In this episode of Be Well with Dr. Michelle Greenwell, I welcome award-winning author and self-help expert Faust Ruggiero, M.S. for a compassionate and practical conversation about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly known as PTSD. Drawing from more than forty years of professional experience, Faust helps listeners understand how trauma can affect the body, mind, and emotions at the same time—and why healing requires more than simply trying to forget what happened.

Understanding PTSD as a Whole-Person Experience

PTSD is often described through memories, flashbacks, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm. However, the experience of trauma can also be held through patterns of protection in the nervous system, changes in trust, difficulty feeling safe, emotional disconnection, exhaustion, and a sense of being unable to move forward.

During our conversation, Faust explains that PTSD exists on a spectrum. He introduces five distinct expressions: the normal stress response, acute stress disorder, uncomplicated PTSD, complex PTSD, and comorbid PTSD. This distinction can help people recognize that there is no single way trauma appears and no single path that every person must follow.

Understanding the type and pattern of stress a person is experiencing can create language for what may previously have felt confusing or isolating. It can also open the door to appropriate professional care, supportive relationships, practical tools, and renewed hope.

Faust Ruggiero and The Fix Your PTSD Handbook

Faust is the author of The Fix Yourself Empowerment Series and one of the most frequently interviewed self-help authors in the world. His new book, The Fix Your PTSD Handbook, offers a structured and empowering approach to understanding trauma and reclaiming a greater sense of control.

Rather than presenting healing as a quick or linear process, Faust emphasizes practical steps, compassionate self-understanding, and the importance of connection. For someone who feels isolated, even a small act of reaching toward another person may become the beginning of change.

You can learn more about Faust Ruggiero and his books at www.faustruggiero.com.

A Five Element Perspective on Trauma

In the podcast, I also introduce the Five Element Wheel as one way to notice how trauma may influence the whole person.

• Water relates to fear, survival, safety, and our reserves of energy.
• Wood relates to direction, movement, frustration, anger, and the ability to move forward.
• Fire relates to joy, connection, communication, and the heart.
• Earth relates to nourishment, grounding, worry, and the experience of being supported.
• Metal relates to grief, breath, release, and letting go.

This perspective does not replace diagnosis, counselling, or medical support. Instead, it can offer another language for self-awareness. When a person notices fear, grief, anger, disconnection, or worry, these experiences can be approached with curiosity rather than judgment.

Returning to the Heart Through Tea and Intention

For this episode, our featured tea is SoulTEA Harbour from the Cape Breton Tea Company. The blend highlights licorice root and stinging nettle, inviting a pause for nourishment, grounding, and presence.

“Balance and Flow is possible when we open to be present for our true heart’s desires. Come home to your heart.”

A tea ritual does not erase trauma. What it can do is create a small, intentional moment in which we slow down, breathe, notice what is present, and offer the body a different experience. These moments of awareness can become part of a wider collection of supportive choices.

Continue with the Emotions & Healing Series

This conversation with Faust is an important part of a broader exploration of emotional wellbeing. The Emotions & Healing Series offers additional conversations and tools for understanding the emotional wisdom of the body, the Five Elements, and the ways awareness can support meaningful change.

For those navigating trauma, anxiety, grief, emotional overwhelm, or patterns of protection, the series can provide a supportive next step. Each episode offers another perspective, allowing listeners to build a personal toolbox rather than searching for one technique that must do everything.

Support Through Greenwell Center Programs

The programs offered through the Greenwell Center for Holistic Health bring together movement, mindfulness, breath, intention, creative expression, and BioEnergetic Wellness. These approaches are designed to help people increase awareness, explore possibility, and discover practical tools that can be woven into daily life.

Support may begin with something simple: noticing the breath, gently moving the body, setting an intention, sharing in community, or recognizing a small change in how the body responds. The goal is not to force an outcome, but to create conditions in which the person can discover what supports greater balance, connection, and forward movement.

Explore current offerings and resources through the Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

Artfilled Wellness: Healing in Community

For those who feel drawn to a more immersive experience, the Artfilled Wellness: Cape Breton Island Energy & Arts Immersion Retreat offers an opportunity to explore wellbeing through movement, music, intuitive art, nature, poetry, sound, tea rituals, and community.

The retreat is not about escaping life for a few days. It is about living within experiences that encourage curiosity, belonging, creativity, awareness, and the possibility of seeing yourself differently. For someone who has spent a long time in protection or survival, supportive community and creative engagement may open a gentle doorway toward reconnection.

Healing Is Not a Straight Line

Trauma may create patterns that once helped us survive. Healing invites us to notice when those patterns are no longer serving the future we want to create.

There may be moments of progress, uncertainty, rest, frustration, courage, and renewed connection. The process is personal, and no one should feel pressured to heal according to someone else’s timeline.

PTSD is not your identity. It is an experience your system has carried. With appropriate professional care, compassionate support, practical tools, and opportunities for awareness, new possibilities can emerge.

Listen to the full conversation with Faust Ruggiero on Be Well with Dr. Michelle Greenwell, and continue exploring the resources that help you feel informed, supported, and less alone.

