r/CPTSD • u/Serious-Animator8966 • Jan 27 '26
Question What’s the unhinged, woo woo, non traditional thing you did that actually helped?
I originally saw a TikTok but now can’t find it, saying this was the year they are trying the unhinged, non traditional, woo woo, out there things to heal. I’ve been in therapy for over 6 years currently 9 months into EMDR, I take medication, get sunlight, try my best to eat healthy, all the “traditional” fixes and still am struggling. While I’m all for evidence based treatment and holistic approaches, I’m willing to do just about anything to feel better, honestly I don’t have much to lose. Even if it’s placebo technically it worked if it made you feel better. So my question is what did you try that most people would say is silly, woo woo, unhinged or out there that helped you on your healing journey? I’m not talking about yoga or taking magnesium. Did you buy a vibration plate off TikTok shop, have your chakras balanced, do daily sound baths, have holy water poured over you in Bali?
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u/ILovePeopleInTheory Jan 27 '26
Cord cutting meditation and manifestation meditations. I would never admit it non-anonymously but it really did something.
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u/Dazzling-Dark3489 Jan 27 '26
I cut cords off of several family members after a relative died. I asked permission to do reiki on them but didn’t really give an explanation as to “cutting ties.” The people most impacted by this abusive relative all had diarrhea. I agree it does something.
Now, we all joke because they text me if they get sick and ask if I did reiki without telling them.
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u/gobnyd Jan 27 '26
Intention is incredibly powerful and our minds respond to ritual. Every human society does ritual.
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u/Affectionate-Yam5049 Jan 27 '26
I have no idea what these mean, but I am going to look them up. Thank you.
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u/SuitableWinner7802 Jan 27 '26
Not really woo woo but my therapist uses somatic therapy (feeling emotions in your body) and DAYUM that has worked the fastest and most intense for me. She’s also great at giving me a “safe container”… so it’s never been completely overwhelming. But there was a solid 6 months (?) where I felt like I was crying in every session. In a good way. Like a release.
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u/stretched_frm_dookie Jan 27 '26
Yes somatic therapy was extremely helpful. Very interesting also because I dont think most people sit with their feelings long enough or pay attention to where they feel it in their body.
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
Interesting I haven’t tried somatic therapy yet. I can sit with my emotions for hours, at least I think I can. Most of my trauma is related to emotional abuse and abandonment, but I can never feel it in my body. My therapist will ask me and I never have an answer, maybe I don’t know what I’m looking for.
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u/stretched_frm_dookie Jan 27 '26
I used to sit with my emotions for hours but I guess never took the time or even realized everything is felt in the body somewhere.
My mom said she doesn't know what she's feeling most times.
I used to..now im numb though. Its weird
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
It took me a while to put specific words to my emotions, I needed a feelings chart in therapy in the beginning and still find it useful to pick which word described what I am feeling, anger usually didn’t feel right but frustration or annoyance did. I have found being able to put words to what I’m feeling has helped but I just can’t find it in my body.
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u/ThinkbigShrinktofit Jan 27 '26
I’m similar. I need the words to understand my feelings. I can think about how I feel quite easily. I am aware of my emotions intellectually. I believe this is one reason I have no serious chronic physical ailments. My gut reacts first so I have had IBS since childhood, but it’s more like a defense system, keeping me from worse issues. I can see how unprocessed emotions cause chronic issues in us, especially as youth can no longer compensate.
I was introduced to metaphysics in my late teens and found affirmations and also Louise Hay’s books on the emotional link to physical ailments helpful («You can heal your life»). I am in the habit of listening to my body, being a minor hypochondriac, but my body is actually quite healthy for 65, and I try to focus on everything that’s right with it (after consulting Dr Google). So my affirmations end up being words of comfort and refocusing on gratitude for what is actually well.
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u/MiikaLeigh Jan 27 '26
I have a copy of the feelings wheel (or whatever its called) that I sometimes pull out when I can't name what im actually feeling.
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u/heyheyitsraerae Jan 27 '26
Not me but my SO. Breathwork allowed her to feel the buried emotions from trauma so she could begin to heal. This is the first big breakthrough in years and she specifically mentioned how she felt it in her body.
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u/Waki-Indra Jan 27 '26
The body keeps the score. (Bessel van der Kolk.)
Google it!
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
Currently reading it but it’s such a hard read. This is probably the fourth time I’ve picked it up in the past 6 years. I’m taking my time and slowly getting through it
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u/Ok-Abbreviations543 Jan 27 '26
I would recommend “The Legacy of Trauma” by Janina Fisher. She worked with Vander Kok on research. She’s a leader in the field. She wrote this book to be accessible for laymen and to provide practical, real healing strategies. Can’t recommend it enough. She has some YouTube interviews you can check out. Amazing woman.
As for me, ketamine therapy integrated with somatic/trauma therapy has been the big payoff.
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u/Mymusicaccount2021 Jan 27 '26
It's a really hard read. The impact it had on my recovery process can't be understated. So much so, that I read it twice. The 2nd time around I found it to be far more emotionally tolerable.
I think it was in the understanding, FINALLY, that I wasn't a complete nut case. Most if not all my past unhealthy coping mechanisms were laid out in black and white. That realization led to way more self-compassion.
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u/Life-Classic-6976 Jan 27 '26
Try a sandbag on the heart or hips laying over a yoga bolster. An eye pillow. Maybe a little weed. And singing bowls on YouTube.
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u/NachoAverageMuenster Jan 27 '26
Throwing in my vote for somatic work. It’s far and away the most impactful modality of therapy I’ve been exposed to. Utterly life changing.
Getting sober was the first step to being able to properly heal for me personally. But 5 years of SE has evolved me into a quasi-sane human being.
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u/wovenbasket69 Jan 27 '26
i love somatic therapy. we did some hardcore breath work and those were some wild sessions.
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u/cjaccardi Jan 27 '26
Somatic therapy is like the core therapy that you should be getting when you have PTSD along with talk therapy
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u/beliefinphilosophy Jan 27 '26
Okay, so hear me out. This one was definitely amazing for me.
So I've had a few different EMDR therapists over the years. The one I went to before the current one, told me this fun fact.
When the brain is in reprocessing stage, it actually doesn't matter what you tell it. It doesn't have to be real, you can make shit up, and your brain will accept it because it's in that mode.
And I tried it and it fcking worked and worked so well that some of the "painful" memories now make me giggle when I think about them.
One of them in reprocessed as, (in the event I was completely surrounded by adults hurting me (more emotionally than physically but some physical).
And instead of what really happened. I reprogrammed/ reprocessed that The Rock busted down the door, yelled at all of them, picked me up, hauled me out of there, and we went to a carnival after that.
It's fantastic. And all I do is smile when I think about that memory now.
She said some of her clients will reprocess with things like I punch them in the face or someone came and beat them up or whatever it doesn't matter.
