04/22/2026
"Just breathe" is everywhere in self-help for anxiety and trauma. For nervous systems shaped by complex, repeated trauma, long-form breathwork and mindfulness are not always the neutral defaults they are assumed to be.
This is a walkthrough of what the preparation phase of trauma therapy actually looks like in practice. For clinicians, students, and anyone curious about how this work gets done.
Inside:
· How trauma therapy works by linking the present to existing adaptive information, not by overwriting the past (Solomon & Shapiro, 2008).
· Why "just breathe" can backfire for pervasive trauma, and what works better instead (Van Dam et al., 2018).
· What preparation actually looks like: brief, repeated moments of regulation, built with consent.
· A 60-second body check-in for when the nervous system shuts down.
The frameworks referenced are drawn from the established trauma, EMDR, and mindfulness research literature. They are not original theory.
This is general education. It is not a diagnosis, a treatment plan, or a substitute for individualized care with a qualified clinician.
For general inquiries: rippleffectpsychotherapy.com
📚 Research cited:
Solomon, R. M., & Shapiro, F. (2008). EMDR and the Adaptive Information Processing Model. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.2.4.315
Van Dam, N. T., et al. (2018). Mind the Hype. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13(1), 36 to 61. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617709589
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TraumaInformedCare PolyvagalTheory OttawaTherapist RegisteredPsychotherapist
