And these two sentences made me buy it. "It fuses deep scholarship with deep tenderness...." Siddharta Mukherjee and "Trauma does not just happen to a few unlucky people; it is the bedrock of our psychology."
It spoke to me as a healer foremost but also as someone who recognizes to have had trauma. I feel being aware of trauma benefits me as a holistic health professional as well as personally, as a friend, and partner. (Please, note I am not a trauma expert but I do encounter it with many of my clients to a certain degree)
- Do you know what caused stress patterns in your life? Do you take time to allow old small traumas in when they show up in the present and take time to heal? Some time by yourself, a meditation, talk with a friend, time in nature may shed light on it, but more severe challenges may need the attention of professionals.
If you personally suffer what might be PTSD or if you know someone who might be affected by it, please be aware that it needs to be dealt with to avoid lasting impact. Please, take a look at the below links.
An incident late last summer triggered a ripple effect of memories
related to at a series of traumatic incidents in my life (one going back to my teenage years and another one beyond). It led me to the insight that we all most likely carry quite a bit of trauma of varying degrees in us. We may be aware of it or we may not be aware of it.
- What most of us probably acknowledge is that severe illness, being a veteran, being rape survivor, losing a child, and similar most likely will cause trauma and that we benefit from getting help (talk therapy and touch-based work, etc.) so we can resume living productive and happy lives and not get shut down by PTSD.
But how much do we actually pay attention to the less severe traumas that do not necessarily change our daily living in a major way but leave us with PTSD of some kind anyway? These minor traumas may never really come to the surface but may hinder us from getting past destructive patterns that over long periods can have a tremendous impact on quality of life, physical and mental health, relationships.
Lately, the topic trauma has come up in conversations with friends and teachers as well as students. And that is what led me to not hesitate to buy the "The Trauma of Everyday Life." This was the book I needed to read when I picked it up. It resonates with me very well and I have recommended it to other holistic professionals and those mentioning traumas and working on letting go of painful experiences or those who have expressed the need for healing.
I personally have been aware of the bigger traumas in my life for decades and have been working with them intuitively for almost as long I have recognized. As a matter of fact, everything else was almost secondary for many years. The big ones, I seem to have been able to make peace with to some degree.
However, since I started practicing yoga and more so since I have become a holistic health professional, I have realized there were other events in my life that did not seem to leave me traumatized for some reason, when I now feel they should have. Or did they? Did the bigger traumas take the edge off of them? At any rate, I know if something needs to come into consciousness, it will happen and I trust, I will be able to deal with it in a constructive way.
The Bee StingHere is what happened last summer in Central Park:
On a beautiful late summer day right after my morning constitutional (walk with Mowgli and short chi-gong/yoga practice), I found myself stung in my tongue by something hiding in my coffee cup; I jumped and squealed, and spit out the invader which turned out to be a bee and reached into my mouth with dirty hands (from petting Mowgli) and started feverishly scraping my tongue which hurt tremendously.
Bee sting, swelling, air ways closing, struggling to breathe raced through my mind within a second. I kept scratching the tip of my tongue until the stinger fell out, then I allowed myself return to normal with sigh and went on to do just anything "first aid" I could think of which consisted of rubbing the reflexes around my mouth (proximity factor; Dien Cham). Fortunately, there was absolutely no swelling at all. I was back to normal aside from a somewhat weird-feeling on the very tip of my tongue which lasted for about two days and I continued to wonder about how the bee may have gotten into my cup (there was a lid on it.) Once at home I also did some immune system strengthening points to avoid an infection (just in case and because I can so easily work these points.)
- The fear of a tightening throat and possibly closed airways took me back to an incident during my early yoga days (during cobra pose), and then to an incident in my teenage years, and one when I was even younger. Hm, it looked like I could not quite let go off it that easily after all. Even now, as I finalize this post months after it happened, I keep having insights, the latest one being that often when stress starts to build up the first area it manifests itself is often in my throat. Knowing what I do now, it all makes sense.
- By the way, there is a lovely practice to release the throat chakra which I just learned in "Alchemy of the Chakras" with Thomas Amelio (Open Center). It has been a great tool to add to my wellness practice. For best results and because I am interested in all chakras at all times - especially considering Thomas' view - I work all of them, but may spend a bit more time on the one that needs it most at the moment, it entails screaming as loud as you want to;-) if the situation allows it. And yes we all do that sometimes even without knowing about the chakras, in case that sounds strange to you.
- In the meantime, I have learned to manage throat tension very well; it is helpful that I notice it immediately so I can interrupt what I am doing, or take a few nice breaths with longer exhales than inhales.
Being aware of all what I learned about these old traumas prompted by the bee sting has been enriching. I can now look at everything with some curiosity even if it is still causes stress.
Summing Up
- I could let go of the initial panic very quickly (thank you, yoga; the incident was very startling). I was safe after all and Mowgli got a big hug for being the cool, calm, collected Zen Master (one of his nicknames) he so often is and for just being there - pet therapy never fails.
- I went with my instincts and started scraping the area affected which released the stinger; it was best to get it out quickly.
- I went into healer mode pretty quickly
- I continue to love bees, perhaps even more so.
Speaking of BEES:
Bees all around me, but not quite literally unfortunately
- A few months ago, I found out that someone close to me is now on her way to becoming a bee vet. You likely have heard of the bee crisis and it sounds like vets are acting accordingly. She is based in Europe.
- This spring on a beautiful weekend morning I was reminded of the bee sting and R and I were snapping away photos in Central Park which reminded me to re-visit this post in the draft folder. I have not seen bees since, by the way.
- Last year I even wrote a tiny poem after I posted something about the incident on facebook; some of the comments were very funny. One of my friends suggested that bee stings are healing (she seems to know someone who does healing work with bees). I find Facebookers good in cheering one up once they know you are fine. They also cheer you up by sharing the cutest animal videos.
- By the way, I think it was the only bee that I noticed all summer of 2014. Isn't it better to be stung by a bee than not to see one at all all year? ;-). A dose of humor alone can alleviate stress. - R told me that one of his friends from college holds the Guinness Book of World Records in bee beards and was on the David Letterman Show. I had no idea these competitions existed, but I have since done a google search on them - goodness!
Everything in life is in flux, trust that you will get past trauma if you allow yourself to let go. There is a lot of help out there, please do yourself a favor and take advantage of it.
Related links:
http://www.apa.org/topics/ptsd/ptsd-awareness.aspx
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bee-stings/basics/symptoms/con-20034120
Sincerely Yours,
BIRGIT NAGELE, ARCB, LVCYT
www.ban-chi.net
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