Transforming Trauma with Compassion and Courage
A look at the 5 main trauma responses, and how to lovingly and gently heal yourself from them using a combination of alchemical wisdom, somatic body practices and angelic guidance. By Alexandra Wenman
Trauma responses are deeply ingrained patterns that arise from past traumatic experiences. These responses known as Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn and Fear are survival mechanisms that our bodies adopt to cope with danger.
Understanding these responses and addressing them through spiritual practices can foster profound healing. In this article, we'll explore how to utilise alchemical and somatic body practices, practical tools and the support of specific archangels – each embodying unique qualities that aid in recovery – to transcend trauma and come to place of compassionate healing and connection.
Understanding the Five Trauma Responses
Fight:
This response involves confronting the threat aggressively. It often develops from environments where expressing anger was the only way to feel heard or safe. Symptoms may include irritability, anger, and being overly critical.
Primary Emotions: Anger, rage, irritability, frustration.
Common Symptoms: Quick to anger, defensive behaviour, controlling tendencies.
Healing Expectations: As you heal from the fight response, you may experience a decrease in irritability and anger. Healing brings a greater sense of calm, the ability to respond rather than react, and an increase in understanding and empathy towards others.
Flight:
Flight manifests as escaping or avoiding distressing situations. It can stem from instances where physical or emotional escape was a necessity. Common signs are anxiety, panic attacks, and a compulsive need for activity or busyness.
Primary Emotions: Anxiety, fear, restlessness, boredom.
Common Symptoms: Avoidance of conflict or emotional situations, hyperactivity, incessant planning.
Healing Expectations: During healing, the need for constant movement or busyness may diminish. You'll likely feel more grounded and find peace in stillness, reducing feelings of anxiety and panic.
Freeze:
The freeze response occurs when a person feels stuck or paralysed in the face of stress. It often evolves from situations where neither fight nor flight was possible. Symptoms might include disassociation, lethargy, or feeling physically or emotionally stuck.
Primary Emotions: Helplessness, numbness, disconnection, confusion.
Common Symptoms: Disassociation, lack of motivation, feeling stuck or immobilised.
Healing Expectations: Healing from the freeze response can bring about a gradual return of energy and motivation. There's an increasing ability to take action and a feeling of reconnecting with the world and oneself.
Fawn:
Fawning is attempting to please or appease others to avoid conflict or harm. Also known as ’people-pleasing’ or ‘pollyanna syndrome’, it typically arises from environments where the person's needs were met only when they served others or allowed others to dominate them. Symptoms include a lack of boundaries, co-dependency and prioritising others' needs over one's own.
Primary Emotions: Insecurity, submissiveness, neediness, excessive compassion.
Common Symptoms: People-pleasing, difficulty saying no, putting other’s needs before your own.
Healing Expectations: As you heal, you'll develop stronger personal boundaries and self-worth. There's a shift from appeasement to genuine relationship building and self-advocacy.
Fear:
A heightened state of constant anxiety, where the individual feels continually threatened. This response may develop from persistent insecurity or instability during formative years. Symptoms often manifest as generalised anxiety, fearfulness and excessive worry about potential dangers.
Primary Emotions: Persistent anxiety, dread, paranoia, hypervigilence.
Common Symptoms: Overthinking potential threats, difficulty concentrating, anticipatory anxiety.
Healing Expectations: Healing brings a sense of security and stability. The overwhelming fear of "what if" begins to wane, replaced by a more balanced view of reality and a decreased sense of threat.
Releasing the Deep Shame Associated with Trauma
Healing from the deep shame that often accompanies trauma responses involves acknowledging and gently confronting these feelings without judgment. Shame, a common byproduct of trauma, can make you feel isolated and unworthy, but recognising that these responses were once necessary survival strategies can begin to dissolve that shame.
The journey involves understanding that trauma responses do not define your character or value. Through compassionate self-reflection and perhaps guided therapeutic practices, you can start to reframe these experiences, recognising your strength and resilience.
Embracing self-compassion, seeking support from understanding communities or professionals, and learning to separate your identity from your trauma responses are pivotal steps in healing deep-seated shame and moving towards a more empowered and self-accepting future.
How Society as a Whole is Facing and Healing from Trauma
Humanity is progressively recognising and addressing the pervasive impact of trauma in our society, signifying a collective journey towards healing and understanding. As awareness of trauma's profound effects on mental health and social behaviour grows, there is a shifting paradigm that emphasises empathy, mental health care, and more holistic approaches to wellness.
Educational systems, workplaces and healthcare institutions are beginning to implement trauma-informed practices that consider the widespread nature of trauma and its long-lasting effects. This societal shift not only aims to heal individual wounds, but also strives to mend the fabric of our communities by fostering environments that support resilience, understanding, communication and connectedness.
This movement towards recognising and healing from trauma reflects a broader societal acknowledgment that healing is not just an individual journey, but a communal goal essential for societal health and well-being.
Alchemical Practices to Transform Trauma
Healing from trauma is a transformative process where the pain and disruption of past experiences can be alchemically converted into wisdom and strength. The journey involves acknowledging trauma's impact not just on the mind, but also on the physical body. Here are some effective practices that help release trauma from the body, facilitating deep and lasting healing:
Dietary Adjustments: Incorporating anti-inflammatory foods can help reduce physical symptoms exacerbated by stress and trauma. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon and flaxseeds, and plenty of leafy greens can support overall bodily health and recovery.
