For some, trauma may seem like a scary word. Perhaps you may feel the word is foreign or doesn't apply.

Truth is everyone has experienced some level of trauma. 

So, what are some examples of how trauma happens?

Trauma happens when a situation/event happens too fast, too soon, too much for your nervous system at the body level. For example:

• a car accident,

• natural disaster (hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, flooding)

• COVID-19

• a child witnessing their parents go through a divorce

• a child fearful of the dentist forced to get a dental cleaning,

• a toxic work environment

• a person learning about a loved one experiencing rape

• a person experienced abuse (physical, emotional, mental, financial, sexual)

• chronic neglect

• a war experience

• vicarious trauma from witnessing or hearing about another person’s traumatic experience

According to my trauma teacher, Rachael Maddox, a trauma spell is an "embodied violation hangover....something that happens too much, too fast without your consent."  In other words, trauma happens when our nervous system is unable to cope with what happened and the undischarged energy gets stuck in our nervous system, our bodies like a memory. 

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This knowledge opened a portal of possibility.

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After being in traditional talk therapy for years, I thought talking about past traumas and processing cognitively would help. To some degree, it did and yet I was still triggered by present day situations and unconsciously reacting. 

For some time, I felt broken, as if something was wrong with me. I was receiving cognitive help, why am I still reacting unconsciously with habitual patterns? 

Then a few years ago, I discovered the missing complementary piece: body-based practice to resolve trauma at the physiological level. Body-based, bottom up approach combined with cognitive, top down approach. 

With a transformative tool combining the cognitive & body-based, 

Rachael Maddox's ReBloom Model of reconnecting to our Blueprint of Health--

Worthiness & Receptivity, Sovereignty, Whole Self Expression, Clarity & Choice,

Vitality & Empowered Safety

+ Somatic Experiencing by Dr. Peter Levine.

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This was such a liberating moment to realize that there is nothing wrong with me because trauma not only leaves an imprint at the subconscious level, it also gets stuck at the body level. Something I learned reading “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies” by Resmaa Menakam. 

I believe we all have the capacity to heal, reconnect to our blueprint of health, rebloom, and come back to ourselves after

trauma.  We are designed with the capacities to heal, adapt, and resiliency.

Surviving to thriving is possible.

If you are interested in reading more about trauma and the body, here is a blog post I wrote about why trauma-informed body-based practice matters as a part of healing trauma