Trauma Release
Any event that interrupts our natural coping mechanism of our body has a possibility to become traumatic. As all mammals we are wired to respond to a traumatic event by activating ‘Fight or Flight’ or ‘Freeze’ responses. The situation only becomes traumatic when these responses for whatever reasons do not get a chance to fully complete.
As the founder of the trauma healing modality ‘Somatic Experiencing’ Peter Levine said ‘Trauma is not in the event, it’s in our nervous system’.
‘Fight of Flight’ response when it becomes undirected or incomplete lodges itself in our physical tissues and becomes tension that alters our reality, impacts our behavior and our health.
In simpler terms when the energy is released into the body and not fully expressed it gets stuck in our system and impacts our lives. In a case of a traumatic situation we do not choose these responses consciously, our body chooses it for us during the times when situation requires it.
In trauma release and healing modalities we support individuals to complete uncompleted ‘Fight of Flight’ response or come out of the ‘Frozen/Dissociated’ response. This is done through body awareness, use of Felt Sense and Resourcing.
Trauma Release in BBTRS Sessions
In BBTRS the main tools used are Deep Connected Breathing in combination with Movement, Touch, Emotional Awareness and Expression, Sound, and Meditation to integrate the entire experience.
The BioDynamic Breathwork approach to healing trauma our primary element is breath. We use deep connected breathing through the mouth to activate the sympathetic nervous system. This activation is used to a small degree not to overcharge our nervous system. When the nervous system is activated we support individuals to access the tension in the body and release this tension and emotions associated with it. This is done by applying touch and bodywork to the places that feel ‘stuck’ or tight so the breath can come in to various parts of the body, which have been ‘frozen’, sometimes for many years. Arrested ‘Fight or Flight’ can be released by slow aware body movement, which is activated during a BioDynamic Breathwork & Trauma Release session. Emotions that are related to the mobilized body tension begin to surface. When that happens we support individuals to express whatever comes but stay fully connected to their expression. The intensity of this expression is monitored that it does not become overwhelming for their system. In this case ‘Resource’ (a place of physical comfort and safety) is used during the session.
‘Unwinding’ movement is necessary to release deep core trauma related tension that comes up to the surface.
Meditation is used as a practice between trauma release sessions as well as at the end of a trauma release session to support individuals to develop their Felt Sense and Resource and integrate all that’s happened in the session.
