Mindfulness and Trauma

May 28

Mindfulness and trauma: Jeff Emerson

Mindfulness meditation also called vipassana was first introduced by the Buddha 2500 years ago in the Satipatthana Sutta and Mahasatipattana sutta from the Pali cannon.

Mindfulness is a way of self-transportation through self-observation. It is done by paying attention to what is in a non-judgmental and non-attachment way. Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “ paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”

The four main areas of observation are

1. Kaya: The body: mindfulness of breathing, of different movements of the body, observing the repulsive nature of the body (phlegm, pus, blood etc) the five elements of the body, mindfulness of the space the body takes up

2. Vedana: Sensations/feelings. Mindfulness of how feelings are pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Watching the rising and passing of feelings, observing the intensity of feelings

3. Citta: Mind/consciences being aware of mental states and presence and absence of the unwholesome states and the three poisons Lust, Hate, and delusion. Mindful of thoughts and the workings of the mind.

4. Dharma- elements of Buddhist teachings such as the 4 Nobel truths, the seven factors of awaking, the interdependent nature of all things, and patterns of being over time.

For trauma the first three are most important and is used most in the secular approach that is prevalent today. However, the buddha started with Dharma and added vipassana when the student was ready. Without this missing piece mindfulness is just another cure-all, which may be good for some things, but trauma may not be one of them.

In 1979 Jon Kabat-Zin developed a program called Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Developed at the University of Massachusetts. It uses combination of mindfulness meditation, body awareness, and simple yoga postures. Since then mindfulness has taken off and is used in psychotherapy, prisons, schools, and is and has become a huge enterprise. It has been proven to work in a lot of different approaches to better mental and physical health. Mindfulness since then has become its own industry.

The issue with mindfulness meditation and trauma is that we are asking people to be present with what is happening right now in their minds and body but when there has been trauma what is happening right now may be a loop to what happened in the past causing more suffering. The trouble lies often when there is not integration of the trauma in the consciences. There is a dormant energy that lies at the root of trauma, if that energy is not released in one form or another or is not intergraded fully then that energy remains as ghost in the body mind connection. When asked to sit with ourselves and this unresolved energy that is stored in our body comes back out it bypasses the neocortex or rational brain and turns on the amygdala which sends out signals to the rest of the body that there is danger present when in fact that danger was perhaps years ago and the meditator might not know or can recall what danger is setting off this alarm but because we want to survive we have to pay attention to that danger, in the present or past tense. Imagine the confusion in the mind body connection while you are sitting in meditation, which is supposed to be relaxing, calming, and peaceful but all you feel is agitation, and heightened sense of panic. This leaves people thinking that they are different perhaps a little shameful for not being able to sit like others do, and trauma loves shame, trauma and PTSD breeds in the shame environment. Often the sensation of danger is coming through the body via the Vargas nerve which is said to be the longest nerve in the body and connects the body, the gut, organs, and mind together. The Vagus nerve works without intervention sending messages to the nervous system to regulate and communicate needs of the body to the mind. When trauma remains unintegrated stress, hormones continue and sends survival-based energy to the body and the body gets tense and gets ready to fight or flee or shuts down as it tries to find balance.

Cheetah House is a non-profit organization in Providence, Rhode Island started by Willoughby Britton is an organization for people who have had issues with mindfulness meditation. There is an online community.

Ways to work with those with trauma and Mindfulness:

1. Meet the moment and feelings as they arise. Mindfulness meditation ask us to look for and observe feelings and emotions as they come up and not try to block. This allows for elimination of denial and allows one to watch the feelings come and go. However, if you have trauma feelings that you have suppressed for a long time and blocked them with addictive behavior, they can be intense and could feel as if your being consumed and retraumatized. However, if done with discernment feelings that are there weather, we realize them or acknowledge them can be worked out.

2. We can help others learn how to self-regulate. We teach how to stay in the present moment and watch, observe, and be aware of attention, emotion and the body. While doing we observe what is there in the present. So that we are better able to concentrate and hold their attention on these things to better see what is happening in these areas, and allows you to be empowered, to fix yourself.

