The following article includes 7 natural ways to treat trauma, shock, and overwhelm. These healing modalities collected from the fields of herbalism and aromatherapy, Hanna Somatics, Polarity Therapy, Chinese Five Element and Meridian System, as well as color, light, sound, movement, breath, and energetic contacts.
1) Explore Essential Oils, Herbs, and Teas
Beneficial essential oils for treating trauma, shock and overwhelm include clary sage, lavender, orange, rose, chamomile, Ylang Ylang, Vetiver, and Frankincense.* These essential oils are both energizing ad calming in nature. I have used these essential oils first-hand in school settings with students and administrators in the presence of anxiety-producing situations with issues related to accidents, attempted personal harm, grief, and need for calming. This was done with simple treatments of carrying tissues with oils in small plastic bags or placing the tissue in a fan or diffusers. Finding what works best for you is essential to your specific needs.
*These herbs or essential oils above in a warm bath or foot soak can also be supportive. If a bath is not possible, use coconut oil mixed with a calming or energizing essential oil to provide nourishing support massaged on the bottom of your feet.
Make teas from herbs like chamomile, lemon balm or passionflower at home will also offer comfort. Make teas with rose petals and/or hawthorn for support with grieving and heartbreak. A tea with citrus especially orange peel is energizing and uplifting. Peeling an orange, inhaling the scent from the peels, and then eating the orange can relieve anxiety.
2) Breathe to Release Stress and Trauma
Additional Resource for Breathwork that Heals Trauma
3) Use Acupressure and Movement
Take a walk in nature or sit in a garden to create calm. If you cannot go outside, look through a window at nature outside. There are acupressure points that calm and tonify your body-mind system, as well as touchpoints on your body that can calm and bring you back to center in the midst of trauma.
a) Acupressure interacts with your Meridian System to harmonize and balance the energy flow of your Bddy-Mind-System. Pain is a blockage or interruption of energy flow that can affect you on the physical, emotional, mental and spirit levels. Here a resource with 6 Acupressure Points for Anxiety.
b) Somatic Exercises: These Somatic Movement Exercises from Embody Labe are especially beneficial for releasing challenging emotions and stress held in your body. Watch the video Somatic Exercises for Difficult Emotions for self-care.
4) Ground Yourself
There are many ways to nourish your body-mind system through grounding. Explore How to Ground Yourself to Get Centered and Oriented to the Present for ideas.
5) Eat Nourishing Foods
To counteract adrenaline and blood sugar spikes, decrease or eliminate sugars from your diet. Alcohol and caffeine also contribute to increase in fear, anxiety and worry.
- Stay well hydrated.
- Eat slowly and chew your food completely.
- Gut health directly affects how you feel, and add pre-biotics like onions, garlic, leeks, soybeans, chicory root, honey, banana, Jerusalem artichoke, and chia seeds to your food choices to feed beneficial gut flora.
- Add probiotics to your diet including yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, sauerkraut, kombucha, pickled vegetables, kimchi, miso, and tempeh.
- Create greater balance in your body-mind system with beta-carotene from carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, spinach, and kale; and vitamin C from citrus fruits, red peppers, brussels sprouts, broccoli, and strawberries. Add vitamin E from almonds, avocado, spinach, sunflower seeds, spinach, and again sweet potatoes. These vitamins nourish beneficial neurotransmitter brain function.
- The trace mineral selenium in Brazil nuts, halibut, grass-fed beef, turkey, chicken, and eggs is also a wonderful antioxidant that supports stabilizing fear, anxiety, and panic attack. Including foods with zinc leads to fewer anxious feelings. Cashews are a great source of zinc.
- Research studies show that omega-3 fatty acids from foods such as salmon and walnuts, zinc like oysters and liver, and magnesium from leafy greens and whole grains help to reduce anxiety.
- Make sure that you don’t skip meals to avoid a drop in blood sugar, which can cause you to feel jittery and make your fear or anxiety feel more intense.
- Have a snack from the list above on hand throughout the day to keep your system in balance. According to studies on mood regulation, it is beneficial to eat every 3-4 hours.
- Make sure you get enough fiber in your diet to digest food and detoxify what is not needed in your system.
6) Speak with and Spend Time with Someone You Trust
Having someone be with you if even just in the same room or close by to provide a sense of safety and support is helpful. If you cannot be in the same space, connect by computer or phone. Being able to express your fear and anxiety safely and to be heard is important through the loving presence of listening. Talk about your fears, and what you need to feel safe to trust again. Talk to and be with people who make you feel safe.
6. Nature and Sound
Get into the sun, meditate, practice Yoga, Tai Chi, prayer, or listen to music. This connects you to the support of your life force to harmonize and balance your emotions. Listen to music with flowing water in the background, or go for a walk next to the water.
7) Give Yourself Peace and Quiet
Give yourself the time you need to rest, to cry when you need to, and make space for self-care. Sleep allows you to cleanse toxins and stress from your system. Keep the same routines that you have kept for your sleep schedule. Create comfort in your living space. Wear and sleep in soft fabrics and find ways to bring gentleness into your living and workspace. Even if it means carrying something in your pocket that connects you to a feeling of safety, create a loving space that goes with you. It can be a picture of someone you love, a gentle message to yourself or from another person recorded on your cell phone, or a reminder of something that allows you to feel peace.
Take a break daily to give yourself a loving space for peace and quiet. If you want, you can draw, write, sing, move, play an instrument or walk to express your inner process. Life is energy in motion. Moving through the process of fear, anxiety and trauma is a whole-body experience, and it takes time and loving support.
This is your invitation to move through the process with the natural and nourishing process of Resonance Repatterning® that relies on the innate wisdom of your own body-mind system to transform trauma, shock, and overwhelm naturally.
If you have any questions about how to use essential oils, make a tea, blend, or want to schedule a session, reach out through the Contact Page.
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