“When trauma gets triggered you don't act your age, you act the age the wound was created.”
- Gabor Mate
YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR PATTERNS...
SO WHY DO THEY KEEP REPEATING?
Awareness alone isn't always enough.
You may have spent years gaining awareness and trying to understand yourself. You might know where your reactions come from and recognise the patterns you want to change.
Yet despite all that understanding, you still find yourself repeating the same cycles:
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Feeling overwhelmed, anxious, exhausted or emotionally stuck
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People-pleasing, over-giving, overworking or pushing yourself until burnout
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Struggling with perfectionism, self-criticism or feeling like you’re never enough
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Shutting down, withdrawing, avoiding or numbing when things feel too much
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Becoming swept up in anger, fear, panic or emotional reactions that feel bigger than the situation
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Repeating familiar relationship patterns or finding yourself drawn to unhealthy dynamics
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Struggling to set boundaries, say no or prioritise your own needs
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Promising yourself you won’t do it again, yet finding yourself repeating the same patterns
So why do they keep repeating?
To put it simply, because:
'The Body Keeps The Score" - Bessel
The parts of us that become activated, triggered or stuck in cycles are often younger, wounded parts of ourselves that developed ways of protecting us during childhood or earlier adult experiences. As Gabor Mate says: trauma is not what happened to us, it's what happened in our body at the time of the experience cannot simply be rationalised or talked away.
How many times have you told yourself, “I’m not going to do that anymore,” or “Next time I’ll respond differently,” only to find yourself repeating the same reaction, behaviour or pattern again?
This is because these responses are not only held in our thoughts—they are also experienced and held within the body and nervous system.
Sometimes the parts of us that continue to react, protect and feel stuck need to be met in a different way. Not just through logic, analysis or understanding, but through compassion, safety and connection.
Through somatic trauma therapy, we learn to connect with these deeper parts of ourselves and the experiences they carry. As these parts begin to feel seen, heard and understood without judgement and in way they may not have before, the nervous system can begin to update and build a new sense of safety , allowing old survival responses to soften and new choices to emerge.
This is where deeper shifts start to happen.
HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
Are you feeling stuck, anxious, or emotionally overwhelmed? Struggling with patterns of self-sabotage, people-pleasing or avoidance? Maybe you're experiencing anxious or disorganised attachment styles, attracting unhealthy relationships or feel trapped in difficult family dynamics. Whether you're navigating burnout, a life transition, or looking for deeper purpose, support is possible. I offer both therapeutic as well as coaching support, together we can design a personalised healing pathway for you.
Healing isn't about thinking your way out of the patterns that keep you stuck.
When you understand why you keep getting stuck, you can begin to create real change.
You may already understand your patterns intellectually, but still find yourself feeling triggered, overwhelmed or repeating the same cycles. This is because lasting change isn't just about thinking differently—it comes from learning to meet the deeper parts of ourselves that hold these experiences within the nervous system.
Through somatic therapy, we gently reconnect with these parts, allowing what has been stuck, unresolved or unheard to finally be met with safety, compassion and understanding—creating the possibility for new choices, healthier relationships and a more authentic connection with yourself.
🙌 Asking for help & support is the bravest thing we can do - it is true strength and an act of self-love.❤️
One of the most challenging things we face as humans is feeling trapped and uncertain of our own emotional states, negative thought patterns & behaviours. I will help you understand, normalise and feel the emotion so you can learn how to honour and transform it into what it's meant to be. It's a normal human emotion to feel anxious and depressed at times. It is okay to feel angry, in fact anger is welcome, it's just about how we express it. It is okay to feel sad. It is okay to feel uncertain. It’s all about changing or developing a relationship with IT and allowing our life energy to flow freely again to help us step into our true, authentic selves.
- Carl Jung
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”
HOW DO I WORK?
I’m Aliyah, a Somatic Trauma Therapist, Coach & Breathwork Practitioner. I founded Breathe Feel Heal — a nurturing brand and integrative practice dedicated to supporting your healing & self-growth journey. From 1-1 sessions and coaching groups, to breathwork sessions, immersive workshops and retreats, I create a safe space for you to reconnect mind & body, release adaptive & unconscious patterns, and step into your authentic self. provide a holistic and personalised approach to your healing and growth.
My approach is Integrative, Somatic, and Trauma-Informed. It goes deeper than traditional talk therapy. While talking can bring awareness by exploring thoughts, stories, and patterns, awareness alone isn’t always enough for lasting change. That’s because trauma and stress aren’t only held in the mind — they’re rooted in the body and nervous system, which are what felt unsafe or threatened at the time and often show up as intense feelings, emotional reactivity, or impulsive behaviours. These unconsciously lead us into repeating cycles and relationship patterns that mirror the environments we grew up in. These can become deeply ingrained trauma patterns/sequences which is which is why my approach goes beyond cognitive awareness — helping to reconnect the fragmented mind and body.