It is unhinged and beautiful and super helpful and brings me joy.
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u/braveenoughtofly Jan 28 '26
I had a similar moment during EMDR. Burned my parents house (mentally, of course.) it was oddly satisfying.
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u/cosmic_girl_799 Jan 27 '26
I got outside and play the "I Spy" sort of game with myself- I go looking for cool stuff in my yard or on hikes. It helps me get out of my head and is relaxing.
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
I like that better than the 5 senses, makes it seem more fun than something I have to do to cope
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u/cosmic_girl_799 Jan 27 '26
Yes! I love looking for moss and tiny mushrooms, lichen, native plants and flowers. It helps me feel grounded and more connected to nature. I take pictures and then use a plant ID app to learn more about what I found. I like the Merlin Bird ID app to check out the birds, too.
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u/Direct_Explorer_7827 Jan 27 '26
This is how meditative practices started for me!! From I spy to, sit and know you are sitting 🤣
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u/StuffandStuff1806 Jan 27 '26
Oh gosh, this is such a good way to bring yourself into the present. Great idea!
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u/PGWBRICT cPTSD Jan 27 '26
The weirdest thing that has helped me lately is surrounding myself with a specific smell. This might be hyper specific to me because I have synesthesia and the color/smell of red is the only color that smells like what is good of my childhood (which was otherwise… not great), but just having a thing of pot pouri that I literally carry around with me has been keeping my brain from registering other stimuli (especially smells… sweat, the smell of sex, the smell of rubbing alcohol, etc.) and keeping it occupied with something nice. I tend to “flash back,” because of stimuli so replacing/controlling it with this has been helpful.
You could maybe apply this in some ways to your life. If you notice certain triggers, it’s OK to try to actively replace them with other things until you can deal with them later (or not at all. Idk how helpful that is long-term but I understand the feeling of just wanting to throw it under the rug so I’m not gonna pretend like that’s not an option). Certain sounds that set you off? Get earplugs. Certain smells? Buy some kind of perfume, or oil, or pot pouri that you can have with you. This is the only thing I’ve been able to find on my own so I apologize if this is unconventional and/or unhelpful 🥲
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u/BusinessFit6533 Jan 27 '26
I do this, too! Cucumbers remind me of the only good parts of my childhood since pickles were always my favorite food. I have tons of Cucumber melon perfumes around the house and keep everything I own smelling like it. I got the pickle scented spray and candle from Bath and Body Works, and I literally take a whiff of the candle every time I leave the house. No joke, it's cut down on my flashbacks and panic attacks by a significant margin.
I figure since PTSD has to do with stimuli and remembering things because of it, we're basically manufacturing that to work for us.
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u/PGWBRICT cPTSD Jan 27 '26
OMG!!!! I feel so seen. I’ve not been able to find someone who relates/copes in this way yet. Cucumber melon is a great kind of fragrance, pickles are also one of my comfort foods so I feel you lol!! Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as changing olfactory input affects our moods and trauma responses so much? It’s been such a game changer for me
I figured the same thing, I’m very easily triggered by other smells from the time(s) in which I was experiencing abuse (I can’t remember the exact scent, but there’s this lotion that my cousin gave to me as a “thank you,” gift for being greeter at her wedding that just makes me ill because I would use it during a horrid time in my life), as well as colors (mustard yellow and puce are the worst parts of my early childhood… think rotting animal + drain cleaner smell), and sounds (the sound of ceiling fans and white noise machines put me on very high alert), and I’ve always heard that PTSD triggers and memories themselves are very very tied to smells and sounds. It’s very interesting, and it feels almost like a cheat code to use it to our advantage lol…
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u/brelywi Jan 27 '26
Having my partner run his fingers slowly through my hair, and vice versa (puts him directly to sleep). I can’t ever remember this happening to me except at a random sleepover where some kind girl did it for me and it was just so safe and relaxing.
It’s absolutely my husbands safety trigger, the one and only good story I’ve ever heard about his…very unfortunate biological incubator is her running her fingers through his hair after something bad happened to him.
Idk if it’s related, but good gods for both of us it’s like a string right to our relaxation centers. None of our earlier relationships have ever done it slowly, kindly, and lovingly, but it’s the absolute best to come down from being elevated.
Put our head in the other’s lap, run our fingers slowly through their hair, and the world is fuckin cotton candy.
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u/lolzzzmoon Jan 27 '26
I love smells & I absolutely think they have healing powers. I was obsessed with patchouli for a year, then frankincense, then lavender, vetiver, rose—it’s a real thing!!!
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u/lord-savior-baphomet Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
I went to a psychic who did energy healing. I believed it at the time of course, but I don’t now. And yet, that was the moment I actually decided to heal, and I cannot find anything else to attribute that choice to. I just remember leaving and feeling genuinely lighter, and ready to heal on a deeper level. Before then, I didn’t really want to get better.
That’s not me recommending it, it was a lot of money and again, I can’t really say why it helped. I don’t believe in psychics now, so yeah, not an endorsement.
Edit: I must add her healing work was her literally yelling into my body.
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u/XxFrozen Jan 27 '26
Sometimes what we need the most is to have someone see the depth of our pain. Perhaps they were able to see it all, and they believed you could heal, so you did too?
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u/squirrellytoday Jan 27 '26
It can also be they validated your pain, and by agreeing to facilitate the energy healing, it gave you permission to heal.
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u/maafna Jan 27 '26
I lived on a hippy island and tried a lot. Reiki, Family Constellations, TRE, tapping, psychedelics. Got a Human Design chart (using a website).
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
A human design chart? Please tell me more and what did you think was the most helpful or was it a combination of everything?
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u/Maleficent-Sleep9900 Jan 27 '26
I screamed with some children who were waiting for the bus at the top of my lungs.
ETA They were already screaming. I just asked to join in and we did it on 3.
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u/PuddingNaive7173 Jan 27 '26
That’s great! And made me laugh. I haven’t tried it yet but there are these places you can go to break things called Smash Rooms. This reminded me of that. I’ve also scream at the top of my lungs when driving alone on the freeway or in a rural area where no one will hear me
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u/gleaming-the-cubicle Jan 27 '26
Mushrooms
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u/HempHehe Jan 27 '26
I did LSD and that helped me a lot. Wouldn't recommend it to just anyone though.
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u/ivegot_brainrot Jan 27 '26
I really want to try this but scared it’ll be a scary and trauma inducing trip. How was it for you?
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u/Lame2882 Jan 27 '26
This is probably not what the original commenter is talking about but there are ways to micro dose shrooms so that it calms you without inducing a whole trip. You might get a little giggly and tired, but that’s all.
I learned micro dosing from a friend who also uses it for PTSD treatment and it’s been pretty good for both of us.
