About this episode

This episode explores the Butterfly Hug, a grounding technique for managing emotional flashbacks in CPTSD.

In this episode, we explore a simple, portable tool for those moments when you feel completely hijacked by overwhelming emotions—the kind where your heart races, your thoughts spin, and you feel stranded in a memory you feel but can't see. This is often an emotional flashback, a common experience in CPTSD. We'll break down the Butterfly Hug, a gentle, selfadministered technique developed in crisis zones to help ground your nervous system. You'll learn its origins, the simple science of why it can help, and exactly how to use it to create a small, reliable anchor when everything feels like too much, moving from selfcriticism to selfcompassion. What You'll Learn: • How to perform the Butterfly Hug for immediate grounding during emotional overwhelm. • Why this simple physical motion can help dial down your fightorflight response. • The origin story of this technique, forged in postdisaster trauma work. • How to shift from fighting your feelings to offering gentle, selfconnected care. • A practical tool to create space between you and a flashback's intensity. Key Insights • Emotional flashbacks are feelings, not visual memories, that can leave you feeling hijacked. • You cannot…

People in this episode

Host: Let's Work This Sh*t Out

Topics covered

• CPTSD
• emotional flashbacks
• Butterfly Hug
• grounding techniques
• self-compassion
• mental health

Keywords

• Butterfly Hug
• CPTSD
• emotional flashbacks
• grounding techniques
• self-compassion
• mental health
• bilateral stimulation
• trauma recovery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Let's Work This Sh*t Out

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