Using Yoga & Chakra Wisdom as a Framework for Understanding Trauma, Healing & Self-Awareness

For some people, healing arrives through science.

For others, healing arrives through spirituality.

For some, healing arrives through therapy, movement, meditation, nature, creativity, relationships, or grief itself.

• For me, yoga and the chakra system became one of the frameworks that helped me understand something I was already experiencing long before I had language for it:

I've been practicing yoga for nearly 30 years, and in that time, through my efforts and exploration, I've realized that the body tells stories, and not just through our thoughts...

But through breath.

Posture.

Tension.

Sensation.

Emotion.

The things we avoid.

And through the things we long for.

Over time, I began noticing that certain emotional experiences seemed connected to certain places in the body.

• Fear and survival live low in the body.
• Grief feels heavy in the chest.
• Unspoken words sit in the throat.
• Stress tightens the stomach.
• Intuition becomes harder to hear when the nervous system is overwhelmed.

And the more I explored yoga, somatic healing, and nervous system regulation, the more I realized:

• Our bodies have been communicating with us all along.

You don't have to believe in the chakras for this to resonate.

• I don't personally experience the chakra system as rigid rules or mystical diagnoses.

To me, chakras feel more like archetypes; symbolic frameworks that help us notice patterns inside ourselves.

Because each chakra seems to hold an entire emotional landscape:

• Safety.
• Connection.
• Agency.
• Love.
• Expression.
• Intuition.
• Meaning.

And when I began exploring them through movement and awareness, I noticed something interesting:

I wasn't just learning about chakras. I was learning about myself.

Trauma Pulls Us Outward

Trauma can pull our awareness away from ourselves and toward the external world. We become experts at reading:

• facial expressions
• tone changes
• moods
• body language
• footsteps
• energy shifts
• potential danger

Many of us learned this because at one point it helped us survive.

• We became deeply attuned to everyone else. But disconnected from ourselves.

Trauma can turn us into experts at reading everyone else while leaving us strangers to ourselves. So, somewhere along the way, we stop asking:

• "What am I feeling?"
• "What do I need?"
• "What is my body trying to say?"

In yoga philosophy, there's a practice called Pratyahara and it's an embodied practice of bringing awareness inward.

• Not disconnection.
• Not disassociation.
• Not avoidance.

• Awareness.
• Listening.
• Returning to the internal experience of the Self.

I think this is one of the reasons somatic practices can feel so powerful for people healing from stress and trauma.

For a moment, attention shifts inward again. And we begin noticing ourselves.

It's the deepest sense of embodiment that I've ever experienced.

🏔️ Root Chakra

Safety, Survival & Grounding

The root chakra is associated with themes of:

• safety
• stability
• survival
• home
• security
• and grounding

It's also connected in many traditions to the lower body, legs, feet, pelvic floor, and adrenal stress systems.

From a nervous system perspective, this makes intuitive sense.

When human beings experience chronic stress or trauma, the body can organize itself around protection and survival.

• Muscles tighten.
• Breathing changes.
• The jaw clenches.
• The body braces.

Most people living in survival mode don't actually feel grounded inside themselves.

• They feel prepared.

Prepared for the next problem.

The next conflict.

The next disappointment.

The next danger.

The body isn't "doing it wrong." It's adapting. And sometimes healing begins very gently:

• feeling your feet on the floor
• slowing the breath
• creating predictable routines
• allowing the body to experience moments of safety again

Not forcing calm.

• Teaching the nervous system that calm is possible.

🌊 Sacral Chakra

Emotion, Creativity & Connection

The sacral chakra is associated with:

• emotion
• pleasure
• creativity
• sensuality
• connection
• and flow

It's also linked symbolically with the pelvis, hips, lower abdomen, reproductive organs, and portions of the digestive system.

This area of the body fascinates me because the pelvis and core are deeply involved in both stabilization and vulnerability.

• The body recruits these areas during: fight-or-flight activation, protective bracing, sexual experiences, fear responses, and emotional processing.

Most people unknowingly carry enormous tension here:

• Holding the stomach tight.
• Holding the hips rigid.
• Holding the breath.

And over time, chronic stress can create a feeling of emotional numbness or disconnection from the body itself.

One of my favorite practices for exploring this awareness is a Kundalini yoga movement called Sufi Grind - slow circular movements through the spine and pelvis.

• I encourage students to close their eyes, connecting to pratyahara, while practicing it.

Not because there's a “right” way to move.

But because something interesting can happen when external attention softens. People begin noticing things:

• "I didn’t realize I was holding tension there."
• "My breathing changed."
• "I suddenly feel emotional."
• "I feel softer."
• "I feel uncomfortable."
• "I feel calm."

The goal isn't to force release.

• The goal is to notice.

And sometimes that noticing alone becomes healing.

Practice for 2-3 minutes in each direction. Adjust to avoid pain, but consider working through discomfort.

