reclaim the autonomy that was taken from you by dogmatic religion
did you grow up in a religious environment you’ve left but still find it’s impacting your ability to be yourself and live your life the way you want?
Whether you grew up in dogmatic religion or came to it later in your life, if you are struggling with…
Reclaiming your autonomy - over your body, your values, your beliefs, and your right to believe whatever you want
Toxic shame from your religious background, including around sexual desire and pleasure
Feeling unworthy and never feeling good enough after years of conditioning about your flawed sinful nature
Establishing heart-centered values that are true-to-you rather than the values your religion decided for you
Still being secretly a little afraid of going to hell
Trusting yourself and finding a sense of safety in your body after learning for so long that only god can be trusted
Establishing spiritual connection that’s right for you outside of religion
Getting comfortable with uncertainty and the “not knowing” nature of life without the certainties religion offers,
The Religious Trauma Workbook is for you. It’s a 110-page digital workbook full of prompts, reflections, meditations, rituals, and somatic exercises to help you deprogram, heal, and reclaim.
“Months before I bought the workbook, while working with my therapist we noticed that I was very uncomfortable with religion. When I realized religious trauma was a thing and that it was what I was dealing with, I knew I wanted to heal. The prompts in the workbook really helped me reflect and express how I feel about my experiences. The personal messages in the book also helped me feel validated for my feelings towards the church and religion. I don’t usually let myself write my feelings out of fear and insecurity and the workbook gave me the opportunity to do that. ”
This workbook is intended to help you reclaim your autonomy over your body and your life - autonomy that was taken from you without your consent by dogmatic religion.
It will support you in:
Accessing a sense of safety in your body
Grieving and processing your experiences with religion
Welcoming home the parts of yourself that dogmatic religion asked you to sacrifice - like your wildness, your ambition, your desires, your authentic sexual expression
Unlearning strategies you used to avoid punishments and gain rewards
Deprogramming from hierarchical power structures and deepening self-trust
Unpacking programmed values and beliefs, so you can find and live by your own heart-centered, true-to-you values and beliefs
Reclaiming your body as your own, so you can find more safety in your body and access more pleasure & healthy sexuality
Finding compassion for yourself and deepen your sense of worthiness, so you can be who you are and feel good about it
Reclaiming spiritual connection (if you want to!) outside of dogmatic belief systems
It can help you center yourself and ground yourself outside of what can feel like an all-encompassing experience.
“Eryn has a gentle yet powerful energy about her. I did my first breath work session with her and it was some of the most potent medicine I have ever experienced. She held a space where I felt safe to process through some of my deepest trauma. If you are questioning if you should work with her - let me just say you will not regret it. I am super grateful to have found her work!”
It’s not fair that you had so much stolen from you by dogmatic religion. Maybe you learned mistrust, fear, silence, harmful gender norms, self-betrayal, how you were supposed to be - we all learn different things.
But they didn’t tell you about your inherent goodness, worthiness, and wholeness. They didn’t tell you that you’re not broken, that you are perfect just as you are.
You deserve to return to that place, to find trust and home within you.
If dogmatic religion stole yourself from you, I want you to have yourself back because who you are is wonderful. Unique. Inherently lovable. Endlessly worthy.
And you deserve to heal, to embody yourself, to become yourself, to believe in your worthiness and goodness, to trust yourself and shed layers of shame, programming and guilt so you can be who you are and live life on your terms.
ABOUT THE CREATOR
I’m Eryn, and I grew up in southern Baptist Christianity, what I would now call evangelical. From a young age I learned that I needed to be saved, that my identity was only in god, that my worth was in how well I was able to comply with the rules of religion (including and especially around sexual “purity”), and that my lovability within my family was directly tied to my ability to comply.
I internalized homophobia, sexism, my own unworthiness, and that my body was not my own. I grew up terrified of going to hell, developing some compulsive fear-based tendencies around it.
I’m also a healing artist with training in breathwork, somatics, energy work, trauma-informed care and more. I have been supporting clients in healing for years, as well as working on my own healing which includes religious trauma. This is the workbook I wish I had, but didn’t.
THE EXCHANGE
The exchange for this workbook is $47. This workbook is packed with powerful exercises, and it truly could be a whole course - so I’m really excited to be offering it in this accessible format. If you need more accessible pricing, you are also welcome to use a payment plan here, where you will pay $23.50 per month for 2 months (payment plans cannot be cancelled once initiated).
