Using the Breath and Felt Sense To Heal Trauma

There is an important connection between the breath, tracking sensations, and how quickly trauma releases from your body. Before I tell you what that is let’s first make sure we agree on a definition of trauma.

I want to define trauma as an experience(s) that caused excessive amounts of fear that got stuck in the nervous system. This can happen when the energy of shock or repetitive fear doesn’t get integrated effectively. It can be a single event or a repeated pattern that caused the trauma.

Think of trauma as a biological problem, NOT a history problem. There is energy stuck that needs to move. When we can move the trauma or stuck energy, you’ll have permanent relief. The body wants to be in homeostasis, and will continue to project outwards and filter life through the “trauma lens” until you resolve the stuck energy.

Trauma, left incomplete, has a way of establishing false beliefs-values in our mind-body-spirit experience. One of principles I use to help people get relief from trauma, is to activate the trauma, then bring in new information. The skill is knowing how to do it without triggering a person’s coping mechanisms.

A Technique That The Brain Loves

Trauma can show up in many forms. Here are some symptom examples:

• Low self worth
• ADD or ADHD
• Bouts of Anxiety
• Different diseases (Chronic Fatigue, Immune disorders, rashes, Asthma, etc)

When you are young, you don’t have good critical thinking skills and don’t realize you’ve left out important information when you experience traumatizing events. In life, you can recreate a “do-over” and release the pent up energy stuck in the nervous system. Using the breath, turning off the analyzer, and tracking your sensations will do wonders in releasing the stuck trauma energy.

I just finished a session with a young lad who reported anxiety that seemed to come out of nowhere. Of course, it had him concerned. It interfered with his flow in life. When I asked him to tune into his body and notice where the sensations and breath were, he reported what he noticed back to me.

Within a few minutes of him exploring the sensations in his body, I asked, “When was the first time you ever remember feeling this way?” He reported that years ago he was reading a billboard in San Francisco about heroin addiction that shocked him. I asked him to feel in his body what that experience was originally like. I invited him to breathe into those sensations and to watch what happened next.

After a few minutes, I asked him what are you feeling now? He reported he felt calm. We stayed with the breath and calm feelings until he felt strong and resourced. When I asked him to recall the moment again about the billboard, he had no more symptoms of anxiety. The parents and he were in disbelief, and found it hard to believe it could have been that easy.

During my 25 years as a coach-trauma expert, I’ve seen many moments like this. The body never lies. If we can get the “thinking” brain out of the way of the body, and put our attention on the breath, our body knows how to free up the nervous system so it can return to homeostasis.

Try An Experiment

Think of something that bothers you enough that you can feel your body responding. Please do NOT pick something that was hugely traumatic for the exercise.

As you think about that issue, notice:

• Where is your breath?
• What sensations do you notice?
• What emotions seem dominant?

After a few minutes and you can feel it in your body, ask yourself, “Where do I first remember this feeling?” and then listen and watch what images emerge. Some people see exactly what happened and others don’t. If you recognize the moment it happened, replay it and breathe into the fear or terror rather than to avoid. Sometimes it’s so intense you need someone who can guide you.

If you’ve ever coached with me, you know I like “do overs.” I like one breath phrases that often zero’s in on the core issue. When you practice one-breath phrases over-and-over again, it gets easier and easier to see what is happening unconsciously and to articulate your experience–without conjecture or speculation.

Okay, try the exercise and maybe journal how it went. Practice it a lot. If you get stuck or see what is possible and you want support, reach out to me here [Ed’s Calendar]

Infinite blessings to you today.🙏