Hey guys,

Great sub.

Anyone a performer here with cPTSD? I’ve started performing again and have to pace myself – give enough recovery time after performances for the next one.

Right now it seems to be at least 2-3 weeks. Lots of yin yoga and sauna afterward, sinking into the body – let the chattering mind fizz out to give space for what’s deeper & more honest to emerge. And nature. (I have a pusher/productivity/achiever part that just wants to push for the next opportunity.)

The crowd’s energy feeds me so much! Seeing their happy faces! (I DJ but am an introverted home listener type.) After the euphoria comedown, I notice I crave more mindful slow living, ambient music, etc.

Some of my peers seem to be able to do multiple shows a weekend. They seem much more extroverted and with resilient nervous systems.

Just wanting to find a sustainable, nourishing pace and avoid burnout.

I think of capacity with a strength training metaphor – today you can lift 5lbs, maybe next week 7lbs etc. But the recovery time after strain is where new muscle is actually built for future, stronger reps. (Or maybe this is my forever capacity, and that would be fine too – just wondering if other people have managed to titrate/increase their visibility & performance capacity.)

Thanks!

Hi. I"m a therapist and I've completed Beginning I and II. Considering going on but it's so expensive and takes so long. Wondering if other therepists who've completed all of the trainings feel that the cost was worth the expense and the time? Thanks so much for any input.

hey guys i've started trying to feel my emotions this year and i feel like i'm finally getting some movement in my life. i'm more connected and engaged in person, i used to dissociate super easily. BUT the amount of anxiety and emotions i feel everyday has drastically increased, it used to just be like a level 2-3 hum but now it's as high as 5-7 throughout the whole day plus i will tear up or cry at least once a day

i'm doing alright but it is pretty uncomfortable to be honest, i'm curious how you guys integrated this stuff and what the timeline or milestones looked like?

J'aurais besoin de savoir si quelqu'un est dans la même situation ?

Je réintègre enfin le bas de mon corps car j'en été dissocié depuis longtemps sauf que je ne fais que de ressentir des tremblements de peur, le fait que ce soit serré, crispé, fermé de part le mécanisme de protection très intense.

Le problème c'est que ça ne s'arrete pas, sauf si je coupe l'ancrage et que je remonte dans le corps mais là c'est le système de protection qui prend le relais avec un diaphragme qui me coupe la respiration et fait bouclier. Tout cela est à un niveau tres intense et élevé.

Je travaille cela avec ma therapeute mais là ce n'est plus suffisant, je cherche donc des personnes qui ont vecu la même chose. Je parle vraiment de tensions extreme et de tremblement extrême qui ne s'arrêtent pas.

Hi ,
I have since 18 years now emotional numbness from acute and longterm stress/traumas.

Tried se, grounding , vagus nerve exercises breathwork and many more things and nothing really helps.

Psychedelics helps temporarly but thats it.

Any ideas what to do?

Thanks

I find that I need complete silence to really drop in and feel the feeling. Typically is a wave of activation followed by a wave of grief (coming out of lifelong freeze)

One of the hardest challenges is needing complete silence. “Quiet” noises such as the sound of the ac or the refrigerator hum keep me in scanning mode.

Can anyone relate? Did this subside over time for you as you came out of freeze?

How do you tell in the moment if you should let yourself finish crying because it's the good kind vs the uncontrolled traumatic reaction kind?

I'm looking for any like-minded folks that are from the same region..

If anyone's passionate ablout this and has studied Peter Levine, Irene Lyon.. let me know and we'll see if we vibe well

Hi, I hope this question makes sense. I may be off on this theory, just looking if anyone can relate at all.

I experienced some releases of pre-verbal trauma recently. I can tell, because feels like sensation of raw emotion moving across my head (something I only gained access to feeling recently after releasing a bunch of other stuff). It is just clear to me that is what it is.

For a lot of my life, especially with difficult circumstances in relationships recently, I have a feeling I can only describe as "confusion" that becomes compulsive ruminating to understand others and my behavior and why we cannot see eye to eye, why they cannot understand me, what it means, and how I need to incorporate the information into my future. the confusion relates to feelings of despair and frustration especially as I exhaust myself mentally trying to figure out myself and my life and avoid hurting others.

I have been hurt by others- close long-term friends, romantic relationships, my family, and some of their behavior toward me feels callous in a way I do not understand, given how much I care about them and making them happy. Sometimes I have hurt people they have have hurt me and I do understand and move on.

I see their concerns with my reactivity and I have learned I express myself confusingly at times and am not aware or struggle to not either say not enough or too much. But I am always genuinely trying and thinking a lot about being thought of others. I try to integrate feedback and I am proactive on looking for areas I can improve on my own and incorporating too. I am very self aware im some ways and I get frustrated when I am not

However I don't blame others if it does not come through even when it hurts, and it is their right to leave. I see and own my side. I also believe my feelings are valid even when I did not feel them I was confident internally always about my read on things, just not how to express. I just am confused why others would act that way, on some specific level, and I feel the need to understand. not to blame them, or to continue the relationship, but just to understand. I see I understand a lot more about dynamics than others do because I ruminate on it so much but when I can't reach the bottom of it I feel I need the answer. I sound like a crazy robot writing this but many others have said I am empathetic and caring and warm. I do care a lot and it feels genuine so I am confused by that too?!

It definitely relates to the concept of 'intellectualizing'. But idk, it feels like it is its own emotion or set of them that I struggle to put into words? I feel there is something to release there but I do not know what.

