Body Mind Connect

Practical Workshop

From Survival to Safety

Rewiring your brain and body after trauma

What do you do when what has affected your health is in the past? Many people can recognise the impact of past trauma - whether difficult relationships, life threatening experiences, scary illness events or accidents on their present lives now. 

But how to disentangle the past from present? How to stop the emotional reactivity or the bodily tension and threat response?

This is what we’ll explore practically in this 90 minute workshop with Dr. Sula Windgassen, a qualified Health Psychologist, Psychotherapist, EMDR Therapist and founder of Body Mind Connect. The workshop will focus on how you can ‘rewire’ your body and brain by bridging psychology and biology to create safety within. 

Thursday 9th October 2025, 7:00pm BST 

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Can you relate to the following experiences?

  • Feeling unable to relax
  • Feeling pressure to appear ok as not to burden or bother others
  • Feeling if you don't act, your health and wellbeing will suffer
  • Needing to always do the 'right thing' for yourself and others
  • Overwhelmed by sense of responsibility to 'fix yourself'
  • Feeling dismissed or understood
If you've been following our content on trauma, adversity and the body, you already know that trauma doesn't just live in your memories - it shapes your biology creating automatic threat-focussed defaults. The above experiences are common throughout those who have experienced trauma.

Your brain stays on high alert, your body holds tension and physical symptoms like pain, fatigue and digestive issues can become your daily reality. 

But there is an immense amount of hope in knowing that your body can learn to feel safe again. 

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This workshop will focus on key research-backed processes and strategies that will help your brain distinguish past threats from present safety and provide important cues of safety to your nervous system. These processes are fundamental for allowing your body to rest, repair and heal. 

By joining us, you will discover practical techniques and practices that you can use day to day, with the goal of updating the brain and body post-trauma. You will leave:

🧠 Understanding and beginning the process of updating beliefs that no longer serve your healing

🧠 Knowing how you can create moments of genuine calm in a body that's forgotten how to rest

🧠 Learning how to expand your world again without triggering your system

The missing piece of the puzzle? 

Your chronic symptoms are definitely not “in your head” - they’re real, often painful and frustrating experiences. Whether that is persistent pain that consumes your life, fatigue that leaves you defeated, digestive issues that control your life or even unexplained symptoms with no clear diagnosis. These physical experiences are often your body’s way of staying alert to threats that are no longer there (or not there in the same way they once were), and when we update the brain’s threat detection system, remarkable changes in your physical and mental health become possible. 

This isn't just a theory. This is the real work of trauma recovery that Dr. Sula practices in her clinic based on extensive research. These are practices that are designed to help your system move from survival to safety, whilst managing ongoing symptoms.

Is this workshop for me?

This workshop is for you if...
You feel traumatised by the lived experience of chronic illness
You're dealing with unexplained physical symptoms that seem connected to stress
You have done the learning, you understand the science but need the practical tools to implement real change
You're tired of feeling like your body and mind are working against you
You want evidence-based practical approaches, not just 'self-help' advice. You're ready to do the deeper work of helping your nervous system recalibrate
You've experienced trauma or extreme stress and are ready to move beyond survival mode 

What we aim to achieve in the workshop

We consider where you are at now, and where we are aiming to move people to through these practical exercises. 

From: Automatic bodily hypervigilance

To: Being able to feel stillness and softness in the body 

From: Urgency to act and do


To: Being able to find a slower pace while still feeling a sense of momentum forwards 

From: Feeling judged or hostility in the world around you

To: Feeling validity in your own experience and trusting yourself

From: Regular emotional overwhelm that feels out of control

To: Learning to be able to feel calm around emotions, regulating and processing them

From: Feeling stuck 


     To: Feeling that you have a sense of choice in the path forward

From: Being unsure where to begin


To: Having some practical clarity, exercises and practices you can take with you beyond the workshop

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What will you learn from this workshop? 

You will participate in some experiential practices to help the body get out of threat mode and create safety, even with symptoms. You will: 

 Learn about how you can work with the body to find and generate a sense of calm through relating to it differently through a guided experiential practice with supplementary worksheets 
 Participate in an exercise to help identify what threat-beliefs have been developed from experiences of trauma and/or extreme stress in the past, with guidance on how you can update those beliefs long-term
 Be guided through an exercise which helps the brain to make the distinction between past threat and present safety, using imagery and a trauma-focussed CBT exercise used in treating PTSD
 Learn how to recognise trauma-developed avoidance and how to gradually increase your zone of safety so you can do more things without fear 
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What previous attendees have said about workshops: 

"There is a fantastic amount of information available" | "The fact it's all evidence based is so important to me" | "Great explanation about the interconnection of brain and body" |

Really helpful - I can’t believe how much you’ve taught me this evening and how much I’ve learnt!"

Attendee
The sessions help me to better understand how concepts apply to me and my illness/experience, and how I can use this knowledge to inform my recovery."
Member
It's [Body Mind Connect] incredible - I recommend to anyone considering it! It's honestly changing my life."

member

About Dr. Sula Windgassen

Dr. Sula Windgassen is a leading Health Psychologist, CBT and EMDR therapist, and Mindfulness teacher. Dr. Sula has completed two doctoral degrees - a research PhD in Psychological Medicine at Kings College London, and a practitioner psychologist Doctoral Qualification with the British Psychological Society as a Health Psychologist. 

Dr. Sula is also the Director of the Mind Body Blossom Clinical Health Psychology Practice which offers trauma-informed support for people experiencing persistent physical symptoms and chronic illness.

Dr. Sula Windgassen has dedicated her entire career to exploring the powerful intersection between physical and mental health. Her groundbreaking research on gut-directed psychotherapy for IBS symptoms has been featured in major media outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Telegraph. 

Her passion for the mind-body connection was ignited by her own two-year journey recovering from "mystery" bladder issues. She founded Body Mind Connect to bring her evidence-based approaches to those struggling with chronic conditions.
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The workshop details 

This webinar will be split into three sections, the first two are over 60-mins covering education and practical applications relating to trauma and childhood, followed by an open Q&A session at the end. 

Date and time

This workshop will be hosted on Thursday 9th October 2025 at 7:00pm. It will last for 90 minutes. 

Cost

The investment for this workshop is £14.99 or free for our members.

Format 

The live workshop will be hosted on Zoom, with a limited number of spots available to keep this event intimate.
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