Tagged With "ventral vagal complex"
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Unbecoming an Armadillo: Recovering from Trauma with EMDR
Unbecoming an Armadillo By: Victoria F. Burns, PhD, LSW Victoriafrances49@gmail.com Instagram: @betesandbites “When you are traumatized, you are basically in a permanent defensive mode” — Gabor Mate I’m sitting across from Meg on her charcoal grey love seat. My forearms are resting on a velvety mustard-yellow throw cushion and I’m holding crescent shaped pulsers in each hand. Meg’s my psychologist; a rare gem who specializes in chronic illness and trauma. Every two weeks, we spend an hour...
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Re: Why the dean of early childhood experts wants to get beyond the brain [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
I applaud Shonkoff for speaking up. I hope it will help medical, judicial and educational leaders realize that the complex issues they deal with often stem from the brew in which a person steeped as a child. Until that is understood, the problems - and the suffering - will only persist.
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Five Steps to Protect Yourself from OPINION BULLIES
There has never been a time when thinking clearly, and thinking for yourself, have been more important than they are right now. With Childhood PTSD, it’s all too common that we end up losing ourselves around other people -- especially people with strong personalities and strong opinions. It’s OK that people have strong opinions. But with us, We get around that and we often feel we have to go along with those opinions, or we go silent, even when we disagree, or we lose track of what we...
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New episode of Transforming Trauma!NARM and the Role of Consent in Trauma-Informed Yoga with Colleen Millen
NARM and the Role of Consent in Trauma-Informed Yoga with Colleen Millen In this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Sarah Buino welcomes NARM Therapist and Accessible Yoga instructor Colleen Millen to dive into and discuss the theme of consent. Throughout the episode, Colleen shares how her understanding of what consent means has deepened through her relationship with yoga and through her ongoing study of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM). Each episode of Transforming Trauma...
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The Difficult Road to Intimacy: Living with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Living with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is very challenging. It affects every aspect of the lives of those who suffer under its symptoms. In this article, we are going to examine together with a brief synopsis of CPTSD and how this disorder creates difficulty in forming and maintaining intimate relationships.
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"A Better Normal" Community Discussion: Suicide Awareness and Community Cafes
Join us on Friday November 6, 2020 from noon to 1:00 PST as we come together and join Satya Chandragiri MD, Bonnie O’Hern RN, Denise Proudfoot RN, & Michael Polacek RN for a discussion around the tender issue of suicide. Together we will discuss ways people and providers can support each other and encourage communities to take action to support one another around suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and the layers of culture and structural barriers to care. A special emphasis will be...
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Tools to Build Resiliency and Aid in Healing from Complex Trauma
Resiliency can help us overcome the life-altering effects of adverse childhood experiences or repeated trauma in adulthood. It can also speed up healing and give us the strength to conquer our traumatic histories.
In this article, we shall explore together the definitions of complex trauma, resiliency, and how resiliency can help treat complex traumatic stress disorder.
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Available on Demand: California ACES Academy: Addiction born out of ACEs and the return of hope with Dr. Susie Wiet, MD [avahealth.org]
NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND ADDICTION BORN OUT OF ACES AND THE RETURN OF HOPE Dr. Susie Wiet The downstream effect of childhood trauma has been well documented regarding the biological and psychosocial impacts. This presentation will highlight the neurobiological changes associated with ACEs that function as a "primer" for the onset of addiction and related behaviors. It will conclude with principles for influencing these same pathways that assist with restoration of the mind and health. Susie...
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The Connection Between Emotional Flashbacks and the Inner Critic
It was Pete Walker, an M.A. in psychoanalysis, who first coined the phrase emotional flashback to describe the gut-wrenching experience of reliving the helplessness and dissociation caused by trauma. In his book, Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving , Walker describes many aspects of emotional flashbacks and how the inner critic holds people hostage. I shall be referencing this book throughout this work. In this piece, we shall examine how the inner critic and toxic shame create the...
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CPTSD, Food and BRAIN FOG: How to Get Clear
If you're ever going to heal from childhood trauma, to become happy, connected, and doing work you love, you'll need to get out of brain fog. Brain fog is common for people who grew up with abuse and neglect. It's a feeling of fuzzy-headedness where you can't hold a thought or focus. It's almost as if your memory isn't working properly, or you’re sleepy and out of it. It can feel like there's a membrane between you and the world. It may not seem like it, but brain fog is one of the worst...
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Some Treatment Options for Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD)
During talk therapy, you will talk with your therapist about a variety of topics including those which trouble you the most. Your therapist will not give you advice, nor will they give you the answers to your problems. After all, they are not living in your mind nor are they living your life. Only you understand what you want out of life, and only you can find your answers.
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Mindfulness: Panacea or Hucksterism?
Psychology and spirituality are viewed as separate disciplines, but they shouldn't be. Healing is grounded in the place where they meet.
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Neuroplasticity and Mindfulness
Every time we experience something new, a new neural pathway forms, and if repeated, reinforces and strengthens the connections between brain cells.