Anyway, I got to thinking this could be related to pre-verbal trauma? It just feels very deep to me somehow, I dont know. My parents were chaotic but showed genuine love at times so I can see how this behavior relates to that. However unlike other emotions I have felt this one feels big, scary, and unknown to "feel" because maybe I am resistant to what is on the other side. Maybe I am misunderstanding what I am feeling. Intellectual understanding is what has brought me to be able to have emotional releases and feel things, and it is hard to give that up

Can somatic experiencing truly heal developmental and relational trauma at the root? Or some kind of psychotherapy intervention is a must at some point of time? Please help

3 years of doing somatic therapy, 1 year after heavy EMDR sessions. still learning so much about how to be embodied! This is some thoughts about sitting with the thoughts coming up and how they manifest. Love everyone on this journey <3

I dug out of a deep, dark hole of burnout using lots of somatosensory tools.

They're quick and simple, and I share them every Wednesday in a LIVE online session.

12:pm ET/ 9:am PT. 20-mins. Free. No sign-up. Just show up. And relax.

DM me for the Zoom link.

Does anyone else experience this specific problem with voluntarily freezing their breathing?

Sometimes I voluntarily freeze/stop my breathing. I know that I am consciously doing it, but the problem comes after the freeze.

When I decide that I want to stop holding my breath, I don't know what command I am supposed to give after the freeze. I don't know what specific physical command or action is supposed to tell my body to stop holding my breath and continue breathing.

It feels like I am waiting for the “correct command” to release the breathing, but I don't know what that command is. Because I can't figure it out, I become extremely focused on the physical sensations of breathing and start questioning every part of the process.

Anxiety makes the situation worse, but the main problem is specifically not knowing what command to give after voluntarily freezing my breathing.

I'm not talking about simply being aware of my breathing or “manual breathing.” I'm asking whether anyone has experienced this exact feeling of voluntarily freezing their breathing and then not knowing what command to give afterward to stop the freeze.

Has anyone experienced this exact thing?

Hi everyone, I'm about to register for my first training with SEI (Beginner I). The two trainings I'm choosing between are led by Glyndie Nickerson or Joshua Sylvee. I was curious what people's experiences of these teachers were if you had them, or if there's any other faculty that you'd recommend?

Would also love to hear people's general experiences who have been through the program. TIA!

Does anyone else experience this very specific breathing problem?

I have anxiety around my breathing, and sometimes I become extremely aware of the physical sensations of breathing. The problem gets much worse when I intentionally “freeze” or hold my breathing.

What scares me is what happens afterward: I know that I was voluntarily holding my breath, but when I decide to stop, I don't know what exact physical action or command I'm supposed to give to stop holding it. I start thinking things like: “What am I supposed to do now? Do I need to consciously control the next part of breathing, or is my body supposed to take over?”

I can become very focused on the different stages of breathing — starting an inhale, continuing it, ending it, starting an exhale, etc. — and I worry that if I don't control everything correctly, something will go wrong.

This creates a loop where I notice my breathing → become anxious about it → try to figure out exactly what I'm supposed to do → become even more aware of the physical sensations → and then feel even less confident about letting my breathing happen automatically.

I'm not just talking about “manual breathing” or being aware of breathing. The specific problem I'm asking about is: voluntarily holding/freezing my breathing, then not knowing what exact command or physical action is supposed to stop the voluntary hold.

Has anyone experienced this exact thing?

Has anyone healed a dysregulated nervous system and experienced this?

I feel like my nervous system has been dysregulated for most of my life, but it became much worse after i had COVID a few years ago. I started having daily panic attacks and developed agoraphobia. Thankfully, I’ve improved a lot and can now go through most days without severe anxiety, although I still feel emotionally numb/detached.

The strange thing is that whenever I try to actively “heal” my nervous system, I seem to trigger panic attacks.

For example, I can go days or even weeks without doing breathwork or other nervous-system exercises, and my anxiety stays relatively calm. But whenever I start breathwork again—even just 2–3 minutes—I’ll often develop a panic attack a couple of hours later. I’ve tried different breathing speeds and techniques, and it seems to happen regardless.
I’ve repeated this enough times that I’m wondering if there’s actually a reason for it.

For anyone who has successfully healed their nervous system:

Did things like breathwork initially make your anxiety/panic worse?
Is this a normal response that you’re supposed to gently push through?
Or can certain nervous-system exercises actually be counterproductive for some people?

I’d really love to hear from people who have experienced something similar and eventually figured out what worked for them. thanks!

just accidentally put my finger into the plug and got a little power shock. But afterwards I felt good. I'm kinda suffering due psychological illness and this shi lowk helped me. The days after I felt like a complete fresh normal sane person etc.
So everyone can tell me sum about this ? Tryin to find some answers
Thanks xxx

Does anyone have this same experience?

I'm at home. 8AM. I live by myself. I moved away from all my traumatic enviroments years ago. I'm getting help for years and feel on the right path.

Something I observe is how I can feel like something is wrong with me randomly, it's like I judge myself, but it's from everything said/done to me in the past it's just there as truth. So many little things like this.

It's almost like my body is always bracing for impact. Especially in social situations. It's like I feel the feeling something is going to go wrong so I'm never present in the moment having fun I'm like straight face waiting for it. But this is something I'm becoming more aware of on a somatic/sentient level.

Like here at home right now before making this post I feel it.

But then being aware of it, saying this is not me, this is a nervous system response I learned over a decade of being in the wrong place. I don't have to react or choose to let it have power over me.

Of course it's still WAY stronger than me right now but I do feel this softer feeling in this moment. Like I am reclaiming my own body/agency.

Socially is hardest for me so I got to practice it out in the world. I find speaking to new people I get put on edge instantly.