The Viva Center

08/09/2025

Therapy isn’t always about “fixing” something.

Sometimes, it’s about gently coming home to yourself.

To your breath.
To your body.
To the parts of you that have been on high alert for too long.

Feeling safe inside your own skin is powerful.

And possible, with the right support.

08/07/2025

Overwhelm doesn’t always show up as a breakdown.

Sometimes it looks like indecision, irritability, or zoning out.

These small signs are your nervous system waving a little flag:
📣 “I’m at capacity.”

The good news?
Your body isn’t working against you, it’s protecting you.

Learning to notice these signals is the first step toward healing.

And we’re here to support you when you’re ready.

08/02/2025

Real healing doesn’t come from avoiding life.

It comes from creating enough internal safety that those triggers no longer hijack your body.

Your nervous system isn’t overreacting, it’s responding to something it once perceived as dangerous.

With the right support, your body can learn safety again.

And that changes everything.

07/31/2025

Trauma doesn’t just live in your memories, it lives in your body.

When your nervous system stays in a prolonged state of survival (fight, flight, freeze), it can take a real toll on your physical health.

Common signs of trauma stored in the body include:
- Digestive issues like IBS, nausea, or bloating
- Cardiovascular symptoms like chest tightness or heart palpitations
- Chronic fatigue, migraines, or brain fog
- Muscle tension, pain, or autoimmune flares
- Difficulty breathing or a sense of being “on edge” all the time

These aren’t just symptoms, they’re signals.
Your body is trying to tell you something.

Healing trauma isn’t just about processing memories.
It’s about helping the body feel safe again.

07/29/2025

Approaches like EMDR, IFS, and Brainspotting help you access and shift the deeper patterns that live beneath words, in your body, your nervous system, your implicit memory.

These nonverbal therapies don’t require you to explain everything to begin healing.
They’re gentle, powerful, and often transformational.

Because trauma doesn’t just impact your thought, it impacts your whole self.

07/27/2025

Sharing your story doesn’t just help you, it gives others permission to do the same.

When we speak up, especially about the complicated stuff, identity, healing, belonging, we open doors.

Doors to connection.
To understanding.
To change.

You never know who’s listening.
Or who needed to hear exactly what you said.

🎙️ New episode out now!
Zara Phillips brings powerful insight into addiction, codependency, and the patterns we carry, all through the lens of her lived experience as an adoptee.

Listen here: https://www.vivapartnership.com/podcast/ep-14-zara-phillips-on-codependency-hyperfixation-addiction/

07/26/2025

You’ve done the mindset work. You’ve talked it through. So why does it still feel stuck?

That’s often because trauma doesn’t just live in your thoughts, it lives in your nervous system.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps your brain and body process what got frozen in time, without needing to relive every detail.

In this post, we’re sharing signs EMDR might be the next step for your healing, especially if traditional talk therapy hasn’t gone deep enough.

07/25/2025

Breaking stigma starts with breaking the silence. Mental health isn’t a privilege, it’s a right that belongs to all of us, and everyone deserves to have their story told and heard!

07/20/2025

Unresolved trauma doesn’t always show up as flashbacks or panic attacks.

Sometimes it looks like patterns you can’t seem to break:
→ Reacting intensely to small things
→ Shutting down in relationships
→ Overthinking, overworking, avoiding
→ Feeling stuck in the same emotional loop

That’s not failure.
It’s your nervous system doing its best to keep you safe based on an old blueprint.

The cycle isn’t your fault—but it can be interrupted.

07/18/2025

Talk therapy can be life-changing. It helps us understand our patterns, process our past, and build awareness.

But sometimes, insight alone isn’t enough.

That’s because trauma and chronic stress don’t just live in your mind.
They live in your body and nervous system, in places that don’t respond to logic or language.

While talk therapy works with your thinking brain (the prefrontal cortex), deeper emotional responses often come from areas like the amygdala and brainstem, parts of the brain that operate non-verbally.

That’s why body-based approaches like EMDR, brainspotting, somatic therapy, and parts work can be a powerful complement to talk therapy, helping your body process what your mind already understands.

07/16/2025

For many people, the idea of therapy feels overwhelming—not because they don’t want to heal, but because they don’t want to reopen the past.

That’s completely valid.

At Viva, we use approaches like EMDR and Brainspotting that help the brain process trauma without needing to rehash every detail.

It’s not about reliving.
It’s about releasing—gently, safely, and at your pace.

Healing is possible.
Even if you don’t want to talk about it all.

07/12/2025