Supporting Trauma Healing with Natural Approaches
- amyk73
- Oct 8
- 7 min read
Trauma can have a profound impact on both emotional and physical health. Whether the result of childhood experiences, accidents, loss, or stressful events, trauma often leaves lingering effects that disrupt daily life and your health. While traditional therapy plays an essential role in trauma recovery, many people are turning to natural methods to heal both body and mind. Natural trauma healing approaches address the emotional wounds at their root and offer a holistic path toward long-term well-being.
Understanding the options available through natural health can help you find the right approach to support your healing journey.
Understanding Trauma and Its Effects
Trauma isn’t just a psychological issue—it also affects the body. When we experience trauma, our nervous system can become dysregulated, resulting in physical symptoms like chronic pain, tension, anxiety, or sleep disturbances. Trauma triggers the body’s “fight or flight” response, leading to long-lasting changes in how we process emotions and respond to stress. Healing trauma requires addressing both the emotional and physical manifestations of this distress.
The good news is that natural methods can effectively help heal trauma by targeting both the mind and body in a gentle, nurturing way.
It is important to understand that trauma is stored in the hips of the body. Energetically, in Traditional Chinese Medicine, this is where we store our heaviest burdens because of the strength of the hip bones. It is also why many people who experience trauma will have hip pain, lower back pain, and nerve pain in the sciatic nerve area.
Somatic Therapy: Releasing Trauma from the Body
Somatic therapy is based on the idea that trauma is stored in the body as physical tension or discomfort. Somatic practices help individuals connect with and release these stored emotions through body-focused exercises.
Breathwork: Controlled breathing techniques are powerful tools to calm the nervous system and release trauma-related tension. Breathwork helps restore balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, which can become imbalanced due to trauma.
Body scanning and mindful movement: Techniques like yoga, tai chi, and mindful walking help individuals reconnect with their bodies, increase awareness of physical sensations, and release deep-seated trauma through movement.
Somatic experiencing: This therapeutic approach encourages individuals to focus on their body’s physical sensations, gradually releasing trapped energy and restoring the body to a state of calm.
How to Incorporate Somatic Therapy: Begin with simple breathwork practices or gentle yoga sessions. Seek out a somatic therapist who can guide you through deeper, individualized healing exercises.
Exercises and movement that move the hips will deepen the release of trauma. However, we want to be careful in these movements to ensure we are ready to release a large amount of emotions. Doing so quickly can stress the body and mind resulting in complications in the healing process.
Herbal Remedies for Emotional Support
Plants and herbs have been used for centuries to support emotional well-being. Herbal remedies offer a natural way to soothe anxiety, calm the nervous system, and promote emotional healing.
Adaptogenic herbs: Adaptogens like ashwagandha and rhodiola help the body adapt to stress and regulate the nervous system. They can be especially beneficial in trauma recovery by stabilizing cortisol levels and reducing feelings of anxiety.
Calming herbs: Herbs such as lavender, chamomile, and lemon balm have calming properties that help ease emotional tension and promote restful sleep—both of which are crucial for trauma healing.
Nervines: Herbs like valerian root and passionflower act as nervines, which support and nourish the nervous system, helping it to recover from trauma-related stress.
Mushrooms: Lion's Mane and Turkey Tail are among the many options providing well known support when healing from trauma.
How to Use Herbal Remedies: Herbal teas, tinctures, and capsules are effective ways to incorporate these herbs into your daily routine. Work with an herbalist to create a blend tailored to your emotional needs.
Flower Essences to Support Trauma Healing
Flower essences are energy medicine that support navigating feelings as well as the physical pain that comes from emotions. These essences are personalized combinations creating a remedy specific to your needs. Flower essences are taken internally or applied topically. They are odorless and tasteless as well.
While your specific flower essence blend will be unique these are some of the more common essences used for trauma:
Avoidance - Clematis, Agrimony
Numb and Frozen Fear - Wild Rose, Star of Bethlehem
Releasing Traumatic Emotions - Elm, Chamomile
Revisiting Trauma Memories - Honeysuckle
Guilt, Shame - Sweet Chestnut, Mustard, Gorse
Anger, Self Defense - Holly
Work only with a trained professional to ensure the unique blend is aligned to your specific needs. This will ensure results and provide support needed while using flower essences.
Energy Healing: Rebalancing the Body’s Energies
Energy healing is another natural method that supports trauma recovery by addressing imbalances in the body’s energy field. Trauma can cause blockages or disruptions in our energy flow, leading to emotional and physical discomfort.
Reiki: Reiki is a form of energy healing that uses gentle touch to direct healing energy throughout the body. Reiki sessions can help release emotional blockages, restore balance to the body’s energy systems, and promote deep relaxation.
