The Hidden Impact of Hearing Loss

02/08/2025

02/07/2025

Self-love isn’t just bubble baths and spa days. It’s not just ‘treating yourself’ or saying affirmations in the mirror. That’s what people think self-love is.

Real self-love? It’s deep. It’s setting boundaries, saying no when you mean it, and prioritizing rest even when the world tells you to hustle. It’s healing, doing the hard inner work, and choosing what actually nourishes your mind, body, and soul—even when it’s uncomfortable.

Superficial self-love feels good in the moment. True self-love transforms you.

11/08/2024

Anyone with hearing loss can relate….

09/21/2024

Just sayin…..

09/13/2024

I delivered my final Hidden Impact of Hearing Loss workshop today, culminating a 25-year ministry that has brought me immense joy. I am grateful for the thousands who have attended and the professionals who have supported the program, particularly Southwest Ohio ENT Specialists, Hillcrest Hearing and Balance Center, and Community Services for the Deaf, without whom this would not have been possible.

09/08/2024

Do any of you experience any of these symptoms frequently?

Trauma gets stuck in our body when we’re unable to resolve our fight-or-flight response. This happens because we’re not often able to release the stress after a traumatic or stressful event, and instead the impact can be prolonged. This means that the potent biochemical cocktail released when we go into fight-or-flight remains in our bodies, held in our bodies with the trauma dysregulating our nervous system and making us ill.

This can show up in a lot of different ways - from muscle tension, stiffness, and tightness to chronic headaches and migraines. It can cause us to experience digestive issues as well as palpitations and shallow breathing. If you experience any of these symptoms, don’t ignore them and push through, because it could be your body trying to tell you something. Especially if these are recurring symptoms. They are messages from your body that things are out of balance and to slow down and listen.

Just as trauma can become stuck in your body, it can be discharged in a safe manner to resolve these long standing fight-or-flight responses. Somatic practices, patience, and care can help to physically release stored emotions but be mindful to do this in a controlled way that feels right for you. It may also be worth doing this 1-to-1 with a trauma experienced somatic practitioner if you have experienced a lot of trauma.

If you are feeling stuck experiencing these symptoms, know that you can heal and this is a call to bring in more balance, compassion and kindness for yourself 🧡

08/21/2024

I am approaching the completion of my book, 'I Still Hear His Voice: Reflections from a woman's journey to profound hearing loss and how she learned to better navigate the unique challenges that arise.'

08/08/2024

Trauma is held in our bodies and it becomes stuck when we’re unable to defend ourselves from a traumatic situation, or when we’re unable to run from it. Our fight or flight response is activated, but never resolved. And so, the trauma stays with us, held in our bodies, held in our nervous system, dysregulating it, keeping it stuck in a loop it can’t resolve.

However, with somatic practices, we can discharge this stuck trauma from our body and our nervous system, and actually resolve long standing fight or flight responses. This greatly contributes to nervous system regulation, alongside symptom relief, and the release of stored emotions which need to be expressed as they are released.

As you can see, there are many examples of somatic practices and they range from gentler, simpler practices such as breathwork and aromatherapy to the more involved such as TRE (Trauma Releasing Exercises) and Qigong. At Primal Trust we devote an entire module to Somatic Awareness and Movement as part of our Level 1 Regulate program, taking you through various somatic practices and guiding you on pacing these.

Sometimes the thought of the movement involved in practices like yoga or walking can seem overwhelming - the important thing is to do what works with where you’re at just now. Look to mindful walking as a goal, and focus on somatic practices that are less work just now such as massage and breathwork.

As you slowly begin to release the trauma from your body, you’ll become capable of more than you thought possible, both in emotional and physical capacity! 🧡

08/08/2024

Here is some inspiration for your upcoming month! 😊

When it comes to visualization, it can be difficult for our mind to go to these sorts of places or even come up with ideas when we’re stuck in chronic stress patterns.

Visualization is a powerful brain retraining tool that builds and develops neuroplasticity - so when you do this practice you are actually forming new neural pathways and activating those associated with the imagined experiences. This practice also calms your limbic brain and reduces stress by signalling safety to the brain.

The practice of visualization is also important to pattern disruption. By retraining our brain to respond positively as you practice, you are overwriting the negative thought patterns our brains may have become addicted to while in a maladaptive stress response. The more you practise visualization, the more you overwrite negative thought patterns with positive ones, and soon this is what your brain will default to.

So, the more you do it, the easier it gets. It can be difficult when you’re starting out, or perhaps feel a lack of positive memories for inspiration, so for those of you new to the practice these ideas will hopefully help. For those of you more experienced, these can add to and enhance your daily visualizations.

Feel free to share your favourite visalizations in the comments, and let us know if you’re using these! 🧡

07/30/2024

Too funny!! 🤣😂

07/10/2024

Yes, I recently penned my story about hearing loss, and my aim is that it would be a tool of empowerment and support for those with hearing impairments and their loved ones to navigate life, much like my workshops have done for 25 years.

06/21/2024

At 15, Patty Duke meets Helen Keller.

05/21/2024

Our brain and our body are intimately connected. Our thoughts create feelings and sensations that our body then has to respond to and process. But our limbic brain can get hijacked by repetitive thoughts when it’s trying to keep us safe.

We often have the same thoughts every day - and while most of the time these are totally innocuous, when it comes to our brain being stuck in a chronic stress response we have to practise conscious awareness to break out of these unhelpful thought patterns. This is where consistent brain retraining exercises can help us, but also where somatic practices are just as important.

When these chronic stress responses get stuck in our brains, they don’t have anywhere to go but our bodies, where they get stuck because they are in a cycle they can’t complete. Somatic practices can help trauma patterns to be felt safely and then released.

So when we say you don’t need to believe everything you feel, it’s not because it’s not real, but because these feelings are often telling you that you’re not safe, that you’re stuck, or that there’s no way forward. And that isn't true - through nervous system regulation, brain retraining, and somatic practices you can work towards feeling safe enough to let feelings flow through you 🧡

05/11/2024

Tinnitus affects 90% of people with hearing loss, and 70% of those with hearing loss remain undiagnosed and untreated. However, the good news is that 60% of people who receive treatment for hearing loss also experience significant relief from tinnitus.

05/07/2024

“Kindness is a language in which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
Mark Twain

05/06/2024

For most people it's not a matter of if, but when, they will lose some sense of hearing. Still, we don't give hearing loss or hearing aids much thought until...

05/06/2024

Thanks to all the nurses involved in hearing healthcare! 💙