Early Trauma, Movement, and EFT

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website created to support the most effective use of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to reduce stress and increase joy.  To experience the benefits of EFT for in-the-moment, trauma-informed emotional support and to build emotional resilience over the long term, contact Jane by phone at (802) 533-9277 or email jane@winterblooms.net.

Visit www.winterblooms.net,  www.aamet.org and www.neftti.com to learn more about how EFT supports the resolution of inner and outer conflicts, informs more loving and respectful relationships, and empowers its users to contribute to the changes we want to see in the world.

When infancy and early childhood are interrupted by sudden shocking experiences for which we cannot be prepared, the body often responds with profound stillness.  This freeze reaction is an expression of the Flight, Flight, Freeze Response built into the complex systems supporting human development.  Far from being a sign of failure, these automatic reactions to trauma are meant to protect us from experiences we are not yet ready to understand and resolve.

The long-term effects of the trauma induced Fight, Flight, Freeze Response include habits that do not serve our best interests as engaged and confident adults.  Because of their ability to negatively impact us emotionally, intellectually, physically, and spiritually, these habits present us with the opportunity to learn and apply skills as we mature, skills to support the replacement of negative habits with positive ones.  While addressing our traumas once we have developed cognitive skills and body awareness can feel burdensome, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and its power to support the natural process of memory re-consolidation can lighten and even resolve the emotional challenges of early trauma.

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Movement and the Healing Process – Part 2

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the ACEP website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

In my July 3, 2016 blog post, Movement and the Healing Process, I introduced the subject of conscious movement and its support of the healing process.  This blog post explores more deeply the effects movement can have on the traumas unconsciously stored in our bodies.  Sometimes we think of trauma in specific categories, for example, as physical, such as a sudden fall, or as emotional, as when someone we love is injured, or as intellectual, as when we learn a shocking truth.  However, these categories ignore the larger reality of who we are:  spiritual beings who simultaneously experience physically, emotionally, and intellectually the deep effects of trauma.  Because of the complex interweaving of our spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual reality, our healing process is best served by techniques that effect all these aspects of Self.  EFT is among the most effective, and empowering, of these techniques.

Please Note:  If you suspect you may be suffering from unhealed trauma (and most of us are), be sure to tap as you read this blog:  Put one of your open hands on your heart and with the fingers of the other hand, tap gently on the gamut point, that space on the back of the “heart hand” between the tendons of the baby and ring fingers.  Don’t worry about doing this perfectly:  perfection is not required in this practice.  If you set the intention to care for yourself during your reading by tapping gently and reverently as you proceed, you will do so.  Should your feelings become uncomfortably intense, stop reading and tap three times on the side of the hand, “Even though I feel unsafe, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”  Then tap through the points on the head and body, starting with the Eye Brow points “I am safe; I am on my path; I can trust my body to release the sensations that make me feel unsafe; I am safe; I can trust my heart to understand and process the feelings that make me feel too unsafe to move forward; I am safe; I can trust my mind to reveal my negative thoughts and then process and release these; I am safe; I am safe; it is okay to feel good; the universe supports my wellness; the Earth supports my joy in being on my path; all is well in my body, my heart, my mind, and my spirit; all is well; all is well; I am safe.

Continue reading Movement and the Healing Process – Part 2

Physical Movement and EFT

Sometimes on our forays into daily physical practice, we hit speed bumps and even walls.  Fear can discourage us from beginning a practice just as the fear-based memory of injury can prevent us from resuming a practice once we have recovered. EFT is effective in resolving any irrational fears or early influences that keep us at home when our trustworthy inner voice tells us it is time to lace up our shoes and head out into the beauty of the larger world.

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Movement, Trust, and Joy

Most of us have discovered the benefits of physical movement by now.  Regular, sustained, physical activity of every variety energizes us, and more energy for living our daily lives helps us to feel joy.  Loving relationships, conscious connection with the natural world, meditation, prayer, and gratitude also bring us joy, but without some activity that requires the full in-breath/out-breath that is the hallmark of an active life for humans on Planet Earth, joy is often an elusive visitor.

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