Episode 8 Season 4: Therapies and Practices to Release Trauma From the Body

[00:00:00] Hello beloveds and welcome to Christian Emotional Recovery, a podcast for those who are survivors of childhood trauma, emotional neglect and narcissistic abuse. This podcast is hosted by Rachel Leroy, a college professor and trauma survivor. Many of us spend years trying to heal and don't get anywhere.

[00:00:28] We don't always target the trauma itself, which is so often what keeps us stuck. This podcast is where faith meets science. Rachel is an emotional healing expert with 20 years of experience applying healing modalities that helped her start making progress after nothing else worked.

[00:00:49] She'll show you how to do the same. Each week we'll cover a topic that will show you how to heal trauma for good. Please check out our website and show notes at Christianemotionalrecovery.com Enjoying the Facebook community, trauma survivors unite, Christian Emotional Recovery

[00:01:09] Hello everyone and welcome to season 4 Episode 8 Season 4 Episode 8 I'm your host Rachel Leroy and this is Christian Emotional Recovery and this episode is Therapies and Practices to Release Trauma From the Body Therapies and Practices to Release Trauma From the Body and this is Episode 8 Season 4

[00:01:38] And this episode I'm going to go over some of the therapies that I talked about a couple of years ago. This episode I'm going to talk about some of the practices I talked about a couple of years ago, and of course I've mentioned these on other podcast episodes.

[00:01:56] But I think it's been a couple of seasons since I've covered specific therapies and practices as an exclusive episode that can help you heal trauma from the body.

[00:02:06] So I wanted to go back over that partly as a refresher and partly to share some different strategies and practices in therapy as well To kind of give you an overview and a refresher and some new stuff as well.

[00:02:19] And also I'm going to talk a little bit about biofeedback. So I'm going to talk a little bit about a different therapy that I haven't really talked about before as well.

[00:02:26] And I'll be honest, I've used a lot of these therapies and practices, but I have not used biofeedback with a therapist. I have done someone my own, but not in any particular trauma healing capacity. This is new in my, this is new for me as well.

[00:02:45] So I've been studying this and I'm having an interest and increased interest in biofeedback. Also in terms of the platform, if you would like to support the platform.

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[00:04:42] Let's go ahead and jump straight into therapies and practices to release trauma from the body. I'm using an article I need to give credit and be transparent about this. I'm using one article primarily for this and I'm using a lot of their ideas but I'm giving credit.

[00:04:56] And this is called, it's an article from choosingtherapy.com, choosingtherapy.com, and it's how to release trauma from the body, how to release trauma from the body. And it just talks about how trauma gets trapped in the body, where's its stored, how does it affect the brain?

[00:05:14] And I like to review some of this sometimes because I think it's really important to remember that trauma is body-based, and that it is somatic and somatic, it's just physical symptoms. And what are the impacts of trauma in the body?

[00:05:27] And then 10 ways to release trauma from the body, and those are things you can do on your own. Some of these do overlap withtherapies. So I'll also go over a few therapies that can help you release trauma as well.

[00:05:39] And these are ones you do with a practitioner, a therapist, or a coach, a specialist, or maybe even a doctor, or psychiatrist. You get the idea but it's therapies that can help you release trauma, so we'll go over both. And then we'll talk a little bit about biofeedback.

[00:05:54] The benefits of biofeedback, what it is, how it works and so forth and so on. So, how to release trauma from the body? This is like us at choosingthearopy.com.

[00:06:06] This is by Amber Foster, she's licensed in social work and her medical reviewer is Heidi Moad, Moad, Moad, MOA, WADMD. So those are the credits that I'm giving for the source. And I'll put a link in the show notes and I have two sources.

[00:06:23] One that talks about these therapies and practices and another one that talks about biofeedback. So let's jump right in. A little bit about trauma, just a quick review. Why does trauma get trapped in the body? It gets trapped in your neural network.

[00:06:37] Some people even call it your chocros. You don't have to believe that. That's just a spiritual term to explain how you have certain energies in your body.

[00:06:47] And that is true. Our bodies are electric. Our bodies are, you know, we get trauma trapped in our body if we're a trauma survivor.

[00:06:56] And that impacts our mental and our physical health. And we see it come out in our behavior and in the health problems, and especially in chronic conditions. There's a strong connection between chronic trauma, which is complex CPTSD.

[00:07:11] And there is also a connection between, like I said, there's a connection between chronic trauma and autoimmune disease. Are all autoimmune diseases because of trauma? No. Some of them aren't here at it. Some of them are physical, based, but the body is very complex.

[00:07:30] The mind is very complex and trauma stored in the body can be complex. So it's hard to sometimes know where it all comes from, but trauma, and stress are major contributors to autoimmune diseases and chronic conditions.

