Today, no one goes through life unscathed by trauma. The difference today, there has been a consciousness shift since the ’90s. We are in an era where information and technology are readily available at a click of a button. We are also in a place where there are many healing methods available.
At times, life pushes to unforeseen directions with little to no preparation or the skills to comprehend what just happened. Everyone has something behind closed doors even though, on social media, life is portrayed as happy, what seems amazing and beautiful. Divorce, a car accident or abuse are not advertised on such platforms. Unless, you are close family or friends, these life experiences are often unknown.
What is trauma?
It is a deep emotional experience that is very distressful as trauma disrupts one’s own internal homeostasis causing a sense of fear, insecurity and helplessness.
Trauma is such an individualistic experience because the same event can be encountered and recalled differently by numerous people, as it depends on personal shutdown mechanisms and life experiences.
Types of trauma
– Acute Trauma is a non-routine, irregular, short experience like an armed robbery, car accident.
– Chronic trauma is consistent incidents experienced such as a life threatening illness or a divorce.
– Complex trauma is a variety of traumatic events over a long period of time. An example is trauma bonding, which is a deep, destructive, emotional relationship in which a person has been broken down by another person to the point that she or he loses the self in many ways.
The conventional perspective
The conventional approach has been well publicised and is a method that has multiple forms of therapy, which may or may not include medication.
There are various approaches to trauma which are:
- One of the common ones focuses on healing the past being psychodynamic.
- Other widely used therapies are Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Dialectic Therapy stemming from the behavioural approach.
- Narrative Therapy and Solution-Based Therapy are examples of Post Modern Social Constructivist approaches.
- Other methods may include humanistic, family systems, existential and
- An important method is integrative, taking a holistic view, using a few of the above-mentioned methods with complementary modalities.
For me, I experienced conventional therapy and was left in circles, circles of victimhood. I left therapy when my own therapist (who had completed one or more of The Journey courses) said to me that, since I attended my own Journey Intensive, she could no longer assist me in my growth as fast as The Journey. I was grateful because she was honest, there was no ego, she put me first and understood her own limitations.
The Journey’s perspective
Trauma is just another emotional barrier. The Journey is not about the labels. We have the tools to reframe perceptions and, at times, unscramble the memory until the trauma is a complete blur, so that the defence mechanisms are reduced and emotions which were not felt previously are accessed.
Some clients require conventional assistance and, as Journey practitioners, we will work together with those therapists. In certain circumstances, The Journey cannot replace conventional treatment and we will support in conjunction with a mental health practitioner.
Somatic trauma
The Journey offers various tools when the body experiences trauma. Also, Brandon Bays, one of the founders, has designed processes for the emotional as well as the physical traumas for issues like cancer, sexual abuse, surgery, bullying, just to name a few. There is the emotional mind-body connection as every disease has an emotional root cause.
Music has an incredibly positive and powerful healing effect. The combination of music and people was an interesting discovery for me. At times, going to a club activates my nerves, which causes distress in my body without being able to access the feelings, memories and or understanding why I get triggered. Other times, Tibetan bowls and gongs sound bath meditations calm my nervous system. It is as though the vibration of music tunes into the frequency of my own body. The nerves would explain its pain in session and release the stored memory. Thereafter, the body was at peace.
My body has become my reference and guides me in many situations from sensing the energy of a room to letting go of a client. I don’t listen to the words, I feel the vibration and embrace whatever message my body sends.
Generational trauma
Generational trauma is the emotional effects, behavioural patterns, beliefs that are passed from one generation to next generation, not necessarily within the family. It can also include a community and even a culture.
A good example is how abuse passes down from one generation to the next and how the children as adults do not understand or are even aware why the cycle of abuse happens within relationships.
This year, in my own healing journey, I have been clearing patterns of consciousness that are not mine. The mentor cut the generational cord and out of the blue, members of the family tree going back a few generations would come down to the campfire. The lineage spoke of their pain of feeling unloved and forgiveness took place with every soul who came to the campfire. This process gave me insight why I had attracted people who can’t love others and the unloveability within myself.
Past lives
Sometimes, unfinished business is brought into this life to complete the karma and or find closure with a specific issue, lesson or soul.
I recognise my family in this life from past lives. For many years, I struggled forgiving a member. Forgiveness set me free when I accepted the limitations of that soul from that life to this lifetime. At the end, two souls were set free from both lifetimes.
Technology and AI
We are living in the technological revolution where cloud-based software systems are available and AI can compose a website, notes from a Zoom meeting or even lesson plan. Efficiency, speed and productivity are increased. My issue has come when I recently discovered that people are also using AI to understand other people’s reactions and create a response based on the advice of AI, replacing human contact and healing.
During the ’90s we did not have enough tools and technology. Today, we have an abundance which may not be used with balance. Sometimes, this may be to the opposite extreme as technology cannot replace the human touch.
In closing, The Journey is a wonderful complementary tool in healing trauma with many methods within of itself and is great with many modalities. There is no judgment in whatever method an individual chooses to heal. It is more about holding the space and being a vessel wherever a person holds and goes within.
