Trauma

Lake Natron by Nick Brandt

Trauma is my favourite subject at the moment.

Trauma is the opposite of Tantra.

​Trauma stops time.
It Shocks
Stuns
Horrifies
Freezes

It fragments, and confuses, and causes a shutting down, a retraction of the senses from the environment; a contraction.

It illuminates a disparity between a reality that one believed in, and the cold, harsh truth of reality as it is; something to which one can only be exposed to through direct experience.

In the past, I was very focussed on healing the world through Love, Wholeness, and Expansion. I was just born that way.
Turns out, Tantra is Alien to people of earth. I won't go into it in too much depth, here, but "power-games" rely on a finite source of power, tossed around between two or more.

The Universe, however, is Infinite...

But creatures of comfort don't like anything "too vast" - they feel exposed, and witness their smallness. Tiny warmth dissipates in open spaces...

Anyway - where was I:

Tantra is Living together; Learning together; Witnessing the True, never-before-lived Moment as it unfolds... this is how we weave the strong, rich, and colourful Fabric of Life, that we are all an integral part of.
A Relationship with Life.

Trauma happens alone, on the inside, and one is standing like a statue in a river that wont stop flowing.
Trauma doesn't just go against the grain; it doesn't "go".

Tantra is about consciously relating to the "other", face to face: Present.
Trauma is about a total disregard for another - either through unconscious accidents, things out of our control, selfish behaviours, or deliberate and pathological crimes.

When life keeps moving, trauma cannot.

Trauma rots your life.
Trauma is the Death of Innocence.

Tantra gives life; trauma takes it away.

The forward movement of TIME perpetuates trauma.

If *it* stopped, too, we might have TIME to deal, and time to catch up to ourselves, and what us and our lives have become, now.

Rather than suggest we cannot stop time (such is the modern fascination); *that* is exactly what the shamans of old, did. Time Travel through trauma, to find the light; to illuminate severance ~ they gave you TIME where you thought you had none.

When we speak about the factions of the Human Brain, we can do so either mythically, or psychologically.

If I mention the Reptilian Brain, I'm sure you would have heard of it.

We can dive into these subjects deeper, in the comments...

A journey through the Underworld with a Shaman, eventually leads to:

Rebirth

Unguided, accidental, and psychologically speaking, I guess we're calling it: "Post-Traumatic Growth"

The following article states: "Symptoms instead of Memories."

What this means, is something is actually happening to the body; that the reality of embodiment is not as understood, or as valued as it should be.

Tantra is the Art of Embodiment.

This was originally posted on the hell-place, so, many links are long-dead, and many comments had extra info.
I'll post those, below.

Read: Trauma Survivors have Symptoms - not Memories.

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"Loss of safety: The world becomes a place where anything can happen.
​
Loss of danger cues: How do you know what is dangerous when someone you trust hurts you and this is then your ‘normal?’

Loss of trust: This is especially true if the abuser is a family member or a close family friend.

Shame: Huge, overwhelming, debilitating shame. As a child, even getting an exercise wrong at school can trigger the shame. The child may grow into an adult who cannot bear to be in the wrong because it is such a trigger.

Loss of intimacy: For survivors of sexual abuse, sexual relationships can either become something to avoid or are entered into for approval (since the child learns that sex is a way to get the attention they crave) and the person may be labeled ‘promiscuous.’

Dissociation: Often, to cope with what is happening to the body during the abuse, the child will dissociate (disconnect the consciousness from what is happening). Later, this becomes a coping strategy that is used whenever the survivor feels overwhelmed.

Loss of physical connection to body: Survivors of sexual and physical abuse often have a hard time being in their body. As Bessel van der Kolk says in The Body Keeps the Score, at some level they consider that their body let them down and so turn the volume down on physical sensations. For example, survivors may go for a long time before they realize they need to use the bathroom. This disconnection from the body makes some therapies known to aid trauma recovery, such as yoga, harder for these survivors. Trauma-informed yoga avoids some of the potential triggers and helps participants get back in touch with their bodies. Echo’s Trauma-Informed Yoga training is in November [2016]

Loss of sense of self: One of the roles of the primary caregiver is to help us discover our identity by reflecting who we are back at us. If the abuser was a parent or caregiver, then that sense of self is not well developed and can leave us feeling phony or fake.

Loss of self-worth: Trauma survivors, especially survivors of sexual abuse, can swing between feeling special, with grandiose beliefs about themselves, and feeling dirty and ‘bad.’ Trauma survivors are special – they have a PhD in survival – but this self-aggrandizement is an elaborate defense against the unbearable feeling of being an outcast and unworthy of love.

