5 Brain Integration Exercises to Help Heal Trauma

I’m very new to brain integration exercises, so don’t take me as an expert here. But I wanted to share a few things that I’ve been trying lately that really help.

When we face a trauma situation, our right and left brain essentially split so we can get to safety as fast as possible. The body is designed to get us out fast and then go back to normal, but when our bodies get stuck in this trauma state, that’s when we need tools to help our bodies realize that the event is not happening all over again in real life. I’ve been researching trauma for a few years now, and I’ve tried nearly every therapy I can get my hands on. Some are very costly and high tech. I’m thankful for these options and advances, but part of me is also wondering… If our bodies were designed to deal with trauma, there’s got to be a way that doesn’t require big bucks and fancy technology. One of my favorite ways to reset after trauma is free, accessible, and uses brain integration or deep breathing to help heal.

5 Brain Integration Exercises to Help Heal Trauma:

Cross Crawls.

Lift your right knee and touch it with your left hand. Then lift your left knee and touch it with your right hand. Do this back and forth for 2-3 minutes. My friend Christine said she likes to play a worship song while she does the cross crawls. When the song is over, she knows she can stop.

When I’m super exhausted mentally or physically, I sit in a chair and just barely raise my knees and it seems to help too! Crossing the midline is the key. So make sure you’re taking your left hand to totally cross to the right knee and back to starting position each time.

This helps me with mental clarity. If you’re in a tough situation, excuse yourself to the bathroom and do a few cross crawls for relief.

Stretching Your Calf Muscles.

Christine also taught me that when we go into flight mode, our bodies are getting ready to run. So if we stretch our calf muscles, it can communicate to our bodies that we’re really ok and don’t need to run. It can help calm our system down. I like to do this before bed or if I’m up in the night to tell my body, “Hey, lady. You’re ok. You can rest now.”

Calming your vegus nerve.

There’s a bone bump right behind your ear. If you rub this and then rub down your neck while you stretch the neck away, it can make you feel so much calmer. Try it. This is great because you can do this in an airport, a court room, driving down the road. Anywhere and any time you start to feel stress come on. And you can do this pretty inconspicuously. A real gift.

Rubbing your feet.

I don’t know that this is technically one of the brain integration exercises, but it’s amazing at how this can make your whole body relax. Whatever spots hurt in particular, give them extra TLC. This helps communicates to the body that you will care for it and it will get the care it needs.

Deep belly breathing.

There are lots of ways to do this. I mix it up. But my go-to is 567 Breathing. Start to breathe in through the nose for 5 seconds, hold it for 6, and then blow it out through your mouth with your tongue on the roof of your mouth for 7 seconds. (With my kids, I teach breathe in while thinking the lyrics “Jesus loves me this I know”. Then hold if for “for the Bible tells me so.” Then breathe out, “Little ones to Him belong.” And repeat. This will provide much needed oxygen and try to reverse  the shallow breathing that stress, fear, or trauma can cause.

Taking spiritual authority.

We need to communicate to our bodies that we’re not currently in a trauma situation, which is why these brain integration exercises come in to play. We also need to take authority over the spirit of fear, terror, and trauma.

When I notice these boogers try to creep in, I pray something like, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazereth, I expose you trauma (or fear, etc). And I command you to flee in Jesus’ name. I declare you have no authority to rule in my life because I am under the blood of Jesus. I now hide myself in Christ. Father, you are my refuge and fortress. Cover me in the blood of Jesus and hide me in your wings. Deliver me from evil and bless me with your protection and peace.”

It changes every time, but that’s the gist of it. You have to tell it to go away in Jesus’ name or basically it can just hang out and keep its grip. I’ve also had to take authority over my cortisol and hormone levels and command them to come back under Christ’s authority as well. And it’s funny. It works.