“The idea is to live your life in a way that makes you feel lit up. Alive. Excited. Bright. Half-hearted anything won’t get you there. It will end up doing the opposite.” ~ Victoria Erickson
Trauma – from our family of origin and from external sources – affects many of us now. Together, we work with the organic, innate intelligence of the body to heal our responses to what is known and unconscious inside of us.
Instead of suppressing it, we work with what comes up from the body – understanding its purpose and direction, while holding a particular healing framework – to release old incomplete stress responses – and make space for new movement, where we once felt stuck.
Trauma and stress gets stored in the body – quickly, as a stress reaction, an accident, a sudden shock – environmental or manmade, paralyzing thoughts or unresolved fears. Or more slowly over time, we become numb to an ongoing situation in our lives – and sadly, misattunement, neglect and abuse – both emotional and/or physical – in early childhood.
Not knowing how to respond or unable to respond to a threat or danger – real or imagined – we freeze in our emotional tracks, as Dr. Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing® says, with the frozen look of “deer in the headlights.” Deer, however, will typically run or shake off the energy and while humans can, we often can’t.By applying this gentle yet powerful process of Somatic Experiencing®, releasing this frozen energy is your key to freedom from physical pain or self-defeating emotions and patterns of behavior that have consciously or unconsciously controlled your life.
Healing begins by slowly being with what we may have always ignored or tried to control inside of ourselves – we move slowly towards discomfort – with kind gentleness for ourselves. When an imbalance happens in your nervous system physiology – due to various kinds of trauma – emotional and physical symptoms arise within you such as anxiety, depression and relationship struggles.
We develop maladaptive strategies to help us cope with and try to control difficult situations in our lives including: repetitive racing thoughts, chronic worry and fear patterns, co-dependant relationships, attempts to numb or control external situations and behaviours that numb our anxiety like addictions of all kinds and eating disorders.
Trauma makes us turn away from and ignore ourselves and disconnects us from our true nature. Our nervous system patterns and our symptoms don’t lie – lack of connection, misattunement, poor attachment and lack of proper boundaries affect us over our lifetime. An integrative, somatic and functional approach can change us from the inside out.
Unprocessed, unhealed trauma gets passed from one generation to the next in our nervous systems in utero, through relational dynamics, lack of attunement and emotional neglect. Our parents were only doing what they learned how to do and we don’t blame them for what has happened in the past. We can change the future though, if we work deeply at the level of the nervous system today. We now have the capacity to shift our DNA from a permanent survival state into a more regulated state and change our emotional and physical health over time, through your entire system, with a somatic approach to healing trauma.
When our nervous system gets stuck on “on” we feel the following symptoms: anxiety, panic, hyperactivity, exaggerated startle response, inability to relax, restlessness, hypervigilance, digestive problems, emotional flooding, chronic pain, sleeplessness, hostility and rage.
When our nervous system gets stuck on “off” we feel the following symptoms: depression, low mood, lethargy, deadness, numbness, exhaustion, chronic fatigue, disorientation, disconnection, dissociation, complex chronic syndromes, chronic pain patterns, low blood pressure, poor digestion.
An integrative, somatic and functional medicine approach treats the whole person, emphasizes wellness and seeks to address the root causes of anxiety, depression, relationship breakdown, eating disorders, addictions and chronic illness, not merely the symptoms.
When we’ve experienced past trauma, which most of us have and we may not be aware of, then we experience a wide variety of difficult symptoms – including ones that we believe can’t be changed – and they can.
Bringing western and non-western approaches together to treat emotional and physical concerns, maintain optimal health and prevent disease, I commonly work the following conditions:
Anxiety, autoimmune conditions, chronic disease prevention, cardiovascular disease, depression & mood disorders, digestive disorders, fatigue and low energy, healthy aging, hormone balance, adrenal and kidney health, inflammatory conditions and arthritis, migraines and headaches, musculoskeletal pain and injuries, respiratory conditions, skin conditions, sleep and insomnia, chronic stress patterns, weight management, women’s and men’s health.
A healthy nervous system goes into phases of arousal / activation and settling within a normal range. When your nervous system is balanced and activation is low, you will feel – open, curious, embodied, available for connection with others, fluid, resilient, competent, relaxed yet alert, present, emotionally stable with manageable symptoms. You have symptoms and options – when you recognize that you are moving out of your functional nervous system range, you will learn how to return stability and stabilization to your system. You will how to know when to reach out for support when you can’t do it on your own.
Develop resilience, be in your own body and process existing traumatic stress patterns – such as overwhelm and numbness. Work deeply at the level of the nervous system and change the way your physiology processes stress and chronic patterns in your life. Trauma Touch works to provide balance for your kidneys/adrenal glands, brain stem and digestive track/gut – because the stress response starts here and moves outward to other systems in the body.