[00:07:45] Not all chronic conditions are autoimmune, but most of them are related to your autoimmune system in some way. So keep that in mind. And there are, of course, chronic conditions that aren't necessarily autoimmune.

[00:07:58] But it's all connected. It's all overlapping. And that's why the Chinese and Chinese medicine call it the body mind. They don't separate the two. They see the body and the mind as one thing.

[00:08:09] And seeing how trauma is trapped in the body, that actually makes a lot of sense. And there's a lot of science that's starting to back that as well.

[00:08:17] So trauma gets trapped in the body because let's just use the example of somebody who experiences profound emotional neglect or mental and physical abuse. And they, you know, when you're little or even when you're older if you feel unsafe, unconsciously without even meaning to,

[00:08:36] your body will end up in fight or flight mode because fight or flight mode is your body's way of trying to keep you safe and it's your stress response.

[00:08:44] So your sympathetic nervous system, which is that stress response, your parasympathetic nervous system is the one that cools everything off and helps you calm down. So this is all related to the nervous system and there's a strong connection between your immune system and the nervous system.

[00:09:00] This isn't just me coming up with the stuff that I know about with this, that scientists have got to read. But basically trauma gets trapped in the body because you go into fight or flight, your body releases stress hormones.

[00:09:13] Your amygdala gets overactivated. The amygdala is that part of your body that is more the lizard brain, which is more reactive and fight or flight and it's more emotion based.

[00:09:25] And there's nothing wrong with it. It's part of your functionality. You need fight or flight. If there's a threat, you need to be prepared to run and you need that cortisol and you need that adrenaline and you need all of those stress hormones to help you to get out of a situation that's survival.

[00:09:41] That's why in some of these crazy cases people are able, you know, 100 pound woman is able to lift a 2,000 pound car off of her child if there's an accident or something.

[00:09:52] So, you know, this is, you know, that's a freak situation but it gives you an idea of what those stress hormones can do. But you can also imagine what loading her body with all those hormones can also have to do with her physically.

[00:10:03] So trauma trapped in the body is both physical and mental. So if there's a threat that's too intense or prolonged if you experience neglect or emotional abuse and you don't feel safe and you get in that fight or flight over and over and over and over again.

[00:10:18] After a while, your nervous system becomes overwhelmed and your body literally cannot figure out how to shut that down. And so you end up by default being in fight or flight more of the time.

[00:10:30] And because there's so much danger, your body starts to detect a lot of things that aren't danger as danger.

[00:10:36] And with the amygdala, what happens is that your body, your body when you have something come up that triggers trauma, when you have a trigger, your amygdala doesn't know the difference between something that happened in the past that it triggered was triggered by and the trigger now even if it's not a true threat.

[00:10:57] So you'll actually go into fight or flight because that trauma that's stored in the body that's stored in your physical memory, in your brain, those stress hormones that conditioning your body reacts instead of responding.

[00:11:11] And that's why I talk about all these things that lower stress and all these therapies that help you release the trauma from the body because that helps your body to gradually calm down and cool down.

[00:11:21] And when something does happen, you can either get a hold of it and control it before it gets out of hand or maybe your reaction isn't even as it used to be with those fight or flight responses.

[00:11:33] It'll respond more with balance where you have something that's called felt sense. And felt sense is just a term that means you're in that window where you're able to be connected and calm and conscious,

[00:11:46] and that's where your prefrontal cortex is in control and you have more space between a trigger and a reaction.

[00:11:54] And instead of a reaction you choose to respond and your body doesn't feel with all those chemicals and stress hormones or if it starts to it backs it off and you're able to calm your nervous system down. And so that's how trauma gets trapped in the body.

[00:12:11] And the article says, where is trauma stored in the body? Well, it's stored in various places it says physical tension especially in muscles and tissues often result from the body stress responses during a traumatic event.

[00:12:24] Additionally, the heart lungs and digestive system which are associated with stress response may be affected. Finally, memory of traumatic events can be stored in the brain, as I was just saying, influencing emotional and behavioral responses.

[00:12:38] And it says trauma, may show up in the body as back pain, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal issues, cardiovascular heart issues, neurological issues, musculoskeletal issues, respiratory distress and dermatolone. And that's just some chronic conditions and autoimmune are often related to stress and trauma.

[00:13:01] So how does trauma affect the brain? This is still the article, and it says that the brain is impacted to include the way a person processes information and their ability to recall things into focus. So, really, trauma can make it more difficult to self-regulate.

[00:13:16] Self-regulating is what I was just talking about where you choose to respond, where your parasipathetic nervous system takes over and you're able to calm down by choosing to by using some of these practices to help you.

