How We Heal - Trauma Recovery & Wellbeing CIC

10/04/2026

26/03/2026

Some days, the weight of the world feels close. You can sense it in the body before the mind has words for it; a heaviness, a holding, a quiet ache that doesn’t quite belong to just you.

In those moments, there can be a pull to do more, fix more, push through. But what if the invitation is something else?

To pause.
To lie down.
To soften the edges of all that you’re carrying. Because beneath the noise, beneath the urgency, there is something quieter.

A whisper from the heart.
A longing from the soul.
Not demanding. Not forceful.
Just patiently waiting to be heard.

It’s here, in the softening, that a different kind of listening becomes possible. Not the kind that searches for answers. But the kind that allows you to be in relationship with life as it is, moment by moment, breath by breath.

And from this place, something shifts.
We don’t withdraw from the world, instead
we meet it differently.

More resourced.
More connected.
More able to respond, rather than react.

So if today feels heavy, let rest be enough.
Let listening be enough.
Let this be where you begin.

23/03/2026

Therapeutic Yoga to support women with substance use recovery begins:

Thursday 26 March in Loughborough 10am-11.30am.

This funded programme for women begins at with funding support gratefully provided by Leicestershire Public Health.

This 8 week small-group programme brings together gentle somatic movement, compassionate practice, and nervous system support through a variety of trauma-informed therapeutic yoga and wellness practices.

The practices support a greater connection to the self, improved self-esteem, reduced symptoms of anxiety, low mood, PTSD and C-PTSD and overall feelings of wellness.

There are spaces available to join us for this programme:
8 week programme
Thursdays 10am -11.30am
Beginning Thursday 26 March 2026

This is available FREE of charge to women living in Leicestershire recovering from substance misuse.

As this is a small group programme spaces are limited. To register please email Donna:

hello@howwehealcic.org.uk

18/03/2026

Next week on Thursday 26 March at 10am we begin delivering Solace for Support with Substance Use Recovery at Loughborough Wellbeing Centre. If you are a woman living in Leicestershire, this is a small group 8 week trauma-informed therapeutic yoga and somatic movement programme offered free of charge.

Please register your interest by emailing

hello@howwehealcic.org.uk

Starting on Thursday 26th March we're running a therapeutic yoga course with Donna at How We Heal - Trauma Recovery & Wellbeing CIC This fabulous 8 week course will be running every Thursday from 10am-12pm and is a FREE programme for women living in Leicestershire recovering from substance misuse.
Find out more or request your place by emailing Donna on hello@howwehealcic.org.uk
Spotted: Loughborough Love Loughborough

08/03/2026

Today we honour the courage of women everywhere.

The women who speak when silence once felt safer.

The women who begin again, even when the ground beneath them still feels uncertain.

The women who are learning that their bodies deserve care, rest, safety and compassion.

Across our communities, courageous women are stepping forward.

Not only to challenge injustice and violence, but to heal. Healing is brave work. To turn toward your own nervous system with kindness. To soften armour that once kept you safe. To rebuild trust in your body, your voice, your boundaries.

And the truth is - the world needs this right now.

In a time that can feel heavy, divided, and uncertain, the quiet power of women returning to themselves matters deeply.

When women heal, something profound begins to ripple outward.

Into families.
Into friendships.
Into communities.

The world needs the wisdom, care, courage and fierce compassion that women carry.
It needs the steady ripples of feminine energy - the kind that nurtures life, speaks truth, protects the vulnerable, and creates spaces where healing becomes possible.

At How We Heal, we witness this courage every day.

Women showing up for themselves.
Women supporting other women.
Women reclaiming space in their own bodies and lives.

This is not small work. This is how change begins.

To every woman doing this work - in ways visible or quiet - we see you, we honour you, and we are walking alongside you. Thank you for being all that you are 💜🤍

Happy International Women’s Day.

26/02/2026

This week we started Solace for Survivors with a new group of women. This programme will run over 10 weeks. After week 1, one woman shared,

"I felt heard and lifted, and I learned how to breathe again. It was gentle and everyone's capabilities were welcome. I left feeling light and with techniques and resources to take home."

In Solace, we don’t force breakthroughs. We begin with safety.

With orienting.
With breath.
With choice.

Sometimes healing doesn’t look dramatic.
Sometimes it looks like remembering how to breathe.

And that is enough.

If you’re a woman living with the impact of domestic abuse and longing for a body-led, trauma-informed space to begin gently reconnecting with yourself, you are welcome here.

💜Women-only
💜Trauma-informed
💜 Small group
💜 Always invitational

DM for upcoming programme details or to join the waiting list.

24/02/2026

There are some experiences you don’t just “talk through.” They live in the body.
In the tight jaw. The shallow breath. The bracing. The numbness. The exhaustion of always being on alert.

