Trauma Work and Trauma Informed Somatic Therapy
Overview
Trauma creates disintegration, confusion, and ____________ (fill in the blank with your own words).
I know what it’s like to feel like a stranger in my own body. It’s akin to a squatter taking up residence. I know what it is like to hold my breath, strain my eyes and anticipate with my body every single moment that is about to occur. I know what it is like to feel threatened by any felt sensation, good or harmful. After all, risks exist on both sides. I know what flight and freeze, faun and faint feel like to a degree in my personhood that extended for decades.
Body-based therapeutic spaces became safe places for me to thaw, to breathe, and to move. Never did I imagine that they would also hold spaces for calm to gently arise within me, gaining traction and empowering me to confront and acknowledge my old wounds.
Yoga is a word for union. Within yoga spaces, there are opportunities for body, breath, and being to unite, for the mind to know calming of thoughts, and for the heart to know the existence of spaciousness and freedom. Holding that reality, I chose to direct my practice and philosophies towards a definition of trauma.
Trauma is anything that disturbs, disrupts, or desecrates the union of body, breath, and being.
Using shared space, the practitioner and client create room together: room to be, room to be heard, room to move, breathe, exist. In that created space, trust is built. You are able to learn how to trust your breath, your body, your being, yourself.
I hold space. I hold out the opportunity to move and to inquire.
Time and space and process come together making room for transformation.
What to Expect
When you join me for a Trauma Recovery session, you can expect the following:
You will be heard.
You will be respected.
You will be challenged.
It will be hard. Healing is hard work. Period.
I will show up, I will be there, I will hold space with you. I will listen.
No prior knowledge of yoga is needed, and sessions typically last around 55 minutes.
Sessions themselves are entirely dependent on you. You might move your body. You might take deeper breaths. You might also stay sitting the entire time. You might talk. You might be invited to move.
However, something that is really important for you to understand is that you ALWAYS have the ability to say NO. “No, I don’t want to try that breath.” “No, I don’t want to go into that posture.” “No, I don’t want to talk.”
This work translates well both in-person and online. I have an office in Blacksburg, VA as well as a space in Mint Hill, NC that I use on a regular basis. Online, we can utilize something like Zoom or simply connect via a telephone call.
I do work as part of treatment teams. I have worked with mental health providers, dieticians, physical therapists, occupational therapists, substance recovery mentors, and spiritual support individuals.
Summary of Expectations:
No prior experience with Somatic Technique is needed
Sessions last around 55 minutes
Sessions can be done in-person or online
Sessions are entirely dependent on you
You always have the ability to say “No”