elixir
/ɪˈlɪksɪə,ɪˈlɪksə/
noun
a magical or medicinal potion
|| The Soma Experience ||
Definition
Causes of trauma
Symptoms
Treatments
Summary
Welcome to my new blog - elixir /ɪˈlɪksɪə,ɪˈlɪksə/ || The Soma Experience ||
We will be exploring life and how it lives through us.
This article discusses the what trauma is, the causes, the various types of trauma, trauma symptoms, and some treatments.
What is trauma?
What is trauma?
What is life?...Notice. Your breath. For a moment…
…and stay with it…
…
…Keep noticing it.
…
Be with it.
The question on trauma is a question about life. Life lives through us, and trauma, which causes a rupture, is one part of it.
Trauma is an event that breaks the banks that holds the river to allow its flow. Trauma is overwhelming, something that happened too fast and too much for our central nervous system to cope with and it breaks our threshold to cope.
But in this trauma there is much to learn and curiosity is the key for recovery and growth. The breath is the first sense of life. We are born with it and it will be our last sense of existence in the body, the vessel of our experiences. We can be curious about this breath and be aware of what happens to it in the circumstances that we find ourselves.
What happens in you now when you pause to focus on yourself for a moment?
Stay with it for a moment.
Notice the aliveness. You survived. The breath will stay with us until our last moment. Without your inhibited instruction. It will take the next breath. The elixir.
“the result of perceiving a situation as a threat and being unable to complete a satisfactory fight, flight, or freeze response...trauma is playing out in the theater of the body””
Our energy becomes dull, without direction or purpose, and unable to sustain life around it. The break in the banks is inter-connected in a chain of mishaps outside of its control. But as the bank breaks a counter-force rises from within that pushes against the force of the breakage. Focus. Notice.
There are many definitions of trauma and I will refer to these in other posts. Each sheds a light on an element of understanding ourselves. But if we fall into what we have been taught that the mind is the knower of all, then we will not only be limited in our knowledge, this knowledge will become skewed with overthinking, repeated thoughts, unresolved questions, and the trauma lives on and becomes revved up.
Causes of trauma
There are several types of trauma, and these can be:
Acute trauma: A single stressful or dangerous event.
Chronic trauma: Repeated and prolonged exposure to highly stressful events such as child abuse, bullying, or domestic violence.
Complex trauma: Exposure to multiple traumatic events.
There can be many causes of trauma, and these can be:
Emotional (psychological) or physical trauma - stemming from abuse
Sexual assault
Childbirth
A disaster - such as a car crash or a natural disaster such as an earthquake
Medical - like a life threatening illness, or a surgery since another person is probing all sorts of instruments into you without seeing you as a human, and being compassionate. This could lead to another trauma of not being seen
Loss of a loved one
Being kidnapped
Terrorism
War
It's not the event that causes the trauma but how we react to the event. Someone may experience bullying but the person may grow from it, while another may find it becomes difficult to feel safe.
What happens if trauma is left untreated?
If trauma is left untreated then the mind and body will be stuck in fight and flight because the threat feels like it still exists. The trauma can manifest in other ways, and what was a temporary state to deal with the immediate circumstance might become a long term trait, and will affect how you relate to yourself and others. Further, the body has to find a way to survive the incomplete fight and flight impulses that continue to live out in the body so it will suppress these intense sensations and this will in turn affect things like sleep, appetite, and the immune system amongst other systems in the body that normally help you thrive.
But we are not broken. Just disconnected. Like the land without the roots of the trees that hold the bank together which keeps a river in its flow. We can re-connect. The land within remembers, and we can nurture the soil to seed the roots of recovery.
Something was also born from the trauma. A counter-force, the spirit that rises to fight through, which we call life and brings with it the celebration of success, to overcome that which was unthinkable. Look around you, much of what we enjoy comes from trauma. Our music or the foods on our plate, contain stories of conflict, love, and resistance.
The signs of trauma
These are some aspects of trauma that may affect us:
Emotional and/or Mental Impacts
- Shock, denial and disbelief
- Anger, irritability and mood swings
- Guilt, shame and self-blame
- Feeling sad or hopeless
- Confusion and difficulty concentrating
- Anxiety and fear
- Withdrawing from others
- Feeling disconnected or numb
- Avoiding people or places you associate with the trauma.
Physical Impacts
- Not being able to sleep and/or experiencing nightmares, night-terrors or sleep paralysis
- Being startled easily
- Racing heartbeat
- Aches and pains
- Fatigue
- Difficulty concentrating
- Edginess and agitation
- Muscle tension
- Flashbacks (reliving the experience)
- Intrusive thoughts or images.
We have the power to transform trauma to joy.
Ways to help with your trauma
There are many things you can do to help heal your trauma, and this is not a comprehensive list:
Ground yourself. Feel the sensation of your feet against the ground, and notice your body weight. This will help move away from the mental thoughts and into your body.
Talk to someone you trust if you feel lonely and isolated. This may be a friend, relative, or a specialist like a therapist.
Listen to the body like focusing on the sensations that bring in and out the breath.
Connect with nature. Become present to the sounds and sights around you in the park, there are many ways that nature can help calm you, and just going for a walk and moving your body will help.
Take therapy. There are many forms of therapy and Somatic Experiencing is one form of a mind and body based therapy. It can help you become aware of the trauma in the body and allow the central nervous system to heal you. There are also other good mind and body based therapies too, such as Compassionate Inquiry developed by Dr Gabor Maté, whose method I also use, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) to name a few.
It’s with a compassionate other that we heal and therapy can be a powerful way to help you.
Awareness - is the Elixir to transformation.
Client Testimonial
“Verinder Sharma is an excellent therapist. His body-centric approach has been a better option for me than traditional talking therapy. To incorporate mind, body, spirit, and emotions in the healing process has taught me to be more introspective and look for answers within. Verinder has helped me identify and release past trauma and in my goal to get my marriage back on track. Through this practice one can find God within oneself. An affirmation that one is sacred, and worthy of self-love and self-respect. Verinder has helped me “release the tiller” and navigate the chaotic ocean of life. Thanks for starting me on this journey.”
Summary
Trauma will affect people at some point in their lives, they may experience symptoms of shock and distress which may appear in different situations, and recovery is possible.
Therapies like Somatic Experiencing and the others mention, and integrating self-care, can help those with trauma symptoms to improve their quality of life.
Book a free consultation call and find out more about online sessions and Somatic Experiencing.
|| The Soma Experience || As we tread through the forest - exploring the inter-connected - inter-being - inter-related - way, that is the elixir of life. Verinder Sharma is a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner (SEP), who was inspired from his healing journey to change his life path, from working in the financial industry to helping others heal from their painful past.
elixir /ɪˈlɪksɪə,ɪˈlɪksə/ || The Soma Experience ||