Re-enactment: Recreating the childhood dynamic expecting the same result but hoping for a different one, such as anticipating and even provoking your partner’s ‘betrayal’ but wanting badly for it to be different this time, and thus resolve your childhood dilemma. This strategy is doomed to failure because the need is in the past and cannot be resolved. Also, you are setting up the other person because you are always waiting for the other shoe to drop and will interpret anything as confirmation that you have been betrayed once more."  Source

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"...And Earth/Matter/Form is the only place we know of where disconnection from the interconnectedness of the Universe is a possibility. Or a choice.
Did I share this on this thread, already?"

Comment:
"...It's the advanced brain that shuts down; it defaults to the "Reptilian Brain", which is survival mode.
Trauma stores in this primal place, and cannot be rationalised away..."

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​Mary-Magdalene & The Age of Virgo

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"What forms does posttraumatic growth take?
Posttraumatic growth tends to occur in five general areas. Sometimes people who must face major life crises develop a sense that new opportunities have emerged from the struggle, opening up possibilities that were not present before.
A second area is a change in relationships with others. Some people experience closer relationships with some specific people, and they can also experience an increased sense of connection to others who suffer.
A third area of possible change is an increased sense of one’s own strength – “if I lived through that, I can face anything”.
A fourth aspect of posttraumatic growth experienced by some people is a greater appreciation for life in general.
The fifth area involves the spiritual or religious domain. Some individuals experience a deepening of their spiritual lives, however, this deepening can also involve a significant change in one’s belief system"Source

​Comment

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Don Juan, the Mexican Yaqui Indian shaman, tells Carlos Castaneda the following:
“We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The Predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don’t do so… I have been beating around the bush all this time, insinuating to you that something is holding us prisoner. Indeed we are held prisoner!
“This was an energetic fact for the sorcerers of ancient Mexico … They took us over because we are food for them, and they squeeze us mercilessly because we are their sustenance. just as we rear chickens in chicken coops, the predators rear us in human coops, humaneros. Therefore, their food is always available to them.”
“No, no, no, no,” [Carlos replies] “This is absurd don Juan. What you’re saying is something monstrous. It simply can’t be true, for sorcerers or for average men, or for anyone.”
“Why not?” don Juan asked calmly. “Why not? Because it infuriates you? … You haven’t heard all the claims yet. I want to appeal to your analytical mind. Think for a moment, and tell me how you would explain the contradictions between the intelligence of man the engineer and the stupidity of his systems of beliefs, or the stupidity of his contradictory behaviour. Sorcerers believe that the predators have given us our systems of belief, our ideas of good and evil, our social mores. They are the ones who set up our hopes and expectations and dreams of success or failure. They have given us covetousness, greed, and cowardice. It is the predators who make us complacent, routinary, and egomaniacal.”
“‘But how can they do this, don Juan? [Carlos] asked, somehow angered further by what [don Juan] was saying. “‘Do they whisper all that in our ears while we are asleep?”
“‘No, they don’t do it that way. That’s idiotic!” don Juan said, smiling. “They are infinitely more efficient and organized than that. In order to keep us obedient and meek and weak, the predators engaged themselves in a stupendous manoeuvre
stupendous, of course, from the point of view of a fighting strategist. A horrendous manoeuvre from the point of view of those who suffer it. They gave us their mind! Do you hear me? The predators give us their mind, which becomes our mind. The predators’ mind is baroque, contradictory, morose, filled with the fear of being discovered any minute now.” Source [Dead Link]

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There is much to study, here.
But if this is confusing... I once read/heard, that *because* our minds are linked, every step toward evolution, tantra, and enlightenment that WE make, any effort we make to change our brain, we also change the predator-mind... just like "The 100th Monkey" theory.
And this is the Tantra; merging and unifying with Universal Opposition.
Any effort you make to heal your schism makes you super-human, and hero.
Read more at the link from Alberto Villoldo.

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Unlike formally recognized PTSD diagnoses, C-PTSD doesn't stem from a singular event, but is instead the result of sustained abuse and powerlessness, from which the victim has little hope of escape.
"C-PTSD occurs when the hyper-vigilance of PTSD is accompanied by a breakdown in the ability to self-regulate," said Julian Ford, a psychology and law professor who heads the Center for Trauma Recovery at the University of Connecticut. "Intense emotions or emotional deadness will overwhelm the person's ability to cope. Mentally, they will suffer lapses in consciousness or in problem solving or judgment. And interpersonally, they will have extreme conflict in or withdraw from relationships." Source

Helpful tip for #PTSD
c/o #JessicaJones and me.

Safe spaces can include home; work; school; a Lover's grave; the beach; the library...
You're in control of this one.
You get to pick.

Adjust this as necessary, to suit your situation and geography; Jessica Jones begins with the street she grew up on, and maps the surrounding area.

I created this to have more structure, with a clear beginning, middle, and an end. This helps rewire the synaptic pathways, so they expand; rather than contract, short-circuit, and lead to neuroses.

I have found this to be a very expansive exercise, that helps to bring you out of a flashback.

#psychology #therapy #CobaltLane #trauma #comics #blues