"You Can Be Breathed": Jackie Troller on How Breathwork Helps Release Trauma From the Body | Healing From Emotional Abuse

In this episode of Healing From Emotional Abuse, host Marissa F. Cohen sits down with Jackie Troller, founder of Ocean Troller Snorkeling and Free Diving and Breakthrough Breathing, to talk about what the breath can teach us about trauma, tension, and healing.

Jackie shares how a chance introduction to free diving turned into a career studying the science of breath holds, training Red Bull athletes and water rescue units, and coaching the crew on Avatar: The Way of Water. She explains why breathwork was showing up in PTSD research long before it showed up in her own life, how tension and trauma get stored in the body without us realizing it, and why telling someone in distress to "just take a deep breath" often backfires.

The conversation moves into practical territory, including a guided breathing exercise you can follow along with, a visualization technique for separating yourself from anxious or traumatic feelings, and why Jackie believes so much of that tension lives in the diaphragm. She closes with real, usable advice for survivors who want to start working with their body instead of against it.

Connect with Jackie Troller: breakthroughbreathing.com

Learn more about Foundations of Healthy Relationships, a six week guided experience to help you recognize unhealthy patterns, build stronger boundaries, and learn what healthy relationships look like. Link in the show notes and on our Instagram community.

Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and podcast mission 00:03 Meet Jackie Troller 00:03 From marine science to free diving 00:05 Discovering the science of extended breath holds 00:06 How breathwork research connects to PTSD 00:07 What happens when we let go of body tension 00:08 Recognizing trauma stored in the body 00:09 The difference between holding a breath and being breathed 00:10 Why "just focus" and "just breathe" don't work 00:12 A simple technique to help someone in distress 00:14 Why the body needs to be part of trauma release 00:15 A guided exercise: the inhale and hold 00:16 Anxiety interrupters and playing with breath 00:17 Sponsor message: Foundations of Healthy Relationships 00:18 Recognizing anxiety in her own body 00:19 Visualizing tension as separate from yourself 00:21 A grounding exercise for anxious states 00:22 Working with trauma and sexual assault survivors 00:23 How breathwork helped one client's trauma trigger 00:24 Why trauma often lives in the diaphragm 00:25 A live guided breathing exercise 00:27 Meeting your body where it is 00:28 Working with high performance athletes 00:29 How to connect with Jackie and closing thoughts

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