3. Stay within the Window of Tolerance: In his book Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness David Treleaven writes about the importance of finding the middle way of emotions and Heperarousal and Hypoarousal Hyperarousal would be things like increased sensations, which cause anxiety, emotional reactivity, when your get into a place where your emotions are out of control , intrusive imagery, when your have flashbacks of trauma, Disorganized cognitive process. Feeling out of control. Hypoarousal is when you go into deep depression, relative absence of sensation, numbing of emotion, Disabled cognitive processing, Dissociation. The middle way would be finding a way of sensing that you are becoming Hyper or Hypo and doing something to bring yourself back to the middle ground. To do this may mean during meditation opening the eyes to gaze at what is in the room or perhaps standing, feeling your hands or butt on the chair or cushion, something to bring you back to the present. By doing this and practicing finding the middle way you have the power to work with your emotions while in meditation. It may mean talking to someone and allowing them to bring you back, this is one reason to meditate with others in small informal groups. It is also important to make eye contact with others when you feel yourself slipping out of the middle way. While teaching or attending meditation groups if we see someone who muscle tone is slack or tense, who sweat excessively, or are going pale, and disengaged we can take them aside and talk to them what is going on.

4. Teach how to shift attention in meditation, If you’re seeing yourself going in a dark place or getting hyper or Hypo aroused shifting attention on purpose is a wonderful way of staying in a safe place. We can shift attention to our body, the sounds in the room, the breath what ever we can to go into another direction if need be.

Space element and Spring -Jeff Emerson

It is the spring time which means we re entering the space element time of the season. The spring time represents the space element as we open to create space to allow for new growth to happen. We can see the earth opening and letting new growth coming out. We can see the air becoming lighter and the sunsets softer.

Each Season of the year represent a different element. Not that the other elements are not present during these times it is just that one element is most dominate. Of course, during the spring, we have the water element present, especially early spring when the water is working its way through from the last season, the winter time is the water element time of the year. We have the air element present in the spring which is always present when there is change but the air element is dominant in the fall season. The Earth element is also in the spring with the mother opening, with the earth season being the harvest time of the year when we take out of the earth the abundance of fruits and vegetables. Then finally we also have the fire element in the spring as the weather becomes warmer, and the sun brighter. However, the element that is dominate in the spring is the space element. The other elements are supporting the space element, allowing the space element to fully expand to its fullest expression.

All the elements play out in nature but also in our bodies, mind, and spirit. In our bodies the space element is present in the space between muscle and bones, the space that is in our lungs and stomach, and the space that is our makeup. Scientist and the Rishes have said that we are 99.9999% empty space. Think of the empty space that atoms are. Our mind and conscience are space as it holds all our thoughts, memories, and karmas, of not just this life but previous lives.in our spirit we can be light and open expressing the space element or we can be closed and not having room for anything new. The term openminded is referring to the space element, as we know open mindness is one of the three big principles we need for recovery.

Our liver and gall bladders are the organs of the space element. The liver is the largest organ in the body, it takes up the most space. It is considered the Yin organ in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The yin organs are the most important, and the liver is that for the body as it cleanses the blood, stores energy, and eliminates toxins. When our space element is not balanced, we may experience anger issues, which is said to be a liver issue. The Gall bladder which is the yang organ for the space element stores and intensifies the bile that was created in the liver and pumps it into the body and bowel as needed. It has the role of the wise decision maker in TCM. It has been said that those who have their Gall bladders removed have a harder time making decisions.

The sense organs of the space element is the ears as what we are hearing is the breaking of space or the vibration that moves through space. The organ of action for the space element is the mouth as we make sound.

With all the elements you can have too much energy or not enough energy for each element at any given time. During the spring time we all naturally have a little more space element but having excess of space element we may become risk takers because we have no boundaries, we may become spacey and not be able to connect with others and become superficial. With too little space energy we feel confined, everything becomes overwhelming, and we can’t take on another thing. This leaves us with stress and anxiety.

Elemental imbalance can be temporary or a long period of time. There are some who deal with element imbalance all their lives. To bring balance back to the space element it is good to be in spacious areas or looking up to the stars on a clear night. Other was would be singing or chanting devotional mantra. Cleaning out your closet or office is another way of connecting with the space element. As we get rid of clutter, we create space. This is why we do spring cleaning, we can also do a cleanse in the spring to make space in our digestive system.

Yoga poses that support the space element is twist as they squeeze the live and gall bladder and create space that way. Other space supporting yoga poses would be any where you spread open and take space.

