How to heal from trauma
When we experience strong events in our life they build neuro pathways in our brain. We can call them memories if you will. If you have had a traumatic experience, it leaves a strong energetic imprint. It will build a strong neuro pathway. This is what we refer to as PTSD, or even depression, or anxiety.
When something in our environment resonates with the energy signature of that imprint and neuropathway, it will alight, and come to the forefront of your mind. You can also bring it up by thinking about the event, it will cause that neuropathway to light up, and the memory will come up in the mind, when you think about it vividly, you will actually relive the experience like it is really happening.
I think of it like a guitar, have you ever stood next to a guitar and hummed? If not, I will tell you what happens, when you hit a certain note the guitar will start to sing. It is because you resonated the guitar. The energy imprints in your mind are much the same. If something in your environment resonates with a similar energy as the one imprinted in your mind it will cause it to arise. This is what they refer to as PTSD, or anxiety.
Trauma is stored in our brain as a strong neuro pathway. Every time you relive that experience that pathway grows stronger, and stronger. Consider it like watering or fertilizing a plant. It just makes it keep growing, and becomes stronger. So the original trauma may be bad, but every time you re live that experience it become more powerful. Pretty soon it is not just the trauma from the one time, it is all of the times you re-lived it combined, at this point it takes over your life, and you can suffer immensely.
Think of it like a ball of flour add some water and flour and make a ball, that is the original trauma, now every single time you experience the trauma imagine you added more flour to the ball and the ball became bigger and bigger over time.
We can also refer to the traumatic event as seeds. They are seeds that are sown in the garden of our mind. They are sown and they are stored in our subconscious. They go into the subconscious and remain in a dormant state until something causes them to arise. When they arise in the mind we water them, and cause them to grow. When it finally goes back to the subconscious again it is stored as an even bigger seed than before, every time we cause it to arise it becomes a bigger seed. The bigger that seed becomes, the easier it is for that seed to be brought up into the mind from the subconscious. When it becomes bigger and more powerful the slightest thing can cause it to arise.
So that is a basic understanding of how events are stored in our mind. Now the good news is that we have the ability to transform these seeds that exist in our mind, and ease, or heal our trauma or depression what ever it may be. The key is to learn to water new seeds, and to stop watering the seeds in our mind that we do not want to be there.
Now back to the plant analogy, if you have a plant and you water it, and fertilize it, it will grow. But if you stop watering it, it will wither and die. So the key is to start to work on sowing new seeds to be stored in your subconscious. They will be small at first, but the more you work at it, they will grow and become stronger, and then after a time they will arise often, just like the large trauma seeds did before. The trauma seeds will be getting watered less and less, as you progress on your path of healing. After a time the seeds will wither and die. The energies in your mind will be transformed from one type of seed to another. The neuro pathways will weaken after a while, and become smaller and smaller, and eventually they will be near non existent. The new seeds you sow will grow a new neuropathway one that does not bring about suffering in your body and mind.
I will give some simple practices to begin transforming your mind. They seem silly, and like there is no way they can help. But they are truly powerful, and if practiced over time will create wonderful positive seeds in your heart, and mind. Don’t discount the power of simple thought.
At first you may not be able to just stop thinking about the trauma experiences, but as time goes by it will get easier. Once you are beyond it don’t purposefully think on the trauma or talk about it, as it will water that dormant seed again and it will begin to grow again.
Pracitces for healing
Breathing in and out say these lines to yourself in your mind You can shorten each one down to one word once you know the practice.
Breathing in I know I am breathing in,
breathing out I know I am breathing out
Breathing in my breath grows deep,
breathing out my breath grows slow
Breathing in I feel calm,
Breathing out I feel ease
Breathing in I smile,
Breathing out release
Breathing in I know this is the present moment,
Breathing out I know this is a wonderful moment.
These can be shortened to one word
In, out
Deep, slow
Calm, ease
Smile, release
Present moment, wonderful moment
Practie number two
Breathing in I see myself as a mountain
Breathing out I feel solid
Breathing in I see myself as a flower
Breathing out I feel fresh
Breathing in I see myself as still waters
Breathing out I reflect things as they truly are
Breathing in I see myself as space
Breathing out I feel free.
This practice is wonderful when we sit solidly and see ourselves as a mountain, we become less moveable. A stong seed gets sown in the garden of our mind that makes our minds stable and solid. Not bound to drag us into the realm of suffering. When we do the flower fresh practice our minds become fresh, and full of beauty. When we become like still waters, and reflect what is truly there, our minds become calm and still, and no longer see things in front of us that are not really there. This practice is so simple, yet so profound, so powerful, and so healing. If you are truly suffering I would say giving it a try cant hurt.
There is another practice that you can do to train your mind, and that is the yes yes, thank you thank you practice. You can try doing some walking back and forth in a room, or on a walking path, and as you breathe in, you say in your mind, yes yes yes, as you breathe out you say thank you thank you thank you. You say these once for every foot step. So if you walk 3 step on your inbreath you say yes 3 times. If you walk 4 steps on your out breath you say thank you 4 times. This is a practice that helps a person to have an appreciation for life, and to say yes to life. It is a really good practice.
There is also the practice of noticing your neuteral emotions. Normally we only tend to notice when we are upset or happy. When we are neuteral we don’t think much of it. But those neuteral moments can be turned into pleasant moments as well. If when you are experiencing a neuteral moment you realize that it is a pleasant moment that is free of suffering, then they will become moments of joy. I like to use the description, if you are laying in bed, and feel cozy, and comfortable, and it just seems like an ordinary neuteral moment. But if you realize that you are laying there free of suffering, and you see what a wonderful thing it is, that moment can be one of soft joy and it will bring equanimity into your heart and sow your seeds of joy in your body and mind.
These practices can greatly help you to rebuild your neuropathways of joy and non suffering. By watering them you can transform the suffering in your body and mind into non suffering. If you practice with enough effort you will find transformation. The old seeds of suffering will get smaller and smaller, and you will be on the path to healing.
I truly hope the best for us all. May those who have suffering, and pain in their hearts, and minds, find some relief, and begin to heal. Life is precious beyond all measure. All beings should have the chance to enjoy the beauty and joy that life can offer.
Here is an old thread I made called If you are ever feeling down, this also is another way you can sow positive seeds in your mind.
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...r-feeling-down
Always make sure you are up on all of your vitamins and minerals it really plays a huge part in our emotional well being.
http://thepoliticalforums.com/thread...iency-epidemic