Trauma Training Tip
Each of the 5 Elements, when nourished and flexible, offer us what I call critical capacities for living well in community. The Metal both “Awakens Arousal” in the Self-Protective Response, and when it is healthy and flexible, has the capacity to awaken us to new things in our environment with curiosity rather than a sense of threat. We live life in a somatically mindful way that is expansive and enriching. When a new family moves in down the street that speaks a different language or dresses differently, we are curious, and not threatened. Curiosity is parasympathetic.
A key platform supporting the MAGA/Project 2025 project is naming immigrants as ‘animals, criminally insane, rapists, dirty and evil.’ The ability of the MAGA/Project 2025 movement to mobilize Americans on such a platform is deeply troubling. It is a statement of the health of our nation’s Metal Element, and particularly our nation’s Colon. The Colon in Chinese medicine is the last step in the function of the organs of digestion to “sort the pure from the impure.” It sends the last bits of nourishment from the digestive process into use and helps us discard the rest as poop. It helps us “let go” of what is no longer useful.
When the Colon isn’t working well, it gets confused about what is pure and what is impure. Metaphoric “Poop” is coming out of the mouth of the MAGA/Project 2025 political platform. There is little regard for truth, respect, or integrity – features that are exquisitely curated in a healthy Metal Element.
In addition, the Colon, and the whole digestive tract, is lined with our gut biome – which is critical for production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. When the gut biome isn’t healthy, our mental health is at risk. I would say our nation’s mental health is at risk.
In order to ensure a healthy tension in the “creation” cycle described by the 5 Elements, there is also a “control” cycle. The Fire Element controls Metal. Metal needs the warmth of Fire to help make it pliable and flexible. Without healthy Fire, the Metal can be brittle, rigid, and authoritarian – it can’t find curiosity, and it can’t find embodied experiences of kinship – a sense of relationship with people different from ourselves. Such a relationship is critical for a pluralistic democracy with respect for the dignity of all people.
The critical capacity of the Fire is love. Love nourishes Fire – and brings flexibility to the Metal. It controls the negative consequences of a highly disturbed Metal. Please join me in holding the Heart of our nation in yours. Let’s send love and warmth to all American voters and help them make choices in the ballot box that uphold truth, respect, and integrity – and hold accountable any political leader that can’t offer the same for all Americans.
Alaine’s Two Cents
Our Taoist ancestors taught that living in the energy of each season was the way to find health. The emotion associated with the Fall is Grief. We all may find that as yet unprocessed experiences of grief come alive for us in some way in this season.
I invite you to explore the work of Tao of Trauma alum and Clinical Assistant, Tobi Ayé, who says: “The Eurocentric paradigm often focuses on ‘healing’ trauma and fixing individuals, pathologizing and suppressing grief. In contrast, the paradigm I live by invites us to fall and feel into grief, dance with our cracks, and integrate our fragmented parts.”
Tobi is teaching a 13-module series, “COLLECTIVE RESONANCE: THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF GRIEVING TOGETHER.”
She writes: In today’s complex and fast-paced society, the need for understanding and honoring grief has never been more critical. Grief, in its various forms, permeates every aspect of our lives, from personal losses to global crises. Without proper support and understanding, unresolved grief can manifest as emotional distress, physical ailments, and societal unrest.
“Collective Resonance: The Neurobiology of Grieving Together,” is an immersive training program that explores the intricate interplay of neuroscience, cultural sensitivity, and practical skills in grief facilitation. In this transformative journey, participants will delve into the essential principles of navigating grief across diverse contexts, including personal loss, ecological challenges, and societal injustices.
More info here.
Check This Out!
Acupuncturists and other practitioners of vibrational medicine have so much to offer our communities!
When Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, NC, Tao of Trauma student Christina Velderman took the lead in coordinating local acupuncturists to help serve the local community to recover, repair, and restore themselves. The National Acupuncturists Without Borders came right up with training in community disaster relief for all acupuncturists in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia – all at no charge and with continuing education credits!
Acupuncturists are so fortunate to have AWB always ready to help us help our communities. I’ve sent a donation to Christina Velderman’s Ashevillle, North Carolina gofundme page and to Acupuncturists Without Borders.
Won’t you join me?
Clinical Curiosity
Where is your clinical curiosity carrying you?
Send me a question or two and I will explore them with readers in this corner next month.
Q: My patient is in her 80’s. She has pulmonary stenosis, is on constant oxygen and in hospice care. She grew up in Europe and remembers the Nazi occupation vividly. For her, the war never ended, the grief doesn’t fade. She has lived her life as a seeker after spiritual solace. She is unsure and quite troubled about understanding the meaning or purpose of her life. She is a Metal survivor type. How can I help her find peace?
A: Her healing is clearly not about cure, or perhaps even extending her life. Her healing is about coming into a greater capacity for tolerating the imperfections of life – for finding perfection in the midst of an imperfect world. Helping her resolve this deeply spiritual question will help her let go with more ease.
I recommend you work with her mediastinum. It is a membrane that separates the two sides of the chest. It also attaches to the respiratory diaphragm and to the surface of the lungs. It supports both the Heart and the Lungs. While it is thought of as a passive structure in Western Medical texts – it has a deeply spiritual function to hold the relationship between these two sacred organs and is deeply nourishing to a wounded spirit.
You may access the mediastinum on top or at the base of her sternum, or near the center of her upper back. Touch her with spaciousness in your hand. Hold her as if you are holding a precious and fragile piece of crystal. This will require you to be quite anchored and quiet in yourself. I find in most cases that my client and I enter into a deeply transcendent space.
Wishing her a peaceful transition. Thank you for being with her.