So, neuroplasticity happens throughout our lives based on our experiences which either strengthen or weaken our neural connections. What we don’t use will be pruned away. However, there is a way neuroplasticity can be harnessed to successfully mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences on our adult lives.
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List of Books, Therapies & Resources for Healing Chronic Illness and Other Effects of Trauma (Free Downloadable PDF)
These are the books, therapies and resources I wish I'd known about when I was a family doctor and when I first started getting sick with what would turn out to be a disabling chronic illness. This compilation includes the most helpful resources I’ve found over the past 20 years of learning about the science of adversity, why it's not psychological and how to heal the effects of trauma.
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Heal the Forest for the Tree
“ Trauma always happens within a context, and so does healing. To understand the impact of trauma means being acutely sensitive to the environment—to the conditions under which people grew up, to how they live today, and to the journeys they have taken along the way .” Creating an environment that exudes calm, safety, and compassion is a goal of trauma-informed systems. It is a profound paradigm shift in knowledge, perspective, attitudes and skills that continues to deepen and unfold over...
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"How to talk policy and influence people": a Law and Justice interview with Dr Stephen Porges
In this "How to talk policy and influence people" interview with Dr Stephen Porges, the developer of polyvagal theory, we discuss the vagus nerve, the evolutionary development of the mammalian autonomic nervous system and the human social engagement system. We discuss the importance of a felt sense of safety in the presence of other people, which starts with our experiences with our primary care-giver in infancy. We talk about common symptoms due to our bodies being in a chronic state of...
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Healing Meditation: 21 Ways to Soothe Your Mind and Body (wakeup-world.com)
Healing is a force of nature. It’s only natural for us to seek it out. Just as white blood cells flood to a wound to heal it and a tree releases sap to protect and cover damage and breakage, all of life is oriented to self-nourishment and repair. We are multi-layered beings living in a complex universe. Without actively taking care of our bodies, hearts, minds, and souls, we become sick. Perhaps one of the simplest and easiest ways we can call on the healing force within and around us is...
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Em Miller
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carrie young
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A Strengths-Based Approach Brings HOPE to ACEs
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released its first in a series of reports called “Snapshots” after polling 3,000+ parents about their experiences during the pandemic. Surprisingly, while many of the findings were concerning, most people reported a deepening relationship with their children despite the stress and tension they were experiencing.
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter June 2021
Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter June 2021 http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/pdfs/2021-06-The_Surviving_Spirit_Newsletter_June_2021.pdf Hi folks, June is NATIONAL PTSD AWARENESS MONTH I thought I would share a few of the resources that have...
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CONNECT ALL GUIDE
Also, let me highlight, while Connect All has lots of aspects, it includes, Five through the Filter: an individual self-care framework, which leads to realizing our global need.
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Five through the Filter: An individual self-care framework, which leads to realizing our global need.
Five through the Filter is: An individual (within functionality) self-care framework, which leads to realizing our global need. 'Five through the Filter' was assembled to achieve the Connect All initiative’s one goal and two motivations. One goal: To address all that can be addressed in existence for the most safety and hopeful possibilities. Two motivations: – I need the most safety and hopeful possibilities for myself and (if applicable) who I am attached to. – I both want to positively...
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Strategic Interventions for Re-Emerging Into Daily Life
Modern Tools for Everyday Living - Strategic Interventions
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter August 2021
Healing the Heart Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter August 2021 Hi Folks, Welcome to the month of August...from my part of the country here in New Hampshire-land it is a time of summer and heat...but the whole month of July and coming into August has been more...
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Overcoming Emotional Flashbacks with Self-Compassion
Emotional flashbacks take a horrendous toll on those who experience them. To feel like you are in danger with all the emotions that accompany it, fear, anxiety, startle, and a myriad of other feelings without understanding where they are coming from is both frightening and debilitating.
This piece will delve deeper into emotional flashbacks and methods to defeat them.
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12 Commonalities A Harvard Doctor Found In “Health Outliers” Who Had Radical Remissions [lissarankin.com]
By Lissa Rankin CURED Tip #1 Activate The Relaxation Response As I described in detail in my book Mind Over Medicine, one of the keys to mind-body-spirit medicine in general and the field of psychoneuroimmunology specifically relies on making lifestyle changes aimed at creating nervous system regulation, flipping the nervous system from disease-inducing “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system stress responses or “freeze” dorsal vagal parasympathetic responses to the homeostatic healing...
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My Biggest Insight of the Summer (Healing Complex PTSD and Chronic Illness)
Spring in my garden is a riot of color. I caught the above pic of my poppies just past their peak after deciding to replace them and wanting to document the process. Because uprooting a cheery, bright colored plant that makes me happy in order to take the chance that something else might do an even better job can feel, as a friend of mine once quipped, "fraught with peril." And that's what it can feel like when we are in the process of healing. When, instead of believing that this is the...
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Healing Begins With Gratitude (lionsroar.com)
“The great open secret of gratitude,” writes Joanna Macy, “is that it is not dependent on external circumstance. It’s like a setting or channel that we can switch to at any moment, no matter what’s going on around us.” Photo by Harry Burk. We have received an inestimable gift. To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe—to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it—is a wonder beyond words. It is an...
