From Trauma to Tranquility: Creative Healing Journey

Jay's inspiring story reveals that change is possible. If these times feel traumatic, balance your nervous system with a simple vagal reset with breath and voice.

Dear Brave Soul, thanks for showing up today. 🙏🏼 Your creative voice matters! Did you join a Hands Off event? (I’d be with you, but I’m with friends in Costa Rica getting dental care that cost at least 3K in the USA.) Today, part 2 of our Creative Healing conversation with

Wild Lion*esses Pride from Jay

. Their healing journey from trauma gives us hope! If all this uncertainty feels traumatic, try a simple tool to reset your vagal nerve back to calm.

Journey to the Canyon II: Jay’s Creative Integration Story

In Part 2 of this Creative Healing exploration, Jay shares more about their Canyon model for healing from many complex traumas. Here’s a few highlights:

6:16 Who’s driving the car of your life? What if you can’t change the behavior patterns that rule you — programs from years ago that cause automatic reactions?

16:00 Jay’s epiphany: the Canyon is not a place to escape, but a meaningful set of structures for healing, including side canyons that embody their traumas.

19:00 Digital art of the Dam - the metaphoric structure that held back the river (life force), plus the deconstruction of the Dam, and the river that can now run free.

28:00 Jay couldn’t access their memories or their true self. After a dark time, Jay explored and mapped the walls of their canyons to find a way to change.

35:00 Internal patriarchy, the corrupt/false self, expectations from family and society that created the rigid dam. Designed to produce an outcome for an external force.

41:00 Traditions, teachers, and resources for Jay’s journey. Emotions are confined to the reservoir behind the dam; becoming a high-functioning, overproducer.

48:00 Shadow work; Jay bravely dives deep into stagnant, poisoned water to clear and dismantle old beliefs, norms, and expectations.

1:00 Healing Toxic Shame - a 3 week intensive and major breakthrough! The trauma is healed; their body no longer reacts out of past trauma of autonomic nervous system.

Jay’s courageous journey offers incredible hope and inspiration for anyone who’s suffered from trauma or adverse childhood experiences.¹ Thank you, Jay!

What if we’re all experiencing a form of trauma right now?

Extreme changes in the United States are sending shock waves across the world. The level of uncertainty is unprecedented and will be felt by all in a global economy. If you’re on an emotional roller coaster, super stressed about the future, you’re not alone.

Feeling traumatized by events beyond your control can lead to an unbalanced nervous system. We can get stuck in the ON position, the Sympathetic or active side of our Autonomic Nervous System. This system stimulates a Fight-or-Flight response to danger or stress. In modern life, many of us are in a constant state of anxiety, exacerbated by political fears, societal pressures to perform, social media, etc.

The Parasympathetic System runs the “Rest and Digest” functions. Our baseline is intended to be relaxed, calm, and connected - not stressed and distressed. To reach this more balanced state of mind and body, stimulate the Vagal Nerve.

Respond to stress with resilience.

As a sound energy worker, I love sharing simple ways to repair and regulate our nervous system through breath and voice. Here’s a powerful way to tap the power of the vagal nerve to slow down your nerves and bring yourself back to calm.

I used the 1 - 2 - Hum to calm my nervous system during several 2 hour sessions in the dentist’s chair this week.

The 1 - 2 - Hum

1. Inhale through your nose to a count of 4. Let your belly soften, fill with air.

2. Exhale through your nose for a count of 8. Relax your jaw. Let your belly lift.

3. Repeat. First, inhale to 4. As you exhale to a count of 8, add a tone: make a simple HUMMMMMM sound with your mouth closed.

4. Repeat as often as you like. Notice how you feel. Do your shoulders drop?

The 1:2 inhale-to-exhale ratio invites a longer outbreath, which stimulates the vagal nerve. Adding the HUM tone vibrates your larynx, where the vagus attaches to your brain. There are many ways to exercise your vagal nerve;² this is easy and feels good.

More sound healing tools that use your voice:

Your Voice is Medicine: 5 Tools to Free Funky Emotions

🗣️ I’d love to know… Do you ever feel you’re not driving the car of your life? Do you carry a pattern of overproducing? Have you stepped into any brave shadow work? Did you try the 1-2-Hum, for calming?

Thank you for being (Mostly) Brave, and for being You. 💗 Please like this post, comment, or share with a friend so more of us can feel braver in these times.

More to come,

1. “Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17 years). About 61% of adults surveyed across 25 states reported they had experienced at least one type of ACE before age 18, and nearly 1 in 6 reported they had experienced four or more types of ACEs.” - Centers for Disease Control

2. 10 proven ways to naturally stimulate the vagus nerve