Trauma Training Tip
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The ancient Taoists were very clear. Health comes from aligning ourselves with the energy of the 5 seasons. We should use the energy of each season to support our health and expand our wellness.
What does the Winter, the Water Element bring? How should we use it? These times call for us to bring forward the many phases of Water. Water can roar and move with a mighty force, like Niagara Falls or a tsunami. Water can find quiet, restful pauses, like a still pond. Water can always find a crevice to flow through – even when no opening appears. Even in the most dire circumstances, it finds a way. Water can be an essentially invisible but always present vapor. It also freezes solid and preserves itself until its liquid form is needed for the next growing season.
Water gives us the will and capacity to push through obstacles – like how a glacier carves a valley.
Fear is the emotion associated with Winter and the Water Element. Winter is a dangerous time of year. Do we have enough wood stored, enough food from the growing seasons? How long will it last? It teaches us about fear. If we can get quiet enough, it can also teach us about safety. It invites us to go quiet, to go deep, to rest, to pause in order to find wise solutions that might not be immediately visible to life’s more intractable problems.
When we can pause in the face of fear, we can distinguish experiences of danger from experiences of life threat. We know the difference and don’t react impulsively when we feel uncomfortable. We are able to recognize safety as well as fear. We can distinguish necessary from unnecessary fear. We can pause before reacting. Is driving through this neighborhood truly dangerous – or have we been told we should be afraid of this neighborhood to make us unsteady and more easily manipulated?
Our task in these times is to walk towards each other so that ultimately we can walk with each other. Is fear getting in your way? Are you being manipulated to fear when our actual safety is in finding connection?
At its depths, Water is quiet, deep, and dark. It calls us to rest deeply – to hibernate. We restore our vitality to support us through the year in the Winter time. Let go to those afternoon naps and those evenings you are called to bed not long after supper. Enjoy heartier soups and stews. Your stomach wants to receive food “cooked” rather than raw now, so leave the salad bar and go for the soup!
Alaine’s Two Cents
I love this poem. It shares so beautifully the Bones as the corresponding tissue of the Water Element.
Living in a Dangerous Time
anonymous
I think of the bones
Of the unsung rib cage,
The way they protect
The heart. How bone,
Too, is living, how it constantly
Renews and remakes itself,
I think of how ribs engage
With other ribs
To expand, to contact,
And because they do
Their solid work,
They allow the heart to float.
This is what I want to do;
To be a rib in this body
Of our country,
To make a safe space for love,
There is so much now
That needs protection
I want to be that flexible,
That committed to what’s vital,
That unwilling to yield.
Check This Out!
Rest is Resilience!
“In this TEDx Talk, Hilary Rose reveals why rest is a radical act of self-leadership that restores our resilience, creativity, and nervous system. So many of us are exhausted — physically, mentally, and emotionally — yet we’re taught to keep pushing. If you’re overwhelmed or burnt out, this talk offers clarity, relief, and a new path forward rooted in presence and self-trust. Hilary Rose is an IFTA nominated actor, speaker, and podcast host with a passion for storytelling, wellness, and authentic connection. Best known for her role as Mairead in the hit comedy The Young Offenders, Hilary has worked across film, television, and theatre, earning acclaim for her emotionally rich and grounded performances. Off-screen, Hilary is a sought-after speaker who brings her experience in performance and creativity to the corporate stage, delivering TED-style talks that explore topics such as rest, resilience, leadership under pressure, the power of language and creativity. She is also the creator and host of the Live Wild podcast, where she interviews artists, change-makers, and thought leaders about living with purpose and courage in a chaotic world. Hilary’s unique blend of artistic insight, lived experience, and heartfelt curiosity allows her to inspire audiences to rethink the way they approach work, wellness, and creativity.”
Have a watch/listen – see if it gives you some permission to pause and rest.lyer below for more info and to register.
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 a cancer survivor. She’s just completed treatment and the docs say she is “done” – though they will follow her every 6 months. She’s had surgery and chemotherapy and “done” is far from how she feels! She’s exhausted all the time, has lost a bunch of weight and feels pretty whacked. What do you suggest?
A:
So glad she has you!
Her body has gone through surgical trauma – which means she had a necessary anesthesia – or a bio-chemical freeze response to immobilize her and block pain receptors. Good thing – but it comes with consequences. While she was in this immobilization response, she experienced a sharp blade and disturbance of organs and tissues. Her body felt like it was being mauled by a saber-tooth tiger! She wanted to fight or flee – but was immobilized. That urge to protect and defend remains in her tissues and her autonomic nervous system needs some support to move it out.
She has also experienced the powerful chemotherapy drugs which likely saved her life – and also carry a burden on her immune system and every cell that divides quickly – specifically those that line her digestive tract. No wonder she feels “whacked.” Her fluid system was impacted as was her metabolic and immune systems.
She will benefit greatly from the kidney/adrenal hold and perhaps some touch work on her viscera. The Kidney is the root of all yin and all yang in the body. It is the origin of the signal threat response, which has been on high alert ever since she got her diagnosis.
Bringing your hand gently under her low back to the region of the kidney and invite it to rest in your hand. Hold it as if it is a newborn babe. This will help it and the adrenal gland that sits like a cap on top of the kidney, to sink down and rest. No longer pressed against the diaphragm, it will stop secreting adrenalin and signaling threat. Whew! Exhale. Her whole body can find regulation when it is able to turn down that adrenalin pump.
She may also benefit from a similarly gentle placement of your hand over her digestive organs – her stomach, small or large intestine. Bring an intention of support and presence. This will support her to digest her experience and help her digest nourishment from food, your support — and the love of her friends and family.
Hopefully she will then find some positive messages to harvest from her experience – perhaps about the love and support in her life, the resilience of her body, and something very personal to her about the meaning of life and her purpose in it.
I hope so.