Beyond Therapy: Complementary Practices for Support and Integration
In the previous article, we explored healing as a deeply personal and layered process. A journey that asks for patience, presence, and a willingness to gently turn toward what lives within us. As we begin this journey, it is natural to look for complementary practices that can support us along the way.
There are many different alternative practices, tools, and modalities available. This diversity can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially when we do not know where to begin, what we need, or how these modalities work. This article is an invitation to get to know different approaches that may support your journey and to notice what potentially feels resonant for your system. Healing is not a one-size-fits-all process, and there is no single path that works for everyone.
At the same time, it is important to understand that these modalities are not a substitute for deep inner work or psychotherapy. They do not replace the process of meeting ourselves on a psychological and emotional level of gently uncovering and integrating the roots of our experiences. What they can offer, however, is meaningful support along the way.
How to navigate different modalities
With so many different approaches available, it can be helpful to remember that there is no single “right” way to begin. Healing is a deeply personal journey, and each modality offers a different entry point.
Some approaches invite us into the body, supporting us to reconnect with physical sensations and stored experiences. Others work more with the mind, through reflection, awareness, and understanding. Some focus on the nervous system, helping us to build more safety, regulation, and capacity. Others may work with more subtle, energetic layers of our experience.
Some modalities can be practiced individually at home, such as meditation, mindfulness, or yoga, while others require the guidance of an experienced practitioner to support you safely (e.g. acupuncture), or to help select and tailor what is most appropriate for you (e.g. homeopathy). This is an important aspect to consider, as the level of support needed can influence both safety and effectiveness.
You may find that at certain times, your system is more open to one approach than another. What feels supportive can also change over time, depending on where you are in your process.
Rather than trying to find the “best” or most effective modality, it can be more helpful to notice what feels accessible and safe enough for you right now. It is also important to remember that you do not need to explore everything. More is not necessarily better. Healing tends to unfold through depth, consistency, and integration, rather than through constantly adding new practices.
Learning to listen to yourself, your boundaries, and your capacity is part of the healing process itself. Over time, this builds a sense of trust in your own inner guidance, which can gently support you in finding what truly resonates.
In the following sections, you will find an overview of different alternative approaches and modalities each offering its own way of supporting our healing process. There are many other practices out there, and I am simply sharing some of those where I have had many years of personal experience with.
Body-based (somatic) practices
Body-based practices can support the healing process through direct contact with our body. These approaches invite us to reconnect with our physical sensations and our lived, embodied experience. Especially in the context of stress and trauma, our body connection can become limited or disrupted. Somatic practices can gently support us in reconnecting with our felt sense, helping us to build more awareness, regulation, and a greater sense of presence in the body.
Some examples of body-based practices are:
Breathwork:
What it is & how it works:
Breathwork involves consciously guiding the breath, which directly influences the autonomic nervous system and our internal states. There are many different forms of breathwork, ranging from gentle, regulating practices to more activating techniques, and their effects can vary significantly.Benefits & support for healing:
Breathwork may support reducing stress and anxiety (Fincham et al., 2023, Morgan et al. 2024) and may feel grounding and help us to build a deeper connection to our body. More activating techniques can bring up suppressed emotions, or potentially trigger a stress response or stored tension (Siebieszuk et al., 2025), which is why it is important to move slowly and stay within your capacity when exploring different techniques.
Yoga and Intuitive Movement:
What it is & how it works:
These practices involve mindful and/or spontaneous movement, allowing the body to be felt and expressed beyond words. Intentional movement and yoga can create a bridge between our internal experience and physical expression.Benefits & support for healing:
Trauma-sensitive or trauma-informed yoga (TSY/TIY) is linked to an improved body-mind connection, reduced stress (English et al., 2022), and enhanced self-regulation. These practices can support us to release tension and increase our body awareness. In a trauma-informed context, moving in a way that feels self-directed and choice-based can help restore a sense of agency and safety.
Massage:
What it is & how it works:
Massage is a form of therapeutic touch that works with muscles and soft tissue to release physical tension and support relaxation. It can be received through a trained massage therapist, or practiced as self-massage, which can be easily done at home, for example by gently massaging the face or neck.Benefits & support for healing:
Massage can help our body to soften and let go of stored stress. When experienced as safe and attuned, touch can also support our nervous system in settling and gently deepen our sense of grounding and connection.
