The force of the accident found her half ejected out of the Toyota 4 Runner with her feet sticking out of the sunroof.
It could have been worse, but she was freed from being strangled by her seat belt by a passing trucker who used his pocketknife to cut her free.
She woke up with a brain injury, a near spinal cord injury, a severely broken leg and in a full-body brace. And so, after 34 days in the hospital, her healing journey began.
For over a year, Phaedra had extensive physical therapy rehabilitation and sought every possible treatment technique… traditional and alternative, to help her recover.
Although Phaedra didn’t remember the accident, her body did. Interestingly, it was during one of her treatment sessions that she got in touch with the tissue memory of the pain.
What she discovered was that there was a lot of fear underneath her pain. The accident was the catalyst that brought up past traumas from her life.
It was her accident and healing journey that was the turning point for Phaedra. Although she was a successful Occupational Therapist, she wanted to learn other strategies to ensure total freedom from chronic pain.
She immersed herself in learning the powerful technique of the John F. Barnes Myofascial Release Approach® and worked with Dr. Peter Levine using the Somatic Experiencing® method.
It was then Phaedra experienced first-hand the impact of pain on the body and the mind and how to eliminate it. Although she suffered severe injuries, she realized that her pain wasn’t the problem… it was the warning sign of something else going on in the body and the mind.
She discovered that your body has trauma blocks… it holds onto past trauma, injury and movement. It becomes imprinted into your body and shows up how you move.
This means how you sit, stand, sleep and move adds up over the years. Even how you feel and think… your body expresses your thoughts and feelings of shame, fear, optimism, happiness and sadness.
From this experience Phaedra asked herself, why do some people heal, and others don’t. The answer… it depends on the upbringing, family support, past trauma, injury, and how we use our body every day.
She realized that living your best life begins on the inside, by mastering your emotions with your mindset and thought patterns. Once you master your mind, you can heal your body faster.
Now, nearly a decade later, she is totally pain-free. She can walk without assistance, climb mountains, practice Zumba, and do all the other things she loves to do. Her body is no longer her prison.