Your body receives input in various ways – through your diet, your surroundings (air, shelter, landscape), the exercise you do or do not do, and the stress or trauma you’ve experienced. These inputs are processed through your unique genetic predisposition, and your genes are responding all the time to the messages they receive from your interactions, constantly translating the messages into cellular instructions. A breakdown can occur between the internal and external environment(s) and your genetic profile. This type of imbalance gives rise to symptoms of ill emotional and/or physical health. We will pay attention to the full expression of what’s happening in you and restore equilibrium in your body systems.
Working deeply in the nervous system – we will get to the roots of your emotional patterns and physical concerns by understanding your anxiety and depression patterns, addiction, eating disorders, relationship patterns, chronic stress patterns and resilience, patterns of sleep & relaxation, chronic pain responses, chronic illness, syndromes and mysterious illnesses, your routines of exercise or movement, your typical nutrition and hydration, and the network of friends and acquaintances that you rely on and routinely interact with.
What stuck patterns does your unique nervous system need to renegotiate and repair within itself?
When you find stuckness within yourself – simply grant it kind, patient and gentle attention. The stuckness within you will change with the warmth of your attention – allow it – emotions and sensations are cascades that will want to complete their cycles – and they want to move through you and move out and on. Your body knows what to do as along you allow it to do this, with support – to sit and be with what arises in you – as you would calmly sit with a child.
Your body is always guiding you – and wants to heal itself. I will help you pay attention to, be with and understand the messages your body is giving you, so you can finally heal, no matter how long you may have been struggling.
My intention is to support you on your healing journey, so that you can gain a sense of clarity, peace, calm, connection, and presence with your body. As this happens, symptoms (physical and emotional) can be encouraged to shift and change in unimaginable ways. The body’s inherent wisdom, is far more advanced than our mind’s analysis – and our mind and body can work together in helping us to express our highest potential.
Are you ready to listen to your body’s story in order to grow, heal and transform?
Do you have questions about how Somatic Experiencing (SE) and/or Trauma Touch work could help you move beyond chronic stress patterns in your body, health and relationships? Get in touch.
This is deep, life-changing work.
Improve your relationships. Relieve emotional and physical pain. Recover from chronic stress patterns. Enhance pleasure.
I am now scheduling session times for early April.
with love from my heart, Kim, xoxo
www.s3p.d51.myftpupload.com / [email protected]
I currently have space in my practice for 3 new clients – this is an opportunity for you to step more fully into your relationships, your life purpose, to fully own who you are as a human being, and repair your nervous system so you can align your true desire(s) and your capacity to embody it.
Deep healing at the level of the nervous system enables you to explore and expand your inner landscape where self – confidence and inner agency reside. When you heal your nervous system, you can more readily access deeper ways of knowing and being that include intuition, imagination, sensuality, and the subtle body of emotions. Get in touch to learn more about working with me – [email protected]
Offerings – Family Systems Imprint – 90-minute Session – an in-person or virtual online Zoom session – an opportunity to get to the roots of intergenerational trauma patterns & begin a path towards relational & relationship healing. Uncover your family dynamics and trauma history – this is an opportunity to strengthen your internal relationship with your mother, father and extended family – in ways that contribute to healing – get in touch to schedule an online or in-person session – [email protected] / www.s3p.d51.myftpupload.com
Sessions for Individuals & Couples – an invitation for you – to feel present in your body, to unwind patterns of anxiety, depression, anger, hopelessness, chronic stress & pain, trauma, regulate your nervous system, to cultivate trust in your moment-to-moment experience, your naturally wise heart, and your capacity to connect to yourself, those you love and the love that surrounds us.
Somatic Body Learning & Practice and Somatic Experiencing Trauma Touch sessions are available for you now. Waking you up to the innate wisdom of your body, healing inherited trauma patterns, feeling yourself below the level of thought, and accessing your full beingness in flowing, fluid motion.
When we can feel ourselves, we are able to detect and understand the sensations and emotions our bodies signal to us – and we can connect with ourselves and others from a place of felt honesty and sensitivity, set better boundaries, and make clearer decisions about our interactions.
I’d love to get to know you – to focus on your body, your mind, your symptoms and the courage it takes to move through shame and fear – along with the interconnection of your body, mind and emotions.
Get in touch to learn more about Family Systems Imprint Sessions & Individual Body-Focused Therapy Sessions, and Trauma Touch work in The Somatic Sanctuary – The Anxiety, Stress & Trauma Restorative Clinic – in-person, online or a mix of the two – and to set up a time to work together: [email protected]
The Anxiety, Stress & Trauma Restorative Clinic:
Creating Well-Being Through Nervous System Regulation.
Heal Relational Trauma – Break the Cycle of Inherited Family Trauma.
Nurturing Connection, Restoration & Building Resilience.
Easing the Body ~ Calming the Mind ~ Opening the Heart.
Somatic Experiencing ~ Somatic Practices ~ Trauma Touch ~ Movement.
Virtual, online sessions are available for those who travel regularly, have a busy schedule, live far away from the office, or prefer to work from your own home – [email protected]
