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Embodiment Podcast

An exploration of the transformative power of embodiment, trauma healing, nervous system regulation, and finding meaning in an ever-changing world.

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PODCAST-E71 - Finding Hope Through TRE: Svava Brooks' Journey from Freeze to Freedom

In this transformative episode of Neurogenic Integration, host Alex Greene speaks with Svava Brooks, a TRE provider based in Reykjavik, Iceland, who shares her remarkable journey from living in "functional freeze" with an ACE score of 8 to becoming what she calls the "Queen of Hearts." Svava discovered TRE (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises) in 2015 after two decades of trying various therapeutic approaches, and her story illuminates the profound possibilities of somatic healing for developmental trauma. Through a patient two-year process she describes as "a thousand little steps," Svava learned to pair TRE with mindful self-compassion practices, moving slowly and gently as her nervous system learned to release decades of chronic tension and reorganize around safety rather than survival. Her transformation extended far beyond symptom reduction—she reconnected with joy, creativity, and playfulness, became a softer and more present parent, and now dedicates herself to bringing TRE to communities across Iceland. This conversation offers both practitioners and individuals on their own healing journeys a detailed roadmap of what nervous system regulation and trauma recovery can actually look like, emphasizing the essential roles of self-compassion, co-regulation, going slower than slow, and honoring the body's protective wisdom. Svava's story is ultimately one of hope grounded in reality: that even after decades of trauma, the body has an innate capacity to heal, reorganize, and open to connection when given the right conditions of patience, support, and somatic practices that work directly with the nervous system.
Posted on
June 27, 2025

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