Caring for yourself when experiencing shock
How to deeply care for yourself when processing shock to ensure trauma moves through the body and doesn’t become stagnant and trapped.
A few weeks ago my body and nervous system were thrown out of balance and into a state of shock at a sudden change thrown my way. A certain chapter of my life came to a close and my body needed help with how abrupt this was all feeling. I have a habit of overthinking and analysing emotions rather than allowing myself to feel them. I wanted to make sure I was processing everything in a healthy manor to ensure I wasn’t allowing shock to reside anywhere in my body— especially as I’m still dealing with PTSD.
I reached out to the babes on Twitter asking how they soothe themselves through shock. The wonderful range of loving answers I received made my heart happy and I knew I’d have to turn the tools i’ve used into blog post so that I could share the wisdom.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers will not cover you. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flames will not scorch you.”
The last few weeks my emotional body has needed a little more than scream-crying a love song in my car. In times of experiencing shock we need to take more time than usual to lovingly care for ourselves and work on releasing tension in our bodies.
I turn to a mixture of ways to support all parts of myself when experiencing emotional upheaval. I hope by sharing some of these ways they may be of help to others too.
Ways to support yourself through shock
Here are some of my favourite ways to care for myself when experiencing emotional shock, or shock in my body and nervous system. Some of these suggestions are also from the gorgeous girls on Twitter. I have added a gallery of their tweets below.
Plant Allies
Nervous System Supportive
Passionflower and hibiscus tea
Warming fresh ginger root long brewed tea
Sharing physical touch with the natural world
Flower Essences
Rescue Remedy is a Bach’s Flower Essence blend made for the immediate effects of shock. This essence works as the first step to working through shock, before moving onto other essences to aid in moving shock out of the body. It is not to be used long term.
Star of Bethlehem for shock and grief (one of the essences in Rescue Remedy)
Gorse as a remedy for hopelessness
Rock Rose as a remedy for fear and disassociating
Olive as a remedy for mind, body, and soul exhaustion
Wild Oat as a remedy for feeling directionless
To Soothe
Peppermint essential oil or a headache soothing essential oil blend (try the Living Through Nature blend here)
Tulsi tea or tincture. A beautiful and powerful plant ally that will support any aching heart and suffering nervous system.
Heart Healer Flower Essence: A Living Through Nature blend. A deeply nurturing and soothing plant aid for an anxious system, hurting heart, or fearful mind. Here to guide you back to your heart centre. Buy here.
Heart Centre Loose Leaf Tea: a Living Through Nature blend. A heart opening, yin energy tea. Perfect for calming a racing mind & heart, soothing an anxious body, or caring for your body during your moon cycle & PMS. (Buy here). Make your own heart centre tea which is a rose and passionflower base, lemon balm and hibiscus. Add you own extras too. And always serve with a soothing dose of honey.
To Uplift
Lemon balm and chamomile elixir (alcohol and honey mix)
Peppermint or spearmint tea
Working with St. John’s Wort
Working with Ginko however you feel called. Shock can leave us with a clouded mind due to an overwhelming mix of emotions, as well as changes happening both around us and to us. Ginko has endless medicinal benefits but I find it useful for clarity of mind and a natural mood boost.
Working with Lavender however you feel called. Burning this herb as an incense has uplifting effects. For some, Lavender tea is headache relieving and may aid in calming anxiety.
(Nothing in this blog post is to be taken as medical advice. Always consult a medical provisional before taking herbs, especially if you’re on any medication. Always do you own research on how a herb may affect you).
Nourishment
When experiencing shock, change, and unsettling emotions our nervous systems and emotional bodies are put under stress. Allowing our digestive systems to rest and our bodies to conserve some energy relieves stress on ourselves.
Easy to digest, grounding and warming foods are always going to be the most healing during challenging times. Soups, stews, slow cooked foods are ideal. Warming foods like soup are good for the soul as well as good for the body and therefore the perfect food for shock.
Easy to digest and nourishing foods for shock:
Soups and broths
Stewed fruits with cinnamon and cream
Raw milk and honey
Stews and slow cooked joints of meat
Teas and your favourite warming drinks
Keeping your body warm is essential for keeping your body healthy and feeling grounded. Warm feet and warm lower back/core are also a necessity from a TCM standpoint. So stay cosy and drink lots of warming tea.