Reflexology:
What it is & how it works:
Reflexology involves applying pressure to specific points on the feet, hands, or ears, which correspond to different areas of the body.Benefits & support for healing:
Research shows that reflexology can bring a short‑term relief of symptoms like pain, anxiety, fatigue, and sleep problems and can support relaxation and the body’s natural regulation processes (Vindis et al., 2024). The gentle, rhythmic nature of the practice can help create a sense of calm and support connection to our body in a subtle way.
Nervous system & sensory regulation practices
These practices focus on supporting the nervous system directly, helping the body move between states of activation and rest. They focus on sensory input, rhythm, and gentle stimulation.
In the context of trauma, the nervous system often becomes sensitive or dysregulated. Practices that support regulation can help us to create a greater sense of safety in our body, which is an important foundation for deeper healing work and integration.
Sound (Sound Bowls, Humming):
What it is & how it works:
These practices use sound and vibration to influence the nervous system. This can be external, such as sound meditations with singing bowls, or internal, such as humming or toning with your own voice.Benefits & support for healing:
Studies show that singing bowl meditations can reduce tension, anxiety and depression. They also found physiological responses such as lower heart rate, blood pressure, and stress, as well as increased heart rate variability (HRV), indicating a shift toward parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) activity (Goldsby et al., 2016; Lin et al.,2025). This shows that sound and vibration can have a calming effect on our nervous system and support a sense of grounding. Similar outcomes where also found for gentle humming practices (Trivedi et al., 2023), and can stimulate the vagus nerve, supporting regulation and a deeper sense of internal safety. This can help the body shift out of states of stress or activation and into a more regulated state, which is essential for trauma healing. As regulation increases, it may become easier to stay present with internal experiences and to integrate what arises in therapeutic work.
Sauna:
What it is & how it works:
Sauna and heat exposure involve warming the body, which influences circulation, muscle relaxation, and the nervous system.Benefits & support for healing:
Heat can help the body soften and release tension, while also promoting relaxation. For some people, it can create a sense of containment and calm, supporting the nervous system in shifting toward a more regulated state.
Plant & natural remedies
Plant and natural-based approaches have been used across cultures for thousands of years to support well-being. They can offer gentle support for our body and nervous system, often working in more subtle ways. In the context of healing, plant remedies can help us to create a sense of balance, grounding, or openness. At the same time, their effects can vary from person to person, and it is important to approach them with awareness and care.
Please be aware that sensitivity of plant medicines can vary, and it is important to approach its use mindfully and carefully, especially when working with deeper emotional material.
Homeopathy:
What it is & how it works:
Homeopathy uses very small, highly diluted amounts of natural substances, often made from plants or minerals. These remedies are intended to gently support the body’s natural ability to regulate and restore balance.Benefits & support for healing:
Homeopathy is widely used for chronic complaints and as a complementary therapy to stimulate the body's self-healing processes, and can help with reduction of symptoms in chronic diseases, acute symptoms or medication side effects (Witt et al., 2005).
Bach Flower Remedies:
What it is & how it works:
Bach flower remedies are liquid extracts made from flowers, designed to support emotional balance. They are typically taken in small drops and are intended to gently influence emotional states.Benefits & support for healing:
They can offer subtle emotional support and may help us to create a sense of more stability or ease during challenging periods (Gosai & Joshi, 2025). In a healing context, this gentle support may help soften emotional intensity and create a more resourced internal state, which can support us in staying present with difficult feelings without becoming overwhelmed.
Essential Oils:
What it is & how it works:
Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts used mainly via inhalation or skin application (aromatherapy). They engage our sensory system responsible for the sense of smell (olfaction), which is closely connected to the brain areas involved in emotion and memory.Benefits & support for healing:
Certain scents may support relaxation, grounding, or clarity. Across different studies, essential oils are associated with reduced anxiety and stress, better sleep, some pain relief, and modest improvements in well‑being and certain physical symptoms (Caballero-Gallardo et al., 2025). The sensory experience can also help us to anchor our awareness in the present moment and create a gentle sense of comfort or regulation. This can be especially supportive in moments of activation or overwhelm, where returning to the senses helps the nervous system settle and reorient.
