About 10 months ago I started Primal Trust to continue my recovery from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Chronic Lyme Disease. At this point I had been doing DNRS for almost 12 months and had seen amazing progress. Primal Trust is a brain-retraining and somatic healing program targeted at healing chronic health conditions.

After working through DNRS and learning about nervous system regulation for chronic illness recovery I am incredibly supportive of brain retraining programs (read my review of DNRS here). My incredible experience healing with brain retraining has made me a huge advocate for nervous system regulation as a way to heal complex, chronic conditions, and also as a way of living a happier, balanced and more grounded life. DNRS and Primal Trust utilise similar underlying principles to achieve the same outcome with different approaches. I believe the trick is to find a program that resonates with you, as this will inspire you to do the work required to achieve recovery. Primal Trust is an incredible program and I wholeheartedly believe that if it resonates with you, and you are able to stick to the program, full recovery is possible.

In this post I share my thoughts on the program, and review parts of the program that may influence whether it resonates with you or not.

Why Did I Start Primal Trust?

I had heard of Primal Trust before I started DNRS, a patient whose recovery story was the inspiration for me to take nervous system healing seriously described how she had started with DNRS, then worked through Primal Trust after about 12 months. She described it as a more spiritual program and that she enjoyed this deeper dive after initially grounding with DNRS. After hearing this description I think it became an idea in my mind that I was always going to try Primal Trust around the 12 month mark.

As expected, I started to feel that I was ready for something more after a year of DNRS. At this time I could feel that my brain and body were disconnected. I had incidents occur where there would be a trigger and I would feel totally relaxed in my mind, but my body would react with a stress response. I felt like I needed some more techniques where my body was teaching my brain safety – what Primal Trust call ‘bottom up’ practices. I also wanted to keep my practice fresh and exciting so that I was motivated to keep practicing. I also felt ready for a spiritual deep dive after learning a lot about myself through my DNRS practice.

Pros

Primal Trust is a lovely program, the founder Dr Cathleen King exudes peace, calm and groundedness. Everything she teaches has a very gentle and loving feel. I know some people prefer this softer approach compared to the more regimented nature of other programs.

Level One of Primal Trust is called Regulate and this is packed with tools for calming and grounding the nervous system. It has breathwork, somatic exercises, polyvagal exercises, trauma release techniques and its own version of brain retraining. Adding in these exercises has helped to diversify my practice and keep it exciting, I don’t always do the exact same set of tools everyday and this variety is a great way of keeping myself motivated.

I am working through Level 2 at the moment, this section is more of a spiritual deep dive. Some of the lessons in this section I have loved and found really amazing. It provides a bit more structure for my personal growth, this has allowed me to work through certain behavioural patterns. A lot of these I had been uncovering intuitively with DNRS, but it brings things to mind and discusses them with more depth. Sometimes it’s hard to see deeply ingrained subconscious beliefs until it’s pointed out to me, and Level 2 does that. For example, there is a lot of Parts work, and a recent lesson was talking about acknowledging the part of us that wants to stay sick. I had never thought I had this part, but hearing the examples they talked through I had this realisation that there is a part of me not fully letting go of chronic illness.

Level 2 also has a lot of meditations and brain attunements and there is a big focus on growing what they call your, ‘Adult Main Personality’. I personally just refer to it as my inner essence or true self – but whatever you name it, this is life-changing work. As somebody who lost a lot of confidence and self-love in recent years these have been extremely beneficial. I feel motivated, empowered and more confident and feel like I am really getting to know myself.

There are other programs that may offer this sort of work but because this is all structured around the lens of chronic illness recovery it is very relatable for me. This is probably the most valuable section of the program for me. This has helped me to build my capacity and emotional resilience, which has allowed me to create this blog and its associated social media accounts. Dr Cat often says, “what would you do if you weren’t afraid?” – and her program gives you the tools to work through that fear. I am excited to continue using these meditations and tools to continue my personal growth. The meditations and recordings fill me with a sense of peace, as well as a deep knowing of my own unlimited potential.