Trauma is not just what happened to us, but how our body responded when it felt overwhelmed, unsupported, or unsafe — and what didn’t happen afterwards to help us feel soothed, safe, and regulated again. When we weren’t seen, heard, or allowed to freely express ourselves, the mind disconnected from the body, leaving fragmented, incomplete experiences in the body. The mind adapted in order to 'survive' and cope with our environment and parents' emotional states survive. This is where limiting beliefs and adaptive (coping) behaviours are formed — such as people pleasing, avoidance, withdrawing, over-helping, over-working, perfectionism. These are adaptions that may have protected us at the time, but in adult life diminish our self-worth, disconnect us from our needs, and hold us back from our true self.
I also weave in coaching to support the reframing of limiting beliefs and to help you make new, conscious choices. Many of the challenges we face as adults stem from unresolved family dynamics and inherited emotional blocks, which can shape our self-worth, behaviours, and relationships.
Together, we work to heal these root wounds in the NOW, so the past no longer defines you. My work helps you reconnect mind and body, safely release and express suppressed emotions stuck in the body and realign with the conscious mind so old beliefs and patterns can shift as you re-discover your true self. In this way, you HEAL AT THE ROOT and work in the NOW — releasing what’s been held, restoring balance, and allowing the past to stay in the past so you can live with greater freedom, presence & authenticity.
I create a safe & compassionate space to help you heal past wounds, break repetitive cycles and build healthier, more fulfilling relationships with partners, family members and YOURSELF. My intention is to help you find more Compassion, Curiosity & Connection to support you in living a more authentic, balanced, and fulfilled life as an adult. As you heal at the root, I'll help you break free from stuck cycles and create healthier ways of relating to yourself and others.
What do I mean by Trauma?
I mean subtle, chronic forms of developmental trauma & relational trauma (attachment wounds) most of us carry to varying degrees. These are the moments we didn’t feel seen, heard, comforted, held, understood or accepted as we were. Over time, especially when these experiences were chronic, unpredictable, or inconsistent — they can create a deep sense of unsafety in the body and disconnection from our true self.
Experiences like:
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Being punished, controlled or criticised for expressing emotions or behaving ‘wrongly ‘or just being ourselves
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Feeling that love or approval was conditional on performance or behaviour
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Being regularly scared, sad or chronically stressed due to parents arguing or a parent being emotionally unpredictable, emotionally unavailable or not present
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Not being allowed or feeling safe to express anger, sadness, or joy
These seemingly "normal" experiences can deeply shape our sense of self and often teaches us that it’s not safe to simply BE — to feel, express, or exist. As a result we suppress our needs and feelings, and over time this disconnects us from our true, authentic selves.
Unresolved trauma gets imprinted and stored in the body, leading to a dysregulated nervous system. It's like scar tissue, if left unhealed it grows thicker & is more easily triggered and reactive. It creates a feedback loop between the nervous system and amygdala (emotional part of the brain) before the rational part of the mind can even make sense of it. This creates an autopilot and unconscious thought, feeling and behaviour loop. When we bring conscious awareness to the patterns we can start to reframe the subconscious mind and do the deeper somatic release work to heal, regulate and teach the body and mind to feel safe, loved & whole again. We need to feel to heal, and this requires a lot of self-compassion which I will teach you so you can start to live more freely as your true, authentic self.
Anxiety Management & Transformation
Anxiety is a natural part of being human. My driving passion is to help you change your relationship with it so it no longer controls you. Rather than resist, avoid, numb or fear it, I will help you normalise it and teach you how to embrace, manage and transform it into something useful.
We can't think our way out of anxiety, it's happening in the body as a physiological, memorised response to a real or perceived threat based on past experiences and unresolved traumas. When we have had many acute stresses, trauma is created in the body and the nervous system LEARNS to live in a state of activation. This creates a dysregulated nervous system that can't then tell the difference between real or perceived threats. This is when anxiety becomes unmanageable - our thoughts fuel the feeling and the feeling fuels the thoughts which then affects our behaviour and sleep. With Breathwork, somatic movement and subconscious reprogramming therapies, you'll learn to regain control of the emotion, regulate your nervous system and change the feeling on the inside to relieve, manage & prevent day-to-day symptoms. We will also work on healing the roots of the anxiety and restoring safety and trust in the body.