Acupressure: Rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, acupressure helps to balance the body’s energy (Qi) by stimulating specific points on the body. Acupressure can reduce anxiety, alleviate emotional pain, and promote physical relaxation.
Sound healing: Using vibrational frequencies, sound healing (e.g., with Tibetan singing bowls or tuning forks) helps clear energy blockages and promote emotional release. The vibrations help recalibrate the body’s energetic system, allowing for trauma release.
Pranic Therapy: This is a form of deep healing to the nervous system and in particular the connecting points to remove energy blocks identified as "hot spots" during the session. This practice is used for situations where deeper therapeutic help is needed.
Aromatherapy: Spinal application of certain essential oils provides support to trauma experiences to promote healing. This technique also boosts immune and supports nervous system response specifically for those chronically stuck in fight or flight mode.
How to Incorporate Energy Healing: Schedule sessions with a trained Reiki practitioner, acupuncturist, or sound healer to experience the benefits of energy healing for trauma recovery.
Nature Therapy: Healing in the Natural World
Spending time in nature can have profound healing effects, especially when dealing with trauma. Nature offers a calming, grounding environment that helps reset the nervous system and foster emotional healing.
Forest bathing: Known as “Shinrin-yoku” in Japan, forest bathing involves mindfully spending time in nature, often in a forest or wooded area. The practice is shown to reduce cortisol levels, lower blood pressure, and alleviate symptoms of anxiety.
For the times you cannot get literally into the woods, there is an essential oil that replicates this experience from the comfort of your home. It shares the name Shinrin-yoku and is fabulous to use for at home experience.
Earthing (grounding): Earthing involves walking barefoot on natural surfaces like grass, sand, or soil. This simple practice helps reduce inflammation, calm the nervous system, and restore balance to the body’s energy field.
Outdoor meditation and reflection: Practicing mindfulness or meditation outdoors allows you to connect with the natural rhythms of the earth, which can be soothing for trauma survivors. Natural settings encourage deeper self-awareness and emotional release.
How to Incorporate Nature Therapy: Spend time in nature as often as possible, whether it’s taking a walk in the park, meditating by a body of water, or practicing grounding in your backyard.
Emotional Release Techniques: Letting Go of Stored Emotions
Trauma often causes emotions to become trapped in the body, leading to physical pain or chronic tension. Emotional release techniques help to free these stored emotions, allowing for healing on both emotional and physical levels.
EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique): Also known as “tapping,” EFT involves tapping on specific acupressure points while focusing on negative emotions or trauma memories. The technique helps release emotional energy and reprogram the body’s response to trauma triggers.
Emotion Code: Identifies and pulls emotions that are blocked in the body resulting in physical and emotional pain. This can include generational inherited energy as well.
Journaling and expressive arts: Creative expression, whether through writing, drawing, or painting, allows individuals to process and release difficult emotions. Journaling in particular helps trauma survivors reflect on their experiences, release emotional tension, and gain perspective.
Therapeutic bodywork: Massage therapy, craniosacral therapy, and other bodywork modalities can help release emotional energy stored in muscles and tissues, allowing for deep relaxation and emotional healing.
How to Incorporate Emotional Release Techniques: Start with simple techniques like journaling or drawing, or seek out an EFT practitioner to guide you through tapping exercises.
Mindfulness and Meditation: Calming the Mind
Mindfulness and meditation are powerful tools for trauma healing. They help individuals stay present in the moment, regulate emotional responses, and create a sense of inner peace.
Mindfulness meditation: Focusing on the present moment helps reduce the mental chatter that often accompanies trauma. Mindfulness teaches trauma survivors how to observe their thoughts and feelings without judgment, fostering emotional resilience.
Loving-kindness meditation: This meditation practice involves directing compassion and loving energy toward yourself and others. It helps trauma survivors develop self-compassion and release feelings of guilt or shame that may accompany trauma.
How to Incorporate Mindfulness: Begin with short, daily mindfulness practices, such as 5–10 minutes of meditation. Over time, increase your practice to promote deeper emotional healing and peace.
Natural Trauma Healing Techniques
Healing from trauma is a deeply personal journey, and natural methods offer a gentle and holistic approach to this process. By incorporating somatic therapy, herbal remedies, energy healing, nature therapy, emotional release techniques, and mindfulness into your routine, you can work through the layers of trauma, restore balance to your body and mind, and cultivate emotional resilience.
While these methods are valuable tools in trauma recovery, it's important to seek professional support when needed. Combining natural practices with the guidance of a trauma-informed therapist can create a comprehensive healing plan, helping you move forward in your healing journey.
To work with me, book your virtual or in-person session at www.dragonspitapothecary.com
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