My guest today is Mary Firestone is the co-founder of Firestone Sisters, Inc and has a Masters in Clinical Psychology from Princeton University. She is the author of the book "Trusting the Dawn: How to Choose Freedom and Joy After Trauma”. Mary joined this week’s episode of The Growth Guide podcast to talk about understanding trauma, how to talk to yourself, integration and initiation, aromatherapy, ketamine therapy, daily practices to reduce trauma, and more.

Sometimes we talk to ourselves in a harsh way that we never tell anyone else. But being empathetic and kind to ourselves is essential in the process of healing from trauma. The first step in addressing ourselves kindly is identifying our internal thoughts. The second step is to redecorate those internal thoughts with more powerful and empowering ones, says Mary.

The goal of trauma therapy is to integrate. That means we shouldn’t try to fully remove trauma from our lives. Instead, we can make the trauma a part of our story. A part of our lives that led us to the moment we are in or be the person we are today.  You are not alone, and there are a lot of ways to help you reduce your suffering with the right guidance. Healing is absolutely possible; you just have to keep searching.

[05.29] Understanding trauma - How to recognize that you are dealing with trauma and what symptoms to look for.

[11.52] Talk to ourselves – It’s important how we talk to ourselves. Mary walks us through the steps to talking to ourselves when we are in a traumatic condition.

[18.56] Integration and initiation – Instead of attempting to eliminate trauma, we should try to integrate it into our lives.

[25.53] Shaking therapy – Mary shares some trauma-releasing exercises that you can do to physically release trauma.

[30.34] Aromatherapy – Mary defines aromatherapy and flower essences and how they can help with trauma.

[36.07] Acupuncture – Mary explains how acupuncture takes one from the sympathetic stage to the parasympathetic stage.

[41.55] EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. 

[54.30] Daily practices – Qi Gong, reading, writing letters to God, and yoga are some of Mary’s daily practices for people who deal with trauma. 

Resources

Connect with Mary:

firestonesisters.com
https://www.maryfirestone.co/

linkedin.com/in/mary-firestone-22203058/ 

instagram.com/trustingthedawn2022/ 

instagram.com/firestonesisters/

Book by Mary

Trusting the Dawn: How to Choose Freedom and Joy After Trauma 

Book by Florence Scovel Shinn

The Game of Life and How to Play It 

Paul Fraser Qigong - paulfraserqigong.net/