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Dede Johnson
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THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC
THE HEALING POWER OF MUSIC by Michael Skinner “ Music can heal the wounds which medicine cannot touch.” - Debasish Mridha Music has a profound way of touching us in so many ways. For myself, the power of music has given me great joy, hope and healing. Music has been a lifesaver for me and that is not something I throw around lightly. I would like to share with you how it has affected my life in so many positive ways - I am forever grateful to have the gift of music in my life. Music...
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Happy Holidays from Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership!
This truly is a special time for many of us, but let's also acknowledge that this is a very busy, stressful, and sometimes overwhelming time. This blog post imagines a new kind of holiday tradition, grounded in all the kinds of things that help us in stressful times.
We also share newly available resources and exciting news about what's to come in the new year, including a grant-funded project to help lower stress levels in schools!
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Tension and Trauma-Releasing Exercises—the Benefits and Challenges
In August, my articles have been centered around Tension & Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) and how they can aid in self-regulation and the treatment of trauma. We discovered that TRE is life-changing if done correctly and with a tension-releasing exercise practitioner. In this article, we shall recount former posts about TRE and explore together the benefits and challenges of this unusual form of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress...
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Self-Advocacy: The Basis of Self-Care
Since September is suicide awareness month, learning about self-advocacy is the basis of all healing from complex trauma and defeating suicidal ideation in oneself and dealing with it in others. When you stand up for yourself and meet your needs, it is easier to meet life on life’s terms and respond better in times of crisis. This article shall explore with you who and what a self-advocate is, plus the advantages self-advocacy brings to the lives of those who practice it who live under the...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences, the Brain, and Exercise: How exercise strengthens the brain wounded by toxic childhood stress
Even small amounts of exercise can quickly and dramatically improve mood, brain health, brain function, and the ability to cope with stress, while preparing the brain to rewire the hidden wounds from childhood.
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How Biology Prepares Us for Love and Connection (greatergood.berkeley.edu)
Our brains and bodies are wired for empathy, cooperation, generosity, and connection. Humans are social creatures with a propensity to connect with others and to form relationships. Our relationships can be sources of fun, gratification, peace, well-being, obsession, love, pain, and grief. They inform the rhythms of our days, the work that we do, and how we feel about ourselves—and they add meaning to our lives. But our social nature isn’t just a product of the way we are raised or the...
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Intergenerational Trauma and the Promise of Healing (psychologytoday.com)
Intergenerational trauma Trauma occurs when a person suffers intense emotional pain or a threat to their life or sense of safety to such an extent that it overwhelms their ability to cope . We often think of trauma as occurring from catastrophic or violent events. But researchers have found that daily accumulations of stress , like repeated experiences of racism , can result in traumatic symptoms that are detrimental to one’s physical, mental, and emotional health. In the past 10 years, a...
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Ross Morgan
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Resilience & Growth after Trauma
There is something very powerful about being able to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, stress or pain. Resilience has been defined and used to describe a person who bounces back from intense difficult circumstances. More often than not, with resilience comes deep personal growth that prepares a person for what’s ahead. Resilience drives us to stand strong; it is a process of adapting & moving forward. Trauma can be debilitating. It is life altering. But there is another truth...
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This Nerve Influences Nearly Every Internal Organ. Can It Improve Our Mental State, Too? [nytimes.com]
By Christina Caron, Illustration: Chloe Cushman, The New York Times, June 2, 2022 In recent years, the vagus nerve has become an object of fascination, especially on social media. The vagal nerve fibers, which run from the brain to the abdomen, have been anointed by some influencers as the key to reducing anxiety, regulating the nervous system and helping the body to relax. TikTok videos with the hashtag “#vagusnerve” have been viewed more than 64 million times and there are nearly 70,000...
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How You Can Help - Healing Childhood Trauma in Adulthood
Hi Folks, My latest sharing - I read my chapter from the book, " You Can Help - A Guide for Family & Friends of Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Assault " by Rebecca Street. Honored to be a part of this book along with the other 19 survivor/thriver contributors. I also share some words from Rythea Lee's book - " Trauma into Truth - Gutsy Healing and Why It's Worth It " - The healing thoughts and wisdom from both books are applicable to all survivors of trauma and abuse. How You Can Help -...
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter June 2022
Hi Folks, The June Surviving Spirit Newsletter – sharing Hope and Healing Resources for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health is posted at the website – http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/index.php It can be read online or Subscribe via – http://ml.survivingspirit.com/dada/mail.cgi/archive/newsletter/20220613164651/ or this – http://newsletters.survivingspirit.com/pdfs/2022-06-The_Surviving_Spirit_Newsletter_June_2022.pdf To sign up for an e-mail copy, sign up @ Website via Contact Us or...
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Rewire Hidden Shame from Adverse Childhood Experiences
Deep-rooted shame resulting from adverse childhood experiences can weigh you down. These skills can help.