Live Workshop Replay: TMJ, Trauma and Dystonia - What Actually Helps

A gentle recap of the workshop and the tenderness we shared. 

Yesterday, more than sixty of us gathered from around the world to explore a question that lives at the heart of dystonia, TMJ dysfunction, and chronic tension patterns:

Why do symptoms stay stuck, even when we’ve tried everything? 

What unfolded in that hour was more than a lecture.

It was a moment of meeting each other at the level of our humanity — the frustration, the fear, the grief of being misunderstood, and also the quiet hope that things can shift when we finally see the whole picture.

Understanding the system as a whole

 We explored how the jaw, cranium, and upper cervical vertebrae form a single integrated unit — and how even small imbalances can cause the nervous system to “over-learn” tension on one side. We talked about the cranial nerves, about pressure, asymmetry, and compensation patterns that ripple through the whole body.

And we named something that so many people feel but no one says aloud:

The body doesn’t make mistakes. It adapts. 

And what it learns to do, it can also learn to undo.

Two kinds of trauma — and why both matter

 We spoke about the two layers of trauma that shape dystonia and chronic pain:

1. The underlying vulnerability — the lifelong pattern of staying in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn to feel psychologically safe.

2. The shock event — an injury, surgery, illness, or emotional rupture that pushes an already sensitized system past its threshold.

This perspective softened something in the room.

People could suddenly place their story within a larger frame — not as personal failure, but as a nervous system doing its best.

The tenderness that emerged in the room

 Several participants shared pieces of their lives — past injuries, childhood TMJ, domestic violence, chronic pain, the loss of confidence, the longing to feel like themselves again.

And without planning it, the space became incredibly tender.

There was no rushing, no fixing, no dismissing.

Just human beings being gently witnessed.

This is part of healing too:

the moment you’re no longer carrying your story alone.

Where real change begins

Real change doesn’t start with forcing the body into a new shape.

It begins with understanding how the system learned what it learned, and then giving it new sensory experiences it can trust.

That’s what neuroplasticity is.

That’s what nervous system work is.

That’s the foundation of everything I teach.

And if you want to go deeper — truly learning the cranial nerves, unwinding old patterns, and stabilizing new regulation — you can explore the Hope for Dystonia Self-Healers Academy or book a consultation.

Wherever this finds you…

I’m glad you’re here.

And you’re not alone.