I have been a witness to client’s process in healing and there are some core principles that I have learned that quicken and aid people in their journey to recovering from past traumatic events, helping them find their way back to safety, regulation, empowerment, and resolution even in the midst of flooding emotional states, feeling trapped in uncontrollable circumstances, the unceasing recollection of memories from past events, and feeling completely disempowered by their own capacity to manage the conditions in their current life.

I look down and see my two-year-old son face first in the mud. My instinct is to instantly scoop him up and hold him close to my chest. Tears flow across his muddy cheeks as his body stiffens and his hands tightly grasp my jacket. As his sobs decrease, he begins to shutter and shake and a deep breath emerges as he settles onto my chest. I continue to embrace him, letting him know that it’s going to be ok.

Safety is an intelligent attachment to healthy, consistent, and loving connection to the present moment. This relationship between safety and attachment is perfectly illustrated during the beginning phases of life. From the time we are in our mother’s womb, we are engaged in a process of safety. Our mother’s health, nutrition, emotional state, rest, and relaxation of her nervous system is felt and processed by the infant. The infant’s physical processing of safety is a slow and gradual attachment to the natural rhythms of the mother’s body,

When I was a little boy, I would run through the fields on my family farm. As I ran, thorns from rose bushes grabbed, pulled, and snagged my clothing. I remember the feeling of running forward while constantly being pulled back by the bush that obstructed my path. Shame is like a loose end that gets caught on everything as we move through life, catching on others’ critiques and situations that bring up our insecurities. Shame keeps so much tucked away and suppressed inside of us, but leaves dangling threads that get caught unexpectedly on the wayward comment or critique, the rose bush in our trail.

I walk up to the bank of the river and kneel down to look at my reflection on the surface. At this calm bend, the water is smooth as if it has never been disturbed. The day is extremely cold and I have just walked away from feeding the cows with my father. At this time in my life, I often stole off into nature, away from other people in an attempt to feel connected and safe rather than live with the distance I felt around my family.

I recently worked with a man who gave me permission to share his experience through a session plan in which we created together. For the purposes of this article I will not be using the clients actual name. I will use the name John in order to create privacy around the private sessions that we moved through together. John hoped that sharing his experience would help someone else who has been through similar life situations.

When healing trauma, it is impossible to separate the good and the bad, although we often try hard to do so. Through my own process as well as working with others, I have seen how good experiences are often coupled with bad ones. A great example could be a child who uses permanent marker to paint a picture on a window. The child wants her parents to be proud of her beautiful work of art, yet may be punished instead.

Recently, while walking down to the river with my two nephews, wandering through the field on our farm, I felt a tiny judgment run through my mind: “What am I doing, walking through this field? Everything is cold, brown, grey, and dead.” This was a fleeting thought and as I looked down at my nephew’s faces that were lit up with joy and excitement, charging toward the frozen river, I was instantly reminded of...

On one occasion when I was little I walked into my Grandparents house and after strolling into their kitchen, I quickly jumped into my grandma’s lap and sat comfortably. As I looked over at my Grandfather I saw my sister playing on his lap. She touched his face and played with all of his old and wrinkly features.

I remember in one instance walking up onto a stage in order to speak in front of a group of people. Before speaking, I felt nervous but also had confidence that I had not needed to prepare for my speech. I thought to myself, “I will just start talking and see how things unfold."...

Anger can flare up at a moment’s notice and at times it can be big, quick, unsettling, and frightening. In some cases we do not even know why we are angry or use anger as a last resort in getting control over a situation. 

Authentic Power comes from a willingness to be vulnerable. When I think about authenticity, I am taken back to a memory of playing soccer with a group of young men. I remember in one instance playing with a guy that carried himself with palpable confidence and power;

Why do we feel guilt and shame in relation to loss? When I talk to people about loss and grief, there always seems to be a component of guilt that moves into the conversation.

We all want to feel whole and at peace with ourselves. You may search for this wholeness and pursue it in your life, but what if it was already here with you?

In this article I hope to provide you with a greater understanding of trauma and the role it plays in healing our body and mind. Of course, in our future, we want to stay far away from traumatic situations and experiences...

I have found that through Energy Medicine there is a natural movement toward taking complex inner and external conflicts and bringing them down to specific words

When we are searching for forgiveness then we are searching for peace. Conflict is the way in which we move away from peace...

In Integrative Energy Medicine, we often talk about shifts that can occur in our consciousness that change the way that we think and feel about ourselves...

When we look at our challenging situations or people we have to see how we are tied to it. In any situation we get the chance to let go of our challenging emotions and to move into a deeper connection with ourselves...