[00:13:30] The brain will also release stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol when experiencing a threat. When you go into fight or flight, you go into fight or flight, you sweat, you shake.

[00:13:40] Your heart beats fast, your breath speeds up, your muscles tense and that is okay once in a while, but if you do it over and over and over, but or if you're doing it over a long period of time or a combination of both,

[00:13:54] that's most likely chronic trauma and your body can only take so much of that and that's where there are, there's a price to pay.

[00:14:02] Your body just cannot keep up and that's why you can have issues with your neurological system or you can have an autoimmune response or something like that, because your body just can't compensate and it impacts those.

[00:14:14] Depending on the person, their genetics, their unique situation, their health, their lifestyle, their gender, their age, a lot of things impact that, of course. So what are the benefits of releasing trauma from the body? So obviously it can help your physical health.

[00:14:30] I think that's something that improves more gradually over time, but I think you can have immediate benefits if you haven't done healing practices and it can help you to start feeling better and having a better response when a trigger does happen.

[00:14:44] And or if you're in regular situations that may be a trigger when they shouldn't be, you're able to respond to those in a healthier way. So it helps you to express your emotions and healthy ways. It helps you to put those back in balance.

[00:14:58] It helps you to put your prefrontal cortex back in control, which is the part of you that is the sort of the control center where you're calm and you make choices and it's more logical. And there's nothing wrong with emotions. Emotions are not bad.

[00:15:14] The amygdala is not bad, but you need to be able to manage those. And that's where these therapies help you to be able to do that.

[00:15:21] It helps you to release and express stored emotions and help you to find a way to connect with your mind and body because most people who experience chronic trauma are disconnected and dissociated from their mind and from their body.

[00:15:36] You can slowly and safely come back into your body. That allows you to clearly and safely and gradually express those emotions in different ways so that you can heal all those traumatic memories, emotions, energy, hurt and toxicity that's trapped in your body.

[00:15:56] The ones that are stuck you start to release and they come up and out through your neural network, through your trackers, through your brain. And you're able to release those and express those in your body and help the in constructive ways.

[00:16:10] So, ways to release trauma from the body, there's not a one-size-fits-all it says here. So let's go through the tin that are in this article that how to release trauma from the body. In choosing therapy. First, you have to acknowledge your feelings.

[00:16:24] This is why when I talk about all the time. Feelings are not bad. They're not even the problem. It's the source of the trauma that caused those emotions to come up and those emotions are just an indicator. Avoidance and dissociation now keep in mind.

[00:16:39] Disassociation is a survival mechanism. And if you're going through something severe, extreme, urgent, something that you just cannot process and you don't have to respond to it right at that moment. Sometimes dissociation and gradually processing something really, really traumatic,

[00:16:56] just a little bit at a time is actually safer. Obdicissociation is not always bad either. Okay? Knowledge in your feelings, though, is the first step. And there's a lot of ways you can do that.

[00:17:09] And some of these other practices that I'm going to share with you are actually ways that help you to get in contact with your emotions to observe them objectively without letting them overwhelm you without completely giving into them and without suppressing them or ignoring them.

[00:17:23] There's that balance where rolling bow calls it containment, where you're able to take just a little bit of the emotion at a time and release it a little bit at a time. Look at it, observe it, feel it, acknowledge it, express it in some healthy way.

[00:17:38] So you push your emotions away for a while, so acknowledging and expressing your feelings is a way to release trauma from the body. All of your feelings are valid and deserve to be acknowledged even the ones you don't like.

[00:17:51] Challengerself to be curious about your feelings and explore healthy ways to express yourself. Number two, practice yoga. I get that not a recristen believes that you should do yoga. And I believe that each person should be given the grace and the freedom to discern for themselves.

[00:18:10] Pray about it. You talk to God about it and you let God guide you there. Okay? So don't give me a hard time for mentioning yoga. You don't have to do all of the spiritual stuff. You can just do the stretching and breathing.

[00:18:24] And so that's up to you. I love yoga. I've been doing it for years. It's been very helpful for me, but it says, Expertsing trauma can cause us to feel like we've lost control of our bodies and physical responses.

[00:18:36] And practicing yoga regularly can help you connect with your body and reclaim control. And research backs that. The benefits of yoga are self-regulation, increase self-esteem, connection, self-compassion, open-mindedness, positive emotions and mindfulness. And there are different kinds of yoga and it actually goes into some of those.

[00:18:55] I won't go into the details of those, but there are a lot of different kinds of yoga you can explore too. There are more like gentle yoga. There are ones that are focused more on breathing. There are ones that are focused more on grounding in the body.

