Today I’m joined by Gabriel Shaw, who for more than 15 years has helped people heal as a paramedic, a kinesiologist, clinical exercise physiologist and Tai Chi instructor. Gabriel has led specialty workshops at events such as the Victoria Yoga Conference, Tai Chi Mountain Retreat, Burning Man and more. Today, Gabriel is here to speak loud about how he helps people through their trauma-healing with various modalities. 

Everyone stores trauma in their body. Gabriel specializes in using movement to heal. Oftentimes, trauma is locked away in our bodies and ignored. Healthcare practitioners especially are often overlooked in the trauma they take on in their fields. Careers in the medical field can have short lifespans because of the stress they induce, something Gabriel struggled with, himself. 

During his time as a paramedic, Gabriel put himself last, believing his trauma wasn’t ‘as bad’ as his patients’. One of his tools for healing was Tai Chi and Qi Gong, which let him tap into his body in order to release what was built up. Energy work helps cultivate the essential ‘you’ that may be buried. 

Tai Chi blends martial arts and Qi Gong in order to cultivate internal energy. Gabriel says the first step of Tai Chi is learning to relax, and access the places we’ve locked up to store stress. Trauma survivors--and their caregivers--may respond to trauma by locking it away in a certain part of their body. Tai Chi works to bring feeling back into those separated areas. 

‘Qi’ is a Chinese word meaning energy or breath, or, as Gabriel describes, “fire without fire.” He explains that people often get caught up with the mystical interpretation of Qi, when it can be boiled down to the physical sensation of living in your body. If you were to stop and just feel your body, you likely wouldn’t feel it in terms of muscle or bone structure, but rather a flow of sensations from one place to the next. Tai Chi and Qi Gong work to cultivate even more of that flow and connect the body’s energy. 

Gabriel explains that people often resist healing movement because of the focus it draws to places of discomfort. Movement is change, and humans often resist change. “You can’t rush your healing,” Gabriel says. After an injury, a patient may focus on getting back to where they were before, physically or mentally. That’s where we get into trouble, according to Gabriel, because that stagnation is what stops us from healing. 

Listen in to learn about Tai Chi and Qi Gong, intuitive movement as a healing modality, and Gabriel’s experience with kinesiology and wellness coaching. 

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