Lesson 1: Introduction to Trauma

You’ll explore how trauma reshapes the brain and nervous system, influencing emotions, behavior, and stress responses. You’ll discover the roles of the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex, and how trauma alters their functioning. The lesson guides you in identifying your own survival patterns through the fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses. You’ll also learn to recognize when you’re in hyperarousal or hypoarousal and how these states show up in your body. In addition, the lesson introduces different types of trauma and how they may be shaping your current experiences. By the end, you’ll deepen your self-awareness and strengthen the foundation for healing.

Key topics include:

• How trauma rewires the brain and nervous system

• Survival responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn

• Hyperarousal vs. hypoarousal and the window of tolerance

• Why trauma memories and reactions persist

• Types of trauma (childhood, generational, collective, racial, betrayal, abandonment, etc.)

• Reflection questions to identify personal trauma patterns