[00:19:07] And there are some where you hold the poses longer and there are some that are more intense. There is even hot yoga where you go into a room that's like 90 or 100 degrees.

[00:19:16] And it helps you to sweat and helps you to release a lot of the toxins from your body. So yoga also has physical benefits, obviously, as well. And most people think of those first actually.

[00:19:27] So the third practice that can help you to release trauma from the body is shadow work exercises. This isn't when I've talked about a lot, but shadow work, psychoanalyst Carl Jung gets says, develop the shadow self.

[00:19:43] Jung believed that there was a part of the psyche called the shadow, which is the unconscious, repressed aspects of an individual's personality. Shadow work promotes turning inward and looking at the part of yourself that may be uncomfortable with.

[00:19:57] So it's another form of slowly getting in contact with your emotions and being able to work with those darker parts of yourself. Those darker parts of yourself are not evil. They're not bad.

[00:20:10] They can feel so scary. It's like having a bad dream and having something in a dream that terrifies you, but actually turning around and talking to whatever that thing is and asking it what it needs and what it wants and why it's there.

[00:20:23] That can actually help you to get in touch with that side of yourself, so that some of those fears start to come down and you realize that those shadows are not so bad.

[00:20:32] And they're just a part of you and it's just something that's trying to get your attention to heal. And it says, this type of work can be challenging, so if you're dealing with a trauma-related disorders such as PTSD,

[00:20:43] it's best to use the support of a clinician trained in shadow work and to move through this process. So the fourth practice in the choosing therapy article is practicing stillness, practicing stillness.

[00:20:57] And I would argue that a lot of these overlap, for example, you might do shadow work exercises in therapy or meditating or through journaling and practicing stillness isn't necessarily meditation, but it can be.

[00:21:11] And often people do that through meditation, but it says, oftentimes our bodies are so tense. And we don't even notice because we are so busy looking for the next thing to focus on.

[00:21:21] When we practice stillness, it allows us to connect the mind and body and slow down for a moment, which can help release trauma from the body. Practicing stillness can be done by sitting in silence for a few minutes each day and just being.

[00:21:36] So it can, you know, you might just sit in nature for a little bit and listen to the birds and listen to the wind through the trees. If you have a quiet place, you can retreat to or if you live somewhere like that.

[00:21:46] Or it might be soaking in a hot bath. You don't necessarily have to meditate to do it, even though I would argue with this kind of meditation, but maybe not directly. Even God says, be still and know that I am God.

[00:22:00] And so that helps you to reconnect with God and it helps you to reconnect with yourself and it helps you to slow down. And it helps to lower those fight or fight stress responses and there's a lot of medical benefits there too.

[00:22:13] Number five is meditation meditation. Meditation is one that I can don't and do a lot myself and I've done a lot of different types of meditation. Meditation says, as a powerful tool that can be used to heal from trauma.

[00:22:28] Meditation is about being present in the moment noticing thoughts that come up and allowing them to float past. I would say like clouds in the sky.

[00:22:37] Research as young says that meditation can support and improve the quality of life of people living with PTSD, anxiety, stress, depression and pain. It helps you because you can actually literally process emotions and there's a lot of emotional processing techniques. One of mine is the acorn meditation.

[00:22:57] So you can check out my acorn meditations on insight timer, the app, and also on YouTube on my YouTube channel. You can find the acorn meditations they're free and if you'd like to have them forever, there's four. There's shorter one, a longer one. They are pretty long.

[00:23:12] And then with and without music, depending on what you prefer and you can get that meditation bundle on my website at the store at Rachellyroy.com. So you can check that out but meditation is.

[00:23:26] There's a lot of different forms. One that Christians use a lot is mindfulness meditation and that's about bringing attention to the present moments and acceptance of feelings and sensations without judgment. And notice that there's a mindfulness in the acorn meditation if you've read it or done it before.

[00:23:43] Also, if you'd like to learn more about my acorn process for dealing with and healing difficult emotions, you can go to my website and you'll see a free

[00:23:54] infographic that you can download there as well. And then it does give you some other types. I won't go through all of those except there's one that I like loving kindness meditation and the loving kindness meditation is about opening the mind and heart to send and receive love.

[00:24:08] So you're loving yourself through those emotions, you're showing yourself care and love. And then number six is self care. Let me go back a little bit. If you like, you can also picture God's love.

[00:24:21] That's another way of doing a healing meditation so you can do Christian meditation as well and do it in a way that makes you feel like you're doing it in a way that works for you.

[00:24:31] So number six is self care. If you're suffering from PTSD or living with symptoms related to traumatic stress, self care is extremely important. Practicing self care can help reduce disruptive symptoms and relax the body and mind.

