and Spirituality To Heal Trauma
Would you like to create your own frame of safety, compassion and hope?
Let’s identify every component of trauma to help yourself take small yet meaningful steps towards your positive change, by integrating a unique blend of practices from mind and body and spirit to help you improve your life.
We are taking some guidance today from the workbook by Julie Brown Yau, Body Awareness For Trauma.
Why do we freeze in terror ?
Why do we sometimes feel numb and distant especially when something is frightening?
We can recognize enduring an abusive childhood physically,emotionally, possibly through neglect can affect the capacity to mobilize as an adult. In the face of fear we likely felt terrified when our caregivers raged there was no way to flee no way to fight and our system would shift into defensive response of disassociation immobility and shut down this plus overwhelming experiences of terror, anger, and shame negative thoughts believing you are unlovable created a psychological and physiological circuit breaker that could be tripped to any time leading to dissociation.
In our developmental years there was no way to escape and as adults there is still a perception by our body there is nowhere to escape. This level of perception is called neuroception and it detects risk beneath your conscious awareness when faced with a threat.Your body neurocept, the same danger you experienced in your developmental years and had to react similarly. Going to frozen, disconnected, and shut down because you have no power. This is common and trauma neural nets of remembering the past as happening now, especially if something related to the original event is sensed in the moment, understanding that feelings of helplessness are often part of the dissociative state.
Do you ever find yourself feeling hopeless, powerless or frozen in fear when there is no obvious threat and the response you have does not make sense if so you are beginning to sense what may trigger those feelings?
Disassociation is a sacrifice of the unity of the self that emerges from the depths of helplessness, a profoundly distressing experience that may continue to live within you. Whenever you notice you are dissociating or heading into an immobility or shut down response it’s important to begin carefully mobilizing your energy.
Here is an exercise that may help.
Exercise: Beginning to shift out of feeling helpless
These simple actions give your prefrontal cortex, which is your executive functioning, an opportunity to take over and stop a trauma response. You can use them in the midst of any triggering situation to interrupt the response and reconnect to your beautiful body
1. Rub your hands together
2.Move your body in some way, stand up, gently shake your arms and legs, jump up and down. Jiggle your body, you want to get your life force moving
3. Reconnect to your body and notice what you feel after moving
4. Orient to the space around you, Moving your head, neck, and eyes, notice your breath
5. After your first run through trying out the exercise, record what you observe, if you are keeping a journal
Feeling calm today. Keep going.
Exercise credit: The Body Awareness Workbook For Trauma by Julie Brown Yau, PHD