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Writer's picturePenny Green

Shake It Off: How to Stop Emotional Imprints from Taking Root





Firstly


The words 'Trauma' and 'core beliefs' aren’t really my thing.


Those words have been tossed around so much they feel like they’ve landed in the “law of attraction” sales funnel...where everyone seems to have that one thing you’re missing and promises to show you why your life isn’t working. There are other words that tend to grate a little, abundance ... I love the feel of the word wealth.... manifest, don't like .... love create.


But for the sake of clarity, I’ll roll with them here. The truth is, it’s not about getting hooked on the terminology.


What's important is recognising the patterns shaping your energy and figuring out how to release what’s stuck so you can move forward. Simple as that.


The Way I See Trauma

The way I view trauma may differ from the mainstream, but my perspective comes from thousands of clients who have found relief through the work I do.

Trauma is not about the size or severity of the event itself—it’s about how it leaves us feeling:

  1. Powerless to respond in the way we need to

  2. Out of control of the situation


It’s not about whether the event was objectively “bad,” but about the experience of being unable to shape the outcome or protect ourselves. Trauma happens when something disrupts us, and we can’t process it in real time.






Everyday Trauma – More Common Than We Think

Trauma isn’t always about major, life-changing events. It can show up in everyday life in subtle, unexpected ways.

  • Feeling dismissed: A child excitedly shares their artwork with a parent who is busy and barely glances at it. The child feels unseen, and that emotional imprint lingers. (children tend to take on the energy more simply as they dont have the life tools to respond or a voice to take a stand)

  • Not being able to defend yourself: An argument at work where you felt cornered and couldn’t say what you wanted, leaving you frustrated and powerless.

  • Being ghosted: In relationships, you may think it’s your fault when someone disappears, leading to a belief that you're not worth staying for.

These moments accumulate. What makes them traumatic is not always the moment itself, it’s that we feel trapped and powerless, unable to act as we needed to.


Why Animals Don’t Hold Trauma

Animals in the wild deal with life-or-death situations all the time, but they don’t carry trauma the way humans do. Why? Because they instinctively release it. After a chase or attack, they shake......literally releasing the energy of the experience from their bodies.





That energy doesn’t stay trapped under their skin, influencing their behaviour or well-being. It’s gone.





Many African cultures have dances that reflect this same principle.....shaking, stomping and moving the body to release the day’s tension. It’s something we, too, used to do naturally. Our bodies know how to complete the energy cycle, but over time, we’ve lost this ally. Instead, we’ve been told to “get over it” or “move on.” In ignoring the body's need to discharge that tension, we leave the energy stuck.



There are various theories about where the energy of trauma sits within the body and energy field.


Some suggest it lodges in the matrix of the body’s energy field, others believe it’s stored in the cells at a molecular level, and some focus on it being embedded in specific body systems or organs.


To be honest, it doesn’t really matter where it settles, because the body’s energy is so interconnected and fluid.


Whether it’s in your cells, tissues, or energy field, the important thing is that it enters and influences the system. All we need to focus on is releasing it, since moving it out restores flow across the entire field.


Completing the Loop: How Healing Actually Works


In knowing all of this, I’ve developed processes over the years that allow me to revisit people, places, and events that changed how I saw myself. The goal is to complete the loop and finishing what the mind and body couldn’t in the moment. This isn’t about reliving old pain; it’s about releasing the energy that got stuck.


By completing the loop, you signal to your body that it no longer needs to hold onto the energy of the event. The body often stores these energies because it believes they serve a protective function, keeping you prepared to face similar situations.


This is why encountering triggers, like being criticised, feeling abandoned, or being perceived as failing, can throw you straight into a fight, flight, or freeze response. You might feel your heart race when facing confrontation, freeze in situations where you fear rejection, or feel the urge to flee from conversations about your mistakes.


These patterns are your body’s way of saying, “I need to protect you,” even though the threat is long gone.


Completing the loop gently shows the body that it’s safe to let go, that you no longer need that energy as armour. When the energy releases, you regain your natural flow, freeing yourself from the emotional drag of unresolved experiences.