Stress & Burnout
Many of us are in a hyperarousal state, which means the fight or flight mode (SNS) is over active and cortisol is elevated. A little stress is normal, but when it takes control, it creates trauma in the body, leading to physiological responses like anxiety, fatigue, and burnout. I will help you understand the root thoughts and feelings, learn acceptance and mindfulness, teach you to slow down and regulate with your breathe to activate the rest & digest mode (PNS) whilst co-creating solutions and teaching practices so stress is no longer your way of life.
Anxious Attachment & Unhealthy Relationship Patterns
Anxious & Ambivalent attachments are very common and rooted in our childhood and relational traumas. It helps explain toxic relationship patterns & difficulty finding & sustaining healthy, lasting relationships. Trapped in compulsive thinking, fearing rejection, searching for proof of a disconnection whilst also looking for reassurance... Sounds familiar?
The good news is that attachment systems can be changed.
With self-compassion I will help you heal unresolved traumas and move into secure attachment. Through conscious coaching, subconscious reframing, inner child healing & somatic body work your nervous system will release and heal stored trauma, learn security and through neuroplasticity reframe limiting beliefs and unlearn sabotaging thoughts and behaviours.
You will also get to be part of support community of others working through this.
Trauma Release & Healing
The type of trauma I work with is often subtle, everyday trauma that many of us experience at different stages of life — from in utero, through childhood and adolescence, into adulthood. This usually arises in the context of family dynamics, our environment, and relationships.
Developmental Trauma:
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Sometimes called childhood trauma.
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It happens when, during key stages of development (infancy, childhood, adolescence), a child’s emotional, physical, or relational needs weren’t consistently met.
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This doesn’t always mean “big” or obvious traumatic events. It can also come from:
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Not feeling seen, heard, or understood.
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Not being soothed when distressed.
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Growing up with critical, emotionally unavailable, or unpredictable caregivers.
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Environments of neglect, chaos, or chronic stress.
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Over time, this can shape nervous system regulation, sense of self-worth, and the way someone connects with others.
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Relational Trauma (Attachment Wounds)
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Refers to trauma that comes specifically from relationships — often with parents, family, or romantic partners.
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This includes:
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Repeated experiences of betrayal, abandonment, or rejection.
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Emotional abuse, gaslighting, or manipulation.
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Being in relationships where safety, trust, or boundaries were violated.
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Relational trauma often leads to difficulties with trust, boundaries, intimacy, and a deep fear of rejection or abandonment.
How They Overlap
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Developmental trauma often is relational, because our early development depends on relationships with caregivers.
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As adults, unresolved developmental trauma can repeat itself in relationships (e.g., choosing unavailable partners, struggling with boundaries, people-pleasing, or fearing conflict).
Working with the body and nervous system (through modalities like breathwork, somatic trauma therapy, and trauma-informed coaching) helps people to re-pattern these early imprints, regulate their nervous system, and create healthier relationships with themselves and others.
Inner Child Healing
Our inner child is us. It's all of our emotional and mental experiences since in utero that were happening in our bodies during moments of not feeling safe, seen, heard, recognised, valued or loved, regardless of how much our parents cared and loved us. Our nervous system is an imprint of these past experiences, traumas and suppressed emotions. Children need help to regulate their emotions and nervous systems, so how our parents showed up, how much unresolved trauma they had, and how their nervous systems were have an impact on us. We all have some degree of childhood trauma, whether we got lost in a supermarket, heard our parents argue or experienced violence. If we were not made to feel loved, recognised, important and safe in these moments, our nervous system learns to feel unsafe and we believe we're not good enough or not loveable. We develop defence and self-soothing mechanisms that become hardwired into our survival and the nervous system becomes increasingly dysregulated trying to maintain as adults. This is often a cause of attachment disorders and low self-worth.
With a lot of self-compassion, love and kindness I'll help you connect to your inner you, with the power of your breath and somatic techniques, you can reconnect to the parts of you that need something they didn't get enough of or at all.
Sleep Disorders
We all know how important a restful and peaceful sleep is to our mood and overall wellbeing. One of the main symptoms of anxiety and stress is wakefulness, restfulness, night sweats and difficulty falling back to sleep due to a racing mind and racing heart. I will help you identify the root of the sleep disorder, use therapies like hypnosis to teach the mind to relax and let go and facilitate Breathwork & movement to help you discharge an over-active sympathetic nervous system. This will help release suppressed emotion and unresolved trauma and put your nervous system in a restorative state.
