Modality: Trauma Release

What is Trauma?

Back in 2010 I had an odd experience in a class which I later came to understand created a trauma. From the outside, it didn't look like much of anything had happened. In fact, I had a hard time convincing anyone anything had happened. Partly I didn't even know what had happened. All I knew was there was searing pain after someone continued to 'relax my arm' against my protestations, and then there was this odd denial that I had been hurt. Which I had. Both arms were temporarily paralyzed. But, and this is where the trauma happens, I pulled myself together and marshaled on as if I was okay. The pain subsided somewhat and I seemed to be okay.

I reported this to the organizer of the class but she felt there was nothing to be gained by reporting it to anyone or explaining to the other student how she had not done the technique correctly. The teacher blew me off.

Half a year later, I woke up with a frozen shoulder. Only the day before I was doing yoga. (And, in a cosmic ha-ha, the day my shoulder froze was my fiftieth birthday!)

I knew it was related to the incident in class, but the organizer wouldn't hear of it. The person who 'relaxed my shoulder' perhaps has never known about this as the organizer felt it was unimportant. I did attempt to get some kind of resolution but the organization basically circled the wagons and reprimanded the teacher but left me on my own.

A very kind soul some months later listened to my story, listened to what happened to me, and somewhat ponderingly said "I think you suffered a trauma." Big question mark for me!

To be honest, I didn't believe her. It didn't seem like a trauma to me. It didn't have the hallmarks of what I thought trauma was. It was all very quiet with the other student even coo-ing, 'just relax' even as I was saying 'please stop.' How was this traumatic?

The kind soul sent me materials and suggested I read 'Waking the Tiger.' Thus began a long study. Dots began to connect.

....

In 10 words or less, 'Waking the Tiger' suggests that releasing Trauma can be done by rewriting the outcome of the event which resulted in trauma. If you were attacked, you can re-write an ending where you get away or you successfully fight back. The 're-write' part is a bit glossed over here.

I had seen this occur spontaneously while channeling Reiki for folks. While I was channeling the Reiki, they would go back to the situation and create a different outcome which allowed for them to be safe. And in the clip below the lady is under hypnosis.

....

Somewhere along the line I discovered the polar bear information -- this was a God send! I think I actually saw it on t.v.

I have been through this a few times. Not with people, but with physical accidents. I realized that in order to keep the damage from settling into my body, shaking was necessary.

It is a little bit violent, to be honest. It feels like your teeth and your eyeballs will come out. But it is swift and clean, too.

I began using a shakeout to prime the pump when I felt I was hanging onto feelings that needed to get out.

A Cool clip by Dr. Peter Levine

"What if the traumatic event wasn't the cause of trauma? It's time to rethink trauma by looking to the body's memory of the event, not the mind's interpretation of the story. In this short video, Peter Levine explains how the body holds the energy of trauma and why we can't begin to process the emotional suffering until we first resolve trauma on the physiological level. "

My thoughts

So yes, here's what I think nowadays.

Trauma occurs when you have to stifle your expression -- such as fight/flight reflexes, in order to survive. It doesn't have to be a big thing. It can be a quiet thing. It can be as simple as having to bite your tongue when you work for a verbally abusive boss. It could be not being able to run away from parents who are overly harsh.

The trauma occurs when the very thing you would need to survive, to express your needs, to fight, to flee, has somehow become linked with not being able to survive. It's like you reached for the life vest and got electrocuted, so you learned not to reach for the life vest. Whatever the life vest is symbolically for you. If you talk back to your boss, you could get fired and end up on the street. You've basically learned help is not available and trying to get could cost you dearly. What should be there to save you is now the thing that could literally or figuratively kill you.

And the effects of trauma sit in you until you get it out. And it causes damage while it's sitting there. You can become triggered and behave irrationally while it's in there.

In class, I was, on the surface, concerned about the other student feeling bad. Or looking bad. But underneath, there was another message of 'do not show pain or weakness.' This is because of the environment I grew up in. And there was also a message of 'do not disagree with the authority.' When they say trauma starts in childhood, that is what they mean. There is an edict in the psyche from childhood that conflates 'do not show pain or weakness and you will survive.' 'Do not disagree with authority and you will survive.'

As Dr. Gabor Maté mentions in his talks 'When the Body Says No,' the young child already knows whether someone is coming to help them. And, I would add, in some situations, the young child already knows it will get worse if they cry out. As bad as it is, keeping quiet is better.

The cruelty of the earlier message is that the exact thing you need to do has become tied with ending your life. This happened at a very early age and is very often not consciously known to be running in the subconscious.

I was in a class several years ago and the teacher said 'Any time someone disagrees with you and they dig in their heels and it gets heated, you have tapped into their survival instinct.' At the time I thought that was totally over the top. Now I realize it isn't. It could be what the discussion is about or it could simply be that losing or winning an argument is muddled with survival.

Any time we need to express distress or anger and we can't we run the risk of incurring trauma.

Examples & How to Release it?

Pretty much, it's the shakes.

If you are just now in a situation, you allow yourself to shake. It's not pretty. It's not mannered. It's not socially acceptable. Just remember, none of that is nearly as important as your well-being.

If it's been a little while, you can start the shaking with a shakeout -- which is a general tension release exercise that I've found is very helpful to 'physically' processing emotions.

If you know someone who can get you into a safe place, you can also do that.

I have also had some success using tapping. (Which -- heed the cautions!)

The Polar Bear

This is an example of how nature intended us to prevent trauma from lodging in our bodies.

Tremoring

no idea when this came about! It wasn't around 10 years ago, but could be good.

https://traumaprevention.com/what-is-tre/

An Example from Dr Peta Stapleton

An Example from Dr Peter Levine

Searches on Dr. Peter Levine and Dr. Gabor Maté can turn up some really lovely clips.

In Conclusion

This isn't one of those, 'how great was that?!' kind of topics but hopefully it is very useful.

There is a form of parenting which has been quite popular which pretty much puts young children in a position of never being able to disagree, run away, or fight back. If you had parenting like that, you may wish to pursue this topic more fully with qualified professionals.

Releasing our past traumas is very freeing. Knowing what to do in the future allows you to take steps sooner rather than later.

Also, anymore, there is a lot in the news which is very triggering. Hopefully this can help with that as well.

All the best,

Lynn

Reiki Master since 1997
Certified Resonance Repatterning Practitioner since 1997

originally written 07/29/19

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