Healing Methods Wanted

[MeowMeow]

I'm looking for some creative ways to heal. I'm not the best with words, nor do I like to write things down and have any evidence of it, but I really want to find what works for me. I sing, but I'm not a songwriter, I dance but am not a choreographer, and I'm not great at art.

Is there anything I can do to try to allow myself to get things out there without really even saying anything, to heal?

I've been reading/listening to a lot of Rupi Kaur and she's such an inspiration but I need to find my thing and I'm having difficulties with that, so any suggestions would be great!

 

[NoWhereKnowWhere]

Yoga can be good for getting in touch with your body and can be grounding. There's a few books for healing trauma through yoga worth a google. Mindfulness has helped me I'd recommend the mindful way through depression. Self care has helped me a lot too I'd recommend Self-Compassion Exercises by Dr. Kristin Neff Some awesome guided meditations.

Ultimately your probably going to have to talk about your trauma at some point. If you're not ready for that right now then that's ok. Really it is, it should be on your terms. Maybe focus on coping strategies and skills for the moment. Do you have a therapist you can work with? If not then a good trauma therapist will be able to guide you without pushing too much too soon.

 

[watundah]

Agree about the yoga. I also watch YouTube a lot to learn about different diagnoses, therapeutic modalities and presentations by well known trauma book authors. How to get things out tho, you probably need to be heard. If not therapy, a support group?

 

[NoWhereKnowWhere]

I was just thinking somatic experiencing therapy? I don't know much about it but it might be worth a bit of research?

 

[VioletButterfly]

Wonderful suggestions above about self-compassion, mindfulness, yoga, somatic therapy...... I'm working on mindfulness and self-compassion in learning how to tolerate the stressful aftereffects of trauma and managing life now.

A side note, I've also found artistic expression to be very helpful. I've found through the years that drawing with colored pencils and water coloring can be very helpful. I have the ability of maybe an 8 yr old and that's being gracious, so it's not that it has to be a "work of art," but an expression of what you're feeling. It is/can be very abstract so that you're not pinning down an event, per se, but just letting emotions out into the light. I have one piece I'm thinking of in particular that is an entire page of black markings and a tiny pink heart in the corner, or one where I just drew red slashes across the page. I go immediately to the emotions behind that and remember what I was feeling. If it's just about getting emotions on the outside at this point, this might help. Be prepared though that this can be triggering as well. Have some coping and grounding techniques at the ready just in case.

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

Is there anything I can do to try to allow myself to get things out there without really even saying anything, to heal?

My "thing" has ended up being a huge collection of specific pieces of many things from some of the damnedest places, most of which I'd been long advised to ignore, mainly due to a lack of peer-reviewed scientific evidence supporting their effectiveness, and due to them not being covered by insurance. Thanks to a community that supports bartering, I've since found many ways to better release, recognize, root out, and reveal things about my particular flavors of dis-ease that didn't require me to share any specifics, such as:

Deep breathing techniques
Drumming with hand drums
Native American flutes
Hula hooping
Dancing - mostly random sporadic
Primal screaming
More time with nature
Bouncing on a mini-trampoline
Craftiness in varied artistic forms - re-purposed crafts, inspirational magnets, pocket rocks, jewelry, dreamcatchers, coloring books, writing rhymes, making lists of things I wished to let go of and then ceremonially burning them in the fireplace or fire pit, growing house plants and gardening, etc.
NeurOptimal neurofeedback
Drastic lifestyle change regarding my consumption habits - diet/hygiene/cleaning products/etc.
Major changes in living environment
Acupuncture
Massage therapy
Iridology
Sound healing with Tibetan bowls, gongs, and such
Yoga

However, once the healing energies started to flow, I quickly learned that continuing to purposely avoid the uncomfortable and hurtful memories only served to undo most of the progress I'd made.

I finally sought more help in sorting and managing those thoughts and memories by calling a local domestic/sexual abuse shelter who offers free T sessions and have since discovered how helpful having that talking space really is.

I stopped going for a while because I felt I had a good enough grip on things via all of those methods I listed, silly me. I find having that outlet to be a priceless tool in my tool box that benefits me most when used on a regular basis, and I no longer wait until I feel I'm approaching a crisis to utilize that service.

All of those therapeutic and nurturing tools continually bring up cellular memories and such that I mistakenly thought I'd long since dealt with while also helping me build my strength to deal with them. I've finally accepted that I don't have to face it all on my own, nor am I expected to, although some days I much prefer it to be that way as I've also learned I am often the only one I can truly count on as the others are only human, too.

Having safe, warm, and inviting spaces to talk about, write about, and share stories about the things that have changed the course of my life has been a key component to healing, for me. Finding those spaces can be rather laborious and can grossly reveal much of the widely accepted dysfunction within the systems supposedly designed to help us.

 

[lux.]

You don't have to be good at any form of self-expression for it to be therapeutic and healing. The hard part is getting over the desire for the end result to be "good." My therapist is also an art therapist and she always says "it's about the process, not the product." So go ahead--write a song, choreograph a dance, make some art--who cares what it looks or sounds like? It's not like you're doing it in the hopes of being the next Picasso; you're doing it for release. All that's necessary for that is to let yourself go, and be free with your emotions.

If you don't like having evidence left around, burn it or throw it out after you write it or draw it or whatever. As for art, if you feel like you can't draw or paint or whatever well enough to make something look like what you want it to, just don't worry about that. Grab some acrylic paint, some paint brushes, and some thick paper, and paint your feelings--super abstract, just create the shapes, movements, and colors that match how you feel. Definitely a way to "get things out there without really even saying anything." Paint helps me express feelings when I don't have words for them.

Better yet--finger paint.