*Consult your healthcare provider before taking on any physical practice you feel may not be safe for you.

🔥 Solar Plexus Chakra

Agency, Identity & Personal Power

The solar plexus chakra is often connected to:

• confidence
• identity
• boundaries
• choice
• agency
• and self-worth

It's symbolically linked with the diaphragm, stomach, digestive organs, and metabolic processes.

This connection also feels deeply relatable through a trauma-informed lens.

• Stress changes digestion.
• Fear changes breathing.
• Powerlessness changes posture.

Plenty of people know the experience of:

• feeling sick to their stomach
• feeling frozen when trying to speak up
• or struggling to trust their own instincts after prolonged manipulation or emotional harm.

The diaphragm itself sits at a fascinating intersection between body and emotion.

• When we're anxious, breathing can become shallow and protective.
• When we feel safer, the breath naturally deepens.

Sometimes healing isn't about “becoming powerful.”

Sometimes it begins with reconnecting to your ability to notice:

• "I do have feelings."
• "I do have needs."
• "I am allowed to take up space."

🌬️ Heart Chakra

Grief, Love & Emotional Protection

The heart chakra is associated with:

• love
• grief
• connection
• compassion
• forgiveness
• and emotional openness

And perhaps nowhere do we feel emotional pain more physically than in the chest.

• Heartbreak.
• Grief.
• Longing.
• Loss.

People often describe these experiences physically because the body experiences them physically.

• The chest tightens. Breathing changes. The body curls inward protectively.

Sometimes after deep emotional pain, people unconsciously begin protecting the heart by emotionally shutting down. Not because they're cold or callous.

Because they're overwhelmed.

Healing the heart can be very tender.

Not forcing yourself to love.

Not forcing yourself to forgive.

But, sometimes simply softening enough to remain connected to your own humanity again.

💫 Throat Chakra

Voice, Expression & Truth

The throat chakra is connected to:

• communication
• truth
• self-expression
• and voice

Plenty of trauma survivors know what it feels like to silence themselves for survival.

• To swallow feelings.
• To avoid conflict.
• To keep the peace.
• To fear being “too much.”
• To struggle finding words when emotionally activated.

Even physically, people say they experience:

• tightness in the throat
• difficulty speaking clearly under stress
• or a sensation of “choking on words”

Healing here may look less like becoming louder… and more like becoming honest.

First with yourself.

Then with others.

🧿 Third Eye Chakra

Intuition & Inner Knowing

The third eye chakra is associated with:

• intuition
• clarity
• discernment
• and perception

One of the most painful effects of trauma is how deeply it can disconnect people from trusting themselves.

• Especially after gaslighting, manipulation, chronic criticism, or emotionally unsafe environments.

People begin second-guessing:

• their instincts
• their memories
• their emotions
• their perception of reality

But healing involves slowly rebuilding your trust with your-Self again.

Not perfection.

Not certainty.

• Just learning to hear your own inner voice without immediately dismissing it.

🪷 Crown Chakra

Meaning, Connection & Perspective

The crown chakra is associated with:

• meaning
• connection
• consciousness
• purpose
• and spiritual awareness

And whether someone connects spiritually, psychologically, creatively, or emotionally… many people eventually arrive at the same question during healing:

"Who am I becoming after all of this?"

Trauma can fracture meaning.

Healing can slowly restore it.

Not by erasing pain.

But by helping people reconnect to themselves, to others, and sometimes to something larger than just survival alone.

The Body Already Speaks in Energy

Without becoming overly mystical, it's worth remembering:

• The human body already functions through electrical and chemical communication.
• The nervous system transmits electrical signals.
• The brain generates electrical activity.
• The heart generates electrical activity.
• Hormones act as chemical messengers throughout the body.
• Stress changes these systems.
• Safety changes these systems too.

Different healing traditions might offer different ways of understanding the same human experiences; different maps attempting to describe what it feels like to live inside a body, a heart, and a nervous system.

We've all heard phrases like "love yourself" and still feel disconnected from them.

• Sometimes that feels too far away.
• Too abstract.
• Too overwhelming to reach for.

Maybe healing doesn't begin with forcing ourselves to feel self-love immediately.

Maybe it begins more gently than that.

• Maybe healing begins with neutral awareness.

Noticing:

• "Oh… this is what my body does when I feel unsafe."
• "This is where I hold tension."
• "This is what calm feels like."
• "This movement helps me breathe deeper."

Without judgment.

Without shame.

Just awareness.

Because, most of the time, self-love doesn't begin with perfection.

• It begins with curiosity.

And, most of the time, the body has been speaking all along.

So, maybe healing is more about learning how to listen to the subtle messages within.

Wishing you deep healing,

Gretchen

SOMATIC TRAUMA SPECIALIST + ENERGETIC INTUITIVE

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