3 Life-Changing Tips for Faith-Based Holistic Trauma Healing

Welcome beautiful soul! I’m so sorry for the pain and trauma you’ve experienced in your life that brought you here, but so happy you’re taking the steps to get healed. Darkness, trials, and trauma are parts of life we can’t escape, but YOU are in control of how you navigate them, and more importantly, who you become on the other side of them.

Whether you’re just getting started on your journey, or well on your way to transformation, I hope these faith-based holistic tips help you heal your deepest wounds by regulating your nervous system, releasing stored trauma, and rewiring your brain to become the woman you were created to be.

Faith-Based Holistic Trauma Healing

Simply put, a faith-based approach to holistic healing is centered around belief in the God of the Bible, recognizing His divine design of human beings as body, soul, and spirit, and incorporating trauma healing practices that address and integrate each of those parts.

To learn more about a faith-based holistic approach to healing trauma check out the post, 3 Phases of Faith-Based Holistic Trauma Healing. Another great post to consider is The 3 Rs of Healing Trauma, which dives deeper into Regulating, Releasing, and Rewiring.

3 Life-Changing Tips for Faith-Based Holistic Trauma Healing

Tip #1 (Regulate): Flood Your Gates with Goodness

This tip was inspired by a sensing exercise from the book, “Moving Beyond Trauma” by Ilene Smith, that I customized for my faith-based healing journey. A faith-based sensory toolbox of helpful tools for regulating the nervous system is essential in holistic trauma healing.

The body connects to the soul (the mind, will, and emotions) through the five senses which act as “gates”, allowing things from the physical world to pass through to our mental and emotional world. The idea here is to build a collection of sensory strategies to help you better connect with your emotional states, allowing you to be more present and objective.

Either gather the physical items together in one place or note which sensory strategies most resonate with you and have them easily accessible in your home. Some of them can even be digitally collected on your phone.

You’ll build your toolbox by exploring your senses and noticing what brings you the most pleasant sensations. Try to have at least one strategy for each of the five senses you can use when feeling triggered or dysregulated.

SMELL

Essential oils are the easiest and most portable strategy for the sense of smell. In addition to exploring which oils you most connect with, you can explore anything from nature—flowers, plants, fruit, etc. God created so many wonderful-smelling things! Enjoy discovering what smells created by God are most comforting and pleasant to you and add them to your toolbox to help you regulate and stay present in moments of stress and dysregulation.

TOUCH

My go-to for this sensory strategy is the silky fur of my sweet Spaniel. Focusing on experiencing the feel of things created by God weaves in the faith aspect, allowing you to marvel at His creation—snuggling your pet, grass on your bare feet, the breeze in your hair, the rain against your skin, the tickle of a feather, the warmth of a campfire, sand between your toes, cool water on your face, even the feel of flowers and foliage against your skin. Have fun experiencing the various sensations of nature and attuning to which ones you most enjoy.

SIGHT

This is probably the easiest one because our world is so full of glory to behold! While viewing God’s marvelous creation with a grateful heart, notice nature’s colors, shapes, textures, and patterns. Be mindful of any thoughts or feelings that may come up in response to what you observe, noting the things that create pleasant sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Remember, you can keep a file in your phone with images of your favorite visuals—places, people, animals, insects, flowers, trees, landscapes, even clouds—the sky’s the limit!

SOUND

After exploring the beautiful sights of God’s creation, close your eyes and get curious about the sounds around you. Pay attention to the sounds that feel the most soothing—singing birds, rustling leaves, the pitter-patter of rain, clapping thunder, crashing waves, a babbling brook. You can make a playlist on YouTube of your favorite sounds to help calm you in times of stress. Another powerful strategy is to listen closely to the words and musical arrangements of different praise songs and put together a playlist of the ones that speak to your spirit, soothe your soul, and connect you with God the most.

TASTE

I caution anyone who may struggle with current or past disordered eating to ease into this one. Using taste to soothe isn’t always a good option since many comfort foods are often unhealthy. God created many nourishing and delicious foods you can enjoy the flavors and taste of, so if it’s within your window of tolerance, I invite you to explore what whole foods give you a feeling of goodness and comfort. The safest option, and honestly one of my favorites, is the liquid life we all know as H20. Not only do we need water to live, but it’s also an incredibly refreshing drink that can be flavored by adding different fruits—citrus of course being the go-to for many people.