Nature Walks: Engaging with nature can be deeply therapeutic. It not only soothes the mind but also helps the body to regulate stress hormones like cortisol, enhancing feelings of peace and well-being.
Yin Yoga: This gentle form of yoga holds poses for longer periods, encouraging the release of tension stored in the connective tissues. It's particularly good for cultivating mindfulness and easing the physical manifestations of trauma.
Somatic Exercises: These exercises focus on reconnecting with the body through movement and sensation awareness, helping to resolve the somatic symptoms of trauma by reestablishing a sense of safety and groundedness in the body.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT): Often known as tapping, EFT combines principles from traditional acupuncture and modern psychology. It involves tapping on specific points on the body to help release emotional and physical tension.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR): This psychotherapy technique has proven highly effective for trauma recovery. It involves the patient recalling distressing images while receiving one of several types of bilateral sensory input, such as side-to-side eye movements or hand tapping.
Tai Chi: This martial art promotes gentle movement, balance, and breathing. It can help manage stress and improve physical stability, reducing the body’s trauma-induced fight-or-flight responses.
Breathwork: Different forms of breathwork can help manage the physiological symptoms of trauma. Practices like pranayama or guided breathing exercises can promote relaxation and mental clarity.
Dance Therapy: Movement through dance allows expression of feelings that might be too difficult to articulate verbally. It helps improve physical and mental health by reducing stress, depression, and anxiety.
Massage Therapy: Regular massage can decrease tension and stress that accumulate in the body due to traumatic responses. It's beneficial for relaxation and in helping to release 'stuck' emotional and physical energy.
Each of these practices offers a unique pathway to healing, providing the tools needed to not just survive trauma, but to thrive beyond it.
Archangels to Help You Heal From Trauma
Accessing angelic consciousness is one of the most compassionate and loving ways to heal. Archangels are facets of our own consciousness we can invoke whenever we need a little more empowerment. Using your imagination and the following visualisations can help you enhance your own self-healing qualities and accelerate your shift from trauma to triumph.
For the Fight Response: Work with Archangel Michael
Qualities: Protection, courage, strength, empowerment.
Meditation:
Invoke Archangel Michael to surround you with his protective indigo-blue cloak of light.
Envision a blue flaming sword of truth cutting through anger or aggression, transforming it into assertiveness and inner peace.
For the Flight Response: Work with Archangel Raphael
Qualities: Healing, heart-healing, comfort, peace.
Meditation:
Call upon Archangel Raphael to infuse your aura with an emerald green cloak of light.
Imagine this light soothing your anxiety and grounding your energy, helping you face situations calmly.
For the Freeze Response: Work with Archangel Gabriel
Qualities: Messages, clarity, communication, change.
Meditation:
Ask Archangel Gabriel to bring clarity and movement into your life with cloak of white light.
Visualise this white light cloak infusing into your energy field and melting away the ice of immobility, encouraging flow and ease in your actions.
For the Fawn Response: Work with Archangel Uriel
Qualities: Wisdom, enlightenment, forgiveness, self-awareness.
Meditation:
Invite Archangel Uriel to place a ruby cloak around you and fill you with ruby-red light, enhancing your understanding of your self-worth and true value.
Focus on this light helping you establish healthy boundaries and self-respect.
For the Fear Response: Work with Archangel Jophiel
Qualities: Joy, beauty, positivity, upliftment.
Meditation:
Invoke Archangel Jophiel to place a sunshine-yellow cloak of light around you to beautify your thoughts, uplift your feelings and fill you with joy.
Picture warm, sunshine-yellow light all around you and allow the warm sunny light to enter your mind, transforming fear into positive thoughts and joyful experiences.
By understanding and addressing these trauma responses with compassion and effective strategies, we can each make significant strides towards emotional freedom and a fulfilling life.
About Alexandra Wenman
I am dedicated to helping individuals navigate their spiritual and healing journeys, providing tools and insights to transform trauma into empowerment. With a deep connection to angelic realms and spirit, I blend divine guidance and multidimensional channelling with practical healing techniques and spiritual alchemy, supporting you in your journey to wellness.
Further Help and Support…
Join ‘SOFTEN’ – Low-Cost Community and Safe Space to Help You Heal…
If you're seeking a sanctuary to begin your healing journey from trauma, I warmly invite you to join "Soften: A Sacred Space of Solace, Sovereignty, Safety, and Surrender." This monthly online circle is designed to support, guide, and nurture your path to recovery through shared experiences, guided meditations, and the compassionate wisdom of the Archangels.
Soften is a place where you can safely share your stories, receive healing, and find community with others who understand. Together, we'll explore ways to gently release trauma and step into a life of greater peace and empowerment. Reserve your spot now and start transforming your pain into your greatest strength. Visit my website https://alexandrawenman.com/events to join us in this heart-centred healing circle.
Book a private one-to-one session…
If you're ready to start your healing journey and would like more personalised guidance, I invite you to book a personal one-to-one bespoke healing session with me. Together, we can explore the paths to healing and empowerment tailored specifically for you. Visit my website at alexandrawenman.com/sessions to learn more and schedule your session.
Watch The Alexandra Wenman Show on YouTube…
https://youtube.com/@alexandrawenman
Read the book ‘Archangel Alchemy Healing’ and learn to self-heal…
Work with the ‘Archangel Fire Oracle’ or ‘Water Alchemy Oracle’ alchemical healing and transformative card decks…
Visit Alexandrawenman.com for more…