We have funded spaces available on our Solace trauma-informed yoga, somatics and wellness programme. This is a women-only healing programme offering a gentle, body-led approach to trauma recovery.
This isn’t about pushing. It isn’t about performing wellness. There is no right or wrong. It isn’t about being flexible.
It’s about learning how to feel safe inside yourself again.

Through trauma-informed yoga and somatic coaching, we work slowly and respectfully with the nervous system - supporting you to:

✨ Reconnect with your body at your own pace
✨ Reduce overwhelm and chronic stress patterns
✨ Build resilience and grounded coping skills
✨ Received nervous system support
✨ Restore choice, agency and self-trust
✨ Experience connection without pressure

Every practice is invitational.
You are always in choice.
Your body sets the pace.

If you have experienced abuse, relational trauma, or complex stress - and you’re curious about healing that includes your body, not just your thoughts - this space may be for you.
You don’t need to be “ready.”
You don’t need to have the right words.
You just need a willingness to begin gently.

🕊️ Limited spaces available on Mondays at 12.30pm

📩 DM for details or to join the waiting list for future programmes.

16/02/2026

Trauma isn’t just something that happened in the past. It lives in the body.

Bessel van der Kolk offers that trauma can feel like “the unbearable heaviness of remembering.” And often, it’s not conscious remembering, it’s the body holding what once felt too much.

Muscle tension.
Digestive issues.
Chronic fatigue.
Autoimmune conditions.
Sleep disruption.
Eating struggles.

For many survivors, these aren’t random symptoms. They are nervous system responses shaped by past overwhelm.

When we’ve experienced trauma, the brain becomes wired for protection. The amygdala (our threat detector) stays on high alert, scanning for danger. Everyday stimuli — a sound, a smell, a texture — can activate a survival response before we’ve had time to think.

And when that happens, we react rather than respond. We brace rather than soften. We survive rather than thrive. Healing isn’t about “thinking differently” alone. Safety also has to be felt.

That’s why body-based, sensory practices matter so deeply in trauma recovery.

Breath.
Gentle movement.
Grounding.
Rhythm.
Nourishment.
Safe connection.

These aren't luxuries, but pathways back to safety.

At How We Heal CIC, we believe healing happens through the body in a slow, gentle way, and with choice.

Your nervous system learned to survive. And it can learn safety too.

We begin our first fully funded Solace for Survivors programme later this month - a 12-week small group trauma-informed yoga, somatic movement, somatic coaching & wellness programme. With huge gratitude to Nottingham Women's Centre for partnering with us to host this programme.

This particular programme is fully booked, but if you'd like to attend the next one, please send us a message here, or via our website, to register your interest.

05/02/2026

Imbolc arrives quietly. Not with a rush, or a loud announcement, but with a soft remembering.

It’s the turning point between winter’s holding and spring’s becoming; a time when the ground is still cold, yet something beneath it is already stirring.

In somatic and trauma-informed work, healing doesn’t ask us to push, force, or leap ahead. It asks us to tend gently. To notice what is thawing at its own pace. To listen to the body’s timing rather than overriding it.

We honour small signals of safety and aliveness; a deeper breath, a softened jaw, a moment of gentle warmth in the chest. These are not minor. They are the beginnings.

Trauma healing often unfolds like this season: slowly, quietly, with care. We don’t rush the nervous system into bloom. We create the conditions where growth feels possible.
This is a time for soft boundaries, simple rituals, steady presence, trusting what is emerging.

You don’t need to know the full shape of what’s coming. Just tend compassionately to what’s here.

The light is returning - gently

# gentlebeginnings

07/01/2026

We're delighted to announce that we have been awarded £17,470 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

This incredible funding will support the delivery and expansion of Solace For Survivors, our trauma-informed yoga and wellbeing programme for survivors of domestic abuse, aimed at women in the East Midlands.

The funding is a significant step forward in making it possible to offer accessible trauma -informed, body-based recovery from domestic abuse, particularly for women in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derby who may not otherwise be able to access somatic, nervous-system-informed support. It allows the chance to experience healing through the body and not just through words.

I am very grateful to the National Lottery for the trust placed in this work. Solace is about moving slowly and meeting survivors where they are. It's about offering a space where the body can soften, breath can return, and safety can be felt in the body again - without pressure, explanation, or expectation.

Thank you to everyone who plays the National Lottery, and to those who continue to support community-led wellbeing work.

08/12/2025

A Moment from Today’s Session 💜

Someone shared something that really stayed with me. They told me that the session offered them “support far beyond counselling.”

For many survivors of domestic abuse and trauma, healing isn’t a straight line — and talking alone isn’t always enough.

Sometimes the body needs its own space to soften, release, and feel safe again.

That’s why we share working with the body in this way.
Safe movement.
Choice.
Breath.
Compassion.
A place to arrive exactly as you are.

I’m grateful for the trust people bring into the room, and for the quiet shifts that happen when the body finally feels held.