Ceremonial Cacao:
What it is & how it works:
Ceremonial cacao is a minimally processed form of cacao. It naturally contains compounds such as theobromine, which can have a mild stimulating effect on the body, particularly on the heart and circulation. In its pure form, ceremonial cacao is often quite bitter in taste and is typically prepared as a warm drink and consumed with intention in a ceremonial or mindful setting.Benefits & support for healing:
Ceremonial cacao can support a sense of openness, connection, and emotional awareness. For some people, it can gently enhance the connection to the body, heart and inner experience. In the context of trauma healing, this increased sense of connection may support accessing emotions in a more resourced and present way, helping us to stay engaged with our inner experiences without becoming overwhelmed. It may also support integration by deepening our felt sense of what emerges in therapy. At the same time, ceremonial cacao can influence heart rate and circulation, which is why caution is recommended for people with certain heart conditions, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, or sensitivities to stimulants.
Blue Lotus:
What it is & how it works:
Blue lotus is a plant traditionally used in ancient cultures for its calming and mildly psychoactive properties. It contains natural compounds such as aporphine and nuciferine, which can have subtle effects on our nervous system, mood, and perception. It is often consumed as a tea or extract and tends to have a gently relaxing effect.Benefits & support for healing:
It may support relaxation, stress reduction, and a softening of mental activity. For some, it can create a mildly euphoric or dream-like state, which may allow for deeper introspection, emotional access, or connection to our inner parts. In a therapeutic or reflective context, this can gently support turning inward and exploring internal experiences. Please note that blue lotus should not be consumed when pregnant.
Adaptogenic Plants:
What it is & how it works:
Adaptogens are plants and fungi, such as Reishi, Ashwagandha, Ginseng or Lion’s Mane that are traditionally used to support the body’s ability to respond to stress and maintain internal balance. The term “adaptogenic” refers to their potential to help the body adapt to changing conditions, rather than pushing it in one fixed direction. Some adaptogens have more upregulating properties, gently supporting energy and activation, while others have more downregulating qualities, supporting rest, calm, and recovery. Rather than overstimulating or suppressing the system, they tend to work in a more balancing way over time.Benefits & support for healing:
Studies report that adaptogens can lower cortisol and perceived stress levels (Ajala, 2022; Tóth-Mészáros et al., 2023). By helping to stabilize the nervous system, they can support both states of activation and rest, depending on what the body needs. This can be especially supportive in the context of stress or trauma, where our system may move between overwhelm, panic & anxiety (hyperarousal) and depletion, collapse or fatigue (hypoarousal). Over time, this gentle regulation can help create a more stable internal foundation, which may support the capacity for deeper therapeutic work, integration, and recovery.
Energy-based modalities
Energy-based modalities work with our energetic body and engage the energetic, emotional, and informational layers of our system. In the context of trauma healing, these approaches are often used as complementary support. They do not replace psychological or somatic therapeutic work, but they can help to create conditions where regulation, integration, and deeper processing becomes more accessible.
As with all practices, your own experience is the most important guide. What feels supportive, neutral, or not right can vary greatly from person to person.
Acupuncture:
What it is & how it works:
Acupuncture is a practice rooted in traditional Chinese medicine that involves the insertion of very fine needles into specific points on the body. These points are related to pathways of energy and physiological regulation within our system.Benefits & support for healing:
Acupuncture can support managing symptoms like acute and chronic pain, inflammation, and stress (Niruthisard et al., 2024) as well as support improvements in depression, anxiety and fatigue (Lu et al., 2024). From a trauma-informed perspective, acupuncture can help to shift our system out of chronic states of activation or tension and into a more regulated state, which can support both emotional and physical healing processes.
Bioresonance Therapy:
What it is & how it works:
Bioresonance therapy is an alternative/complementary approach that uses low‑intensity electromagnetic waves as specific frequency rhythms related to our body and cells to assess and influence our health. The body is viewed as a network of cells and organs, each with specific electromagnetic frequencies, where disease is linked to disturbed natural oscillations.Benefits & support for healing:
Bioresonance therapy targets our organs, microbiome, and psycho‑emotional states and aims to restoring “bioelectric balance’’. Studies show that it can improve pain reduction, sleep quality, immune responses and ease allergies (Titarenko, 2024; Fyk et al., 2025) by supporting our self‑healing capacities.
