• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Welcome
  • Work With Me >
    • Signs of Trauma
    • Benefits
    • Fees and Policies
    • Frequent Questions
    • Online Sessions
    • Types of Bodywork >
      • Bodywork sessions
      • Reiki
      • Massage
      • CranioSacral Therapy
      • Somatic Experiencing
      • Other Bodywork
  • People Say
  • Articles >
    • Articles by Topic
    • Articles by Date
  • Books >
    • Wellspring of Compassion
    • Presence After Trauma
  • About >
    • About Sonia Connolly, LMT
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Nav Widget Area

Sundown Healing Arts

Intuitive, compassionate bodywork for trauma

Articles

Topic: Acceptance

Your Body Is Your Ally

It is painfully easy to blame our own bodies for trauma we endure. Perhaps if we had looked or acted differently, the trauma would not have happened. Afterwards, we want the body to just get over it instead of needing a long healing process. We disconnect from our bodies, and then feel surprised and betrayed… Read More

February 1, 2018 sonia

Topic: Body

Embody Hunger, Embody Fullness

Trauma interrupts and confuses our relationship with our bodies. To connect more directly with our bodies just as they are right now, we can bring more awareness to eating, hunger, and fullness. Soothing or stressful eating Babies eat for comfort as well as nourishment. So do growing children and adults. Eating is a fundamental sensory… Read More

January 1, 2018 sonia

Topic: Trauma Effects, PTSD

Untangle Anniversaries

Some anniversaries are neutral. “Oh, that happened five years ago.” Some feel like an accomplishment. “Wow, I’ve had this job for three years already.” And then there are the ones that feel terrible. Trauma anniversaries might bring more abundant flashbacks and other PTSD symptoms. Anniversaries of loss might bring a resurgence of grief. We might… Read More

December 1, 2017 sonia

Topic: Hard Times

How to Resist Enough

The news is overwhelming these days. Hurricanes, wildfires, increasingly violent bigotry, decreasing access to medical care, war, genocide, environmental destruction. To secure our own survival and to be good people we want to do something, only it never seems like enough. How do we resist enough? How do we know that we are doing our… Read More

November 1, 2017 sonia

Topic: Relating

The Perils of Nice

Never take the last cookie. Avoid drama. Never tell people they are wrong. Wait for people to notice what you need. Smile at strangers. We have lots of rules about how to be nice, how to be liked. The details vary in each community, which can be surprising when you move to a new town…. Read More

October 1, 2017 sonia

Topic: Hard Times

Sit with Disappointment

The hardware store is out of the item we need. A friend did not show up when they said they would. The job went to someone else. The election went to the other candidate. Disappointments come in all shapes and sizes. How we handle them depends on our expectations, our inner resources and resilience at… Read More

September 1, 2017 sonia

Topic: Body

Look into the Present

Trauma leads to chronic muscle tension as the body works to manage internal nervous system disruptions as well as external life disruptions. Our eyes are affected directly by muscle tension and indirectly by incomplete trauma responses. Light enters the eye through the pupil and is focused by the lens onto the retina in the back… Read More

August 1, 2017 sonia

Topic: Relating

Seek Nourishing Feedback

You want someone to take a look at an important letter before you send it out. Your kid left their shoes in the middle of the floor, again. Your boss makes little disparaging remarks about your Black coworker that she doesn’t make about others. We give and receive feedback constantly as we navigate our complex… Read More

July 1, 2017 sonia

Topic: Body

Find Calm: Practice Rest and Regulation

Find Calm: A Polyvagal Primer describes the structure of our nervous system according to Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory. This article follows up with practical tools to help the nervous system regulate itself and find rest as it heals from developmental trauma. Our early experiences help our bodies learn about safety, rest, and regulation. When a… Read More

June 1, 2017 sonia

Topic: Body

Find Calm: A Polyvagal Primer

Physical calm can be frustratingly elusive after trauma. We receive messages that we “should” be over it, “just calm down,” or suggestions to try yoga or meditation. When we’re already doing our best to calm an irritated nervous system, it can help to understand the underlying physical mechanisms in our bodies. Stephen Porges has done… Read More

May 1, 2017 sonia

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 13
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Work with me

BODYWORK PRACTICE SUSPENDED due to COVID-19. Online sessions available.
Contact Sonia Connolly to schedule your appointment or free phone consultation in Portland, Oregon.
sonia@TraumaHealed.com
503-334-6434
My office is fragrance-free.

Quick Links

  • Signs of Trauma
  • Testimonials
  • Bodywork Services
  • Frequent Questions
  • Healing Resources
  • Subscribe!

Latest Articles

  • Elements of Refuge
  • When Help Means Rescue
  • When Help Means Danger

Buy the books

Wellspring of Compassion book coverPresence After Trauma book cover

Popular Articles

Sorry. No data so far.

Trauma Healing Topics

  • Acceptance
  • Body
  • Boundaries
  • Find Support
  • Hard Times
  • Healing Tools
  • Relating
  • Self-Trust
  • Survival Tools
  • Trauma Effects, PTSD

Archives

  • Articles by Topic

What I’m reading

Curious, Healing

Free Monthly Healing Articles

Please wait

Footer

People Say

Aubrie De Clerck

There are so many breakthroughs I experienced as your client – how to honor my feelings, be kind and gentle with myself, see different perspectives on any situation, how to mix compassion and courage. Continue Reading (click twice)

Read More Testimonials

You are welcome

Sundown Healing Arts is size-friendly, diversity-friendly, queer-friendly, and trans-friendly. Persons of any body size, color, sexual orientation, and gender are welcome.
  • Sundown Healing Arts
  • Bodywork
  • Articles
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact

Sonia Connolly, LMT #12475    503-334-6434    2833 NE 8th Ave, Portland, Oregon 97212

Copyright © 2005-2021 Sonia Connolly