Trauma can change the way we experience our bodies, our Relationships, our Emotions, and the world around us. Yet trauma does not have to become the final definition of who we are.
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.
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 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.
In the podcast, I also introduce the Five Element Wheel as one way to notice how trauma may influence the whole person.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Originally Published on https://greenwellcenter.com/