[00:24:46] Self-care can consist of small acts such as diaphragmatic breathing, that's breathing in the belly, eating mindfully, avoiding alcohol and drugs, setting boundaries and getting enough rest. All of these acts can help you regulate your body and nervous system.

[00:25:03] Journalink. So journaling or even using voice memo journaling can be a way to express things that you weren't able to express at the moment your body experienced the trauma. Research indicates that journaling can provide an emotional release which can be beneficial to healing trauma.

[00:25:19] So a lot of these other processes that we're talking about here, you can actually do through journaling. For example, the acknowledging your feelings, processing your feelings shadow work, practicing stillness.

[00:25:32] Some of those can also be done when you're doing journaling as well and of course journaling can be a form of self care.

[00:25:38] But it's also important that journaling can be activating and call stress, so note that as well. So you need to do it safely. You don't overwhelm yourself. You can still do a little bit at a time.

[00:25:49] But I've also had those cathartic moments where I might journal for like an hour and I'm just releasing emotions left and right. So you kind of have to trust your body and know when it's okay to keep moving forward even if it's kind of difficult.

[00:26:03] And know when to back off. So check with your body and how you're feeling and then proceed with more journaling or take a break if you're feeling too much distress, okay?

[00:26:12] Having prompts if you're not sure what to say or how to go through the process can also be helpful. There are a lot of places you can get those and I do want to create some in the future as well.

[00:26:23] Number eight massage. So this is not when everybody has access to. I get that and not everybody can afford it. But massage therapy can provide relief from physical emotional and psychological distress. So even if you can get a massage once in a while, which I do it's wonderful.

[00:26:39] It also helps decrease levels of depression, anxiety, irritability and other trauma related symptoms it says. It also just releases those stress hormones and helps you to feel calmer.

[00:26:51] So there's a lot of benefits of massage. Speak with your medical provider if you're new to massage or have any illnesses that could be problematic. Breath work. Breath work is another one. This one also overlaps with stillness and it overlaps with meditation.

[00:27:07] Breath work can be considered a form of meditation, but breath work is also it's a deliberate control of your breath. You can do it with yoga. There is different there are different kinds of yogic breathing, but you don't have to do yoga to do breath work.

[00:27:24] It's a great way to release trauma and regulate the nervous system. When you do those slow, deliberate breathing exercises, you slow down your fight or flight response. You lower your heart rate. You calm your body down and you're able to deal with things more constructively.

[00:27:43] And so research is shown that breath work and breathing-based meditation can result in a decrease in PTSD symptoms. It can help you when you're doing like an emotional release strategy or meditation or journal.

[00:27:57] Like maybe the acorn meditation or something similar when you're processing difficult emotions, you can do breath work then. But doing breath work separate from that is also important because it can help you release it says the stress hormones from your body increase mood and improve focus.

[00:28:12] And when you're exclusively doing breath work without the processing, that helps you to calm down. So because when you're releasing those emotions, you can get a little activated as it's coming out and that's normal.

[00:28:24] You observe that, your calm, your kind to yourself, your patient, you do a little bit at a time. You do it safely and if it gets to be too much you stop or you back off or you change directions. Okay? So never overdo it.

[00:28:39] And then it just gives you a process under which you can do the breath work. But the breath always comes from the abdomen and the diaphragm and then up. If it's stuck in your chest, you're probably more activated.

[00:28:53] If it's lower in your body and you're taking those deep, natural, not forced natural slow breaths, that's how you do breath work. Number 10 exercise. As you can see, this overlaps with yoga.

[00:29:05] Some people their exercise or part of their exercise is yoga and there's a lot of ways that you can really stress by doing exercise. You can jog, you can do weightlifting, you can do stretching, you can do calisthenics, you can do yoga, you can walk.

[00:29:19] It doesn't have to be super intense. I mainly do stretching and some yoga and a little bit of calisthenics, some light calisthenics and walk.

[00:29:28] And that's the main exercise I do. And it could be as little as 10 or 15 minutes a day all the way up to 30 minutes or an hour a day depending on what you have time for. Do what works for you. Okay?

[00:29:39] So it says a 222 study indicated that physical exercise can be beneficial in an effective addition to PTSD treatment. It says when we experience trauma, it causes us to experience anxiety, depression and a negative mood. And exercise can combat this by improving mood, self-esteem and cognitive function.

[00:29:58] Exercise includes things such as 30 minute walks, even a 10 minute walk can benefit you. So if you can only go 10 minutes, don't play ads, not worth it. Yes, it is.

[00:30:07] Sunshine, fresh air, being out in the world, a change of scenery, getting your blood flowing in a healthy way, it will help you feel better. Taking an aerobics class, going for a swim, taking a height or lifting weights.

