Healing from trauma is an incredibly personal and transformative journey, and Sandra Cooze knows this better than anyone.
In her interview with MysticMag, Sandra shares how her own profound experiences with trauma and the gaps she observed in traditional mental health approaches led her to establish Rise Above Your Story. Her mission is to create a safe, holistic space where survivors can release their past, reconnect with themselves, and realign with their true essence.
Through her groundbreaking Three Pillars of Healing—Release, Reconnect, and Realign—Sandra empowers individuals to reclaim their lives and embrace a future filled with joy and authenticity.
What personal experiences led you to establish ‘Rise Above Your Story,’ and how have they shaped your approach to trauma healing?
When I think back to the moment I gave Rise Above Your Story life, it felt as if it was always meant to be. You may think that the reason for its establishment was my own story of child molestation, sexual assault, bullying, and rape. But even though my harrowing past and healing journey played a huge part, they were not the main reasons.
The main reasons for Rise Above Your Story were the devastating stories of all the people who had to deal with their trauma on their own. Most of them were dismissed by their therapists with words like: “Sorry, but I can’t help you.”, or even worse, they had a mental health professional who could not handle their story and became severely triggered, leaving them to wonder how they were supposed to handle their story if their therapist – the one person who was trained to help them – couldn’t. That’s when I knew that I wanted to create a safe space for survivors of even the most horrific traumas to explore their past, fully release it, and rise above their story.
The more I talked to people, the more I realized that the mental health system is not at all trauma-informed and only goes ‘by the book’. However, a one-size-fits-all approach to trauma healing can never bring the results we need to release our past and live a trauma-free life. We are all individuals, with individual stories, individual journeys, and individual needs. What I also began to realize was that the trauma healing we are being offered does not focus on every aspect of it. It only covers one out of three aspects of trauma and that is just not enough to bring lasting results and a trauma-free life.
Once this realization hit me, I understood why I had to go through the traumas I had to experience, why I had been dismissed by my therapist, and why I had to find my own way of healing and transformation. My story gave me a unique perspective of trauma that guided me to develop a revolutionary healing approach that has already helped countless women and men liberate themselves from their harrowing past and find true joy and happiness in their lives moving forward.
Can you elaborate on the ‘Three Pillars of Healing & Transformation’—Release, Reconnect, and Realign—and their significance in your healing process?
The Three Pillars of Healing & Transformation, describe the journey we must take in order to release our past and rise above our stories. Essentially it shows the three aspects of trauma healing we need in order to successfully heal and reclaim our lives. The release is the first part of that journey, where we release unresolved trauma, triggers, PTSD, limiting beliefs, and subconscious programming that keep us from living the life we want.
The second part – Reconnect – describes a natural process that occurs while we are releasing the trauma that kept us hostage for so long. Trauma severs the connection between body, mind, and Soul, leaving us feel broken, or as if a part of us were missing. Some also describe it as something that was taken from them. Or so it may seem.
But what actually happens is an attempt at self-preservation. Especially when we have been assaulted on a physical level, we try whatever we can to avoid those physical memories from tormenting us, and so we disconnect from our body, finding solace within our spiritual body. But in order to feel whole, we have to be whole. As we heal from trauma, our body and Soul automatically reconnect, and with that establish the wholeness of our being.
The third part – Realign – is all about recalibrating ourselves to our most authentic Self. This means releasing limiting beliefs, self-sabotaging behaviors, unconscious fears, generational and societal constrictions, as well as ancestral traumas. Basically releasing everything we are not in order to become who we actually are. This last part is the most exciting of the whole journey as it reveals aspects of yourself that you were not even aware of. How it is possible that an ancestral trauma from 15 generations ago is now sabotaging your efforts of becoming a successful entrepreneur through fear of failure, money or success blocks, and more.
The concept of the Three Pillars of Healing & Transformation is a journey back to your true authentic self, by releasing everything you are not.
How do you assist clients in releasing unresolved trauma, triggers, and limiting beliefs to help them live the life they’ve always wanted?
The journey of healing from trauma is a road with many twists and turns, dead ends, and unpaved paths. It is a journey back to our true selves, the very essence of our being, our purpose in this life, and who we were always meant to be. This journey is unique for everyone. No two journeys are alike, which is why no one-size-fits-all approach will ever be successful.
We have a physical, mental, and emotional body. All three bodies have to be addressed to bring true healing and transformation. We are all individuals, with individual needs, individual stories, individual beliefs, and individual life journeys. And so it is only natural that I individualize my approach to the needs of every person I work with. My process begins with a free consultation to explore my client’s journey thus far and what he/she hopes to achieve by working with me. In essence, I meet my clients where they are and grow with them.
My trauma healing journey began with my introduction to spirituality – the missing link in almost all trauma healing approaches – and so, of course, my approach to helping people release their trauma is a combination of psychological and spiritual approaches that involve the body, mind, and soul as a whole.
I help people release their trauma through energy work (Reiki), somatic psychology approaches (trauma coaching and mentoring), meta-psychology approaches (Traumatic Incident Reduction), mindfulness (guided meditation, visualizations, and journaling), as well as ancestral healing through Akashic Records. Combining these approaches into one holistic trauma healing program brings fast and lasting results.
Trauma is something that you have to experience, but it is not something you are meant to live with for the rest of your life. You have every right to kick it to the curb, stand up, brush off your clothes, and live a happy and successful life.
In what ways does healing from trauma facilitate the reconnection between body, mind, and soul, and why is this reconnection vital for a sense of wholeness?
When we are being traumatized, we lose our sense of being in control. It’s as if we had the rug pulled out from underneath us. We try to make sense of what happened in order to bring some semblance of normalcy back into our lives. This is what we know as suppressing. We push the harrowing memories way down to the deepest darkest corners of our subconscious. But this can only happen if we sever our connections to our body, and often to our mind as well. Whatever we don’t want to remember, we have to distance ourselves from.
This causes a disconnect between body, mind, and soul. Not only will it make us feel as if a part of us were missing, or as if something was taken from us, but if the trauma we had to experience is not being healed, or released, it can cause many physical issues like MS, Fibromyalgia, hives, and more. In essence, it is the body crying out for help, because any physical trauma like sexual assault, or rape, will remain in the cells of the body. (the science of somatic psychology).
Healing from trauma will, therefore, not only make us feel whole again but can greatly reduce or even fully reverse somatic issues that were caused by the energy of unresolved trauma.
Could you share a success story where your methods have significantly transformed a client’s life, leading them to a future filled with joy and possibilities?
Bridget’s story is by far the most awe-inspiring transformation I could share here. She has been through a lot in her life. Molested by her father when she was only 12 years old, and severely abused for years by a narcissistic boyfriend, who physically, and verbally abused her, and even forced her into an abortion and threatened her life if she did not tie her tubes as well – when she was only in her early twenties. When Bridget came to me, her trauma had festered within her so much, that she was ready to give up. She had developed MS, smoked weed every day, and tried to numb her physical and mental pain by drinking on a regular basis.
All it took were 10 TIR sessions to release her unspeakable trauma. But that is not even the most amazing part of her healing journey. Not only did her MS symptoms ease up significantly, but she will celebrate being 5 years sober this year. Once her trauma was released, she no longer needed drugs or alcohol to cope with the pain. (Bridget’s full story can be found in my book Journey to Your Self – How to Heal from Trauma (Written by Someone Who Did).
Find out more at: www.riseaboveyourstory.com
