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Joseph Callender, September 23 2024

Reclaiming Power from Trauma

Understanding PTSD

PTSD symptoms often overlap with anxiety and depression, and sufferers may experience intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their trauma long after the event; which affects our relationships and overall well-being.

Common Symptoms include:

Interestingly, trauma can also occur indirectly. We can develop PTSD simply by hearing about a loved one's traumatic experience. First responders, social workers, military personnel, and other professionals exposed to violence and disturbing situations are especially prone to second hand situations that cause PTSD. 

Inherited Emotional Patterns

Ancestral trauma is the idea that emotional wounds can be passed down through generations, encoded within our DNA. This perspective suggests that PTSD may not always stem from personal experiences but can also result from the accumulated traumas of our ancestors, such as war, displacement, or abuse.

Trauma that persists for over seven generations becomes pathological, influencing our psychological and emotional frameworks. This inherited trauma sensitises us to similar events in our own lives, making us more vulnerable to post-traumatic stress reactions.

For instance, if our ancestors endured war or severe abuse, abandonment or betrayal in our own life may trigger a subconscious response that reactivates both present and ancestral traumas.

Additionally, if your mother experiences trauma while pregnant, you as the unborn child may absorb the emotional distress, creating a foundation for PTSD later in life. Thus, PTSD can develop through both direct and indirect exposure to traumatic events.

Trauma Response

We have evolved to create survival strategies that help us navigate traumatic situations. These instincts include the fight-or-flight response, designed to protect our body and mind from collapsing under extreme stress.

However, when trauma is not fully processed, the survival instinct can leave us in a state of emotional suspension—trapped in the past, constantly replaying traumatic experiences, and unable to return to a balanced state.

When we experience stress or trauma, our nervous system releases chemicals like adrenaline to prepare for immediate action. In cases of chronic stress or life-threatening situations, this response can become overactive, leading to long-term emotional and physiological effects. If the trauma isn't processed or released, our body remains in a state of 'hyperarousal', which can contribute to feelings of irritability, anger, or emotional numbness.

Failing to complete the survival cycle can exhaust the body's energy, leaving us feeling emotionally frozen or numb. Over time, this depletion manifests as fatiguemood swings, or a constant need to control situations, all of which can further exacerbate PTSD symptoms.

Spiritual Growth opportunity

Traumatic distress has been linked to a sense of separation from divinity. Individuals with PTSD often grapple with existential questions, struggling to reconcile their traumatic experiences with their belief systems. This disconnect can create feelings of hopelessness, isolation, and disillusionment.

However, PTSD also offers a unique opportunity for spiritual growth. Those who are able to find meaning and purpose in their traumatic experiences are more likely to experience post-traumatic spiritual growth, a process where individuals derive strength, wisdom, and resilience from their suffering.

If we can establish a collaborative relationship with a higher power or the universe, this can help regain a sense of purpose. Meditation and prayer foster emotional healing, encouraging us to see our trauma as part of a bigger spiritual journey.

PTSD often brings survivor guilt, which can be relieved through the process of forgiveness—both of oneself and of those responsible for the trauma. This will align us with a higher spiritual purpose, and help find peace and closure.

Studies have shown that PTSD patients who engage in spiritual practices, like attending worship services, praying, or meditating, are more likely to turn their trauma into an opportunity for spiritual transformation.

Energetic and Emotional Imbalances

TCM understands trauma as a massive disruption in the flow of Qi. When someone experiences trauma, their nervous system and energetic system become disorganised, disrupting the harmonious interplay between Yin and Yang, the body’s natural dualistic energy forces.

Viewed through the lens of the Five Elements, each element is usually associated with specific emotional responses to trauma:

Energetic impacts of Trauma

When traumatic events overwhelm us, they act like a lightning bolt to the body, disrupting the flow of Qi and leading to a breakdown in the natural rise and fall of the nervous system’s rhythm. Trauma leads to extended or overwhelming sympathetic nervous system activation (fight-or-flight), which prevents the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) from soothing and restoring balance.

Our Qi gets massively disorganised if we experience either extended or overwhelming SNS activation. It can be chronic low-grade activation or acute, massive activation. Our PNS loses its capacity to regulate the SNS; yin loses its capacity to soothe and quiet yangyang loses its capacity to activate and enliven yin.

Reciprocity between SNS and PNS is lost. PNS increases in a desperate grasp to ensure survival – resulting in a collapsed, frozen state – with massive SNS arousal underneath it.

This imbalance can manifest as:

Restoring Balance with Qigong

Healing from PTSD requires addressing the body, mind, and spirit. A combination of traditional therapyspiritual practices, and TCM techniques can help restore balance to the nervous system and energetic body.

Qigong addresses the physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of trauma. By restoring the natural flow of Qi, regulating the nervous system, releasing physical and emotional trauma, and promoting inner peace.

How Qigong helps with PTSD:

Written by

Joseph Callender

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