Breathe. Heal. Draw a Penis: The Unconventional Path to Processing Trauma
Why Drawing Penises is Actually Good for You
If you’re here for solemn breathing exercises or hoping to ohm your way into enlightenment on a Himalayan mountaintop, this probably isn’t the blog for you. But if you’re someone who rolls their eyes at guided meditations, can’t sit still for more than five minutes, and once found inner peace by doodling a willy on the corner of a notebook – welcome.
You’re in the right place.
There’s also science behind why playful (even slightly risqué) doodling can help reset your nervous system and relieve stress.
Emotions Have Their Own Post Codes
Trauma doesn’t always live in our heads. Our bodies store emotions in ways our conscious minds can’t always access. While your prefrontal cortex is busy trying to adult its way through trauma with serious contemplation, your body is screaming for a different approach.
- Your jaw can be holding onto the argument that you never got to finish
- Your shoulders are tense, carrying the responsibility you never asked for
- Your gut knows the truth about that person you just met
- Your chest is storing grief you never got to fully process
Our nervous systems are there to keep us safe. It is constantly scanning for danger. When we’ve been through trauma or chronic stress, it can get stuck in fight-or-flight mode – hyper-aware, tense, anxious, irritated – and ready to bolt at any second. If not treated, our nervous system can shut down to keep us safe. We become dysregulated and struggle to recognise or deal with our emotions. We feel drained. Numb. Burnt out.
In cases of unresolved trauma, the nervous system can remain in a state of awareness/hyperarousal long after the threat has passed. Essentially, this is our brain telling us ‘You need to be ready for anything‘ even when we know that we are safe.
The Body Keeps Score (And Sometimes Needs You to Draw a Penis to Help It Out)
Your nervous system, especially when traumatised, isn’t always logical. It stores emotions and memories throughout your body.
And we’re not always aware of it.
These can all be physical manifestations of trauma in the emotional centre of our brains:
- Being easily overwhelmed
- Trouble sleeping
- Anxiety
- Avoidance
- Depression
- Chronic pain
- Brain fog/trouble focusing on tasks
Traditional talking therapies, such as counselling or psychotherapy, help you to explore your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. They can provide a safe space for self-reflection and understanding and help us begin to heal from past trauma.
But if you don’t want to delve into the past, or you’re not aware of the triggers for why you feel the way you do, counselling can seem a little daunting.
If you found yourself doodling crude anatomical sketches in the corners of the boring presentation you’re in, or drawing a dick on a dirty bonnet makes you giggle, and you felt strangely soothed afterwards?
Congratulations. This is your body self-regulating like a pro.
Your sophisticated brain might not get it, but your body does.
Penises and Your Parasympathetic System – The Science Behind It
Ready for the neuroscience bit? Let’s go.
Our nervous system has two main players:
- Sympathetic – argh, run from that dinosaur! The fight-or-flight mode
- Parasympathetic – Ahh, peace. Calm. (When you watch that show about serial killers on Netflix) Rest-and-digest mode.
Stress and trauma keep us locked in the sympathetic stage, constantly watching for whatever fuckery life throws at us next: we remain tense, alert, and become emotionally exhausted.
Reset breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system which allows you to feel these stored emotions in your body rather than just reflecting on them. And sometimes, what your body needs to release these emotions isn’t dignified or Instagram-worthy.
Doing something humorous or a bit silly, like sketching an anatomically exaggerated doodle, activates your parasympathetic system, coaxing your body out of that never-ending ‘dinosaur alert!’ state.
So yes, your nursery school-level sketching skills of rude body parts could be the ticket to inner calm.
Why Being Silly Works
When was the last time you laughed so hard your stomach hurt? Or lost yourself in a completely pointless activity like a dot-to-dot book? These seemingly trivial experiences are powerful nervous system regulators:
- They interrupt your patterns. Your anxious brain loves to run the same worry circuits over and over. Absurd humour or childish activities create pattern interrupts, taking you out of the daily grind.
- They trigger physiological changes. Laughter changes your breathing pattern, increases oxygen intake, and floods your stressed-out brain with feel-good endorphins.
- They access preverbal healing. Some past trauma may have occurred before you had the words to process it. Nonverbal activities can reach those preverbal parts of your brain.
- They create psychological safety. When you’re doing something that might be perceived as silly, your brain gets the message that you’re safe enough to lower your guard.
All the above activate your parasympathetic nervous system, releasing that stored up emotional and physical tension.
Why Drawing Penises Can Calm You Down (Seriously!)
Taboo images represent freedom from societal expectations. When you engage in something childish or inappropriate like drawing anatomically exaggerated body parts or giggling at a rude word search, you’re bypassing your logical brain’s control centre and speaking directly to your nervous system.
You’re telling your subconscious: You don’t have to keep it all together right now.
It’s a rebellion. A cheeky, joyful one.
Plus, let’s be honest… there’s something inherently funny about genitalia.
Humans have been doing this for centuries – on cave paintings, school desks, and dodgy graffiti. Maybe our ancestors knew something we forgot in the age of curated wellness routines and beige yoga mats.
Laugh Your Way to Calm
The breathing-laughter connection – and why I won’t shut up about it.
When you laugh deeply, you’re automatically engaging in a form of breathwork. You’re:
- Taking in more oxygen
- Stimulating your respiratory system
- Triggering endorphin release
- Relieving your stress response
- Resetting your fight/flight mode
In essence, a good belly laugh is an accidental breathing exercise that bypasses your conscious resistance. It’s breathwork for people who think breathwork is too woo-woo.
There’s also less chanting.
Playful Healing is Powerful Healing
Sometimes, the path to healing isn’t solemn and dignified. Sometimes, it’s messy, silly, and might involve drawings you wouldn’t hang on your fridge. It’s mindful colouring (especially the sweary kind), silly word searches, naughty dot-to-dot puzzles, and snort laughing at inappropriate jokes.
They all share the same goal.
When you do something absurd or amusing, you’re bypassing your brain’s serious circuits and telling your body that it can relax. In essence, you’re tricking your nervous system into thinking: hey, we’re good here. That dinosaur is long gone. Calm down.
Your healing doesn’t have to look Instagram-perfect to be working. Nor is it about achieving some lofty meditative status.
Sometimes the most powerful medicine is the kind that makes you snort-laugh your way to self-awareness and emotional release.
So, whenever your life feels like a never-ending re-run of ‘Being a Serious Adult’, get out of your head and into your body. Create a pattern interrupt.
Let your inner child run riot for five minutes.
Draw that penis.
Want More Cheeky Tools to Help Find Your Calm?
My new book, The Little Book of Breathing, (launching soon) dives deeper into the wonderfully weird ways in which your mind and body can let go of stored stress and trauma. And doesn’t involve hiking to a serene waterfall or take hours to do. These are practical, occasionally risque ways that help you find moments of calm and silliness during your day.
One cheeky sketch at a time.
Who knew breathing (and drawing penises) could feel this good?
Your nervous system and inner child will thank you for it.
Want to know when it’s ready? Sign up below and I’ll be in touch when it’s live on Amazon.