Simple Sophistication
During traumatic events, our bodies protect us by ramping up a good deal of energy, preparing us to fight or flee. When we are not able to fight or flee, and instead freeze, our bodies can't release this surge of energy (usually adrenaline and cortisol).
What happens to all that energy? It remains stored in our bodies. This goes for fight/flee as well, if the energy isn't allowed to fully run its course.
In the animal kingdom, an impala undergoes immense stress when it’s being chased by a leopard. Watch this video and see how the impala comes to fully discharge all the energy it built up to protect itself.
When it finds safety, it lays down, breathes slowly and deeply into its belly, and then naturally begins to shake off all that stress and tension from its body. This takes a while, but when all that energy has been expelled, it gets up, and prances away. It doesn’t walk around continuing to carry the stress.
It moves onto the next moment in its life.
As humans, many of us who were not able to fight or flee, and instead froze, were never taught how to discharge this energy from our bodies. Children naturally shake, but adults who see this, wanting to comfort, hold them tight so that they stop shaking.
This is actually the opposite of what is naturally needed- for the body to expel this energy. This is how trauma and tension get stored in the body, molding a person that gets stuck in fight/flight, or freeze.
As we move on with our lives, we get used to living this way, so that it becomes our new norm. We eventually don’t know that we can feel any different or better.
This is where the beauty of TRE and somatic yoga therapy comes in. These modalities help release stored trauma from our bodies, and reconnect to feeling the subtleties within our bodies. Somatic yoga therapy, with correct alignment in the postures, shows us that we can FEEL a whole different way.
By slowing down the movements, holding the postures for longer, you’ll be able to feel the changes, not only in your body, but in your mood as well.
The aim of these body-based therapies is to help clear out stored trauma from the body and then restore the body (and spirit) to feeling more vibrant and alive.
Join me once a month online for Intentional Yoga to get a feel for the science behind "coming back to the body"- because feeling in the body is more powerful than understanding w/ the mind in trauma healing.
In this class, you will stay in poses for longer, giving you time to feel what's going on inside. This is called Interoception, a key factor in trauma healing.
Breathwork and visualizations are added to give you tools to regulate the nervous system. Eventually, you'll have a toolbox of techniques to feel calm and anchored in the body.
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Suggested min. donation $10
I believe we are born from light, and we are here to experience all of life: the beauty, the love, the shadows, the pain. Every single one of us experiences challenges throughout our lives.
Sometimes the trauma from these events are so severe, that we build up thick layers to protect us from the pain. My layers were so thick from years of emotional and sexual abuse that I didn't even realize I had built a fort around me. It wasn't until I started practicing yoga that I noticed layers shedding. Whoa, there's a whole Range of Emotions I didn't know I had buried!
As I learned to process and clear out the shadows (through yoga therapy, plant medicine, and a range of other methods), I started to feel my true light deep inside, my soul. And this is what I wish for everyone.
As an intuitive energy healer, medium, and yoga therapist specializing in trauma healing, I would be honored to walk this path with you in reclaiming your light again.
Rediscover the LIGHT that resides in you.