Most of us are familiar with the concept of “fight or flight,” which is the body’s automatic response when we feel threatened, but there are two other fear responses that are just as important to understand - Freeze and fawn.

Unlike fight or flight, they often go unnoticed, even though they quietly shape how we respond to stress, relationships and even our sense of purpose.

Over the past few months, several of my students have asked me about trauma-informed training so they can deepen their understanding of trauma, not to fix it but to hold space with more sensitivity, compassion, connection and awareness.

It’s a powerful question, and it shows how much we’re all recognising the importance of meeting others with compassion, patience and safety.

After my previous relationship ended, I spent several years healing, discovering myself and following my passions. It was during this period that I dove deeper into my spirituality with the introduction of practices like reiki and meditation. Although I still experienced the occasional challenges of life, I had created a world that was generally peaceful and filled with things I loved… a world that felt very, very safe.

A powerful reflection emerged for one of my beautiful students during our Reiki Master Retreat this week and it’s stayed with me since. It touched on something many of us carry quietly in our hearts:

What happens when someone who we think should love us, just isn’t capable of loving us in the way that we need?

When working on our self-evolvement, we may have someone in our life who ‘didn’t get the memo’. This is someone who repeatedly frustrates or triggers us, taking us out of our peaceful ‘zen den' or it could be a difficult situation that we are not happy with but yet still we remain.

Love relationships, while beautiful, can sometimes be a source of deep suffering. Misunderstandings, unmet expectations, and emotional wounds can create barriers between partners. I have been immersing myself in the work of the late author and Zen Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.

Chakra means wheel and refers to a vortex of three-dimensional energy that governs certain emotions and the organs / glands residing within that chakra. The sacral chakra sits at our lower abdomen, below the navel. It resonates with the water element and is said to be orange in colour