Trauma Therapy:
How to Heal the Pain in Your Mind and Body
Trauma and pain leave imprints on your mind and body.
A traumatic event in your life is affecting the way you move and perceive the world around you. You react differently in situations from your friends or peers. You don’t want to feel on high alert or nervous, yet you’re having a hard time relaxing.
For some people, trauma can begin in childhood in the form of abuse or childhood emotional neglect. While for others, trauma can stem from a single event, an accumulation of events, or collective trauma.
In fact, a situation from your past that you thought was over can begin to disrupt your psychological and physical health in the present.
Why?
The effects and ways in which trauma shows up are different for everyone.
How do you know if what you’re experiencing is trauma?
Trauma is an overwhelming response to actual or perceived threats in our nervous system – affecting the body's physiology.
When not treated, the mental and physical effects of trauma can become debilitating. Simple, everyday tasks suddenly become burdens. This is because trauma doesn’t disappear, it lives in the body. If you’ve experienced trauma, the memory can stay in your body long after the event has happened. It’s your body’s way of protecting you when you’re in immediate danger. Traumatic events can linger in your body and create mental and physical pain.
Living through and experiencing trauma is disruptive and depleting. Yet, relief is possible. If you’ve experienced a trauma in your life and you’re finding it difficult to carry on with your day-to-day, it’s time to seek help.
One way to heal is through trauma therapy. Psychotherapy is a proven way to help heal people who have experienced trauma.
As a trauma therapist, I’ll help you acknowledge what’s occurred and understand the impact the trauma had on your life. Once you gain awareness and understanding of your trauma, you can make healing a priority.
Signs your body’s reacting to trauma…
Feeling extra tense and finding it difficult to connect with others.
You struggle to sleep and toss and turn most nights.
You’ve become hyper-alert, whether in public or in the privacy of your home.
Your mind continues to wander, putting you in a zoned-out state.
It’s hard for you to let your guard down because you constantly feel on edge.
Therapy to Heal Trauma
When you choose to heal your trauma, you choose to empower yourself.
Through different therapy techniques, I will offer my expertise in psychotherapy and mindfulness and help you uncover how your trauma has affected your psychological, emotional, and physical well-being.
There are different therapy and mind-body techniques that are proven to help with the healing of trauma. When it comes to trauma therapy, I offer a unique approach. I fuse my psychotherapy expertise with a background in yoga to create a deeper understanding and nourish the nervous system.
Through these techniques, I help my clients learn and explore how the physiological foundation of stressful or traumatic events takes a toll on the mind and body. In our therapy sessions, I lead my clients through pranayama practices (breathing exercises), guiding them to listen to their inner sensations and helping them understand the feedback their body provides. These breathing techniques and mind-body work result in releasing physical tension that can be stored from trauma.
Of course, every person and situation is different. Depending on your needs, we may do one, both, or a completely different type of therapy technique.
Through every step of the journey, I will be your guide, providing support, tools, and coping mechanisms that allow you to move toward healing. As your therapist, your quality of life is my top concern and priority. You deserve peace and wellness, and I am here to help you every step of the way.
It’s not only my job as your therapist, but my mission to guide you so that you can thrive in the future.
After our trauma therapy sessions, you’ll start to see a difference in your ability to stay more present and feel less triggered, as well as notice your physical challenges improving. This is because we will work to create awareness in your body, reactions, and thought process.
This new approach to thinking and moving in your life may feel awkward at first. Yet, over time, you’ll find the benefits are innumerable.
Benefits of Trauma Therapy
Connecting and communicating safely
Reduced fear and anxiety
Setting healthy boundaries
Empowered by choice
Being seen and validated
“Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the “triggering” event itself. They stem from the frozen residue of energy that has not been resolved and discharged; this residue remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirits.”
Your Body’s Reaction to Trauma
With over 50% of people experiencing a traumatic event in their lives, there’s a high probability that you or someone you love experienced trauma. Physical reactions to trauma can feel and be different for everyone.
A traumatic event can affect your mind and body for years after it takes place. This is because trauma never truly goes away but moves to a different part of your brain or body to “protect you” from the pain.
For some, this “protection” over time can manifest itself in chronic physical ailments such as IBS and other gastrointestinal issues.
Trauma can leave you feeling intrusive sensations or emotions in the body, activating your sympathetic nervous system. This may cause you to go into fight, flight, or freeze reactions. These reactions are instinctual, yet with trauma therapy, you can become aware of your reactions and apply learned coping skills at the moment to gain relief in the body.
Some physical reactions to trauma are:
Chest tightness
Increased heart rate
Shortness of breath
Perspiration
Change in body temperature
Increased blood pressure
Nausea
With every therapy session, we’ll work to alleviate these symptoms of trauma, using several different techniques.
The result is you experience a sense of calm, safety, and ease.
Trauma Therapy Online
As a licensed New York therapist, I understand the feelings that might arise from going to a physical office to have therapy. For these reasons, I offer my clients online therapy appointments. With this option, you will have the opportunity to gain all of the insight and healing of trauma therapy from the comfort of your own space.
If you’re ready to start the journey to healing, I would love to be your guide.