Fight, flight or freeze is the trauma response reaction of your nervous system to a stressful event or situation. Healing is the process of unwinding this response, so you can come back to a balanced and grounded place.
What is Holistic Trauma Healing?
Trauma healing is the process of working with an individual who has PTSD, experienced narcissistic abuse or complex trauma or CPTSD.
Trauma can happen to anyone and is largely considered “a part of life”. It can result from one significant event, or from many over a lifetime. Individual or collective trauma can affect a person in many different ways. Holistic trauma healing is more important now than ever before because it addresses the whole person – mind body and spirit – resulting in a more integrated person.
The body holds the energy and experience of trauma in the tissues of the body, and is often the result of your body going into “fight, flight or freeze”. This is the reaction by your nervous system that happens without your conscious thought – it is your reaction response, and it can be overwhelming.
Trauma can lead to feelings of powerlessness, helplessness, and groundlessness. It interferes with our ability to feel real in body and mind, it disrupts our very sense of existence and takes us away from the present moment. Trauma symptoms do not mean you are weak or damaged.
Symptoms of trauma can include:
- Physical: muscle tension; gut imbalances and poor digestion; dizziness, ringing in the ears; headaches; stiffness in the joints and muscles; shallow breathing; cravings and addictions
- Emotional: inability to feel joy or gratefulness, feeling numb or flat, anxiousness, panic attacks, disconnection from others, withdrawal from social situations, extreme strong emotions such as anger and rage
- Psychological/ Behavioural: self-loathing, negative self-talk, intrusive thoughts, short-term memory issues, dissociation or dreaming, feeling worthless or not good enough; risky behaviours; attention-seeking; adrenaline junkie behaviour
- Relationship challenges and changes: relationship breakdowns, separation, divorce, social isolation, feeling lonely even around others, difficulty committing or feeling connected to others
WHY YOU NEED TO TRY HOLISTIC TRAUMA HEALING:
When you are stuck in “fight, flight or freeze” you are not able to consciously work with your body and mind in order to respond to triggers in a calm way. This can make you irritated, angry, and scared of what your response may be. You might lose your feeling of connection with other people and life in general. You may be permanently “stuck” in overwhelm or feel overstimulated. This is exhausting! It can make you start to not trust yourself, and make you wonder if life will ever feel better?
Trauma healing requires a multi-modal approach and Belle’s approach is experiencing symptoms is to assess each person individually. This means each session will be different, but tailored to your specific needs.
How can Belle help you?
No session will be exactly like the last, as you are moving through a process of change and growth that is not linear. Belle uses energy healing, past life regression, trauma-releasing physical exercises, breathwork and bodywork to help you shift this energy that “talking therapy” alone cannot shift.
Many people work with Belle after years of conventional therapy because the energy needs to be isolated and released before true healing can take place. This will look different for everyone, and the time it takes is individual too. There is no rushing this process, because the body and mind will release energy and integrate in the most appropriate timing possible. Learning to trust yourself again is the ultimate result of this gentle and careful process.
What are the different kinds of trauma?
Complex PTSD
Childhood traumas may sit under the surface, and re-emerge at key points in one’s life (death of a loved one, wedding, having children etc) when you otherwise aren’t thinking about a previous traumatic time. Multiple traumas over a period of time are referred to as Complex Trauma and Complex PTSD (CPTSD).
CPTSD occurs when the nervous system is overloaded and simply cannot tolerate any more. Symptoms can be very overwhelming, and quite often people will be so confused as to why they are “suddenly” not able to cope anymore. The truth is that their body and mind has not been coping for a long time, however coping mechanisms like anxiousness, OCD, addictions, overeating and much more, may have been used to help keep symptoms at bay. Eventually – like a rubber band being pulled tighter and tighter – something has to give.
Narcissistic Abuse
Relationship trauma from being in a Narcissistic Relationship is a very common experience for many people. Confusion is a common response to a relationship such as this. Many people don’t realise it is happening / has happened, and thus live with this damage for a very long time. Narcissistic Abuse can happen in any interpersonal relationship.
Narcissistic intimate relationships can cause extreme trauma to an individual who is financially dependent on the abuser, who has children with their abuser, who feels controlled or manipulated, who has been isolated from friends and family, or who is still under the illusion that it is them who is the problem.
Gaslighting, minimising, put-downs, aggression, along with “love bombing”, devaluation and triangulation are all part of the narc abuse cycle.
As such, the treatment sessions for working with someone who is traumatised by an intimate relationship will include coaching, counselling as well as energetic release practices and physical movement to help shift this powerful and devastating energy. In order to heal from this kind of relationship, it is essential you learn the language and cycles of this kind of abuse, so you can see the signs and protect yourself.
Vicarious Trauma
This is the type of trauma you experience by hearing other people talk about their trauma. This is common in the helping professions of nursing, counselling, teaching. In professions where you must be the first point of contact for people in a workplace. It is essential you release the energy strands you have accumulated from others so you don’t get weighed down by it.
No matter WHAT you have experienced or HOW you have been managing up until this point – your experience is valid. What you feel is valid.
Belle can help you release it, so you can get your life back.