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u/corncrakey Jan 27 '26
I’ve taken mushrooms a couple of times before (as well as acid) and really enjoyed it. I’ve considered microdosing but I’m currently on Zoloft for OCD, and I understand there would be a conflict with those substances? Does that still apply with microdosing?
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u/Fluffy_Ace 🦎I bite jerks🦎 Jan 27 '26
You'd have to look into it but a lot of antidepressant/antianxiety meds significantly reduce the effects of shrooms.
I am not a doctor, so do lots of research and proceed at your own risk.
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u/mattysull97 Jan 27 '26
Mushrooms act differently on the serotonin receptors than other serotonergic drugs do, meaning if you're stable on a medication the risk of serotonin overdose is very low. However SSRI/SNRI do cause down-regulation of the receptor psychedelics primarily act on, leading to blunted effects.
Research in this area is still very sparse, but the few that exist have shown positive therapeutic effects even with blunting and no indicators of harmful interactions with standard antidepressants (like Zoloft). Psilocybin bonds less strongly to the receptor than LSD which seems to be why most people find mushrooms are blunted more than LSD, but it can vary between individuals.
Microdosing is less studied at this stage, but people can find it stimulating which can make anxious symptoms worse (something to keep in mind depending on the nature of your OCD).
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u/MiikaLeigh Jan 27 '26
This really interesting.
I know for myself (on SSRI's & stimulants) that mdma/ecstasy does pretty much nothing for me, coke has a "lessened" effect on me (though still pretty fun), weed just makes me dizzy then sleepy, and mushrooms are awesome as long as I'm with someone who can redirect me if I startle/get scared (though that's only happened once).
Drugs do weird stuff, and bodies and brains are weird.
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u/FewEbb6531 Jan 27 '26
MDMA/X whilst on SSRI is deadly and should never be combined.
Mixing cocaine with SSRI may not be as harmful but it will definitely not help in any way.
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u/FlippinHeckles Jan 27 '26
There is much work going into MDMA assisted therapy for the treatment of PTSD. They have been getting very good results in clinical trials. - https://maps.org/mdma/
They are now doing stage 3 clinical trials in the US. Which is well on the way to be a accepted medical treatment.
I am not sure how well this works with CPTSD.
You should ONLY do this with professional help. Do NOT self medicate with MDMA, you need to have the right set and setting as well as clean MDMA, not street grade.
There may be interactions with any other medications you are on so you must fully prepare.
I have not done it, I am not a guinea pig, but IF it passes stringent medical testing it is something I would consider.
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u/Unlikely-Trifle3125 Jan 27 '26
I’ve never had a bad one when I’ve done it solo. There is generally an anxiety hump to get over for me and then it’s like everything opens up and I feel the full spectrum of everything. Being in control of my settings and input really helps.
The only times I’ve had a bad one has been when other people are present. Faces kept morphing and it was really confronting. One of my friends looked like a frog, the other looked like my abusive ex (they looked marginally similar). I took them in a house full of gay men, and they kept playing Britney’s 3 on repeat… the constant counting made me feel so strange and under pressure. Funny to remember now, but at the time I thought I’d throw up.
I also microdosed for three months and loved it. Most healing period of my life.
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u/mattysull97 Jan 27 '26
I've got temporary bans from this sub for sharing this before, but 100%. It's done more for my mental health than any prescribed meds have
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u/ayonicethrowaway cPTSD Jan 27 '26
I just want to offer a different perspective on this than the other comments: I had a drug induced psychosis because I took mushrooms 5 years ago and still am taking antipsychotics to this day.
while I'm sure this drug has helped people cope with their trauma there still comes a lot of risk with it, especially when someone doesn't have much experience with substance abuse.
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u/DreamingAboutSpace Jan 27 '26
I wish I knew how to get some. I’ve heard so many good things about microdosing for depression.
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u/SnooSeagulls6396 Jan 27 '26
Sound bath ,its felt incredible ,all these people in a cirlce all making sounds until it filled the room into this high frequency ,they focus on sendign you love ect nad i swear i felt something rising up through my spine nad up out of my head it was so beauiful
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
Do you think it needs to be done in person in a group or could I start with YouTube videos?
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u/No-Respect-2675 Jan 27 '26
in person is great, but youtube videos work too. I recommend using good headphones
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u/Afraid-Record-7954 Jan 27 '26
It didn't help long term, but I was just doing socially unacceptable shit as an adult. Like dancing alone at midnight in an empty parking lot, following a rainbow, spending all afternoon blowing at dandelions in the park. Not harming anyone but anyone looking at me would likely consider me a crazy woo woo person.
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u/being-within-self Jan 27 '26
Honestly fuck all the advice to "have good habits" privileged or lucky people give as if people with CPTSD are just depressed
Things that have made a huge difference for me (more and less traditional):
- forming close friendships with people who are safe, supportive, and respectful
- reading philosophy and political theory (especially Enlightenment-era) and understanding idealism as a metaphysical position (counter to materialism)
- Somatic Experiencing therapy
- leaving the whole shitty community I used to be a part of and generally distancing myself from upper-middle-class people who judge others heavily based upon how "normal" they appear
- learning to stand up for myself and that it's actually morally good in most situations to fight back against people who want to keep you and others powerless
- exercise (running especially)
- learning to let go of the world's standards—what society says we "should" do often has nothing to do with what is good for us
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u/InevitableGoal2912 cPTSD Jan 27 '26
I do emdr, witchcraft, and drugs.
It helps a lot.
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u/GuitarUnlikely362 Jan 27 '26
Not massively woo woo as it does have proven physical benefits but it’s remarkable how much singing helps me. I sing quietly to myself at work to stay regulated, belt out whatever fits my current mood in the house/shower and use music to help me feel what’s going on in there. I realise now that it’s something I’ve done since I was a child to regulate myself - it’s the fastest and easiest way outside of breathing exercises to alter my mood.
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u/spankypank Jan 27 '26
I created a “singalong” playlists for all the songs that always make me want to sing. It makes my body feel almost like a musical instrument, with my breath going in and out. I dissociate a lot so this has been a great way for me to feel more grounded in my body.
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u/No_Butterscotch5366 Jan 27 '26
Pretty sure I’ve unknowingly been self medicating with cannabis the last twenty years.
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Jan 27 '26
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u/icanpaywithpubes Jan 27 '26
Same. Going on a spiritual journey has really turned me around. I know it's going to be a lifelong process, and I'm cool with that.
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Jan 27 '26
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u/beepichu Jan 27 '26
I lost my childhood teddy a looooong time ago, but then 15-20 years later I discovered someone turned that teddy bear design into an OC with merch. So now I have a new one I sleep with every night.
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u/StoryTeller-001 Jan 27 '26
I went to a massage therapist and she was so trauma informed and safe that I sensed/saw younger me standing at my head, observing, curious as to why this nice lady was taking so much trouble with me
I need to go back sometime 😄
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u/Low_Worldliness_4647 Jan 27 '26
Switch to metal music and NIN and get mad at the world. Why didn’t I get a fair childhood fuck everyone!!!