[00:30:20] Those are very physical and those are great but if you can't or not able to do those start gradually, go for a 10 minute walk, work your way up to 15.

[00:30:29] Whatever you have time to do, if you stretch for 10 or 15 minutes or do a 30 minute yoga workout, all of those are helpful. So those are 10 practices, those are practices that help you to release trauma from your body.

[00:30:44] Now there are also therapies. Practices are things you tend to do on your own and there's also overlap with these, but therapies that can help you release trauma from your body are also important.

[00:30:56] Keep in mind that you can do some of these on your own, but it's good to consult a doctor, a professional, a licensed practitioner.

[00:31:04] If you can and if you're able to, especially if you're new at this or if your trauma is still at a very high level and it really activates you.

[00:31:13] But keep in mind that some of these you can do on your own, especially I would say EFT will get to that in just a minute. But let's look at this and talk about this a little bit.

[00:31:24] So I movement de-sensitization and reprocessing EMDR. You've heard me talk about that when I movement de-sensitization and reprocessing. This really strange bit is really powerful.

[00:31:36] I've done it some on my own that I haven't actually seen a therapist that does it, but it's supposed to be very powerful and there are actually apps where you can do it on your own. But just proceed with caution if you do that. Okay?

[00:31:48] So it says EMDR is an effective treatment for trauma related disorders. This modality hypothesizes that traumatic memories are stored improperly in the brain and thus cause somatic and psychological symptoms.

[00:32:02] And EMDR therapist will guide you in repressing, repressing these memories in order to help alleviate the disruptive symptoms the memories are causing. Basically it takes those memories that are trapped in your brain and your body.

[00:32:16] You bring one up safely with a practitioner and you do this sort of movement thing. It's kind of weird but it works. It's think about the fact that you think about REM sleep. You've seen people in animals in REM sleep where their eyes are moving.

[00:32:30] Our eyes move when we're dreaming and I think it's kind of the same thing we're processing our day, we're processing our emotions, we're releasing things. But in dreams it's kind of unconscious, it's random.

[00:32:41] But when we do it with a practitioner and we do it directed at a specific event or a specific emotion, it's more powerful. So keep that in mind as well.

[00:32:52] So another one is trauma-informed yoga and that one is yoga but it's a specialized form of yoga that is led by psychotherapist or yoga teacher that has been specifically trained in this kind of track practice.

[00:33:05] A study done about the effectiveness of trauma-informed yoga, many participants reported feeling empowered having more control over their bodies and the ability to tolerate overwhelming emotions. Trauma-related, I'm sorry, I it's raining today and I started recording and it was quiet and there's just been nonstop noise.

[00:33:26] And I've had this issue this season more than any other seasons, why apologize if you're hearing background noise? I can't get rid of all of it.

[00:33:33] There's no time when it's completely quiet. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy also known as TFCBT is an evidence-based treatment designed for children and adolescents impacted by trauma which includes their parents and caregivers in the process.

[00:33:48] It also researches shown that it helps release PTSD and trauma symptoms. Emotional freedom technique. This is why I think you can do more on your own and it's called FT and I've used FT and it works.

[00:34:01] And basically what you do, it sounds really weird people also call it tapping but you have certain tapping points in your body. Certain energy centers, they're like meridian points in Chinese medicine.

[00:34:14] It's like these places where your body is more sensitive and those are the places where they put the needles and acupuncture right. But in FT you tap on these different areas and you move down your body with these different location points and you tap where you say something.

[00:34:28] But there's a specific process you follow. It's kind of kind of hard to explain in a nutshell, but it's an evidence-based therapy that combines cognitive and somatic elements.

[00:34:38] If TFC and corporates, the elements of exposure therapy, cognitive therapy and somatic stimulation of acupressure points of the body in face.

[00:34:47] So you tap on those why you say certain things. And then in a study done, so it helps you to literally, you can literally feel that energy coming out of your body.

[00:34:56] And then be kind of intense. Keep that in mind, but as it comes down, you actually measure how strong your emotions are and as you keep doing it, it's supposed to bring that down. It literally is bringing emotions through your neural network.

[00:35:10] So in a study done in veterans with PTSD, FT has proven to be an effective treatment and it's effective on anybody who has PTSD as well. So somatic therapy is, I think that's an umbrella term, but they're making it just a general specific thing here.

[00:35:26] But goal of somatic therapy is to alleviate symptoms of chronic stress and post-traumatic stress. Some of those I would say are body work, breathing, grounding.

[00:35:39] And so there's a lot of different kinds of ways you can do somatic therapy. Also you can do it through meditation, exercise, breathing, and a lot of different ways.