There you have it! I hope you enjoy flooding your sensory “gates” with goodness and filling your faith-based sensory toolbox with strategies to help calm and soothe your nervous system when you’re feeling stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, or disoriented. Regularly flooding your gates with goodness is also a great way to build resiliency and support your nervous system health!

Tip #2 (Release): Practice the Power of Praise

Praise music is a powerful faith-based nervous system regulation and trauma release tool, especially when paired with somatic exercises! This practice quickly became a daily go-to for me. The first step is to find a collection of praise songs that truly move you—songs that speak to your spirit and soothe your soul.

Build a playlist of songs that help you feel the most connected to God by listening closely to the words and musical arrangements of different praise songs. Once you have your favorites, listen to them while doing a somatic exercise. My favorite way to incorporate this praise practice is during my post-workout morning stretch routine.

Any stretch or somatic exercise will work here, the objective is to move your body while keeping your mind fixed on God. Let the lyrics guide you into powerful praise and worship of Him—declaring, affirming, and giving thanks to Him for the truths and promises being sung. This praise practice becomes truly powerful when you believe—when you have faith in what you’re thanking Him for, healing for instance, even before seeing the physical manifestation!

Praising and worshiping God through music is one of the most powerful ways to feel His presence and regulate your nervous system. It’s also a wonderful way to start your day, even if it’s just one song and one somatic practice! Repetition plus emotion is how we rewire our brain and form new neuropathways, so I like to listen to the same songs daily, trusting my spirit will signal when it’s time for something new.

Tip #3 (Rewire): Divine Editing

This tip was inspired by the course, “Born to Bloom” by La Vonne Earl, which I customized for my healing journey. Divine editing is another powerful faith-based healing practice that uses God’s Word to rewire your brain. One of the most difficult impacts of trauma is the subconscious beliefs or the core wounds we end up forming because of it.

Beliefs like I am not loved, I am not safe, I am not valued, I am not worthy, I am not seen. A huge part of the trauma healing and transformation journey is rewiring the brain and reprogramming these untruths. The most powerful and effective way to do this is by using God’s Word and the truth of who He says you are.

The first step in Divine Editing is to Identify the Wound or the false belief that needs to be corrected with the truth.

A traumatized brain will move into an overreactive stress response pattern (fight-flight, freeze) when the survival brain perceives a threat to safety or connection. Your job is to get to the root of your stress response—to the core wound and subconscious belief. One of the most common core wounds is, “I am not loved,” so I’ll use that as an example.

The second step in Divine Editing is to Illuminate the Truth of God that combats the lie your trauma has made you believe.

You can search the Bible on your own for scripture that opposes your core wound, but you’ll save a lot of time using Google. Repetition plus emotion is how you rewire your brain and form new neuropathways, so I like to use the same scripture every day for at least one week.

First, read the scripture out loud, allowing your heart and mind to absorb God’s truth. Next, affirm the truth out loud by saying, “I am loved because,” and adding the scripture’s truth in your own words. Last, thank God for the truth out loud by saying, “Thank you for loving me, Jesus,” and adding thanks for each of the things you affirmed.

The third step of Divine Editing is to Imprint the Emotion by attuning to what these truths feel like.

Pay attention to the sensations that being loved feels like in your body. The emotion that God’s truth generates within your body and soul plus the repetition of affirming the truth is the powerful combination that will rewire your brain and form new neuropathways!  

The more you engage in this powerful rewiring practice, the deeper the new pathways in your brain will become, until eventually the core wound and subconscious false belief will be divinely edited and replaced by the new belief!

Get your free PDF guide below which walks you through the 3 steps of Divine Editing in greater detail!

Check out the post, The Missing Piece to Your Complete Healing, to make sure your healing approach addresses every part of you!

Click the butterfly to learn more about the Dark Sky Flutterby 3-Phase Faith-Based Holistic Healing & Transformation Journey!

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