CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With so much tragedy our South Texas communities have experienced in the last few days--it can take an emotional toll, especially when it comes to the death of a close family member. It can impact your health not just mentally but physically, according to Licensed Professional Counselor Renita Newton, Ph.D.
"Look at things like increased heart rate, then increases cortisol increase our stress response, so that leads to things like high blood pressure heart attack some of those more extreme cases," she said.
Newton owns Bound 2 Rize located at 5402 S. Staples St. and offers a safe space for clients to relax and heal through the power of sound.
The certified sound healer said everyone experiences trauma differently.
"Things like numbing when you are completely disconnected, dissociated really, just having a difficult time in comprehending what just happened," she said.
One an example is when a spouse dies and shortly after, their significant other might also pass away.
"The broken heart syndrome, that is a very real thing," Newton said.
Loss of appetite, sleep and intrusive thoughts are also possible following a difficult and painful loss.
"Thinking over and over and over again those images, the scenery or the memory or the event just continuously replaying in our mind over and over again," she said.
Extreme cases can also lead to suicidal thoughts.
"It gets pretty serious," Newton said.
She said the biggest thing you can do for yourself if you are experiencing grief and trauma is to give yourself patience.
"Taking things day by day, really working through not blaming myself, I should have done this, why didn't I do this, working through that thought process," Newton said.
If you'd like to know more about sound bath meditation and the sound healing process, Newton is inviting the community to Oleander Point at Cole Park starting at 7 p.m. Saturday. She'll lead a guided meditation there. The cost is $20 bucks. You can reserve your spot here.