2. BULLYING: Reclaiming your voice

This exercise is designed to help a client transition from the “Freeze” response (silence) to the “Active” response (voice). When someone has been bullied, their throat often feels physically tight—this is the body’s way of protecting them from saying something “dangerous.”

We have to move that energy from the body to the breath, and finally to the word.

EXERCISE: Reclaiming Your Voice

(A Frontida Somatic-Cognitive Practice)

Phase 1: The Physical Opening (Somatic)

Before you can speak your truth, you have to tell your nervous system it is safe to open the “gate” (the throat).

1. The Yawn-Sigh: Take a deep breath and let out a huge, fake yawn. As you exhale, make a loud “Haaaaaa” sound. Repeat this 3 times.

2. The Jaw Drop: Place your fingers on your jaw hinges. Gently massage them while letting your mouth hang open.

3. The Grounding: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Feel the weight of your body. Remind yourself: “I am larger than the words that were used against me.”

Phase 2: Locating the “Stolen” Words (Internal)

Bullying often leaves us with things we wanted to say but couldn’t.

• Close your eyes and visualize a moment where you were silenced.

• If you could go back as your Current Self (The Protector) to stand next to your Past Self (The Victim), what is the one sentence you would say to the bully?

• Don’t filter it. It doesn’t have to be “polite.” It just has to be true.

Phase 3: The Vocal Declaration (External)

Now, you are going to “bring it into the light” by speaking it name, as we discussed with the Shadow.

1. Whisper it: Say that sentence in a tiny whisper.

2. Speak it: Say it at a normal conversational volume.

3. Declare it: Say it firmly, with your hand on your chest.

   • Example: “I did not deserve your cruelty.”

   • Example: “My voice has value, even if you couldn’t hear it.”

Phase 4: The Script for Today (The Rebuild)

To ensure the bullying doesn’t keep affecting your present, choose a “Power Phrase” to use in your daily life when you feel your voice starting to shrink.

• “I need a moment to think before I answer.”

• “I don’t agree with that perspective.”

• “That tone doesn’t work for me.”

Coach & Counselor Perspective:

• The Goal: We aren’t looking for “perfect” speech. We are looking for Agency.

• The Result: Every time a client uses their voice to set a small boundary, they are “re-wiring” the brain areas that were damaged by bullying. They are proving to their Amygdala that they are no longer trapped.

source: gemini ai

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