Addiction Recovery Support
Describe one of your services
Meet Aliyah
“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people.” - Carl Jung
I am a Somatic Trauma Therapist, Trauma-informed Coach & Breathwork Practitioner. I take an integrative approach, combining mind, body and nervous system healing. Like many in the therapy field, it was in my search for anxiety relief & healing of my own trauma that I stepped into my life purpose to help others struggling to navigate & understand their emotions and facilitate their healing & self-development journeys.
I hear you and I see you. Once a victim in my own story, I hit rock bottom and took personal responsibility for my life. Having tried counselling & CBT in the past (which helped at the time), I needed to go deeper. I discovered another realm of therapies, from subconscious reprogramming to somatic therapies which elevated my healing.
It was such a powerful experience that I found my calling and trained as a somatic trauma therapist myself (as well as a coach). I have completed extensive training and continue to learn and grow, integrating various modalities into my therapy and coaching practice. My core approach combines somatic therapy, breathwork, inner child healing with a focus on developmental trauma, attachment wounds healing & family systems. Additionally, I incorporate visualisation meditations, hypnotherapy, and EFT (tapping) when appropriate, tailoring support to each client’s unique journey.
I learnt the way I was feeling & behaving was not all in my mind but in my body. It was a product of a dysregulated nervous system, a hypersensitive, anxious attachment style, unresolved trauma in my body and limiting beliefs keeping me trapped in cycles of escapism, avoidance, people-pleasing, self-sabotage & unfulfilment.
I am dedicated to help you achieve lasting change & access deep healing by aligning the ‘mind’ and ‘body’ work. I am humbled to have helped clients manage, heal & understand the roots of their anxiety, anger, depression, attachment disorders and substance abuse. I have seen clients connect with their inner child, release suppressed emotions & heal old trauma, allowing them to make transitions in their career, family & romantic relationships. At the same time, I’ve co-created solutions, designed action plans & daily practices to help clients develop deeper spiritual connection, regain a sense of control in the now & cultivate healthier habits.
As I continue to cleanse & heal, I choose to function from love and not fear. I trust myself & the process more. I am no longer stuck in the past or future which keeps anxiety at bay. When the feeling does appear, I honour it and then manage it by breathing, meditating, slowing down, connecting to something higher than myself and serving and helping others including myself. Oh yeah, and smiling a lot 🙂
My Mission
Breath. Feel. Heal.
I chose to dedicate my life to helping others on their healing and self-development journey so they can step into their true, authentic selves.
My mission is to help you upgrade and transform the way you think and feel so you can become everything you’re meant to be, not what you ‘think’ you’re supposed to be.
I will take you through gentle somatic practices to restore safety and trust in your body, teach you how to tap into the medicine of your own breath, help you unlearn old patterns and develop new conscious practices & choices to align with your true, authentic self. Together I will help you elevate your healing, release trauma in the body and feelings of joy, love and courage.
Pillars of My Practice
The 3 principles of my practice to guide you to a more fulfilling life.
JOY
I will teach you how to cultivate JOY into your life daily, especially with the little things. This will come in morning practices, corrective exercises & bedtime rituals, mandatory smiling & action planning, all of which you'll be accountable to me to for ensure consistency and progress.
We will do deeper somatic work to connect with the felt sense of joyful, happy thoughts & memories, and combine this with subconscious reprogramming to create & strengthen neural pathways towards these wonderful feelings and make joy a way of life.
You get to enJoy this journey of life.
LOVE
I will teach you how to fall in love with yourself. We were not taught how to love ourselves, most of us have to learn. To love yourself wholly will teach you the art of true love. First you must cultivate self-compassion, then you can honour your emotion and then start to make kind, loving choices.
As you function from love, it will trump fear. You'll find peace in solitude. You'll learn to understand, meet & prioritise your needs. You'll acknowledge the parts of you that you’re scared of, resisting or numbing & discover these parts actually love you & have a positive intention for you. You'll discover your core gifts, that make you, you.
With love comes faith, this is not necessarily in a religious context but in a deeper connection with yourself and a higher spiritual connection. This will allow you to heal your inner child, start becoming the person you want to be and attract healthy relationships of inspiration into your life.
COURAGE
You will tap into the COURAGE within you to change the things you can (i.e. you in the here & now) and find the serenity to accept the things you cannot change. With courage you will be empowered to admit defects of character (we all have them e.g. selfish, dishonesty), find the gifts in any mistakes and painful experiences, let go of resentments and feel what you need to feel by leaning into the the discomfort and transforming them into their higher purpose. You will empower yourself to take wise, helpful, truthful action, create healthy boundaries, become more honest to yourself and others, and ultimately move into your true, authentic self.
What Clients Say
The Blog
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