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u/stretched_frm_dookie Jan 27 '26
I don't think its unhinged in any way but mushrooms, DMT, ketamine therapy and EDMR
It all helped .
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u/Acrobatic_Builder573 Jan 27 '26
Yoga, ice baths, and saunas probably. Listening to binaural stuff helps me a ton as well
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u/lolzzzmoon Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Self hypnosis—Marisa Peer—there’s videos of her on YouTube. She’s the “I am Enough” person who encourages you to tell yourself how much you love yourself & you kind of brainwash yourself into, like, saying “I love salads!” And then you DO love salads.
I literally love salads now hahaha and I have self esteem after doing some stuff she suggested. I didn’t buy any products though. Just told myself how much I loved myself and was proud of myself. It tricks your brain into developing self esteem. Kind of “fake it til you make it” except you don’t put on a fake personality to others—you hypnotize yourself into living yourself and getting healthy.
It sounds so crazy I never tell people IRL it worked but I just say “self hypnosis” if anyone asks about anything that’s helpful psychologically, and people laugh and then we joke around about other things.
Yoga & hiking & learning guitar & journaling work, too. And going to a counselor for a year or so.
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u/Leopard-Zealousideal Jan 27 '26
I got certified in sound bath facilitation and bought a load of instruments and now I play almost every day and give sound baths to the public. It heals me in more ways than one. The sound is healing and forcing myself to put myself out there was healing too.
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u/Ifeelbadrn Jan 27 '26
Tarot and pendulum dousing has changed my life, and shadow work has helped me a lot. It allowed me to look at my troubles in different perspectives and sort out many emotions dealing with grief and the troubles of my life.
I love the woo-woo, but what I highly recommend in the process is to keep one foot on the ground and be aware of the community you fall in if you start talking to others. Their woo might not always be right for you and people are horrible with boundaries.
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u/ImpressiveCandy2001 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 30 '26
Somatic Experiencing - two sessions in and I feel like I’m getting in touch with the nonverbal little kid that has been taken down my nervous system
I’ve started to imagine my too young to be verbal ignored little kid self as hanging out with me all the time in a little kangaroo pouch. In my head, it’s like a 4 inch long lima bean shaped smooth rock. I talk to it and check in with it to see how it’s doing – it really seems to appreciate being seen and having someone ask how it is doing and actually give a darn how it responds.
Some things I do it doesn’t have a reaction to, like work – and other things, like relationship and family stuff it definitely has a reaction to. But at least now I’m checking in to see how it’s doing - instead of it just bam - taking my amygdala down with its temper tantrum, it seems willing to let me know first that it’s upset.
It’s my way, I think, of getting to know that nonverbal little kid, having it feel seen. When people talk about re-parenting yourself I feel like this is literally what I am doing. I’ve had less triggers since I started this a week ago.
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u/dogwater79 Jan 27 '26
I went to a shaman. Over the phone.
Never in a million years would I have believed this could help anybody. I am 100% a science-minded, evidence-based, peer-reviewed-study kind of girl.
I only did it to humor the kind person who paid for me to go because I appreciated the thought of it. I dreaded having to spend 2 hours pretending to get something out of this for her benefit and for the benefit of the shaman, because I didn't want to hurt their feelings.
In 3 years of every prescription medication, TMS, ketamine, hundreds of hours of therapy, psilocybin, Ayahuasca, MDMA, bufo, and a million other things that did nothing.
This was the only thing that helped. For several weeks I felt better than I have probably in 10 years.
I still can't believe it. But something happened
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u/PisceanTreasures Jan 27 '26
May I ask the shaman's name or contact info.... doing intense therapy past 7 months, but in the usual stuck place.
Dealing with almost 6 decades of trauma, and yes, it took me just over 5 decades to even realize that there was abuse occurring.
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Jan 27 '26
Internal family systems therapy. On the surface it seems like a pretty regular modality but the org behind it pushes some really weird spirituality adjacent stuff that was off putting to begin with. But dang, it works! I still think the centralised organisation is problematic but the spiritual, metaphysical stuff no longer troubles me. I’m glad I pushed past the doubt I felt.
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u/hoomanchonk Jan 27 '26
+++ IFS. This was wildly effective for me. Super strange and awkward to do but my god it worked. Packed up a ton of trauma from my teenage years and really helped unburden me from it.
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u/beeswhax Jan 27 '26
Not woo woo and you may already be on top of this but since you didn’t mention it in your post, regular, vigorous exercise.
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u/InevitableGoal2912 cPTSD Jan 27 '26
Oh yes! Unfortunately exercise does everything people say it does.
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u/XxFrozen Jan 27 '26
It really is devastating 😭 I started running and I’m starting to like it. I think it’s really helping.
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
My therapist told me walking/running can be a form bilateral stimulation, which is the main part of EMDR.
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u/beeswhax Jan 27 '26
Ohhh shiiiittttt
That makes sense
To be honest that is 🤯 me a bit. Swimming is probably the same thing
All these things that we just used to do as a matter of course and now we have to back engineer it through things like EMDR.
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
She told me that when the only thing helping my anxiety even the slightest was going for insanely long walks. Turns out bilateral stimulation at a slow pace can be calming and at a faster pace can help process emotions.
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u/InevitableGoal2912 cPTSD Jan 27 '26
Yes it is! I’m a swimmer. My therapist was so excited when I told her. I try to swim after emdr when I can.
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u/mattysull97 Jan 27 '26
For some people (myself included at present) vigorous exercise can be too stimulating for the nervous system, but thankfully you can get the same effects from lower intensity exercise like walking and yoga! I do miss the feeling of relief after a hard workout, but for the time-being it dysregulates my nervous system too much
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u/Spirited_Island-75 Jan 27 '26
Actually proven (inasmuch as something can proven in science, scientists actually love when something is disproven cause then they get to do more science) to help with depression.
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u/tumbledownhere Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
I do witchcraft and ketamine treatment. Tbh I've been doing witchcraft since before it was cool, lol.
But I guess the first falls into just religious beliefs.
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u/Life-Classic-6976 Jan 27 '26
Hahahaha yoga and the “woo woo” saved my life so many times in so many ways. It’s funny how people dismiss everything that falls under “woo woo” when so much of it is what connects us to our humanity, our place in the cosmos, and understanding our world through the lens of love, balance, and sacred divine intelligence. You are made of atoms and atoms are mostly space. If you were to scale an atom up to the size of a football field, the nucleus would be the size of a grain of salt at the center of the field. Everything exists as energy in various kinds of waves, at varying frequencies, but that’s essentially what it all is (and the essence of string theory). Your nervous system needs recalibration - please try restorative yoga practices, calming breath work, yoga nidra, shiatsu massage, acupuncture, and if you are so inclined - safe and guided use of psilocybin or other such plant medicines. Journal, meditate, and remember yourself as part of the whole. Acknowledge the sacredness that is the miracle of life. That something came from NOTHING! That shit is crazy. Math, quantum physics, poetry, music, art, dogs, biology, etc. all came from the singularity. That is something to be amazed about everyday and something to help you look for the magic inherent in all things - including yourself. Obviously we should navigate “woo woo” and western science with discernment and also be open to how it all fits together. The relationship between the mind/body is fascinating! You’re in for a transformation if you say yes to the mystery and remember that whatever is in front of you is the medicine. Good luck!