Level 2 also teaches how to release and sit with emotions, whilst I benefited immensely from the initial approach taught in DNRS of distracting away from them, now that I have the capacity learning to feel more has been helpful for me. These are tools I will use for the rest of my life!

Coming to this work after a year of brain retraining has been perfect timing as I felt ready to dive deeper. I think if I went straight to Part Two of Primal Trust without the months of groundwork I had already done, it would not be as beneficial as it has been. In saying that, Level Two is a program that many in it have done multiple times, and they say each time they do they uncover different layers of themselves. I definitely think in another 6-12 months I could work through it again and benefit.

I also feel it is important to note that I haven’t consistently made Primal Trust my number 1 priority, and have used it more as a supportive tool alongside my DNRS practice. A lot of others may have a lot more pro’s than me if it’s the only program they have used for nervous system regulation. I wholeheartedly believe that as long as there is consistency and dedication all the benefits I received from DNRS, can be achieved from Primal Trust as well.

Cons

There is A LOT of content in Primal Trust. If I had started with it I would have been incredibly overwhelmed by all the different tools and wouldn’t have done any of it. Especially as I was coming from a freeze state and needed simplicity. It took me over a year of doing brain retraining to build my motivation and energy for new tools. I think coming to it after already doing a lot of regulation work was essential for me. I still get a little overwhelmed by all the content and I think they could simplify and streamline it more.

It is much more expensive. It’s a monthly subscription fee of US$96 per month. You need to do a minimum of 6 months, I also think since it is monthly this may cause people to rush the process and there are a lot of tools that aren’t suitable for those who haven’t spent time regulating their nervous system and building their capacity.

They have extra classes included with the subscription but they rarely fit in with my Australian timezone.

Sometimes I don’t truly resonate with some of the language used and at times the gentler approach isn’t for me. Some of the classes I have attended were very big on nurturing and didn’t resonate with me, as I felt that by doing this I wasn’t redirecting looping patterns and I was giving them too much power. This is just my own experience and I know some people feel the opposite and this approach is a pro for them. For me, the stricter DNRS approach on shutting down false thought patterns revolving around illness was extremely beneficial for me, especially at the start of my recovery. However, of course my thoughts are going to be biased as I started with DNRS and had become accustomed to their approach.

Benefits

Because I have been doing Primal Trust alongside DNRS, it is impossible to say which benefits I am getting from which program, but I will list here some improvements I am experiencing from learning to regulate my nervous system (I also listed a lot more in this post here):

• Fatigue has dramatically improved
• Hormones are rebalancing and my cycles have improved
• Brain fog and neurological symptoms are ceasing, I have a brain that works again!
• Smell sensitivity has disappeared
• Better sleep
• I am more spiritually grounded, and feel more connected to my true self
• Learning to respond and not react in life
• More stillness and peace
• My body and mind feel more connected and less reactive to the world

What does my current practice look like?

I do a blend of DNRS and Primal Trust now (as well as other tools I have come across myself). I still use the DNRS brain retraining rounds most days, and these are the most important part of my nervous system regulation practice, however, most days I do less than one hour. I then have a breath work/meditation routine in my morning, and have added in polyvagal exercises and somatic exercises that I alternate depending on the day. I also alternate between the brain attunements from Primal Trust Level Two and other meditations.

Summary

This is all my own personal experience, and as we know with brain retraining there is no one size fits all approach. Finding what resonates with you is the important part of nervous system regulation, I would recommend listening to some podcasts with Dr Cathleen King, and if her message resonates then you will probably enjoy Primal Trust. Overall, it has been a great addition for me in my healing journey, it has allowed me to dive deeper into my emotions and is supporting my self-development journey.

_{Note: My blog may contain some affiliate links. I will be paid a commission if you use this link to make a purchase at no extra cost to you. I only link to products or programs I have personally used}