Clearing traumatic events in our psyche

[Stranger]

I have recently been reading and practicing (on myself, as an experiment) two ways of clearing trauma called "somatic experiencing" and "AEDP".

So far I've found that in just a few minutes, I was able to change my relationship with a particular embarrassing incident from my past, so I thought I would share it with the good folks here.

Here's a brief video of somatic experiencing in practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYkSoxh6cYc
Here's a longer video about somatic experiencing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmJDkzDMllc

I don't recommend starting with anything that could be termed significant trauma without a therapist!  You could end up in an emotional breakdown.  However, as a taste of it with something more like, perhaps, a cringeworthy memory, you can try the following:

1. Recall and focus on the memory, and while doing so notice what your body is feeling in relation to the memory.
[Edit: You can also start with the body - during meditation, identify an uncomfortable sensation in the body, and ask yourself, "what is this?" Then go along with whatever comes into your consciousness without filtering it, and take it from there.]
2. Now focus on that sensation in your body that the memory brings up.  Describe it to yourself.  What does it feel like?
3. While focusing on the sensation in the body, notice what comes up in your mind and describe it to yourself.
4. Imagine if the event had gone differently.  What do you wish you had done instead?  Imagine yourself changing the event, either now as you look back at it, or as yourself back then. Doing something concrete to make the event better. See it play out in detail. Notice and describe to yourself any feelings this brings up in the body.
5. Recall the memory and notice how you feel about it now.  

There are probably other, related aspects that are still bothering you that will come up if you continue the process, but this is the entire basic process in a nutshell.

Again, for anything at all serious, definitely find a SE or other qualified therapist to work with and don't do it alone.

[outerheaven]

Thank you Stranger, simple method but powerful nonetheless!

[anagogy]

Awesome technique Stranger. It is actually one I use frequently in my own personal balancing sessions. It is powerful stuff.

[Stranger]

anagogy, do feel free to elaborate or share any additional techniques that work for you!

[AnthroHeart]

I have general anxiety but no trauma from my life.

[Stranger]

Ok this is getting fascinating! This morning I am walking down the street and noticing that I'm feeling an underlying anger. No reason for it - in fact I'm feeling quite good overall, but there it is.

I ask myself, "what is my body feeling in terms of this anger?"
...and discover that it feels like my shoulders are being pinned down, and I want to get away but can't move. And the anger and frustration come from being unable to do anything about it because they are holding me down. It feels like two guys are holding me down, they are behind me.
...and I ask myself, what is going on here? why am I being pinned down? And realize that what I am experiencing is a particular traumatic/violent event from a past life. I've known about it for years, but didn't know such details.

At this point I recall Peter Levine's notion that trauma often represents incomplete body movements, i.e., body movements we were unable to complete due to the traumatic event; and I also recall that dealing with trauma involves transitioning the body from a frozen state of fear to a state of safety.

So, while still being aware of this scene that I'm experiencing, I begin rotating my shoulders in a circle, moving my arms, saying to myself - "look, you're not pinned down, you're free to move however you want." After about 30 seconds of this, the anger is *gone* and I feel significantly more at peace.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what appears to happen to unprocessed catalyst - i.e., catalyst that is neither acted out upon nor accepted. it stays in our energy body and colors our emotional background in future lifetimes.

All of this was very subtle, inner experiencing/knowing while I was simply walking down the street, enjoying the sunshine. People say that nothing happened in 2012, but it did: the veil is a lot thinner now, and it feels like it's still thinning. It's as if two pictures are overlaid on top of each other. This illusion is becoming more and more transparent, and the reality underneath is starting to show through. But the illusion is very bright and vivid and clear, and the underlying reality is still very very faded, very subtle, just hints of it. And if we don't notice the subtle things in our minds - if we don't become still, and look and listen, notice - it's still very very easy to miss it entirely.

[AnthroHeart]

I will have to confront my mother about being so insulting, berating, and blackmailing me. That's a little tough because she throws a tantrum. But it needs to be done as I'm not her doormat.

[Stranger]

To follow up on this amazing technique - today I cleared the major blockage that had been bothering me all my life, in my solar plexus (actually discovered that, although concentrated there, it reached all the way from just below heart level to just above navel level). Following the same body-focused technique I saw it in my mediation as a pipe opening that was stuffed with sandbags, and as I started to clear the sandbags something inside started saying to me, "don't go there! it's just too much pain -- I don't want to go through so much pain!" But I sent myself and that part of me absolute love, compassion, unconditional acceptance and reassurance - bathed it in love, essentially, and began removing the sandbags one by one. When I got to the bottom of it, I saw a huge torrent of blood gushing up and out, clearing and cleansing the way outpouring blood cleanses and carries away contaminants from a cut on the skin (incidentally, I had never realized that this is a major purpose of why we bleed when injured!).

I cleared out a whole bunch of other smaller blockages while I was at it - via the same process of identifying the blockage in the body, then asking what the emotion was associated with it, and transforming it into absolute love, acceptance and reassurance of self. To cut to the chase, for a long while afterwards I felt so energized and full of warm tingles I could barely concentrate.

This sure is helpful!

Incidentally, this is the type of information that I had in mind when I suggested, some time ago, that we start a subforum where each thread would describe a specific technique one of us has found spiritually beneficial; and others could build on it, adding their own related practices and their effects. That way we would have a concentrated, topically organized database of 4th density tools and skills, proven by our own experience, on a variety of topics - e.g., meditation, healing, crystals, etc. - for the benefit of everyone who may wish to use it. Between all of us here, we have an amazing wealth of experience that I feel is very much worth organizing, mutually validating and sharing!