This article and podcast are intended for education and general wellness support. They are not a substitute for medical diagnosis, psychotherapy, counselling, or emergency care. Anyone experiencing severe distress or symptoms of PTSD is encouraged to seek support from a qualified healthcare or mental health professional.

The post Healing the Imprint of Trauma: Understanding PTSD and Returning to the Heart first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

Have you ever picked up a paintbrush and felt your whole body soften? Or looked at a colour and instantly felt more grounded, energized, or at ease? That’s not just creativity at work — it’s science.

This week we begin an extraordinary 16-week journey with the Magnifying Peace Project, and our very first video release is led by artist and intuitive guide Marian Egan, founder of Heart Art Magic. In her video, Marian paints her vision of peace, letting colour, movement, and emotion guide her hand. It’s not just a painting — it’s a peace practice in action.

Colour and the Brain: Why It Matters

Research shows that colour stimulates the limbic system, the part of the brain that regulates emotion, memory, and behavior. Different colours evoke different responses:

• Blue can lower heart rate and calm anxiety.
• Green is associated with harmony and balance.
• Pink promotes compassion and care.
• Yellow can lift mood and spark creativity.

When we consciously engage with colour — through painting, visual art, or even clothing — we’re using a non-verbal language to process emotions, reset the nervous system, and return to center.

The Calming Power of Art

According to a 2016 study published in Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, just 45 minutes of creative activity significantly reduces cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone — regardless of skill level or experience.

Art isn’t about being perfect. It’s about:

• Slowing down
• Accessing intuition
• Processing emotion safely
• Creating new neural pathways for peace and healing

When Marian paints with both hands, she activates both hemispheres of the brain — creating an integrated experience that enhances focus, creativity, and a deep sense of presence.

From Canvas to Connection

Painting doesn’t just change the way we feel — it changes how we relate. When we allow our creative expression to flow, we soften defensiveness, enhance self-awareness, and open space for compassionate conversation with others.

This is how peace starts.
Not in policy. Not in perfection.
But in a quiet moment with colour, breath, and intention.

Watch Marian’s Painting of Peace | Video 1 Now Live!

We’re so excited to release the first episode of the Magnifying Peace Project on both of our YouTube channels.
Watch now on:
Marian’s Channel @marianegantransformationalhealth
Michelle’s Channel

New videos will release every Wednesday for the next 16 weeks, offering you small, PEACEful actions to inspire your body, mind, and spirit. Whether it’s movement, intention, breathwork, tea, or art — there’s a pathway for everyone to discover peace from within and ripple it out into the world.

Take Action With Us

Want to participate in the Magnifying Peace Project? Here’s how:

Watch the weekly videos
Create your own PEACEful moments using the inspiration shared
Comment, Like & Share to magnify our impact
Reflect on how your daily choices create a more peaceful life — and world
Use the hashtag #MagnifyingPeace and tag us to show your creative actions!

Peace isn’t passive. It’s a practice.
And it begins… with you.

Let colour be your guide. Let your hands move freely. Let your heart speak in strokes and softness. And above all — let peace be something you choose today.

Looking for a peaceful tea? Begin with Mission4Change CommuniTEA. You can learn more here. Order from the shop and have it delivered right to your door.

Wanting to find peaceful movement? Join our special Movement and Music Class, and get started with your daily practice.

Did you miss the podcast about the Magnifying Peace Project this week? Check it out…

With peace and creativity,
Dr. Michelle Greenwell
Greenwell Center for Holistic Health
www.greenwellcenter.com

The post 🎨 Painting Peace: How Art, Colour & Intention Calm the Mind and Transform the Moment first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

Trauma is not just an emotional experience—it leaves an imprint on the nervous system, affecting the body in profound ways. Whether it manifests as chronic pain, digestive issues, fatigue, or emotional distress, unresolved trauma often lingers until it is given a safe way to release. Understanding how trauma is stored in the body and how movement can facilitate healing is essential for reclaiming balance and well-being.

Understanding Trauma and the Body’s Response

Trauma is more than a memory—it lives within the body. When faced with overwhelming stress or a traumatic event, the nervous system shifts into survival mode, often leading to chronic tension patterns, shallow breathing, or even dissociation from bodily sensations. Many people experience suppressed emotions that show up as physical symptoms, such as tightness in the chest, digestive discomfort, or headaches.

Michaela Jones, ND, works with clients who struggle with chronic conditions linked to unresolved trauma. She highlights how trauma isn’t just psychological—it gets embedded in the body’s tissues and nervous system, influencing posture, movement, and overall health. Without proper release, the body remains in a heightened state of stress, making relaxation and healing difficult.

Movement as a Pathway to Emotional Release

Traditional talk therapy is valuable, but it often doesn’t address the physical aspects of trauma. Dr. Michelle Greenwell, CIH, emphasizes that movement-based therapies like Tai Chi, Qigong, and somatic exercises provide a powerful way to unlock trauma stored in the body. These gentle, flowing movements create a sense of safety, helping to regulate the nervous system and restore balance.

