An Invitation: Exploring Trauma-Informed Embodied Practice

An Invitation: Exploring Trauma-Informed Embodied Practice

Over the years, I’ve noticed how fluent we’ve become in the language of trauma — we speak with ease about the nervous system, about fight, flight, freeze and fawn. These frameworks have become second nature to many of us. But I also find myself wondering:

Are we sometimes talking about the body, rather than with it?

Are we offering our clients the genuine experience of feeling safer, more present, and more resourced in their bodies?

This is the heart of trauma-informed embodied practice — and it’s the reason we’ve created this course.

Why the Body Matters in Trauma Work

We know that trauma lives not just in memory, but in the body. It shapes how we breathe, hold ourselves, relate to others, and even how we inhabit space. The body learns to protect itself — and often, those protections linger long after the danger has passed.

But when we begin to work with the body gently, with respect and permission, something shifts.

Clients begin to find their footing again.
They discover that they can stay present to sensation without becoming overwhelmed.
They feel what it’s like to come home to themselves.

This isn’t about catharsis. It’s about slow, steady integration — the kind that holds.

What Trauma-Informed Embodied Practice Looks Like

We don’t assume what a person’s body should do. We start with the understanding that every body is different — and yet we all share the same underlying bio-behavioural platform. We work with the nervous system, not against it. We offer choice, rhythm, co-regulation, and support.

And we also begin with ourselves. As therapists, our own embodied presence becomes one of the most powerful tools we have. How we sit, breathe, listen — all of it contributes to the safety and possibility of the space we create.

Join Us — A Safe Place to Explore

Healing with Embodied Practice is a course I co-lead with Tamsin Olivier. It’s for therapists, coaches, and clinicians who are ready to bring the body more consciously into their work — or who are already doing so and want to deepen their practice within a trauma-informed framework.

We begin online, with accessible, grounded learning. Then we gather for a retreat — a space of restoration, safety, and nourishment — where we can explore embodiment together in practice. We close with an integration session to support the transition from learning to application.

There are no performance expectations here. Just an invitation to explore gently, safely, and with others who are walking the same path.

If you’re curious, if you’ve sensed that there’s something more the body is holding, or if you want to bring greater depth and sensitivity to your work — I’d love for you to join us.

Warm wishes,
Robert Rees