06/03/2026
It seems to works for some, but not others. What’s going on?
PART 2
Yesterday I talked about how some practitioners don’t seem to realise what can go wrong, and are quite determined that their way will help. But maybe they already had capacity..,
Some examples of what goes wrong, from the inter webs:
🧊 Icebaths: “cold shock" that triggers rapid breathing, spikes blood pressure, and increases heart rate, which may lead to heart attacks, strokes, or drowning. Prolonged exposure (typically over 10-15 minutes) risks hypothermia. Women have their own set of risks.
🧘 Nervous system work (what kind of practitioner would I be if I didn’t mention my own!): connecting to ones own body in a deep way (not sexual guys… get ya mind outta the gutter!) can be risky for someone whose body has been physically hurt, and can lead to more dissociation and more frequent triggering. Fun fact; this happened to me! The woman I learned under was very specific that people who experienced childhood trauma should follow a specific path, but me being an *almighty* experimenter since the age of 4, took my own path, of course… My psychologist pieced together that I was basically triggering myself as I went too far too fast. Now, I have a list of safe capacity building practices for me and my clients. The phase of capacity building in NS work is very different to the phase where trauma releases, and is absolutely foundational for anyone doing any kind of release work. The reason being, you need a safe place to come back to if you do deep work, and need to come out and land safely. Like learning anything - let’s say weight lifting- you start light and build the skills before you go heavy.
💨 Breathwork: getting triggered with memories that you can actually feel, overwhelm (instead of recover) the nervous system, retraumaitse, panic attacks, dizziness, and more.
🥊 Other things that can be triggering for some folks include yoga, boxing, anything with a high heart rate, any modalities that take you straight to the trauma: breath work (not to be mixed up with learning strategies that use the breath for a specific purpose, like calming down), root cause therapy, timeline therapy, EMDR as some examples. (I welcome your horror stories in my inbox or comments!)
All of the above are great and have their time and place in ones recovery journey, and they have things you can do to help safer. As I said to my client, we build capacity first. Settling your nervous system can be about finding valuable resources to “resource yourself,” as a step one in this work, and that may be a cuppa tea and a soft blanket.
And, I work only in the land of capacity building and have a specific list of practices for that, that goes no where near the land of trauma release. This capacity building tool goes hand in hand with other capacity building tools like movement, supportive food, and other vital habits for life (I help people build these habits).
A lot of people are naturally keen to grow their own businesses and will tell you that they can (help/guide you to) release your trauma with ie breath work, and plenty of us are desperate to try anything to take our pain away. I learned the hard way that quick fixes are not the answer.
To be discerning, we need to learn to listen to our inner knowing - our nervous system - and we can’t do that unless we have slowed down enough, to have the ‘capacity’ to actually listen.
I’ll leave you with a quote from my psychologist, “going slow will probably get you there faster than going fast ever has.” It’s true. I’ve consistently done this work for over a year and have changed a lot.
Some tips: slow down by orienting to your environment, pause and notice the earth is holding you - rest in that - do it lying on the grass or curled up in a soft blankie and a cuppa tea. Start with a short amount of time, do it regularly, increase time.
There are lots of practices I am trained in, and I experiment with my clients to find what feels safe for them.
My DMs are open to chat about moving forward in the way you need, happy to share a tip or two. I do love a discussion on a post coz it helps others with their questions, so don’t be shy, and comment SLOWER me if you’re ready to go slow to get there faster!
PS And guess what, this work goes hand in hand with growing your superpowers. I don’t think you can grow your courage superpower without this ability to hold all kinds of things (to hold and contain, we need capacity!). Soon you’ll be able to get the knickers and pair the power of intention with daily practices and BAM SHAZAM your SuperPowers will be!!
