Reflection
- What is your body’s visceral response when you hear the word trauma?
- Which of the four trauma responses do you identify with most as your default coping strategy? Fight? Flight? Freeze? Fawn?
- With gentle curiosity, can you notice a pattern of what triggers you into a trauma response? Hold the discovery of these triggers with tenderness as each trigger comes from a place within ourselves that is yet to be healed.
- Are there ways that you can offer more curiosity in your interactions with others now that you have a deeper understanding of how trauma shows up in your relationships?
Invitation
- Once you have more clarity about what triggers you and where these triggers come from, allow yourself to get curious about the trauma that may be connected to it. Go slowly with yourself and give your body the space to remember the trauma in a nonthreatening way. If you feel your body’s protective walls coming up, it is a signal to slow down, pause, or take a step back. When it comes to healing work, we only go where the body gives full consent and at a pace that feels supportive and “safe enough” to move forward.
- You may feel stretched or uncomfortable as you recall painful memories and look at the trauma that your body is still holding. Try to remain present in your body as much as feels safe enough. We must feel in order to heal.
- Support your body with movement, meditation, reflection, journaling, and other forms of supportive self-care as you move through the waves of emotion. Wrap your body with warm blankets, drink soothing tea, hydrate with water, and feed yourself nutrient -dense soups and stews as you process your trauma.
- Remember that it is not uncommon to feel tired and tender as you move out of a survival state and into healing. This is the time to cocoon your body as you tend to the wounded parts of your heart so that you can heal.
- Seek out the support of a somatic practitioner or take a pause, if it ever feels too overwhelming or not safe enough. We go slowly, at the speed of healing, and you can always take a break and come back if needed.