Michaela explains how areas like the hips, shoulders, and jaw commonly store tension, reflecting emotional burdens that have not yet been processed. Simple somatic exercises, such as mindful stretching or slow, intentional movement, can release this tension and allow emotions to surface in a manageable way.

Michelle shares real-life examples of people who have experienced breakthroughs after consistent movement practice. Whether it’s improved posture, deeper breathing, or the release of long-held tension, these transformations highlight the body’s innate ability to heal when given the right tools.

The Science Behind Somatic Healing

The connection between movement and healing is rooted in science.

• The vagus nerve, responsible for regulating the body’s stress response, is directly influenced by movement. Engaging in slow, rhythmic motions helps shift the nervous system from a state of fight-or-flight to rest-and-digest, promoting a sense of calm and safety.
• Research has shown that trauma-informed movement practices, such as yoga and Tai Chi, reduce cortisol levels and increase emotional resilience.
• Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire itself, means that regular movement practices can create new, healthier stress-response patterns over time.

Michelle highlights the role of fascia, the body’s connective tissue, in trauma storage. Fascia holds onto physical and emotional stress, and spontaneous movements like shaking or trembling during healing work are natural signs of release.

Choosing the Right Practice for You

Not all movement therapies are the same, and it’s important to find a practice that feels comfortable and safe.

Michaela explains the differences between trauma-informed yoga, somatic exercises, dance therapy, and energy-based practices, offering guidance on choosing the best approach based on personal history and needs. Some clients may initially struggle with movement due to fear or resistance, but finding the right method can be transformative.

Michelle addresses common concerns, such as “I’m not flexible enough” or “I don’t want to relive my trauma.” Tai Chi, for example, is a gentle, non-invasive practice that allows individuals to reconnect with their bodies without forcing movement or triggering past trauma.

Practical Steps to Integrate Movement for Healing

Healing through movement doesn’t require hours of practice—it starts with small, intentional steps.

Michaela suggests:

• Performing daily self-check-ins to notice areas of tension.
• Using micro-movements, such as rolling the shoulders or stretching the spine, to release built-up stress.
• Incorporating a 5-minute movement practice before bed to improve sleep and emotional well-being.

Michelle offers a simple Tai Chi movement for beginners, encouraging consistency over intensity. Small, regular movements are more effective than occasional, high-intensity workouts when it comes to trauma healing.

Final Thoughts

By understanding how trauma is stored in the body and using movement as a tool for release, individuals can reclaim their health and emotional balance. Whether through Tai Chi, somatic exercises, or mindful stretching, engaging in gentle movement allows the nervous system to reset, creating a pathway to deeper healing.

Join Michaela Jones, ND, and Dr. Michelle Greenwell, CIH, for a live discussion on this topic Friday at 3 PM Central | 5 PM Atlantic on YouTube. Learn how to harness movement for healing and take practical steps toward emotional and physical well-being.

#HealingThroughMovement #SomaticHealing #TaiChiForTrauma #MindBodyWellness #TraumaRecovery

Ready to learn more about movement based practices? Check out the Events and Dr Michelle’s schedule of classes.

Are you in West Kelowna, BC? You can join Wine Country Tai Chi Society classes there. Dr Michelle Greenwell will be hosting a special Wellness Retreat Mar 21 – 23. Check out the registration information.

Join Colin MacLeod and Dr Michelle Greenwell at the 50th Anniversary of the Touch for Health Conference in San Diego. A special post conference workshop on movement to heal the body with music will be offered with a two day certificate.

Do you live in North Carolina? Have you been to a Marathon Jam event? Consider this special retreat happening April 12th. Stay tuned for more information.

The post Releasing Trauma Through Movement first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.

Join me on Be Well with Dr. Michelle Greenwell as I chat with the incredible Cheryl Brewster of theintuitivelife.com! Cheryl is a transition specialist, transformational speaker, and spiritual mentor who helps people navigate life’s toughest chapters. She’s the calm in the storm, guiding us through fear and into a world of new possibilities.

Episode Highlights:

Why fear and the freeze response can hold us back, especially during the New Year.
How to shift from reacting to realizing your full potential.
Tips to embrace change, make plans, and feel excited about what’s ahead.
Feeling stuck as New Year Resolutions loom? Overwhelmed by the pressure to perform? This episode is your permission slip to pause, reflect, and choose a new path forward.

Featured Tea: Take the Shore Road from Cape Breton Tea Company
This blend inspires you to slow down, savor the moment, and gain clarity on your horizon. Let it remind you to embrace the scenic route and rediscover the joy of moving toward your dreams with intention.

Tune in today and let’s step into a New Year filled with possibilities and ease.
Tag a friend who could use some inspiration for their 2025 journey!
#fear #podcast #2025goals #capebretontea #intuitiveliving 

You can find Cheryl Brewster at www.theintuitivelife.com
New programs at www.greenwellcenter.com
Specialty tea blends with intentions at www.capebretontea.ca

The post Fear of the Future first appeared on Greenwell Center for Holistic Health.