Emotional
Feeling can often be the most challenging part of going through something that causes shock. Emotions can come some time after we initially first feel shock. It’s important to be kind to yourself and not question or judge your feelings. It’s all valid and there’s no timeline or ‘correct’ way to heal and feel.
Here are some of my favourite ways to either feel, process, or let out my emotions:
Singing and humming to help soothe the vagus nerve and therefore the nervous system.
Having a good cry and sob. Sometimes it comes easy. Other times I’ll begin singing a go-to sad song and let the tears flow. No matter what triggers it, going with it and letting my emotional body purge always leaves me feeling lighter.
If you have the blessing, now is a time for leaning on loved ones and asking for help. Taking time to talk things out with someone you trust. I struggle with letting people help me when i’m in a vulnerable place. Thankfully I have people around me now who know how to offer support. I’m deeply grateful.
To stop anger festering (this is especially for my fire filled babes) — scream! Drive somewhere and park up if you have to. Scream into a pillow. Have a free house? Scream. Put loud music on and scream. Let. It. All. Out.
(letting out anger can be a way to access emotions that sit below the surface. but sometimes anger is just anger.)Setting up a cosy and soothing atmosphere, however that looks for you, and getting into your favourite music. It may be candles, warm vibes, and love songs that you need. It may be darkness and loud music. You could need a comfort song and a good dance. Allow music to be a friend in a time of need. It may help in accessing certain emotions.
Physical
Movement is medicine when it comes to processing emotions stored in the body. If you’re struggling with shock of any kind, you may not feel up to heavy exercise. Lots of stretching and gentle movement will help you stay grounded in your body and help ease tension stored causes by stress. I recommend working with chest openers to help process grief and/or shock stored in the lungs and chest.
Taking time to walk outside, even for 10 minutes, is an easy way to welcome a break from the world. Focus on what you can see and hear around you. My favourite way to process anything I feel is to turn to dance. However that looks for you, try moving your body to music. Even if that’s swaying with your eyes closed and your hands on your heart centre. Any movement is more than valid.
Focusing on jaw and hip work would be something to work on long term if you’re struggling with emotional shock. Trauma and stress can be stored in hips. Hips are also linked to the jaw. So much stress and tension from daily life is stored in our jaws so when we experience shock this is only made more extreme. Self massage of the masseter jaw muscle, gua sha, scalp and neck massage, and working with magnesium oil would be my recommendations. As well as lots of hip focused stretching and yoga.
Spiritual
When going through shock we may be more sensitive to certain entities and energies that cause harm to our already inflamed nervous system. Therefore spiritual hygiene and ensuring our energetic health is strong is one way to help our bodies ground and feel safe again.
I highly recommend reading a previous blog post in regards to spiritual protection. (read here). It includes spell work, prayers, and revocations of consent that all work to protect and ground.
Prayer will always be a go-to for me. Learning that some things have to be given to a power higher than yourself was freeing. So when I need help and support, when I feel scared or panicked, I give it to God and pray for protection too. Pray for God to soothe your heart.
Lighting candles to bring the energies of protective Fire into your home. Light candles on your altar with protection prayers. Place candles around your living space or room to bring the calming warmth and soothing glow of Fire. Fire also will bring the supportive energy of strength and courage.
Returning to Nature, to the land, is the easiest way to ground yourself and help soothe your nervous system in a time of shock. Get your feet in contact with the Earth and your hands in soil. Feel the energy of life all around you. Let the stoic grandfather trees protect your heart, and allow yourself to be lost in the beauty of the wild. Take time to note how all of your senses feel. What can you hear? What can you touch and feel? What do you see? What does your heart say? Let the waters of the earth cleanse and soothe your soul. Take your grief to the river and let it all out.
I want to say a big loving thank you to the girls on Twitter for all your heartfelt well-wishes and caring suggestions. I love our little online community. Blessings to you all.
If you’re dealing with shock at the moment, may you find your way back into your loving body and know you are cherished. No weapons formed against you shall prosper.
Le grá,
Em
