This summer, I had the opportunity to visit one of Germany’s beautiful island destinations, a place called Rügen. This holiday spot is a true paradise and felt like one of the rare gems of Northern Germany. Sitting on the stone-covered beach, with dramatic cliffs lined with pine forests in the background, I noticed something arise within me: a profound sense of paradise and peace, both within myself and mirrored by the idyllic landscapes around me. This sense of harmony, however brief, was a powerful reminder of how our internal states can be reflected externally, highlighting the deep connection between our mind, body, and environment.
This experience got me thinking about how difficult it can be for individuals dealing with chronic stress, anxiety, PTSD, or CPTSD to access these moments of peace and tranquility, even when in the most beautiful external settings—feeling comfortable, safe, and at ease is often a significant challenge for many people who are not embodied in safety or ease. In other words, if it isn't felt or experienced internally, it can be very difficult to access it even when it's present externally. Imagine being on holiday, yet still feeling intense pangs of anxiety or stress about 'minor' factors that don't FEEL so minor—for many trauma survivors, this is a familiar reality.
The Challenge of Finding Ease and Safety
For those of us with a history of trauma, our nervous systems can become conditioned to remain on high alert, perceiving potential threats even in safe environments. This hypervigilant state makes relaxation feel elusive, unfamiliar, or even uncomfortable. It might seem strange, but for trauma survivors, this state of tension and readiness becomes a default mode of operation. Even in picturesque locations, like my vacay destination to the island Rügen, where everything seems perfect and calm, for individuals conditioned to be on high alert, the mind may struggle to let go and simply be at peace.
Understanding how our inner states impact or hinder our access to outer comfort is crucial (and for many trauma survivors, very validating). It’s important to recognise that there is nothing wrong with you. In fact, your body is responding exactly as it should, based on the assumption of unsafety. The issue lies not with you or your body, but with the past experiences that are still influencing the present moment.
Being in a safe environment is not the same thing as feeling safe within that environment. The body can struggle to make that distinction if it’s in a state of chronic stress. For many trauma survivors, their internally stressed landscape often doesn’t match the external one, which can make places that should feel like paradise seem inaccessible. Recognising this disconnect is the first step towards healing and developing a new relationship with one’s surroundings.
Why Our Nervous Systems Stay on High Alert
To delve deeper into why trauma survivors often experience a lack of ease, it’s essential to understand how the nervous system works. When a person experiences traumatic events without repair, processing, or integration, the body can become wired to stay in a state of fight-or-flight, freeze or fawn. This protective mechanism, while useful during actual danger, becomes a barrier to experiencing peace when it turns into a chronic state. Without some kind of physical or somatic release, processing or integration, the body has no way of knowing that the danger has subsided and remains on alter.
In this heightened state, the brain perceives even neutral or positive environments as potentially threatening, blocking the individual from experiencing a sense of safety and relaxation, even when it's fully available to them.
Approaches to Cultivating Ease and Comfort: Somatic Healing for Anxiety and Stress
The good news is that there are numerous ways to recondition the nervous system and cultivate a greater sense of ease and comfort, even if you’re not able to physically escape to an island paradise! Here are some methods that have been proven effective and are integrated into my trauma-informed therapy and coaching practice:
1. Somatic Work
Somatic work, such as Somatic Experiencing, emphasises the connection between the mind and body, recognising how trauma can be stored physically as a story our body's communicate to us. Approaches such as Somatic Experiencing, which can involve body awareness exercises, movement therapy, and tension release practices, help individuals tune into their bodily sensations and understand how emotions manifest physically. By fostering this awareness, somatic work aids in releasing pent-up stress and trauma, promoting a deeper sense of calm and relaxation.
2. Mindfulness Practices
Mindfulness encourages staying present and fully engaged with the current moment. Through practices like meditation, mindful breathing, and body scanning, individuals learn to observe their thoughts and emotions without judgment. The idea behind mindfulness is not necessarily to feel 'better' but instead to build a tolerance for whatever is presently being experienced, good or bad. This non-reactive stance helps reduce stress and anxiety, creating space for inner peace and most of all: acceptance.
3. Breath work
In states of chronic anxiety or high alert (hypervigilance), people often aren’t breathing properly. During stress responses—whether fight, flight, or freeze—our breath tends to become rapid, shallow, or we may even hold our breath. The way we breathe plays a crucial role in determining our ability to access calm and ease. With breath work, you can consciously choose to breathe deeply into your belly, which naturally helps the entire system move into a state of greater ease. As a simple yet powerful strategy, I always remind my clients that in moments of high anxiety or emotional distress, taking just three deep breaths and focusing on breathing into the belly can make a significant difference.
4. Body-Oriented Therapies
Body-oriented therapies such as yoga, somatic dance, and Feldenkrais integrate movement with mindfulness, offering a holistic approach to healing. These practices enhance body awareness, improve emotional regulation, and foster a sense of grounding, making it easier for individuals to feel safe and at ease in their environment.
In addition to the individual benefits, participating in these practices within a group setting can be incredibly soothing. The shared experience provides co-regulation, where the presence and support of others can help ease individuals into a deeper sense of comfort and connection.
5. Somatic Parts Work (IFS-Informed)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a therapeutic approach that identifies and addresses the various “parts” of the self, including those shaped by trauma. By acknowledging and working with these parts, and specifically where they manifest in the body (e.g., as headaches or chronic pain), individuals can integrate conflicting emotions and experiences that may be showing up as physical discomfort. This leads to greater self-understanding, trauma integration, tension release, and overall inner harmony. This process helps dismantle internal barriers to relaxation, making it easier to access feelings of safety and comfort.
The Goal of Trauma-Informed Work
In trauma-informed work, it's important to understand that achieving a state of paradise isn’t the ultimate goal. Rather, the aim is to expand an individual’s capacity to access ease, safety, and comfort where it might not have existed before. The journey is about creating pathways to peace within the self, irrespective of external circumstances.
By employing these various methods, trauma-informed therapies and coaching empowers individuals to rewire their nervous systems, break free from the grip of chronic stress, and cultivate a life where they can truly feel at home, both within themselves and in the world around them.
Are You Ready to Cultivate Safety, Comfort, and Ease?
If you’re someone who struggles with anxiety, chronic stress, or CPTSD, and are ready to build a tolerance for feelings of safety, comfort, and ease, I invite you to explore my integrative psychosomatic approach. Together, we can work to address the physical, emotional, and mental impacts of trauma through a blend of somatic work, mindfulness, breathwork, and parts work.
Whether you feel stuck in patterns of hypervigilance, find it difficult to relax, or experience physical discomfort linked to trauma, these methods can support you in reconnecting with your body, calming your nervous system, and creating a pathway to inner peace.
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