Muse

The healing of trauma—caused by sexual, physical or emotional abuse, combat, natural disasters, or crime—can be challenging and complex. It is not uncommon for someone who has been traumatized to develop addictions, personality issues, and difficulty in relationships, thus making the treatment of trauma complicated.

Judith Herman's book Trauma and Recovery marked a turning point in the approach to treating trauma. Herman proposed that therapy that emphasizes catharsis and memory retrieval can be destabilizing and even damaging.

Instead, therapy should first help a client to establish a life that takes care of basic needs: a safe living environment, job, support system, and sobriety. Only when these things are in place should the trauma be addressed specifically and directly.

Many trauma survivors contend with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These include flashbacks, nightmares, dissociation, and alternating cycles of hypervigilance and numbing. 

Trauma becomes registered in the body and energy field in a variety of ways. There are currently many approaches to the treatment of trauma which use energetic or body-based methods that help deactivate the stress response and release body pain associated with the trauma.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Somatic Experiencing are examples of these kinds of treatment approaches.

The chakras and energy field also carry the imprint of trauma. The second chakra, for example, can become torn or "floppy." Trauma can also cause the second chakra to be too open. This creates boundary issues (either too rigid or too undefined), and a tendency to be a sponge for absorbing unwanted energies.  

When a trauma survivor has progressed to a point where she is stable and has the skills for coping with PTSD symptoms, energy healing that is heart and soul-based can be very helpful.

Healing done in alignment with the client's soul will facilitate change in accordance with the soul's collective experience and also have a reparative effect on the chakras and energy field.  

Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind as the journey of healing trauma unfolds: 

1. The treatment of trauma needs to start with the basics: a stable existence that includes a home, a job, and an adequate support system. You should also have good coping skills that include techniques for counteracting PTSD symptoms.
2. If you are working with an energy healer and begin to have unmanageable trauma symptoms, it is really important to back off until you become stabilized. This might mean adding psychotherapy and body-based therapy to your treatment. 
3. Dissociation (disconnecting oneself from painful experience) is a common response to dealing with the difficult emotions and sensations that come up as a result of being traumatized. Make sure your treatment is addressing the issue of grounding. You cannot be both grounded and dissociated. Grounding skills are essential for doing trauma work (see the post Getting Grounded, Staying Grounded).
4. It is tempting (and sometimes unwisely suggested) to dig into your trauma history with a vengeance. More is not better, and in the case of healing trauma, less is more. Allow treatment to unfold slowly enough that you can stay grounded and emotionally stable. Learn the skills to self-soothe so that you can tolerate intense emotion.
5. The most important aspect of healing trauma is working on the relationship with yourself. Gentleness and the cultivation of self-love are at the core of healing.

Trauma lives in the mind, body, and soul. Likewise, healing should be multifaceted. Most people respond best by starting with psychotherapy, then adding body-based treatments like massage, and then turning to addressing the deepest layers of the trauma with energy healing.

Finally, don't take this journey alone. Give yourself the gift of finding a healer/therapist you like and trust. And don't forget to practice loving kindness towards yourself!

Be well,

Rebecca

Rocks and Moss image by Jennifer Hopkins ( http://jenhopkins.com/about/artwork-2/ ) with a Creative Commons license