This Page Will Keep Growing

New practices, links, and EMDR-safe resources will be added over time.

You can simply check back when you need a moment of grounding.

This isn’t a list.

It’s a lifeline.

Gentle, body-first practices you can return to again and again:

• 🌀 5-4-3-2-1 Sensory Scan

Name 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 you can hear, 2 you can smell, 1 you can taste.

A powerful anchor when spiraling or feeling detached.

• 🌀 Butterfly Hug (used in EMDR)

Cross your arms over your chest and tap slowly, left-right-left, while breathing deeply.

Mimics bilateral stimulation and increases felt safety.

• 🌀 Safe Place Visualization

Imagine a location (real or imagined) where you feel safe and protected.

What do you see, hear, and feel there? Return to it often.

• 🌀 Tension Release: Push Against a Wall

Press your palms into the wall with force for 10 seconds, then release.

Helps discharge stored survival energy in the body.

These prompts are invitations — not assignments. Use them gently and in your own time.

• 🌀 “What does safety feel like — in my body, not just my mind?”

• 🌀 “What am I still carrying that was never mine?”

• 🌀 “What part of me needed to survive — and how did it protect me?”

• 🌀 “When I feel triggered, what part of me might be showing up?”

• 🌀 “What do I need in this moment? Can I offer even 10% of that to myself?”

Tip: If you freeze or dissociate while journaling, pause. Breathe. Come back to your senses.

It’s okay to stop. You’re allowed to go slow.

Trauma-informed books, podcasts, and websites that center healing through EMDR, somatics, and self-compassion.

Books:

• The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel van der Kolk

• Getting Past Your Past – Francine Shapiro (creator of EMDR)

• What My Bones Know – Stephanie Foo

• The Complex PTSD Workbook – Arielle Schwartz

• No Bad Parts – Richard Schwartz

Podcasts:

• Therapist Uncensored — neuroscience + attachment

• The Healing Trauma Podcast — survivor voices

• Notice That — EMDR-focused, client & therapist friendly

Websites:

EMDRIA.org – Find certified EMDR therapists

NICABM.com – Trauma education hub

Dr. Arielle Schwartz – Somatic + EMDR healing

• 10-Minute Grounding Meditation – Sarah Blondin (Insight Timer) Full Link

• Vagus Nerve Reset – Irene Lyon on YouTube

• Bilateral Music for Self-Regulation – YouTube

Use headphones for left-right audio support after sessions or during stress.

Healing can feel like too much.

If you’re in the middle of something hard, try this:

• Breathe – In through your nose, out through your mouth. Slowly.

• Ground – Try the 5-4-3-2-1 scan. Hold something real.

• Pause – Say aloud: “I am in the present. I am safe enough right now.”

• Choose one thing – A soft blanket, a butterfly hug, a sip of water.

You don’t have to fix everything today.

You just need to meet this moment with care.