Biophoton Therapy:
What it is & how it works:
Biophoton therapy is a light-based approach that aims to regulate the body’s own ultra-weak photon emissions and cellular energetics. It is based on the concept that cells emit ultra-weak light signals (biophotons), which are thought to play a role in cellular communication, regulation and cellular repair. The therapy aims to influence these processes through targeted light-based stimulation.Benefits & support for healing:
A study reports reduced chronic pain in neurological and inflammatory diseases (Liu, 2025). Biophoton therapy can support our cellular-level regulation and overall vitality by improving mitochondrial bioenergetics and ATP production, reducing oxidative stress and supporting neuroplasticity and neural repair. From a holistic and trauma-informed perspective, supporting the body on a cellular and energetic level may help create a more stable internal environment, which can support regulation, recovery, and integration.
Reflection & inner connection practices
Self-reflection and inner connection practices invite us to turn inward and build a more conscious relationship with our thoughts, emotions, and internal experiences. Rather than working through external input, these approaches support awareness, presence, and self-observation.
In the context of trauma healing, developing this inner relationship can be an important and supportive part of the process. It allows us to begin noticing and reflecting on patterns, responses, and internal dynamics with more clarity and less reactivity. Over time, this can support a greater sense of orientation, choice, and connection to ourselves.
Journaling:
What it is & how it works:
Journaling involves writing down thoughts, feelings, or experiences, either in a structured way (e.g. through specific prompts) or freely as they arise. It helps us to create space to externalize inner processes and bring them into awareness.Benefits & support for healing:
Writing can help clarify thoughts, process emotions, reduce mental distress and improve wellbeing (Smyth et al., 2018), and make unconscious patterns more visible. In the context of trauma healing, journaling may support integration by allowing experiences from therapy or daily life to be reflected, thereby helping us to create a sense of coherence and understanding (Blake, 2017).
Meditation & Mindfulness:
What it is & how it works:
Meditation and mindfulness are practices of bringing our attention to the present moment, often through our breath, body, or awareness itself. While meditation is usually practiced in a more intentional, dedicated way, mindfulness can also be integrated into everyday activities, such as walking, eating, or simply noticing our breath or somatic sensations in the body.Benefits & support for healing:
These practices, especially Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) can improve our emotional regulation, reduce anxiety and stress responses (Calderone et al., 2024), and also help us build a deeper awareness of our internal states. Over time, they can help create space between what we experience and how we respond to this experience, which can be especially supportive in trauma healing. This can make it easier to stay present with sensations and emotions without immediately becoming overwhelmed, while also supporting our nervous system in returning to the present moment. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that meditation and mindfulness practices can also activate somatic responses such as dissociation, numbness, or discomfort, especially when it unconsciously feels unsafe to connect with the body, sensations, or emotions. There are many different forms of meditation, and it is important not to force anything, but instead to listen to your body, your boundaries, and what feels safe and supportive for your system.
Choosing what feels right for you
As you explore different practices and modalities, it is important to remember that what feels supportive for one person may feel activating or overwhelming for another. This is especially true when we are working with trauma and our nervous system, where each system responds in its own unique way.
Remember that healing is not a linear process, but often happens in cycles, with phases of opening, insight, and movement, followed by periods of integration, rest, and stabilization. There are also phases where new layers, emotions, symptoms, or energies emerge, which may at times feel confusing, intense, or even as if you are moving backwards. All of these phases are equally important, even if the quieter periods can sometimes feel less visible.
You may also find that different stages of your journey call for different kinds of support. What feels aligned and helpful at one point may shift over time, as your capacity, needs, and inner relationship evolve.
This article is meant as an invitation and a source of inspiration, sharing practices and tools that have been, and still are, very meaningful on my own personal journey. Many of these approaches can offer gentle and supportive ways to accompany trauma therapy, especially when we are working with our inner parts and fragmented experiences. The modalities can support processes of integration, self-regulation, and a deeper connection to ourselves.
Healing is a deeply personal process, and you are invited to choose what resonates with you, what feels safe enough, and what supports you in staying connected to yourself. Moving slowly, listening inward, and respecting your own boundaries is an essential part of our healing journey itself. 🌱
✏️ Questions for Reflection:
Which of the practices mentioned in this article feel interesting, resonant, or supportive?
Do I feel drawn to something gentle and regulating, or something more activating?
What do I need and for what kind of support do I realistically have capacity at the moment?
If this article resonated with you, you are warmly invited to share your reflections in the comments below. And if you feel called to receive support on your personal journey, you are very welcome to reach out. I offer both IoPT trauma therapy and somatic therapy, where we can explore what lies beneath your patterns and symptoms, and support greater clarity, regulation, and integration of traumatic, hurtful or challenging experiences.
All sessions are available online and in person in Oslo.
Thank you for being here.
Julia
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