If you’ve left the religion of your upbringing but find it’s still impacting your ability to be yourself and live life on your terms, this workbook is here to help you reclaim the autonomy that religion took from you. You don’t have to carry the shame, fear, and guilt forever. Explore the workbook below to unpack, deprogram, and heal.
“I was working through my trauma from other angles, and making great progress, but I felt there was something missing in my practices. Once I saw the Religious Trauma Workbook I immediately knew this was a missing piece of my recovery efforts. Despite growing up in a dogmatic religious household that bordered on cult-like, I had never addressed the impact this upbringing had on my development, nor the complexities of experiencing and coping with other traumatic experiences alongside the religious abuse itself.
Although it’s come up many times during my mental health screenings, religious trauma was never a point of interest when I was accessing crisis care or other mental health services. This workbook appeared to fill in a lot of the gaps clinical therapists were unwilling to explore with me.
The biggest shift I have noticed as I work through The Religious Trauma Workbook is my capacity to tolerate other people and cope with social stimulation. Largely due to symptoms around deep shame, I have been unable to establish meaningful connections with many people, including some of those closest to me.
As I work through the book and identify ways to work with my shame, I have noticed that I am better able to connect with other people without feeling like a bad person afterwards. And when those feelings do come up, I have coping skills I can use to work through them.
I spent most of my life completely isolated, even when I was busy and well known in the church, but now I am learning how to reach out and allow others to truly see me. The social aspects of my recovery and development would not be possible without addressing the religious aspects of my trauma, and the Religious Trauma Workbook has been a very effective tool for this purpose.”
FAQS
How do I write in the workbook PDF digitally? You’ll need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Then you can view the workbook digitally and type in it there! You’ll know you can type because you’ll see the fillable boxes have a light blue highlight over them.
I grew up in dogmatic religion, but not Christianity. Is this workbook still for me? My experience with religion is Christianity and I reference that experience throughout this workbook. However, I believe that these tools, reflections, and prompts can benefit anyone with religious trauma, regardless of what religious background they are coming from. So, yes. Throughout the workbook, I invite you to ask yourself, “how does this apply to the religion I’m coming from?” or “how does this apply to my experience?” when I reference my understanding of and experiences within protestant Christianity.
Does this workbook talk about physical abuse within religion? Not specifically, but if that is your experience it will likely come up as you work through the exercises. To give you an idea of the topics, here are the sections: Grounding and Safety, What is Religious Trauma?, Processing Your Experiences with Religion, Conformity and the Sacrificing of Self, Punishments and Rewards, Deprogramming from Hierarchical Power Structures & Trusting The Self, Unpacking Programmed Values & Beliefs, Judgment and Superiority, Healing Binary Thinking & Getting Comfortable with Uncertainty, Working with Grief, Reclaiming the Body, Pleasure and Purity Culture, Compassion, Worthiness, Reclaiming Spiritual Connection, and Resources.
I’m just starting to deconstruct. Is this workbook for me? Yes, this workbook can help you - but please note that this workbook is NOT about deconstruction and is not intended to support you through the deconstruction process.
I’m really happy in my religion. Do I have a problem?! No! If you are deeply fulfilled by current or past religious experiences, awesome. You don’t need this workbook, go be happy :)
Can I gift this workbook to a friend? Absolutely! Just enter their e-mail at checkout, and they will receive the digital link to download it.
How will I receive this workbook? If you choose the pay in full option, you will receive an email from Squarespace with your link to download the workbook. It will expire in 24 hours, so please do download it right away. If you choose a payment plan, you will receive an email from eryn@living-open.com within 2 business days with your workbook PDF attached.
Can I write in the workbook digitally? Yes! The workbook is set up with space for you to type within the workbook. You are also welcome to print it out and write in your physical copy, or use an accompanying journal with the digital version.
Are there refunds? Due to the digital nature of this workbook, there are no refunds.
Can I share this workbook with others? Thanks for asking! Please respect my time, energy, and labor and do not share the full workbook with others. However, you are welcome to talk through it with people in your life and share snippets on Instagram (please tag me @erynj_).
I’m a practitioner who wants to use this workbook with clients. Can I do that? Yes, but please message me for practitioner pricing. If you purchase the workbook on this page at the $47 rate, please do not share it with clients. Thank you!
I want the workbook but I can’t afford it. Can you help? Yes! Please send an email to eryn@living-open.com and we will work out accessible pricing for you.
Do you have more reviews from people who have worked with you? Yes! Check them out here.
Have other questions? Please feel free to email me (eryn@living-open.com) and I’ll get back to you soon.