We all develop patterns of holding tension in our bodies as we move through life and experience tension, fear, and stress.  Do you notice yourself clenching your jaw or making a fist when you are experiencing difficult emotions? Perhaps you feel your chest constricting when you run into someone with whom communication is challenging.

In between practicing law and being a psychologist, I did a ton of yoga. I experienced much healing on a yoga mat. Before that time, I would work through, run through, or suppress what was uncomfortable or painful. Turning my attention elsewhere seemed like the healthiest thing I could do. It was counterintuitive to actually pay attention to what was painful or uncomfortable.  Doing so can provide you with much freedom.

The physical tightness and pain we feel in our bodies can teach us more about ourselves.  These sensations often result from certain thoughts and emotions. When we start to notice the correlation, between certain thoughts and emotions wit...

In The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma ,
Bessel Van der Kolk describes the way imagination is an important ingredient in the recipe for healing from trauma:

“Imagination gives us the opportunity to envision new possibilities” 

After experiencing trauma, fragments of original memory need to be re-­‐integrated through narrative, either verbal or nonverbal. In creating narrative, we make meaning, which is powerful step in trauma recovery.

To be a coping and healing process, making meaning from our traumatic experiences must involve more than the way we mentally construct our thinking and the way we are evaluating “things” or developing an understanding of the way the world works: it is also about the meaning of relationships in one’s life. This element is particularly important to heal from trauma that involves betrayal.

Questions like, “why me?” “why now?” “What can I learn from the event?” are examples of the process undertaken in the search

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