Moving Beyond Trauma by Ilene Smith
Moving Beyond Trauma The Roadmap to Healing From Your Past and Living with Ease and Vitality
From the back of the book:
“Trauma touches everyone in some form or another, whether through an acute situation such as a car accident, or a chronic one like living in an environment filled with conflict. When left unresolved, trauma gets locked in our bodies, resulting in a compromised nervous system that leads to both poor mental and physical health. Whether one is experiencing emotional pain, anxiety, eating disorders, chronic stress, OCD, depression, or any other maladaptive behavior, the cause is often rooted in unresolved trauma.”
[This book was sent to me for review purposes. I received no compensation for this post. Contains affiliate links.]
Moving Beyond Trauma is only $0.99 on Amazon Kindle today!
Ilene Smith is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner…and before you click away now thinking I’m crazy, let me tell you it’s isn’t quite as weird as it sounds. “Somatic Experiencing sessions involve the introduction of small amounts of traumatic material and the observation of a client’s physical responses to that material, such as shallow breathing or a shift in posture.” The idea is that traumatic experiences are held in our bodies, and can be released through movement.
Trauma is Often Stored Up in Our Bodies
Think about this…when you are stressed you might tense your shoulders, clench your teeth, or make fists. We all know that stress builds up cortisone in our system. If you have lived through trauma or live with chronic stress, you probably know you can’t always just “shake it off” and move on.
Stress and Trauma Affect Attachment
One of my favorite quotes from the book is, “Stress tends to bring up trauma responses as does attachment…Many traumatized people find that the more strongly they attach to a person, the more there is to lose, and if that attachment feels insecure, they begin to feel threatened”.
One of my children struggles with attachment and this is the perfect descrpition of that child. If you are a casual aquaintance, no biggie. But the moment this child begins to feel “warm fuzzies” the child will immediately find some way to sabotage the relationship.
In Moving Beyond Trauma the author shares her own story as well as the stories of patients she has helped in the past. It is definitely worth reading if you or a loved one live with trauma or chronic stress.
You might also be interested in reading my posts:
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay: Dealing with Secondary Trauma
Jesus Didn’t Call Me to Raise a Nice Christian Family
