Trauma

The dorsal vagal system is one part of our nervous system. This system responds to life threatening cues, by causing the entire system to shut down, numb out, and disconnect from others.  And if you suffer from PTSD you may be perceiving danger that is…

I think one of the cruelest effects of complex, childhood trauma is the impact it has on people’s relationships with others. These are folx who desperately want and deserve to have kind, loving, and fulfilling relationships. But it is a constant struggle if they have…

The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is the brake system of the autonomic nervous system. The PNS is the system that is responsible for the actions of “rest and digest.” It conserves energy by slowing the heart rate, lowering blood pressure, regulating sexual arousal, and relaxes…

It is hard to know what to say on this Martin Luther King holiday. I admit to feeling some sort of pressure around it given everything that has happened in the last year. But I am going to stick with what I know, trauma and…

  I find that lack of information about how the body functions can lead to trauma survivor’s sense of guilt or shame for how they behaved at the time of the trauma. But many of these reactions are out of our conscious control. In the…

    Term originally coined by Dr. Dan Siegel, to describe the optimal zone of arousal in which a person is able to function most effectively. When you are in this zone you are able to effectively able to take in and process information and…