[00:35:47] But offers a framework itself says to help assess where a person is stuck in their fight, flight, freeze or falling response and provides clinical tools to help them move through these states.

[00:35:59] So you literally got stuck in that state, you're in a time warp and that helps you to release those states in your body.

[00:36:06] It different times in your life based on different triggers and different memories and different specific things that happen to you either chronically or a one event or a combination of both.

[00:36:16] Internal family systems, I love IFAS, internal family systems is IFAS and it's to help people heal their wounded parts by looking at internal parts this same way we look at a family system.

[00:36:28] Through IFAS the hope is for people to achieve a deeper understanding and acceptance of all interparts. And basically what you have is you have these protective parts that sort of cover up your emotions and they're there for a reason. They're there to protect you.

[00:36:41] But you actually talk to those parts and find out what they need, you listen to them, you feel their emotions and then you kind of get them to step back.

[00:36:48] And then you go and you talk to these different parts of yourself it's a very similar to child inner child work but it's not exactly the same thing.

[00:36:56] And you have these different parts of your self different ages based on different experiences that come up when you're triggered or that just happen that are just there.

[00:37:05] And you talk to those parts and you listen to them and you feel the emotions they're feeling and you reassure them.

[00:37:11] You provide them with kindness and you provide them with tools and you provide them with security and reassurance and most importantly the validation you never got and you do that over and over and over and over and over time that can be very, very healing.

[00:37:27] And so you can do that through meditation, you can do that through journaling, you can do that through inner just talking, you know inner talk to yourself.

[00:37:36] There's a lot of ways you can do that and of course the best way if you start if you can is to talk to a therapist who specializes in IFS and I actually did have one for several years.

[00:37:48] This has become very much a part of me and it's been very powerful in helping me release some of the most scary disc difficult and ingrained fears that I have in my body. It's helped me to work through a lot of those.

[00:38:04] So the article just goes on and talks about what happens when you have a trauma release. So your body's letting go of build up tension and stress associated with traumatic experience and like I said, it comes up and out of your neural network.

[00:38:16] And so you start to feel a release of a tightness emotionally there can be a mixture of relief sadness even joy and you see things differently or have a clear understanding of what happened.

[00:38:29] So you start to look at it more objectively, maybe with a little more distance not in a bad way but in a way where you can kind of get a grip on it and kind of have control over it in a way that's more organic.

[00:38:40] If that makes sense the emotions start to calm down your nervous system starts to come and balance your more self able to self regulate your more able to deal with with triggers when they do come up and so on.

[00:38:52] So how long does it take to recover from trauma? It that's a very good question because there it's a lifetime process, but I also think there are specific issues that you can completely heal from. So it's a combination of things, there will be ups and downs.

[00:39:07] It depends on how much practice you're doing. It depends on your level of trauma. It depends on your history. It depends on your genetic and your physical and your emotional makeup. It depends on your particular experiences and what kind of trauma healing you're doing.

[00:39:21] So there's a lot of things. What's going on in your life at the time and so forth and so on?

[00:39:25] So like I said, some of these it's good and best if you can to seek a professional, I get that not everybody has access to those tools and resources. So do what's best for you. If something doesn't work, explore, experiment, try something else.

[00:39:40] Just remember to find the midline here and don't push too hard. But gently push forward into these new practices gradually so that you can start to see. Some of that trauma healing work will be intense. Some of it will, you'll feel a lot of things there.

[00:39:58] So you have to find that balance between feeling those emotions and validating them, but also not getting swept away by them and not letting them have you if that makes sense. So those are practices and therapies that can help you heal trauma.

[00:40:16] And that was by Amber Foster and I wanted to talk a little bit about biofateback just for a few minutes. So what is biofateback? This is from an article called ProfoundTreatment.com and it's called the benefits of biofateback. ProfoundTroma.com and it's the benefits of biofateback.

[00:40:37] And so biofateback it says can treat several conditions such as mental health challenges, addiction and chronic pain. I think it also treats chronic physical conditions in addition to chronic pain and with chronic pain. So if you're interested in biofateback treatment, this article covers biofateback it says.

[00:40:55] So what's the purpose of biofateback? It says the main benefits of biofateback revolve around the fact that you're tracking how your body responds to therapy and provides a lot of energy. And provides positive reinforcement to the patients about how different coping mechanisms can help.

[00:41:11] For instance, when someone sees that taking some deep breaths calms their heart or breath rate significantly during times of stress, they know it will be effective for coping in everyday life. Biofateback enables individuals to regain autonomy over their lives through healthy and sustainable coping mechanisms.

[00:41:30] So what happens with biofateback is a lot of times they'll connect you to a machine or a scanner or something that takes vital signs or that measures certain things in your body.

