Recently, I attended a talk on trauma from a Jungian perspective. It illustrated one of the big issues with how trauma has been discussed and treated.
For one, it was mind-centric. More perhaps than Jung himself would have made it. The key role of attention was glossed over and the somatic (body) component wasn’t discussed.
This illustrates how therapists often approach trauma. Talk therapy and related approaches focus on talking it out (the mind). While there is some value in this, it is much less suitable for trauma. Bringing up stories of past trauma can cement their place in our identity and can even re-traumatize. This is not healing.
The key thing to understand is that trauma has two primary aspects: the energetic charge and the somatic impressions.
The mind’s stories are a side effect and will fade when we resolve the energy driving them.
First, we want to develop internal resources so we have a safe space or container in which to process what remains unprocessed.
Then, with a curiosity and neutral attention, we can allow the energy that is arising (as emotion) to be directly experienced and processed on that level, in that safe space. Insights about the experience can arise in the process, but it’s not necessary to go into the mind and memory and relive the past. We just need to process the unresolved parts of the experience.
Often the charge can swell up, then resolve, like washing over us in a wave. However, for bigger stuff, there can be further layers of resistance that have been added. So instead, it will come up several times, each with its own wave.
What I was missing before was the somatic part. In a safe space, one can recognize those old impressions or habit patterns. Not by the mind but by the body: they’re somatic. They don’t resolve in a surge like the charge. Instead, waves of attention smooth them away, just like the tide washes away patterns in the sand.
When done, the narratives fall away and our memories become more neutral. Without a need for resolution, the past will stop coming up. Over time, we’ll be able to be more present and comfortable in the body.
This is what deep healing looks like.
Davidya
The trick is, if we leave the body out of the equation, the samskaras or habit patterns may remain. They can be triggered again, which can revive the energy patterns and mind stuff. If we’ve grown enough to avoid resisting much, they won’t get reestablished but nor will they fully resolve.
Is there anything in the Vedas that can remove trauma…. hymns, chants, pujas, yagyas, mantras etc. Does entering into samadhi renew and refresh the entire being and remove the stress or traumas from the body on up from this or past lives. Seems like this is possible.
Hi Lew
The Vedas themselves were written in a higher age where emotional and survivor triggers were not really a thing. There are healing mantra. However, if samadhi doesn’t get at it, sounds are less likely to help. I see them as supplementary and they may help with safe space.
So yes, samadhi (transcendence) is key. Being washed in being and the deep rest both allow healing. The trick with trauma though is it’s being suppressed to protect us. Often established when we’re very young, this is automatic. So even the deep rest of samadhi may not allow the more deeply defended parts to heal. And the suppression keeps them hidden.
Those traumas may not be all that nasty now. For example, a childhood period of fear of the dark can lay down visions of monsters under the bed or whatever. If the fear was great enough, the ego carefully suppressed it to protect the child. But it can still be protecting us, even though it would now be very straightforward to release that fear. And even though hidden, that fear can be influencing our choices, worldview, etc.
Thus, the trick with some of this is learning to notice being triggered, or to notice a sustained contraction, and to follow the sensation back (General Points)… this can get past the protection and allow the experience to complete. It just needs to be made conscious.
For big ones, we may need to create a sense of safe space so the protective child feels OK to show it’s fears… Or even get help facilitating the process.
It’s worth noting that we’re not going to have a seemly endless supply of traumas the way we’ve had stresses to clear. There’s generally just a few adaptations where we feel we had to protect our child-self. Stuff around fear, rage, self-worth, and perceived survival threats are the kind of things in there.
But for obvious reasons, these need to be resolved to physically embody the Divine. 🙂
I am so happy and grateful to see you exploring and discovering these areas along the path. When I started TM I was a little befuddled at the lack of address to trauma. I was always told to just reduce my time and include asanas. Coming from a Buddhist background where trauma has been addressed significantly for years, I was confused as to how Maharishi could have so much profound knowledge of the body and nervous system and yet so little was being communicated or shared in regards to trauma that I have personally witnessed many struggle with as it has come up. A few of my friends to very unfortunate ends. I think that this information is so very needed and It warms my heart to see you sharing this.
So much gratitude!
TY
Hi TY
It was there in what were called checking, General Points. But it came down to body awareness to help release the big ones. A lot of talk about stress but trauma wasn’t as well understood in those days. More recent research has shown the value of TM for PTSD, because it helps to soothe and create a safe space. Support is still needed to learn how to face the heavy duty stuff though.
And yeah, effortless asanas helps with release, but how big are we talking?
Maharishi didn’t live a life in the world. Though he had a surprisingly good understanding of many things, the depth and prevalence of trauma was not recognized then. But he highlighted Selye’s new research on stress. By the 80’s, he was already focused on Brahman.
What surprises me is it took this long to be obvious for me. Or until I got prodded to look. Like many, I had the idea that trauma was something that happened from life-threatening events which many of us experienced rarely. I hadn’t made the connection that the identity treats threats to it’s self-concept as life threatening, and the body responds accordingly. As a result, trauma is near-ubiquitous. Obvious now that I understand.
Yet, it’s so well protected and hidden that we can live a life oblivious to it, even though it’s influencing just about everything.