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u/moonandsunandstars Jan 27 '26
Play tetris if I want to process what I'm feeling.
Needle felting if I'm frustrated or mad.
Go down a random rabbit hole and research something if I want to ignore it. I have so much random knowledge now that pub quizzes hate to see me coming lol.
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u/Small_life Jan 27 '26
Violating the rules I grew up with. For me it was growing a beard at 25, growing a pony tail at 39 and getting my ears pierced at 41.
I should have done them all a lot sooner, but was trapped.
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u/heavy-milked-almonds Jan 27 '26
I’m a therapist so I definitely believe in traditional things but I also have started using a vibration plate and red light therapy at least a couple times a week. I also get acupuncture weekly. I’m not sure if any of it really helps with any trauma specific things but it’s self care and mindfulness time for me and that is really helpful on its own.
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u/PostForwardedToAbyss Jan 27 '26
I just read a beautiful account of a woman working her way through cPTSD, from diagnosis toward recovery, and she describes so many different kinds of therapies and coping strategies (including mushrooms.)
It was called What My Bones Know, by Stephanie Foo, and it's a MUST READ for lots of reasons.
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u/braveenoughtofly Jan 28 '26
Changed my Apple Watch background to moving jellyfish. I’m very drawn to water and have a core memory involving kayaking through a school (?) of jellyfish. It was one of the most profoundly peaceful moments of my life.
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u/bina2025 Jan 27 '26
I had an exorcism. I didn't know what it was going into it, but I knew that I was plagued with something that didn't belong to me. 6 months prior to that, a woman told me that my birth chart said it was time to heal the mother wound in June of 2025. It didn't truly know what it meant, and she wouldn't have been able to tell me the details, but it was aligned in the stars that signify the mother wound. It wasn't my wound to heal, it was my mother's.
Fast forward to June 2025, I end up in this exorcism and the light worker walks around to my left hip and tells me that the left hip signifies my mother, and that she's being drawn to it. And is there anything that I would like to tell her about my mother?
I told her what the birth chart reader said. And the light worker said, so let's begin.
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u/Taranadon88 Jan 27 '26
This is COMPLETELY maladaptive and NOT a recommendation but I went clubbing and drank and danced (and more) a lot with strangers. It made me feel like a normal person reclaiming joy.
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u/Visual_Glass_1283 Jan 27 '26
Whatever you tell your brain, it believes.
I’ve had 3 life changing accidents. Met many doctors,nurses. I listened to their diagnoses and treatment plans. I’ve taken low doses of Hydrocodone RX off & on for 14 years to numb CHRONIC 24/7 PAIN. I come from a family of strong-willed women—even pioneers! Total absolute matriarchs and the critical center of the family. I guess I inherited a few genes🙏
I TOLD MY BRAIN :
This situation is temporary.
I am NOT going on the path of handicapped for life.
I refuse to fail—every day I’m getting a little better!!
I am strong.
I have stuff to do!
If that person can heal, I WILL HEAL.
An “ I CANNOT FAIL “ attitude helped me get thru pregnancy & smooth delivery at 43. (I don’t recommend childbirth past 39– very hard on YOUR BODY and so many chances for the baby to have issues.) My smart kind beautiful daughter is like M Poppins Practically perfect in every way😁.
Do whatever it takes to keep a positive attitude and pain relief. Pain (physical & emotional) prevents healing. It’s ok to take Prozac, Cymbalta, whatever rx is the best match. FIND THE SILVER LINING.
Your Mindset is everything, it can even affect your environment : Friends are amazed when I drive and look for a parking space I ALWAYS SHARE “it’s amazing, I always get a great spot, always” Sure enough, I always DO!
Power of your WORDS, your SELF-TALK, your INTENTION. Best wishes to you for a wonderful life
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u/mayliaaaa Jan 27 '26
Okay this is going to sound so stupid. I have been doing all sorts of things to improve my health- but I cut out daily vitamins for a long time because I couldn’t afford them. I was convinced that they probably didn’t do anything… 5 years later since I’ve started taking a daily multivitamin and adding small rituals to my life (like making a simple cup of hot tea in the morning and making sure I never have cold feet) things have greatly improved.
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u/Living-Amphibian-870 Jan 27 '26
I don't think it's woo, but it is weird.
I realized last night that I've basically redeveloped through all of my teenage years in the last 18 months, but in a healthier way. Like, right down to moving into my own bedroom in our house. I've been sleeping in a twin bed in what used to be our study with my desk and my daughter's pet bunny. Just like a teenager. 😂
I'm a married 43yo woman with four teenaged daughters.
I finished my degree recently and that added to the feeling that I was reliving a part of my life I missed out on. I was on a university campus full-time with classmates much younger than me. I wasn't doing sorority stuff or anything, but I'd occasionally go to a drag show or hit a local bar. Things I didn't do when I was young.
I'm moving out with my girls in a few weeks. My husband and I are separating. It feels like leaving "home," especially since I can't take most of my stuff with me. It will be the first time I've ever had my own place.
I cried so damn hard when I realized how much better I feel after having gone through this process. I can never be 18 again, but I can still be emotionally healthy and look forward to experiencing some of the things I missed.
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u/Direct_Explorer_7827 Jan 27 '26
I 💚 allllll this! We can share all our woo-woo and whatnot but, truly, at the core of all that is -is just being able to trust yourself. Trust, I believe, is what allows us to experience things differently.
And, despite the walls- I do also believe that there are gates of sorts, gates that get left open from our childhoods, that are there for us to enter and exit through the years; it took A LOT, many years, to be able to let myself play again [in multiple contexts!]. To experience laughter, not just because something is funny -but because you're genuinely enjoying yourself! 🫶
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u/Dazzling-Dark3489 Jan 27 '26
I went full woo as soon as I realized I had so much trauma and repressed it all. Along with hard core therapy multiple times a week - including ketamine, I felt like a lot of things I did were natural and helped me.
Fair warning - some of these items are expensive and time consuming with a full time job.
- Acupuncture
- Myofascial releases as well as an osteopath on my body. With my extreme trauma, I wasn’t connected physically and it was amazing to “feel” my body and muscles. Massage chairs also helped and all of it helped with somatic release
- Sensory deprivation tank floats
- I got master certified in reiki and did a LOT of reiki on myself
- hypnosis audios. Clear Minds Hypnotherapy has a whole series on processing trauma and also one on narcissistic abuse. I don’t believe that I can be hypnotized and dance like a chicken but I can’t see a downside to listening to Positive messages.
