I was 20 years old the first time my lungs collapsed.
A combination of genetics and survival trauma from living homeless on the streets as a teenager had wreaked havoc on my body.
Dr Goldstein was worried about me. He told me that according to Chinese medicine, fear and shame attack the lungs. That made sense. The truth is, I had been living in a state of fear and hyper-vigilance my whole life.
Two years later I was recovering from massive double lung surgery.
The sheer joy of being alive was palpable. I was determined to live life fully, hold a positive mindset and never look back. I remember running on the beach that summer as the sun rays caressed my deeply scarred, 90-pound body.
Those early years stretched me as a single mom with two little kids, two jobs, going to university. I focused all my energy on moving forward.
What I didn't realize, was the early trauma and disconnection that preceded my lung surgery was still unresolved and frozen in my body.
I earned a graduate degree with distinction and grew a successful public leadership career. I was a confident speaker, trusted business advocate, pioneer and change maker in my field. Yet, I secretly dimmed down, played small and disconnected from myself and others. I felt isolated, unseen and unknown at a core level.
I longed to bring my true voice and gifts forward into the world in a much bigger and more authentic way.
So, I spent years on the mat and under the mentorship of beloved teachers, I read all the books, spent thousands of dollars on the best self-help programs, mindset and behavioural reprogramming … and I complete hundreds of hours of therapy.
Yet, years later, I was living inside the same patterns getting the same results. It was like I had one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake.
I would achieve incredible heights of career and personal success that would inevitably end in massive change, leaving me feeling exposed, uprooted, and having to start all over again.
Living in shame and unresolved trauma was painful confusing and exhausting.
Why it matters …
As pioneering women, we are being called to offer the world our own unique contribution. It requires us to stand in the power and confidence of our own voice and take much larger personal risks than we have so far.
When I stepped out of my corporate leadership role and into my own purpose-driven business, I realized that my mission was so important it required me to get visible! But how?
Despite being so strong and accomplished, many of us still struggle to speak our truth, stand in our true value and get visible with our ideas, products and services.
What it comes down to is that many of us are stuck inside of chronic invisibility patterns, rooted in embodied trauma, day-to-day survival stress and a lack of somatic safety.
Unresolved trauma shapes us
It shapes our posture, our identity and our voice. It shapes how we move into the world, how we interact with the world and how life itself responds back to us.
When I began my early somatic educator training, I was shocked to discover that I was locked inside of chronic invisibility patterns wired deep in my nervous system with roots in early unresolved trauma.
You may not have experienced a 'large T' trauma, like a lung collapse, a tragic accident, or the sudden loss of a loved one. But you likely did have 'small t' early experiences where you felt exposed and fundamentally unsafe. These happen every day in our family of origin, at school or in society at large. To the body, trauma is trauma no matter the origin.
If you’re experiencing this, you’re not broken.
In fact, you’re quite normal, and it’s not your fault.
Our research with over 1000 women, shows that a fundamental lack of safety to speak up and be seen prevails in many women’s lived experiences today, even though they are highly accomplished contributors and leaders in their field.
When hidden trauma becomes chronic invisibility patterns ...
You may secretly feel isolated and unseen at a core level, even though you’re an accomplished, confident woman.
You might shrink back, dim down and avoid opportunities to be seen and heard, even though you long to be fully expressed as YOU.
Your accomplishments may sometimes go unrecognized, even though you support and recognize the accomplishments of others.
The good news is that the solution is closer than you think. It's important to acknowledge the external structural issues that still hold women back. Yet, in my experience, the most effective way to step into leadership is through our own bodies.
To unleash my voice and get truly visible, I had to awaken and activate my body and generate a platform of SOMATIC safety and nervous system integration.
You can unleash your voice!
Most women are shocked when they experience their true voice for the first time! In fact, one small experience of your true voice can change your entire life and career trajectory.
Join me on Wednesday, June 7th, 2023, 10 am - 12 pm MST for Unleash Your Voice: Free Online Voice Experience!
Learn how to take up space and speak your truth with unshakable confidence and ease, even if you have been holding back for decades.
Discover
The truth about where your voice is locked and how to unleash it.
How hidden cycles of trauma and stress affect women.
How to reconnect with your true voice and become fully expressed in every moment.
You have something to say!
Female Entrepreneurs, Leaders, Speakers, Coaches, Consultants, and Therapists. If your mission depends on getting your ideas across with massive impact this is for YOU.
Callie B. Elwayns offers life changing programs and mentorship, to catapult women into bold new levels of leadership presence, visibility, career and business success.
Her proprietary, Somatic Transformational Story Method ™ is a powerful step by step process rooted in years of applied research as a trauma informed somatic movement educator. It builds on her journey from the street as a homeless youth, to over two decades of business leadership success at the forefront of public and private companies and includes her skills as a powerful speaker, stage performer, transformational coach and mentor.
The Bold & Visible Monologues is a TED Style Stage for Transformational Women’s Stories.