A page particularly for those new to this area. Healing is both an individual and a collaborative experience,
so personal exploration and suggestions/feedback are encouraged.
 
It all starts with the Breath:
 
Many cultures have breath work techniques for regulation. Here are some pranayamas from yogic traditions (lots of videos are available online):

• Viloma/Interrupted breath (step wise in and out)
• Bhramari/humming bee (block ears, hum whilst slowly exhaling ~ focus thoughts on vibration in head). (Particularly good for panic attacks)
• Ujjayi/anger control (gentle glottis tightening w back of throat whispering). Hold at full inspiration (ideally felt right down to the pelvis) then long slow breath out. Useful for process work too
• Nadi Shodhana/alternate nostril

 
‘Vu’: Somatic Experiencing Founder Peter Levine’s vagal nerve regulating sound, not dissimilar to ‘Ohm’ 

• The base of vagal nerve ‘Vu’ exercise (a big breath in as low as possible in the abdomen then slowly out saying ‘Vu’ and focussing on that area.)

 
We are ultimately aiming for a regular, unconcious pattern of 'pelvic floor' breathing, ideally through the nose almost all the time - where the respiratory diaphragm is in coordination with the pelvic one, indicating that the organs and connective tissue of the whole torso are integrated.
 
Other ANS/immune/inflammation stabilisation/exploration techniques/practices:
 
Accupuncture
 
Alexander Technique

Art Therapy

Clinical Somatics (Hanna tradition)
 
Craniosacral therapies
 
Dance/embodied mediation such as 5 Rhythms or Open Floor
 
Emotional acting

Equine therapy
 
Feldenkrais
 
Floatation (magnesium based)

Low Intensity Vibration therapy
 
Massage (intuitive/trauma informed)

Meditation (embodied)
 
Mindfulness (embodied)
 
Music/Sound therapy

Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy
 
Qi Gong

Red and near-Infra red light therapy
 
Rolfing
 
Singing (particularly group singing)
 
T’ai Chi
 
Yoga (trauma informed)/ e.g Yin

 
Books/TEDs/other links of particular relevance to identity/esteem and ANS/emotional stabilisation work:
 
ADD/ADHD ("high-functioning"):
 
Gabor Maté
Scattered


Breath (the importance/power of):

James Nestor
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art


Ceremony (the importance/power of):

Charles Eisenstein
Every Act a Cermony


Coping Strategies:

Siobhan Reddel (podcast)
Coping Strategies


Emotions and exercises:
 
Karen McClaren
The Language of Emotions


Illness as an expression of disconnection/'dis-ease':

Yolande Lucire
Constructing RSI: Belief and Desire

Erwin van Meekeren
Starry Starry Night: Life and psychiatric history of Vincent van Gogh


Memory (and brain/body lateralisation)

Michael Levin and Iain McGhilchrist in conversation.

​
Perspective/self exploration (and delusion)/connection with self:
 
Tony Moore
Cry of the damaged man.
(An Australian surgeon’s autobiographical account of recovering from trauma.)

Philip Shepherd
Radical Wholeness
 
Bronnie Ware
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying

Mary Westmacott
(Any of the novels by Agatha Christie writing under a pseudonym around the period of her own existential crisis / fugue state.)
 
​
Shame:

Traumatic Stress Institute
Shame and attachment

Siobhan Reddel
On Shame in Modern Society and Medicine


Trauma Bonds:
 
Patrick J Carnes
The Betrayal Bond
 
Brenda Schaeffer
Is it Love or is it Addiction? 3rd Ed.
 

Trauma (physiology) specifically:
 
Peter Levine
In an Unspoken Voice
Trauma and Memory
Waking the Tiger
 
Bessel Van der Kolk
The Body Keeps the Score


Trust in the healthcare setting:

Per Fugelli
Trust - in general practice


​Vulnerability:
 
Brene Brown (TED talk)
The Power of Vulnerability