The Science If You Like that side of things.

Yes I did go looking to see if anyone agreed with my theory :)


A well-documented example involves the work of Dr. Jonathan Shay, a psychiatrist who studied Vietnam veterans. Shay identified that injured soldiers who were physically restrained or heavily sedated during evacuation often struggled more with PTSD symptoms compared to those who were able to process the trauma in real time. This concept, termed "moral injury," highlights how disrupting the body’s natural coping mechanism, whether by sedation or isolation, prevents the brain from integrating the traumatic experience. As a result, unresolved trauma lingers, causing more profound psychological impacts later on



Wounds in the Energy Field


These experiences, which most call trauma, are, at their essence, wounds in the energy field. When I work with clients, I don’t see rigid “core beliefs”.

Instead, I see these wounds as tangled imprints in their energy, which need to be acknowledged and resolved to restore the natural flow.


We need a better word for what these imprints are.


The Lingering Impact of Birth Trauma: How Early Imprints Shape Childhood Behaviour





I often see birth trauma leaving an energetic imprint on babies that follows them as they grow. The trauma experienced during birth, whether from physical complications, medical interventions, or emotional distress, can become a deep-seated influence, shaping behaviors in childhood.


Depending on the nature of the trauma, these behaviors might range from minor sensitivities to more disruptive patterns. What makes this particularly challenging is that the effects don’t seem to dissipate naturally over time.


Instead, the energy of the trauma remains stored, often contributing to emotional, behavioural, or developmental difficulties as the child grows.


Addressing these early imprints through gentle interventions can help release the stored energy, restoring balance and ease in the child's life.



Trauma is Tricky – It’s Not What You Expect


Trauma rarely shows up in the way we expect. You might think you’re struggling with a lack of self-worth, but it’s not always that straightforward. Let’s say you’ve been trying to attract healthy love into your life, but somehow the relationships you find feel heavy or toxic. It’s easy to assume the problem is self-worth, but in truth, it could be an unresolved emotional knot hidden beneath stronger emotions like anger or frustration. Trauma has a way of cloaking itself in emotions that keep us from recognising its true source.


This is why intuitive counselling is so effective..... it gets to the root of the problem faster than other methods. There are many excellent trauma protocols out there, but they can feel frustrating if they’re working on the wrong issue. You might spend months trying to heal what you think is the problem, only to feel stuck when nothing changes.


This creates another layer of hopelessness, making healing feel even further out of reach.


Energetic Healing – Getting to the Core


Through years of working with trauma energetically, I’ve learned that healing is more than just addressing thoughts or emotions


it’s about moving energy. Trauma creates energetic blockages that must be released for healing to happen. Techniques like EFT (tapping), energy healing,  or breath work, work because they access the body’s stored energy and help complete the loop that was interrupted.


With the right tools, you can shift these imprints and release the energy that no longer serves you. And when that energy moves, life changes. You might find yourself attracting healthier relationships or feeling more abundant without even trying, simply because the old wounds no longer anchor you.


Healing isn’t about fixing yourself—it’s about letting go of what got stuck. And once you do that, the energy flows again, allowing life to unfold the way it was always meant to.



An Example of a Core Belief.


Imagine someone who really wants to make more money. They set goals, get motivated, and build momentum—they’ve got a head full of ideas and a plan to finally break through. But no matter what they do, things just don’t click. It’s like they keep running



into invisible walls. Every time they think they’re getting somewhere, an opportunity slips through their fingers, or something unexpected sets them back.


Here’s the thing: the problem isn’t in their ability or effort—it’s in the energy they’re carrying. Think of it like trying to drive a truck through a tunnel that’s just a little too low. The harder they push, the more the roof scrapes. They can feel the drag, but they can’t see what’s causing it.


That’s what an energy knot is, (my word for a core belief :) ). It’s an unresolved experience buried in the energy field that quietly interferes, no matter how hard you push forward. Maybe at some point in their life, they were told, “People like us don’t make a lot of money,” or they grew up in an environment where financial security was unpredictable and stressful.