[00:41:41] And then you do these therapies while you're hooked up to these machines and then it makes you aware of how your body's responding. And then as you start doing these things, your body starts to calm down.

[00:41:53] And so not only does the calming down process itself help heal you, but being aware of it helps increase the power of how much doing these therapies can actually help you. Does that make sense?

[00:42:04] So there's many types of biofateback and common types will track things like brain waves, breathing, heart rate, muscle contraction, sweat, sweat, gland activity, temperature and blood pressure. And so the type is used for the treatment will depend on the individual and their condition.

[00:42:22] For example, you do EEGs with brain wave feedback and it's common for treating conditions like mental health and substance disorders, substance abuse or substance miscus. A lot of people call it now. So different uses of biofateback.

[00:42:37] It's not just used to treat trauma and emotionally issues in stress though it is. It can treat asthma in continents, constipation, ABS or irritable bowel syndrome, side effects from chemo, high blood pressure, wrongal disease, chronic pain, stressor anxiety, substance abuse and depression.

[00:42:57] It can help with chronic conditions and the side effects of those as well. And studies have shown that biofateback is effective for those conditions. So doing these tritacy of licensed practitioner first if you can, there are some apps and some types of, this is especially true recently.

[00:43:17] There's a lot more biofateback devices coming out. So again, just be careful use your discernment, pray about it, whatever resources are available to you. And you can even do some of these without paying anything. So there are strategies you can do to help you with this.

[00:43:33] So physical benefits of biofateback. You feel more in control of your physiological responses. It can reduce headaches and dependents on invasive treatments. It improves sleep, reduces pain, reduces urinary and continents. Faster recovery from injuries and improved muscle or motor control.

[00:43:52] Mental and emotional benefits include mental well-being improved, improved focus, better cognitive functioning, gaining more control over mood and stress. It can help with conditions like OCD, PTSD, depression and other mental health conditions. And it reduces urges or addictive behaviors. Who does biofateback? Well, it depends on the situation.

[00:44:17] It could be a doctor, a psychiatrist, a therapist, a psychologist. It could be in some cases somebody who has a license to practice this like a practitioner or a coach. So licensed medical professionals, especially are good to go to. How is biofateback performed?

[00:44:38] That's a good question as well. They attach sensors to your scanner fingers and then the sensors are placed wherever the type of biofateback is being used. And then once the sensors are attached, your therapist will ask you questions. Go through different activities.

[00:44:57] Teach relaxation techniques and help identify the best treatment options that suit your needs. And usually they'll give you some homework where you can continue to do this and take it home. So you practice and you might go in once or twice a week.

[00:45:10] Maybe in some cases more often, but in between they'll usually have you do these practices and exercises. And usually these practices will happen over the course of weeks or months. And there's actually been research that biofateback.

[00:45:23] If you do it for a couple of months consistently and you get those benefits, that a couple of months later, if you aren't seeing the therapist anymore, you still continue to sustain the benefits.

[00:45:33] And then it talks about what do you expect from a session and how do you prepare for your session? I'm not going to go into all that. Where can I get biofateback therapy? How does it reduce stress? How can biofateback? How can you do it at home?

[00:45:47] It says you can do biofateback at home. Many treatment centers will offer packages to set up and do biofateback sessions at home. However, going to treatment center and meeting with a therapist in person can have many added benefits

[00:46:00] to a therapy session since it can be more personalized to fit your needs. And they might be able to do things and have access to tools and equipment and devices you don't have access to.

[00:46:09] So again, I understand not everybody has access and has the privilege of the resources to do all this. But if you can see a therapist or a doctor to do this, try that first.

[00:46:20] But if you can't do your own research on biofateback, see if there's an affordable device or app out there that can help you. One that I hear a lot about is the calm app and there's a lot of other apps out there too.

[00:46:31] So keep that in mind that there's apps for most of these therapies, practices and strategies as well. So this is the end of the episode. We have talked about practices to heal trauma and release it from the body.

[00:46:47] We've talked about therapies to release trauma and heal it and release it from the body. And we've talked about how biofateback can also be healing to the mind and body and help you to release trauma as well. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail.

[00:47:01] I may do another YouTube video or something about biofateback and go more into it in the future. But for now, that's good. Thank you for following me. Thank you for following along. Sorry for the interruptions. But this is Christian emotional recovery.

[00:47:16] I'm your host, Rachel LaRoy, and this is season 4 episode 8. And it's therapies and practices to release trauma from the body. Therapies and practices to release trauma from the body.

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[00:48:35] If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review the podcast and tell a friend who may benefit from this message. See you next time. And remember beloveds. God loves you. And you are fearfully and wonderfully made.