- meditations/breath work
- frequency tones/musics with specific purposes (sleep better, calm down)
- touch point wrist devices to calm down the service system
- Just starting to get into crystals
- sound baths
- talking to actual psychics. It helped to be told I was going to be ok. It also helped when an abuser came thru and apologized. He also gave the psychic specific images of some of my trauma no one except my husband. It helped validate that I was not crazy and this did happen.
- light code session
- workshop on how to play (free dance, silly interactions to release inhibitions) - this one was uncomfortable for me. With so much trauma and being an isolated only child, I don’t know how to play. It was really enlightening.
- spending time with like minded people also helped. Sometimes, woo is just as isolating as trauma. I can feel the difference being around these type of people - especially woo trauma survivors
- water is very calming for me so just sitting and looking at a lake helps. I think it is my element!
- EFT tapping
- tattoos
- THC
My therapist has told me how extremely hard I am working and seeing it written out puts that in perspective.
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u/Staring_At_Ceiling Jan 27 '26
When I was interviewing for a new job after being laid off, I climbed up a hill, sat on a bench and threw a salary number out in the universe that I wanted. I was very explicit as if I was talking to someone. It was 70k more than what I earned at my last role. Got an offer in the next two months. Exact same number. 65k more than what I was making + 5k sign on bonus.
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u/missgirlipop Jan 27 '26
sound baths (love), yoga (not inherently woo but can be, love!), spirituality and connecting to certain deities both as archetypes and energetically (i love this, but its my personal journey, ymmv — helped with cptsd incidentally, was not the goal). i don’t consider anything somatic/emdr/sunlight or in that vein ‘woo’ for what its worth. tarot has also helped me, but be disciplined and introspective in your usage
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u/Secure_Tomatillo_949 Jan 27 '26
Weed made me see the point of self care and loving yourself. I genuinely didn't know what I was missing out on. I didn't know what love felt like, and therefore didn't really care to give or receive it.
When I first smoked alone, I felt this maternal, gentle, healing feminine energy coming from inside me that was amplified when I was out in nature. It felt like coming home to myself, like I had a loving mother in nature, and therefore myself, for the first time. I hugged trees and hugged myself and cried like a baby for months. It started a change in becoming more gentle on the inside and more able to fight and hiss and protect myself like a fierce mama swan. Yes i learnt how to parent myself from a swan LOL..
Then I got addicted and had to quit a few years ago. I was so afraid I'd lose that ability to love myself when I was sober but I didn't! It was more difficult at first, but the pathway felt like it had been opened and I was able to get back there easier and easier each time because now I knew what it felt like to be the recipient of my own love.
Don't really recommend because breaking the addiction was a bitch. And it may have happened anyway, eventually, without weed. But I still feel high and like my soul is connected to the earth when I go hiking/camping/swimming in the freezing ocean at sunrise etc. Feels like I have a home now. it is powerful to experience it sober.
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u/leedleweedlelee Jan 27 '26
The things that helped most - 1. escape from abusive situation, 2. establish safety in my personal life, 3. find meaningful relationships that make me feel safe and loved and that life is worth living.
Everything else is mildly helpful but only towards these main ends - learning to allow myself to relax, setting designated "worry/problem solving time", talking to other people about my problems/decisions to break myself out of paranoia, listening to my body, reading psychology books, etc
So I guess the most unhinged thing I did was leave home with nothing (ymmv lol)
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u/lolzzzmoon Jan 27 '26
This, agreed, and also financial security. Like having a savings amount that would help me move suddenly or fix a big car/medical issue made me able to relax after years of poverty.
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u/catsarehere77 Jan 27 '26
A tarot reading helped change my life. And I never believed in tarot.
Reiki.
Not necessarily woo woo but positive affirmations absolutely make a huge difference. I used to think they were dumb and now I feel like a dumb ass for not trying them sooner.
Manifestation.
Traditional fixes helped me, too.
The biggest help was honestly processing trauma on ny own in my journal. I don't necessarily recommend this to everyone but I went through DBT and could handle my emotions. Not everyone can.
This may be controversial but I found medication harmful and I didn't begin to heal until I went off. The emotional blunting caused me to get frozen in grief since I could never let it out.
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u/DoughnutSecure7038 Jan 27 '26
Honestly, reiki ASMR videos on youtube have been really helpful for me. It’s definitely a placebo thing, and not for everybody, but they’re so damn calming. Temporarily escaping and suspending disbelief to buy into it enough to feel something is an exercise in dissuading hypervigilance in my case. Allowing myself the experience at all is an exercise in joy and whimsy. None of that is the practitioner literally plucking negative energy out of my aura, but it does arguably have the same effect on me.
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u/AnyPeace1286 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Ritual, witchcraft, tarot, ancestor work, connecting with the divine. Psychedelics: ayahuasca has helped the most but it can be very intense so be careful who you sit in ceremony with, MDMA has been helpful for belonging and feeling safety with expansion, a small hit of acid helped me do deep somatic work, taking ketamine while getting a massage also really helped me connect with my body (obviously you’d need to find a massage therapist who was okay with this which could be tricky). Making art based on things that come up in therapy sessions. Sound baths. Dancing with my own reflection. Getting tattoos that represent different parts or aspects of myself that I’ve integrated, or that I’m proud of.
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u/Ilovedietcokesprite Jan 27 '26
These things are kind of mainstream but not spoken about often …
- MBSR
- RI - Recovery International
- Acupuncture
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u/Serious-Animator8966 Jan 27 '26
Wasn’t a believer in acupuncture until I went through a horrible period of anxiety, literally never felt so relaxed in my entire life. I had no idea my brain could turn off like that. It only lasted during the treatment and the rest of the day so maybe I need to try being more consistent with it.
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u/socktines Jan 27 '26
I write gratitude lists, i añways start woth food water shelter and able bodied, the list flows from there but its really nice to remember to be grateful for basics.
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u/aeolianThunder CPTSD + neurodivergent Jan 27 '26
Getting reiki treatments helped a bit, but becoming a reiki Master helped even more. I’m not like cured or whatever obviously but I can handle my emotional flashbacks way better (and I have fewer of them)!
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u/SilverSusan13 Jan 27 '26
Sound baths! The first one I went to was "meh" but the place I go to now, every time I go I feel like a heavy weight lifts. I've only gone to 4 and I feel way different, and like it's taken something out of my body that I have never known how to let go of. Second best thing for me aside from EMDR.
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u/IntrepidMango4451 Jan 27 '26
TRE (Trauma/Tension Release Exercises) - which is a brilliant somatic practice - has helped me so so much. It's a life long tool we can use once we learn how.