Without realising it, those old patterns create a knot—an invisible tangle that blocks the flow of success and abundance.

The harder they try to push through it, the more resistance they feel, because part of their energy is still tied to that old belief. On some level, the energy says, “If you make more money, you’ll lose something—comfort, belonging, or even safety.” That’s the knot pulling them back, even as they try to move forward.


How Intuitive Counselling Unravels the Knot


The beauty of intuitive counselling is that it helps uncover these knots without the client having to consciously know what they are. Through subtle energy work and techniques like tapping (EFT), and energy removal through chakra work, we get underneath the surface to access where the knot first formed.

Once the energy is acknowledged and released, it’s like opening a gate that’s been stuck closed for years.

Suddenly, the person no longer feels that same invisible resistance. They can move forward without the roof scraping against the tunnel. The energy flows, and the opportunities that once seemed just out of reach start showing up naturally.


They haven’t changed who they are, they’ve simply let go of what was holding them back. And that’s the difference.


Healing these energy knots allows life to unfold with ease, aligning your actions with the outcomes you’ve been trying so hard to create.


Once the knot is gone, the person often realises it was never really about making money, it was about feeling safe, worthy, and capable. The money becomes a side effect of moving through the energy. When the knot is released, everything else just flows.



5 Ways to Help Eliminate Future Trauma


While we can’t always avoid difficult situations, there are powerful ways to prevent those experiences from embedding as long-term trauma.


The key lies in understanding how the body processes energy. When trauma strikes, it isn’t just about what happens.... rather about how we experience it and whether we complete the emotional loop. If the energy remains stuck, it can show up later as anxiety, fear, or emotional blocks.


Going Forward - How to Help Release Trauma Energy before it Settles


Old Trauma clearly needs more assistance to release but if you find yourself in any stressful, negative or traumatic experiences these might help..


The following five strategies will help you process those moments in real-time, giving your body permission to release the energy rather than hold onto it. These practices are simple but effective in ensuring you don’t carry unresolved experiences forward, helping you stay balanced even when life throws you off course.


1. Stay Present and Acknowledge the Experience

When trauma hits, staying present with what is happening—even if it's painful—this helps the brain and body process it. Ground yourself by focusing on your breath



2. Move the Body to Release Energy

As seen with animals in the wild, movement is a powerful way to discharge trauma



energy. If you experience something traumatic, try allowing your body the shaking, stretching, or walking, any form of movement to prevent the energy from getting trapped under the surface. Remember those tribal dances..



3. Express It

Write down your thoughts as soon as possible. Even a brief conversation on paper can help prevent the experience from becoming a silent wound.  From my experience I find expressing how I would have completed the loop and visualising it really helpful. Sometimes if you allow yourself the time and space to feel into it, the how of what you would have done or said can be quite surprising.


4. Breathe Deeply and Use Grounding Techniques


When trauma occurs, the nervous system goes into fight, flight, or freeze or fawn mode Deliberate breathing techniques like deep belly breathing or box breathing (inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4) help regulate the nervous system. This simple action can signal to the brain that the body is safe, reducing the chance of storing the trauma as a long-term memory.

My all time fav on this one is just putting my thumbs onto my temples and my hands flat across my forehead and rethink the experience completing the loop. Theres a long explanation on this one but it will help immensely. But keep them there for a few minutes, you will feel the calm settle in.

.

5. Give Yourself Permission to Feel and Shake It Off - Yes Im saying it Twice.


The cultural narrative to “get over it” can block natural emotional release. Allow yourself to cry, shake, or even laugh, it’s how your body knows to discharge the emotional charge. African dance traditions and shaking practices are excellent reminders of how humans are naturally designed to process stress through movement.

Honour your body’s need to respond in whatever way feels natural


The hard part is remembering in the chaos to use the tools, but the more you do it the more control you feel over yourself and it becomes habit.... just like all those bad ones lol







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