Meditation for the space element would be zen type meditation where you rest in emptiness, or vedantic as you move toward the atman and connect to the greater space of inter connection and oneness.

Space element and Spring -Jeff Emerson

Trauma Addiction and Identification

Trauma and addiction both lie in the shadows. They severely impact people’s lives yet are not spoken of, out of shame, doubt, of being seen by others as being weak or not normal. Both issues people expect you to be quiet about them and deal with it yourselves. Often trauma is caused by others who count on or demand your silence. People who are addicted see the addiction as the cure not the problem, those around addicted people are often in denial of the disease and just hope that things will change on their own. People around addicted or traumatized people often join in and make up stories or live with a veil of denial which helps further isolate the person with the issues and deepen the secret and hidden nature of the issues.

Fortunately, both are now beginning to be seen as medical conditions and are just important to diagnose and treat as diabetes, or cancer. Seeing these issues as a medical condition allows people to talk about what is going on and removes some of the stigma as the trauma or addiction as a personal failure.

There are many degrees of trauma and addiction. The trauma of seeing a fight or being in an incident of road rage is much different than being abused or having a car crash where someone dies. An addiction to having a glass of wine every night before bed is different than being strung out on Heroin. However, all traumas and addictions have the same elements. The difference may be in severity and time it takes to bring oneself to a state of normalcy.

No matter what the trauma is there are similar issues, many may include a sense of depression, flashbacks or replaying the trauma, difficulty trusting others, fear and feeling unsafe in the present, anger, helplessness, concentration issues, insomnia, paranoia, issues with relationships, shame, guilt, memory issues dissociation.

No matter what or how severe the addiction there are common elements, which include loss of control, impulsiveness, confusion, lack of focus, dishonesty, feeling of hopelessness. Could bring paranoia, depression, a disconnect from reality

Often trauma and addiction are intertwined. There are times people self-medicate due to trauma and this habit becomes addiction if one is prone to that. Other times one can be under control of addiction and the things that you must do to keep the addiction active becomes traumatic. Then you may have to self-medicate the trauma you experienced with more addiction.

Some have trauma that leads them toward addiction to escape the feelings and memories of the traumatic event, many people just have addiction but while in active use of what ever form the addiction plays out, there are traumatic things that happen. The latter the 12 step programs are good for. We stop the addictive behavior and then we often find identification with others who have had similar or worst experiences. Those who have had a trauma which then lead them toward addictive behavior is more complicated. Then we stop the addictive behavior and you have no escape from the nightmare feelings and memories. Although they may find some identification in the rooms of recovery to some extent it really is not as effective as the other group in that eventually we have to go home and meet those feelings head on or dealing with triggers that we ourselves may not understand.

Often, we perceive ourselves as damaged and different with both trauma and addiction. Our perception of ourselves changes and we feel that we are perceived by others a certain way and we begin to feel that we are stuck in that perception. We feel that we are stigmatized, and others can see our damage, so we begin to live our lives according to that image. This image takes time to become and takes time to change back again to who we really are, not because of an addiction or a trauma. Just as when we seen and became to believe that we are damaged we must begin to see ourselves as whole and healthy. This is key to the recovery process to lose that identification with who we perceive that we are and how we think others perceive us to be.

This is where yoga program, the 12 step fellowships, and other groups are essential. When we join a group and do what the group does, we begin to assimilate into that group. We begin to perceive ourselves different as others begin to see us become part of that group. One of the goals of True Freedom Recovery Yoga is to provide a loving space where we take everyone where they are and give them room for them to begin to perceive life different, find a place that the healing process can occur naturally, and give identification in the process.

Of course our issues are in our tissues so often times there is tears when people are in different asanas, but since this is a center that is accustomed to that and do not make a big deal of it people feel safe to explore the sensations in their body. By doing asana the body changes, the outlook changes, and the perception changes.

Another key reason why centers such as True Freedom Recovery Yoga is helpful is how it can work the person in their body, mind, and spirit. Some of the asana’s are challenging which brings the person into the present moment. The present moment the trauma and addiction do not have control, in the present moment everything is ok. So perhaps it is just for a few minutes or perhaps the whole hour the person suffering oversees their thoughts and feelings, only because they must be. Often time people come out of savasnaha or corpse pose at the end saying that it was the only time the whole week that they felt at peace and whole.

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