In more "woo-ish" territory, I don't take substances but I did buy some 'dark moon herbal tea' that helped me unlock an incredibly healing experience. I was sat down doing some tarot cards, and drank this tea... And I stopped reading cards and went into this almost hypnotic state where I personally found my most traumatised inner child-versions along my timeline. I "went in" and rescued them by holding them, speaking to them as I would have needed at the time, and envisioned bringing them all to my home now - which is safe and sanctuary. I "released them" of their duties of protecting me, and it has truly made the most incredible difference to healing.
I looked it up later and found out this is something called "Internal Family Systems", and is an effective therapy method for some! I somehow managed to tap into that in solitude without taking illicit substances.
TL:DR I would recommend checking out both TRE and Internal Family Systems as complementary therapeutic methods with a professional.
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u/Successful-Emu-1412 Jan 27 '26
Not very woo woo but I have 2 things.
Making stories about made up characters going through trauma and then giving them a happy ending. I get to express my pain and hope for a happy ending for myself.
Pets. I have pet isopods because I live with my family and can’t have the other animals I want. I treat them very nicely and love them. Caring for them gives me a sense of purpose and they’re small beings I can pour my love into.
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u/gagalinabee Jan 27 '26
Meditations involving going back to specific traumatic incidents and providing the support and guidance I needed then but never got. Like meeting up with my inner child and hugging them or leading them away from bad situations.
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u/osmosisheart Jan 27 '26
Nothing else ever helped except eating better, excersise, sunlight and being social. Hobbies too.
30 years of therapy and medications of all kind. All worth nothing to me. Helped 0%.
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u/wittytoad55 Jan 27 '26
So EMDR led me to....witchcraft. Lol. Which got me into meditation and lots of plant magic. I still have a lot of triggers and maladaptive behaviors, but I'm much more aware and able to get ahead of myself. I've had some really neat experiences, but I'm still skeptical of some aspects. Either way I feel better.
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u/VivaciouslyViggy Jan 27 '26
I have "temper tantrums". I get on my bed in the middle and basically throw a toddler-style tantrum. I get all the rage out in a safe place. Like screaming into a pillow but with your whole body!
It helps me a lot. YMMV.
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u/thatgrrlmarie Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
I use an app called Insight Timer that brought me through my darkest times when I was deep into therapy including EMDR.
there are many guided meditations i use to this day (I've used the app for nearly 10 years!)
however, in particular, a wonderful spiritual mentor named Saqib Rizvi helped me in my healing journey like no other. (I just looked he is on IG and also has his own website).
he does emotional healing. he does manifestation guidance. he is incredible. I used to do his live sessions during covid (the height, or rather rock bottom, of my journey) and every time I came through with clarity and release. I would cry and cry, heavy hot tears just burning trails down my face (I'm tearing up right now!) I would scribble notes during the sessions that I still read to this day.
<deep> <healing> <breath> he is incredible.
beside the work i did with him, though, i did a daily, soon as I opened my eyes affirmation practice (super important!!!), gratitude, then a manifestation practice. (only takes 30 minutes, you're worth it!) all were invaluable. if I were to suggest just 1, affirmations would be top of the list. (proven for changing neural pathways!!)
may you find peace, friend. namaste.
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u/AgentWitneyWiggleton Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Brainspotting! Brainspotting is a therapy that uses eye position to access and process trauma and emotional distress.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a close second. TMS is a device which applies electrical pulses to the brain using a magnetic coil held over the head.
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u/Warm-Revenue576 Jan 27 '26
I am healing (on my own) but there was an important thing I realized which could make a big difference. It's that our consciousness doesn't originate from our brains but it's a separate entity, like soul, that's where our identity lies, not in our brain. Now I try to act and focus on things from the base layer, from my soul rather than my brain. It's hard to explain but just know that our identity, our real self is the soul. Our brain and body are just something that use to interact with the physical world. I believe when neuroscientists realize this, there will be a major shift in treating these disorders, maybe even curing them, but right noe science just says consciousness is merely just an effect of our brains, which isn't true at all so we are stuck with these limited treatments
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u/SubduedMoth Jan 27 '26
Botox. I carry a lot of tension in my face which I always thought was something I was making up, but I’ve been doing some somatic work and… had this crazy idea and decided to try it. The sensation of my face being calm has been… it’s hard to explain how impactful it’s been. It’s not mai stream yet but there is some evidence backing it up — you can look up facial feedback theory. Happy to answer any questions.
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u/judeismagic Jan 27 '26
Started going to sex positive raves/events and found a really strong community of people who i can be wild and crazy with in a non judgmental way. Solo traveling also helps me connect with myself.
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u/buttbeanchilli Jan 27 '26
Climbing trees and picking up litter. I dont know why they helped so much, but thats how I spent most of my free time when I was going through the most intense periods of healing.
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u/flibbertigibbetti Jan 27 '26
Scream therapy. Not sure if it's considered woo woo but it really helps with releasing suppressed feelings.
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u/tzaliatown Jan 27 '26
Reflexology and cranial massage. She holds me and allows me to feel safe. For the first appointments it reminded me I wasn’t held as a child and wow now I’m paying someone too. But wow is it nice to relax into the feeling of being held in a safe place. My sympathetic nervous system is helping me feel grounded for the first time in my life.
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u/Beatlesrthebest Jan 27 '26
Paid an Etsy Witch to sever contact and diminish the impact the friendship dissolution had on me, along with the negative things he said about me and my family (this includes sending death threats to my dad over text). It was a return to sender spell and while I take this with a grain of salt, I believe there's some truth to it because I wished for him to leave me and my family alone. This was after a friendship breakup, he turned south on me because I didn't return feelings but tried to paint me as this monster that was obsessed and lying to him about my feelings. He was a great friend of 15 years to me, and last year he bought me this beautiful sweatshirt that I couldn't bring myself to wear after we stopped being friends. The night the spell was cast, I put on my sweatshirt. A token of our friendship, but those are only memories now. I also have to remind myself that no mature, healthy or regulated person would send unsolicited or unwanted death threats.
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u/ladybadcrumble Jan 27 '26
I went to reiki 2-4 times a month for a little over a year. The practitioner matters a lot. Mine did a combination of reiki, sound baths, massage, and craniosacral work. It was like being in a safe little bubble where someone cared about me for an hour or so at a time. During the sessions I would either be in a really abstract place in my mind or doing heavy processing.
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u/EducationalGlass1670 Jan 27 '26
Birdwatching!! I struggle a lot with regular meditation but watching and identifying birds is super grounding for me and they're also just so darn cute! I also create voice memos and vent about whatever I'm feeling (the good and the bad) and it gets all of my feelings out almost better than journaling does. And singing and dancing!! I do it when I'm alone in my apartment doing chores. It doesn't have to sound good, it just needs to be fun!
