This is another tricky question to answer! It’s important to begin with a mutual definition of “overwhelmed.” And to consider “past” and “present” time. Basically, overwhelmed means “too much.” It’s the most basic description of trauma: Something that was, or is, “too much” for our nervous system to process. Historically, this is the case with past trauma, as survival energies and emotions were too much to handle at the time, and became trapped energy.

We work very specifically and diligently in SBSM with Attention and Intention. These are two very powerful practices! We also build a solid foundation of “here and now” awareness. When we start turning our attention to our body, and more specifically, our nervous system, with the intention of healing our trauma, we may inevitably feel things that have historically been overwhelming. However with the SBSM education and practices embedded in awareness, you can be more prepared and able to avoid becoming overwhelmed now.

In SmartBody SmartMind™ we take many steps to prepare you for this with education, so you can understand what is happening in your experience, which generally makes it less scary, and by guiding you slowly from the basic, resource building work, to deeper investigations of the system. That being said, when you work with the nervous system, there’s no way to predict with 100% accuracy how different people (and nervous systems) will respond to each lesson. For example, some people may experience increased feelings of safety and presence from a lesson intended to support resource building and containment, and that same lesson may bring on high activation or shutdown for others.