BONUS EPI: How To Use Parts Work (IFS) for Your Freeze Response After Sexual Trauma

We slow down together and practice meeting freeze with compassion instead of pressure, using simple grounding and body-based support. I reframe shutdown as a protective 

• slowing down without needing to feel calm
• reframing “what’s wrong with me” into a protective question
• noticing freeze sensations like heaviness, fog, disconnection, quiet
• meeting freeze as a part of you through an IFS lens

Work With Me Individually (Texas Residents)

I offer trauma-informed therapy for high-achieving women navigating:

• Complex trauma
• Late-diagnosed ADHD or autism
• Nervous system dysregulation
• Relational pattern healing

If you’d prefer one-on-one support, book a free 15-minute consultation here:
http://linktr.ee/EmpoweringWellnessHub

Good Music for Healing

🎵 **Divine Woman Playlist (Apple Music):** https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/divine-woman/pl.u-leyl096uMoD885j

Episodes Mentioned in this Episode

Your Body is Protecting you from the Stillness

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2467345/episodes/19127184-your-body-is-protecting-you-from-stillness

You’re not alone. 
We’re healing together.

Transcript

Welcome And Slow Down Together

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to The Awaken Art, a podcast for healing women that are healing from trauma, chronic stress, and navigating the world of late-diagnosed neurodivergence. I'm Autumn, a licensed professional counselor here to help you move beyond surface level coping. Here we integrate trauma therapy, nervous system regulation, and somatic body-based healing to help you move from survival into stability and power. Welcome to today's show. Welcome to today's episode, a thank you and thank you for being here. But before, before we begin, as we begin, as we settle in, I just want you to invite you to slow down with me. I don't need you to be in a perfect space. I don't need you to feel calm. Just arrive, just be here in the moment. Maybe soften your gaze. Or even look around the room, the space, the environment that you're in.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Notice something colorful, steady, solid. Notice the colors, the sounds. Just something that reminds you and your body where you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Just let yourself land here for just a little bit.

Freeze Is Not A Flaw

SPEAKER_01 1:28

This is a bonus episode. I don't perceive it to be a long episode. My notes aren't that long today, but it is a continuation on Wednesday's episode. This is not about fixing anything. This is not about pushing yourself out of a response. This is just about learning how to be with the parts of you that freeze. Because your freeze is not a flaw. It's not something that needs to be broken through. And for many women, this part has been misunderstood, rushed, judged, ignored. But today, let's meet it. If it feels okay, let's check in with your body. How do you feel? Do you feel still, heavy, disconnected, grounded? Maybe far away from yourself, might be completely in tune with yourself. Do you feel like zoning out, losing focus? Do you feel foggy, or do you just go quiet? Whatever it is. Notice it without judgment. Notice it without trying to change it. Just how do you feel? And allow that to make sense for you. Because often freeze comes with thoughts like, why am I like this? I should be able to do more. The one I think is awful is what's wrong with me. But that's not the truth. That's the protective layer around freeze. So instead of saying what's wrong with me, try, what is this part of me trying to do for me now? So instead of saying what is wrong with me, I want you to try instead say, What is this part of me trying to do for me right now?

Meet The Part That Freezes

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Now, I would like you to imagine your freeze response as a part of you, not all of you, just a part. What does it feel like? Is it young? Is it old? Tired or active? Guarded or open? Distant or very involved? It doesn't have to be a clear visualization, just sense it. And then gently ask that part of yourself, what are you protecting me from?

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Let whatever comes come. Or let nothing come. Both are okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

But you can ask that part of you, what do you need right now? And this is where the relationship with yourself, with your parts, begin. In IFS, internal family systems, it is under the belief that we have parts of us. We have different parts of us that do different jobs. And when I ask you to talk to the freeze, this is kind of what I'm talking about. Talk to that part of you that is in the freeze response. Because instead of trying to pull yourself out of freeze, see if you can offer something small. Maybe placing a hand on your body, wrapping your arms around yourself, squeezing your arms, just squeezing your biceps gently, squeezing your forearms, squeezing the other bicep gently, squeezing the other forearm, gently rocking, maybe placing your feet on the ground, rubbing the back of your neck, massaging your shoulders, and quietly say, you don't have to go anywhere right now. Because freeze comes from a place of feeling and unable to escape. So this is where we're teaching it that you don't have to force movement to be safe. Just be with that part, be with that freeze. If you have any moments of shifting here, let it shift even in small moments. Maybe a deeper breath, maybe slower movement, maybe a slight change in posture. Not to get out of the freeze state, but to show your body that you can move when we're ready. Your body will move when it's ready. Until then, the freeze response is honored, is supported with compassion and gentle love. Because this is what shadow work looks like. It's not fixing or forcing, but noticing, listening, and building trust. Because your freeze response doesn't need to be eliminated, it needs to feel safe enough to soften.

Rest Into Numbness And Grief

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Told you the notes were short and sweet. This is not the end, but it's almost the end. I want to know, I want you to notice your body again because with the freeze, with last week's episode about rest, this is more about resting into your parts. This is about honoring the space you need to take for the freeze, for the grief, for the numbness. Identify those as parts of you, not your whole being. And talk to the numbness. Show space for the numbness, compassion for the numbness. The same thing for the grief. It's all about these parts of us that have kept us safe, that has that have helped us to survive. Honor those. Don't push them away. Don't force them to go somewhere. Love them as just as if they were joyful moments. Like embrace all of it. Has anything shifted? Even slightly? And if you want to, if you're able, place a hand somewhere on your body, wherever it feels good, and just say, I'm here with you. You don't have to rush this. You don't have to do it perfectly. You're building a relationship with a part of you that has been protecting you for a long time. And this is where the healing begins. You've got this, my dears. Rest, honor, and offer compassionate love to yourself day in and day out. You are the most important project you'll ever work on. I understand there's caregiving and kids and pets and families that you caregive for, but you can't give them your all if you're not taking care of yourself. It's been said a million times, and it'll be said a million more times. Take care of yourself. Put yourself first, put your needs first. Even if it's a baby step of five or ten minutes in the morning before you start rushing and doing and performing and caregiving. Just take a moment for yourself. Let it be journaling. Let it be just staring. Let it be meditating. Let it be visualizing the day ahead. Let it be visualizing your dreams coming true. Let it you be visualizing some fantasy world. I don't care. Set an alarm for five or ten minutes and let it be yours. Sip a cup of tea. Read a book. Color. Dance, sing, scream, throw ice down on concrete. Whatever it is you need in every given each moment of the day, show up for yourself. Until next time, my dears, remember, you are never too much, you are never too late, and you are not broken. And you never have to carry this alone because I'll be right here waiting for you every Wednesday and Friday.

Small Self Care And Closing

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Please share this episode with someone who may also need to allow themselves to rest and honor their freeze after trauma, after sexual trauma. Leave an emoji, orange heart emoji, if you will. If you're gonna rest, if you're showing up for yourself, I want to see a heart emoji. If you're gonna put yourself first, even if it's for five or ten minutes in the morning, give me a heart emoji. I want to see some goodness here because I'm rooting for you. And if you want to work one on one with me, the link is in the show notes. You can find all about me and my offerings in the show notes. May you find peace in the egg. May your healing ripple outward, bringing a little more softness and freedom to the world. Protect your awakened heart, my dears. And I'll see you soon.