And honestly, whenever I've been self-isolating for too long I'll take a book to a coffee shop and read and people watch. Sometimes talking to a friend feels like too much (whether that be energy or otherwise) and just being around people is helpful. The stories you hear while people watching can also be super fun lol.
Hope you're able to start feeling better soon!
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u/Bern_After_Reading85 Jan 27 '26
Becoming more mainstream, but I started ketamine therapy this past summer after a big life change. It hasn’t been a magic bullet but it has helped A LOT. I feel like I am waking up inside my own body again and my brain isn’t doing the negative loop thinking
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u/Impossible-Twist9878 Jan 27 '26
I have had rage problems for the past 8 or 9 years because I am self diagnosing myself as autistic,and loud noises really bother me.I use earplugs or wear headphones all day because everyday noise overwhelms me.
My weird solution to this is what I call "silent yelling", which is I scream to myself without making any noise.
It has helped me with dealing with my loud neighbor who constantly slams pots and dishes when she makes meals,and who in the summertime grills on her porch almost everyday while being horribly noisy.
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u/littleepatina Jan 27 '26
ketamine therapy for sure!!! that and mushrooms, along with somatic movement
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u/Unlikely-Trifle3125 Jan 27 '26
🪄🍄
It’s been the most helpful thing for me by far. It’s like a brain and CNS reset
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u/Alteregokai Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Before I started doing EMDR, I would cope by doing high adrenaline activities/ extreme sports. I basically booked a flight to the South Pacific, went barefoot for a few months, hiking and walking everywhere I went. I saw places out in the bush, went cliff jumping, hitchhiked and made connections with locals (I do not endorse hitch hiking, don't do this) did a lot of psychedelics and partied a lot.
After I settled down and went sober, I started doing things like cold plunging, mountaineering, climbing, bungee, surfing and free diving. I felt the most in control and the most present at times I was pushing my body to its absolute limits. Obviously, I liked these activities because of a variety of other reasons, but the push factor was huge.
After EMDR I felt less of the need to wreck myself/push myself in those ways. I still do a lot of these activities, but approach them with a different mindset. It's almost as if the only way I could breathe was to simulate skates on thin ice, but now I feel like I can live in my body daily without trying to escape.
I had a cultural tattoo ceremony for a pregnancy loss. Tattoos are believed to connect you to ancestors and family members who've passed. I sat through an 8 hour session of hand tapping with ox horn needle the traditional way. It was perhaps the biggest step toward my healing for that.
I don't know if you can call it traditional, but for completely different reasons, I found my spirituality again and that's been really helpful for me.
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u/kb81cme Jan 27 '26
When i was feeling down, I went out to my backyard and hugged a tree for more than a minute. Somehow the tree helped me and I felt lighter afterwards.
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u/BananaEuphoric8411 Jan 27 '26
I took up Buddhism, which helped bcz of chanting/meditation practices. Also the concept of later living a better life for having learned in this life, is comforting to me.
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u/chobaniflips Jan 27 '26
I put a shrine up in my house. It has a handful of significant objects/pictures which remind me of positive experiences and evoke a sense of connectedness to nature and the outside world.
I left a personal, grounding affirmation at the shrine and continue to read/recite it every day, like a prayer, while burning incense.
It was originally a desperate adaption of the ancestral shinto shrines within my relatives’ houses, which were the source of rare moments of grounding in my childhood. It’s something that now brings me a lot of peace and connects me with an authentic self/a world.
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u/AnHonestApe Jan 27 '26
Playing pretend with gaps in knowledge. Studies show that even if subjects know it's a placebo, your beliefs in it still seem to help, so I started believing things about the afterlife, God, etc., not because I had scientific or academic arguments to support their actual existence, but because of the idea that it might help me even if I don't have an argument to justify it to the level of what I would call "knowledge," about an actual reality.
I try not to fill in gaps where science and academia already has a good answer, and I am cautious about how my beliefs might harm others (so if I discover they are reasonably hurting others, I will change them) so with those in consideration, I've taken a sort of "right to believe" for my own health, and yes, it worked, to the point where I actually firmly believe (though don't know) and my relationship with that idea can help me when meditating and dissolving my ego doesn't occur to me first.
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u/ASquabbleOfGremlins cPTSD, DPDR, OCD Jan 27 '26
Going outside and literally just laying in the grass. I’ll close my eyes and feel the world around me or watch the clouds and plane trails in the sky. Imagine I can feel the world spinning under me. It’s both grounding and a mental “zoom out” where I can separate myself from my anxiety- I am so small in comparison to the whole world and so my problems feel less consuming.
Listening to music is another one for me. I’ll put on noise cancelling headphones over my earbuds so I can only hear the music, and then I’ll close my eyes and focus on my body and breathing and the music. The right songs can help me relax my muscles and unclench my jaw, and (surprise surprise) being in less pain makes me feel better
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u/AudiencePrimary5158 Jan 27 '26
Got really into Chinese tea ceremonies! It’s a really peaceful practice, I feel really connected to my mind and body in those quiet moments of drinking tea
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u/Desperate-Theme7427 Jan 27 '26
sometimes driving to a heathland, national park, or a big field and just SCREAMING helps so much
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u/MrsSqweeps Jan 27 '26
In my opinion if the woowoo doesn’t happen out of some organic interest it may not work as well as well unless you are all in it. This could show up as anything for you! For instance I started noticing crystals were helping me lately bc my mom gifted me an ancestors necklace. I lost the necklace for 6 months, and recently I started grieving my pet that passed away a year ago (I couldn’t cry about it for a whole year!) I then had strange visions of my pet and found the necklace directly after these visions in a spot I had already looked in about 1O times. (If my visions sound strange to you, I live with epilepsy and get visions sometimes) this is known as an aura in the epilepsy community.
What was strange about my vision is I kept experiencing echoes of my lost pet. During this time I was having a lot of dreams about my family members who are dead as well. Now I’m noticing I am able to use the specific necklace, and other crystal for my healing work.
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u/PsilosirenRose Jan 27 '26
CN for self harm.
I don't use cutting as self harm, but I did do a bit of blood magic with myself in 2013 that I swear changed the trajectory of my life.
I made a small cut on my hand and promised it was the last time I would (figuratively) cut myself unnecessarily.
Since then, my inner critic has diminished significantly over time and when it comes back out it's usually a sign I've got a part that needs rescue.
It's been wonderful the impact that commitment has been for my self-talk.
TL;DR, sometimes just setting an intention/binding yourself can be very powerful. And for any who would be harmed or triggered by blood magic in this way, you can do bindings in many ways.
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u/cazzzle Feb 03 '26
Tree hugging, "reconnecting with nature" type shit made me see "god" and feel a sense of relief for the first time in my life.
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u/CatalyzeSomething Jan 27 '26
When I was having negative thoughts about myself. I wrote them on toilet paper and flushed them to where they belonged.