This is such an important part of healing trauma. The key to processing internalized toxic shame lies in finding our way towards feeling and expressing disgust. This doesn’t mean that we feel disgusted about ourselves, but that we allow ourselves to feel and express the disgust that our body feels at having to hold such toxic energy.
Other elements may include working with the posture of shame by allowing ourselves to collapse into that shame posture – chest collapsed, shoulders forward, head down, tail between the legs – and then to slowly move into the antipode posture, the ‘Superhero posture’ – standing tall, hands on hips, shoulders back, chest high, chin lifted. Moving between these postures mindfully and slowly and really feeling how they feel can also help us, as also may working with the thwarted self-protective impulses, and healthy aggression that would have wanted to arise to protect us from receiving that toxic shame.
Here are some further resources on this subject:
VLOG: Disgust: The gateway emotion for healing toxic shame
ARTICLE: How toxic shame creates the fallout we call depression
VLOG: The origin of negative thoughts
ARTICLE: Healthy Aggression