Trauma Training Tip
Our nation is a trauma survivor. We are witnessing increasing arousal and dysregulation in our national discourse. The thawing of generations of thwarted urges to protect and defend that we have witnessed in the arousal on our streets this summer has created significantly more space in our national trauma body. Removing the Confederate Flag from flying freely, changing the names of schools and military bases, and taking down statues glorifying treasonous generals from the Civil War are all great examples of more space, more life, more vitality in our nation.
The reverse is unfortunately also true. The New York Times reported on October 9, 2020 that “Three years ago, the polling firm YouGov asked Americans whether they thought it could ever be justified for their political party to use violence to advance its goals. The overwhelming response was no. Only 8 percent of people said anything other than “never.” This year, YouGov asked the same question — and the share saying that political violence could be somewhat justified roughly doubled. The increase spanned both Democratic and Republican respondents.”
The unwillingness of Mr. Trump to agree to a peaceful transition of power and his inflammatory statements in support of right wing militias and white supremacists are profound expressions of attempts to whip up dysregulation in our nation’s energy body. Our more heart-centered neocortex is being hijacked. Too many Americans are finding ourselves feeling driven into the use of our primitive brain stem to do our thinking instead of our evolutionarily more mature frontal cortex. We can’t think expansively, creatively or tackle complex issues when our brain stem is in charge. We are more likely to react impulsively and be challenged to inhibit anti-social and potentially violent, racist, sexist or anti-semitic impulses.
Our nation needs its healers. The Metal Element belongs to this season. Its organs are the Lung and the Colon. Our Lungs help us to receive the inspiration of the heavens and to invite that inspiration to guide our actions. Our Colon helps us to let go of what no longer serves. When they are in regulation and partnership with each other, we are able to transform old ways of thinking and support more life-giving ones. Together, they serve as a “brake” on hyperarousal in our Wood Element, which is responsible for mobilization of our fight or flight response. We are able to find respect for people who are different from ourselves, instead of being driven into our brain stem and the resulting impulsive anger and anti-social behavior.
We have so much to offer our nation and its citizens to restore regulation and balance and access to our more thoughtful mental capacities. Thank you for your service to the American people – and to a peaceful future.
Alaine’s Two Cents
The burden of CoVid 19 on teachers and students is huge. The American Education Research Association’s Peace Education Special Interest Group is reaching out to support teachers with more understanding of the impact of traumatic stress on learning.
Here’s a registration link for Part II of a Webinar series I am doing for them on The Impact of Trauma on Learning. Registration is free – I hope you’ll join us.
Check This Out!
Tao of Trauma student Kaylie Hopper has initiated the creation of a fabulous organization for the Los Angeles community called Inclusively Well.
Their mission is to create a new model of care that takes both issues of access and finances off the table.
It is essentially an acupuncture sponsorship fund that pays for 6-8 acupuncture treatments with a practitioner in or around Los Angeles. Priority goes to BIPOC, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community. Part of their mission is to make sure that the practitioners are actively working on dismantling their own privilege and learning what inclusivity really means and how to shift their practices to make sure they are creating safe spaces.
Here’s a video where she interviewed me about trauma and healing.
I made a donation – how about joining me?
Clinical Curiosity
Q. I have a client who experienced chronic childhood abuse. She is easily frustrated and triggered to anger. I over-stimulated her with work on her brain stem – resulting in a severe headache a few months ago. She often complains that her heart is in a box and hurts when it beats. I now do brain stem work only after I’ve done some stabilizing in her kidney – and only for brief periods. We did kidney and brain stem yesterday, mostly talk, some tears. I thought she was in a stable place when we closed our session. Then late last night she wrote me that her heart had been skipping beats, pounding and feeling crushed in her chest. She feels consumed by grief and rage. I recommended she call her doctor, and made sure she knew I was available to her. She has so many issues around abandonment and abuse. She’s in her late 40’s, experiencing peri-menopause.
A. You handled this beautifully. She sounds like she has a pretty volatile nervous system – one that could be easily over-whelmed. I’m glad you recommended she see her physician. Her body should move towards regulation, if there isn’t some organic thing underneath it all, so it is important she be evaluated by her internist or perhaps a cardiologist to be sure. She may also want to consult with her gynecologist as the hormonal changes in the peri-menopausal period can be challenging to the heart.
You may be able to get access to the brace in her chest through the system of diaphragms. The diaphragms are the “go to system” for containing very high arousal. They will clamp down when it’s overwhelming to prevent breath and awareness to go through them.
Take a look at Chapter 6 of The Tao of Trauma for a map of the diaphragms and more on the conceptual framework. If there is a brace in either or both the shoulder diaphragm and the respiratory diaphragm, the area between them – containing the heart – may not be able to access an easy flow of Qi.
Another way to look at her situation could be through the special relationship between the Liver and the Heart in Acupuncture and Asian Medicine (AAM). You might want to look at Chapter 8 of The Tao of Trauma. The Heart uses the blood to transmit the command for all organs to respond to an experience of life threat. The message is carried by our pulse, in our blood to every corner of our body – like all the firetrucks speeding out of the station.
Once the threat is over, the Liver has a curious job with regard to any remaining arousal in the blood. First off, it sends the message of success in our mobilization response back up to the Heart via the Liver Blood. Second, while we are sleeping – and especially between 11 pm and 3 am, the Liver “cleanses” the blood – it supports a return to balance and regulation. However, if the blood is overwhelmed by dysregulation or the Liver’s capacity to perform this function has been compromised by previous experiences of threat, it may not be able to restore the blood effectively. This can compromise the Liver’s function to assure the Heart of our successful survival – as well as helping us sleep peacefully, have confidence to take up space in our world, lubricate our joints, and support our mind. We will continue to feel alarmed and anxious if our Liver Blood can’t reassure us.
I would recommend you include work with touching the Liver Blood in your treatment plan and see if greater regulation in the Liver doesn’t help restore regulation in her Heart. You can do this “in person” or “virtually” to great effect. She may also benefit from an herbal consult for energetic support to her Liver, Heart and Blood. Let me know if she would like this and I can refer you.
And just a wee reminder, your regulation is the most important tool you offer her. How are you doing? Are you being kind to yourself?
Glad she’s got you.