Healing trauma is a very real possibility…
With the right understanding and tools trauma doesn’t need to be a lifelong sentence…
Trauma and its long lasting effects are something that many of us are dealing with.
Our trauma may have lasted only a few moments, or for years, yet its impacts can be equally long standing.
Trauma hijacks lives, leaving you feeling helpless, out of control and hyper alert; or so brain fogged and flat that getting out bed seems like climbing a mountain.
The self-loathing, nightmares, flashbacks and fear keep you from engaging fully in what you’re doing, preventing you from fully opening your heart to another human being.
PTSD is having and holding trauma in your body that has been invalidated, such as when the perpetuator is held in high esteem as a trusted family friend
Healing trauma offers surprising benefits, way beyond your imagining…
What causes trauma?
Trauma can be caused by experiencing or witnessing violence, rape, abuse, neglect, betrayal, abandonment, car accidents, falls, injuries, invasive medical procedures, war and natural disasters. Trauma can even be experienced from the way we interpret a situation, whether it is real or not doesn’t matter, it has become real to us. The extent to which we’re troubled by trauma is determined not only by the severity and length of the event(s) but also by our age, life experience and personality type.You can’t change it but…
Nobody can treat trauma, what happened can’t be undone, but you can deal with how you interpret or react to those reminders or triggers.
Trauma is not an incurable disease, you can do better than merely learn to live with it. We’re born with an innate capacity to triumph over trauma, it’s part of our survival skillset.
Annette & Graeme understand the healing process involves not only your mind, but your body, emotions, soul and spirit, for trauma impacts , especially sexual trauma, on all levels.
Healing Trauma is often a catalyst for profound awakening and spiritual transformation.
This also applies if you have suffered sexual trauma in any form.
How trauma works
Understand that trauma actually rewires your brain, making you interpret otherwise harmless situations as scary, even terrifying, such as a closed door or a touch on the shoulder. This is because the part of your brain that is activated has you believing you’re reliving your moment of trauma right now, even though it may have occurred 20 years ago. It requires a range of approaches to re-train your brain to see what is really there.Healing Trauma takes a full system rewire
These approaches involve learning to take back control of your body, mind, emotions, heart and soul. An important part of this task is re-learning how to feel, to feel safe in your body and know that you can have control over what it is that you feel. Believe it or not, listening to your body, in a safe way without re-experiencing your trauma, helps you integrate the experience(s) you’re
probably spending an inordinate amount of energy trying to avoid.
This is why traditional talk therapy, involving only your mind, and medication therapy that blunts what you feel are often limited in how they perform.
They also give the power to the the therapist and the drug, remembering what you’re actually looking for is to take your own power back.
You need to be able to know what you know, and feel what you feel, without becoming overwhelmed, enraged, ashamed or collapsed.
To feel calm and able to focus, especially in response to the images, thoughts, sounds or physical sensations that remind you of the past.
You need to be able to be honest with, and accepting of yourself, including about the ways you behaved in order to survive your experience.
You will also benefit from re-learning how to feel fully, sensually alive in your everyday world, not just focussing on healing your trauma.
Tools we use for healing trauma include:
Understanding how trauma impacts you- that it is largely emotional, even spiritual, not logical Mindful body awareness to help you inhabit your body and experience yourself more fully Breath practices to regulate your arousal states Mind/body practices to teach you that you have control over what you feel Learning movement, sound and music practices to reconnect you with your joy Learning touch practices to help you feel safe in your body, to know its boundaries and receive safe in touch from another Learning to see your aggression, depression, arrogance, passivity etc as behaviours you took on as coping mechanisms rather than permanent disabilities Learning to trust and re-open your heart, to yourself and others Taking the actions that remain incomplete from your trauma eg. saying no, fighting back, running away Finding a way to speak the unspeakable- through words, feelings, actions, writing, images Integrating your traumatic memories as an important part, but not the whole of who you are Giving your traumatized child a voice in a place of honouring and respect Finding creative ways to rescript your life and fill in the holes born from the things you missed out on- love, acknowledgment, nurturing, respect, connection Finding more of your authentic self- giving yourself permission to be sometimes scared, sometimes angry or hateful yet equally capable of being loving, caring, compassionate and fun. See the Self who is in charge of all these different parts of you, the Self that exists underneath your coping mechanisms, that the essence of who you are.Healing Trauma: If you want to go there we’re here to go with you
True healing of trauma takes time, but with each step you have a sense that you’re getting somewhere.
with Annette & Graeme, when your session or workshop is complete, all follow up contact, either phone or skype is included, and is not limited.
We are available in supporting you when you are home, chipping away at the coal face.
Because, a few minutes on the phone or skype will make all the difference in integrating your empowering change, especially knowing that our support is ongoing and not limited.
You have a sense of your own empowerment coming through.
You start to reach out to life rather than protect yourself from it.