For someone with severe trauma, it's important not to go too deep, too quickly as we need to ensure the breather can integrate what's surfacing not only in the session but in their day-to-day life. For example: Is there adequate support around them, such as a trusted therapist and/or friend? Do they know how to recognise when their trauma is triggered and how to self-regulate if this happens? These and more are important questions to consider before a breath journey or any kind of therapy for that matter. To heal we must face the painful, shameful and/or difficult and to be able to do so we must build “the courage to look deeply into our own suffering with clarity”, love and compassion (Levine). Someone living with severe trauma might need some time to cultivate this courage. Compassion for self first and others second is fundamental, but the two don't have to be mutually exclusive.
I've come to know somatic safety as an intrinsic element of healing at large but of breath work specifically. Before going into a full breath journey it's vital to first create somatic safety, a sense of being safe in your own body. This can take one or more sessions depending on where the breather is at in their process of healing from trauma and how familiar they are with consciously using their breath to regain equilibrium should it be lost. Somatic safety is always the first step before moving into deeper work, and it's achieved by specific breathing exercises, modified breath journeys, vagus nerve activation techniques, and more. A nose inhale is key.
When an event has a high impact on our sense of safety, may it be emotional and/or physical our nervous system does what it can to ensure everything we got is focused on the threat, this leads to various physical constrictions, as for example restricted breathing (Levine). Depending on the severity of the event and how well the person was able to express, integrate and resolve the experience the constricted breathing stays with them. Thus a shallow, restricted breath becomes their new normal often without them even realising this (Levine). The breathing method used in the breath journeys I facilitate, The Sacred Breath Method, will help restore an open, deep diaphragmatic breath using a nose inhale which is essential for healing and overall well-being. I explore why a nose inhale is so important here. For our bodies to feel safe and relaxed the parasympathetic nervous system needs to be activated and a nose inhale initiates this activation. A mouth inhale on the other hand initiates the opposite, the sympathetic nervous system, our fight or flight response. Reclaiming your breath is a vital first step in reclaiming your life.
Talking about and/or otherwise reliving traumatic events can be re-traumatising if not conducted with care and knowledge about the impact of trauma. For example, if the fear centre of the brain, the amygdala, is activated when the traumatic event is revisited there's a high risk of it being re-traumatising. People living with severe unhealed trauma have a consistently overactive fear centre thus prematurely bringing traumatic events to the surface can cause more harm than good regardless of the intention of the therapist or the facilitator (Sweeton).
Pulling, someone out of a journey when they are still in process can be harmful to the breather, to say the least, and I provide the time and space each breather needs to reach a sense of completion. Yes, some facilitators end a journey abruptly whilst breathers are still deep in the process without allowing enough time for breathers to land and complete the release initiated in the journey, which causes a cascade of issues. Some things aren't resolved in one session, healing is a process, not a destination, but a sense of completion is still the desired outcome for each journey, a sense of completion of that step of the healing journey. The importance of integration, grounding and spaciousness of the journey was taught skilfully and thoroughly in my training with the Sacred Breath Academy.
To be trauma-informed also means to be respectful of the breather's autonomy, their inherent body wisdom and inner deep knowing of what is best for them. I am here to guide, inspire and show a way but it's always up to the breather, how deep, or far they go and when. I'm here to listen empathically and compassionately and offer support in the process of making meaning of a journey, wounds, and even trauma. But I will never push, or probe, or assume I know better than the breather when it comes to their needs and/or experience. I trust the loving intelligence of our breath and that it won't lead us astray.
