger than appropriate responses. As a result you have even more stress in life, which is also anchored into the body – this creates a cycle that repeats itself, a loop, and you become stuck within it.
Since the ‘experience’ is anchored in the body, it is constantly sending a signal to the brain reminding you that you are not safe in the world so you keep the guard up and keep the defensive shield on. Months or years later, this will have a detrimental effect on your life, on your health, and on your well-being.
I love helping people release the trauma that has been anchored into the body because it’s a very gentle process. The method we use works with the body to release stored tension from the nervous system. We lead first with the body, so as the body shifts, the mind follows. As the body becomes free, and becomes more open and safe in the world, the mind follows suit. The result is people having profound positive life changing shifts.
Often during a session you will let go of tension, but have no idea of ‘what’ you’re letting go of specifically. It’s not important for us to know what is being released. It’s just fantastic that this is occurring in a gentle and safe way.
If the body is anchored into the trauma, as it is hardwired to do, we live life with the fight or flight switch “on”. As a result, we perceive things as stressful when often they are not. This affects our thinking as we see things through a filter of survival or defence, often without knowing it. Therefore, it unconsciously affects our day to day perceptions, within our environment, self and towards others – everything.
Love, compassion and gratitude are available from a place of safety, not from defence. As you open up and let go of what no longer serves you, you use the trauma as a ‘fuel’ to access a new range of possibilities that previously felt outside of what you currently believe is possible for you. Remember, when the body is free, the mind follows.