Trauma & Transformation

In this episode, Dr. Sally Adnams Jones and Dr. Jen Peer Rich explore the relationship between trauma and Transformation. 

0:18 Sally says both she and Jen came to studies of transformation because of trauma in their lives, and needed to figure out how to heal it. They both learned as much as they could. Both are here to help alleviate people's suffering. Episode 14 will be about turning the trauma wound into the gift. Episode 13 focuses on a couple of definitions, including Adverse Childhood Experiences, (ACE’s), how adults carry that trauma, and how to heal trauma. Their ideas are drawn from experts like Gabor Mate, Peter Levine, Steven Porges, and Bessel van der Kolk. One of the definitions of trauma is an injury to the nervous system, either from chronic exposure over time, or from a sudden, dramatic incident. If it's early chronic exposure, trauma can affect brain development, as well as the nervous system. If it happens as an adult, you've probably already done a major part of your brain development, but trauma can still damage memory, and also how we experience time. The limbic system, or the emotions, can be split off from the prefrontal cortex, in other words, from our thinking. And so trauma can block transformation, and prevent us over time, from reaching our full potential. We may have some distorted parts to our nervous system, and feeling, thinking and relationships can be negatively affected. Some self development teachers are not interested in your past or your story, and suggest just opening to the present moment. Some people can do that, but most people cannot, because the injury to the nervous system will prevent them from being present. Some gurus continue to act out from shadow that they refuse to look at and that's dangerous. The prefrontal cortex can continue to be brilliant, while the limbic system has an injury. Sally then takes a deeper dive into the ACE’S. She describes these, and explains how they prevent us from being in the present moment, and the long term effects of that. 

16:48 Jen agrees that trauma is an injury to the nervous system. Trauma impedes transformation. Episode 12 talked about what prohibits transformation. And episode 13 goes deeper into one impediment to transformation. It can alter brain development and neuro-chemistry. The good news is that we can also reverse a lot of that damage, and heal ourselves. The podcast takes a developmental view. If you can identify where you're at, on a developmental trajectory through your healing, you can identify the strategies and supports that you need. Thinkers, writers and researchers on trauma believe that the root of the wounding caused by trauma is the loss of safety. Jen discusses how that happens in childhood, and how many of us experience negative behaviours later in life because of that childhood loss of safety. There's a fractal relationship between our inner world and our outer world. She cites Bessel Van der Kolk. She suggests body based techniques to help you feel what's happening in the body, so its a deep inside job. 

Transcript

0:18 Sally says both she and Jen came to studies of transformation because of trauma in their lives, and needed to figure out how to heal it. They both learned as much as they could. Both are here to help alleviate people's suffering. Episode 14 will be about turning the trauma wound into the gift. Episode 13 focuses on a couple of definitions, including Adverse Childhood Experiences, (ACE’s), how adults carry that trauma, and how to heal trauma. Their ideas are drawn from experts like Gabor Mate, Peter Levine, Steven Porges, and Bessel van der Kolk. One of the definitions of trauma is an injury to the nervous system, either from chronic exposure over time, or from a sudden, dramatic incident. If it's early chronic exposure, trauma can affect brain development, as well as the nervous system. If it happens as an adult, you've probably already done a major part of your brain development, but trauma can still damage memory, and also how we experience time. The limbic system, or the emotions, can be split off from the prefrontal cortex, in other words, from our thinking. And so trauma can block transformation, and prevent us over time, from reaching our full potential. We may have some distorted parts to our nervous system, and feeling, thinking and relationships can be negatively affected. Some self development teachers are not interested in your past or your story, and suggest just opening to the present moment. Some people can do that, but most people cannot, because the injury to the nervous system will prevent them from being present. Some gurus continue to act out from shadow that they refuse to look at and that's dangerous. The prefrontal cortex can continue to be brilliant, while the limbic system has an injury. Sally then takes a deeper dive into the ACE’S. She describes these, and explains how they prevent us from being in the present moment, and the long term effects of that. 

16:48 Jen agrees that trauma is an injury to the nervous system. Trauma impedes transformation. Episode 12 talked about what prohibits transformation. And episode 13 goes deeper into one impediment to transformation. It can alter brain development and neuro-chemistry. The good news is that we can also reverse a lot of that damage, and heal ourselves. The podcast takes a developmental view. If you can identify where you're at, on a developmental trajectory through your healing, you can identify the strategies and supports that you need. Thinkers, writers and researchers on trauma believe that the root of the wounding caused by trauma is the loss of safety. Jen discusses how that happens in childhood, and how many of us experience negative behaviours later in life because of that childhood loss of safety. There's a fractal relationship between our inner world and our outer world. She cites Bessel Van der Kolk. She suggests body based techniques to help you feel what's happening in the body, so its a deep inside job. 

24:41   Sally cites Gabor Mate’s work on doctors and their trauma, and mentions that the folks healing us also need healing. Trauma is disconnection, of the limbic system from the prefrontal cortex – we are either triggered or numbed over, conceptualizing our life. We can become rigid. We're also disconnected from our self and our needs. And we're disconnected from others, because we don't have any safety. So part of that healing is reconnection of the nervous system, otherwise we're still living in the past. We need to restore safety. The medical community have little training in emotional trauma, they deal with a physical trauma. Sally then shares a story about her C-section, where the medical community dealt with the physical issue, but not the resulting emotionalconsequence. Trauma can be helped greatly through immediate support, but is made worse through no support, denial, gaslighting or silencing of the story. She describes a trauma to her soul (which might trigger a few listeners) and how that lingers in her nervous system as a way to protect her, even today. 

36:57   Jen discusses medical trauma, including the pandemic, etc and her own complex PTSD (meaning there’s more than one source of trauma). Like medical doctors, we can become completely disassociated from people when we’re relentlessly expected to perform at a particular level. We don't live in a world that is very forgiving, and it doesn't encourage us to slow down. We're just expected to keep up the pace. Many have chronic illnesses and autoimmune diseases from stress. Constant physical pain is also a source of trauma. Its important to be intentional about befriending our bodies and not having an antagonistic relationship with ourselves. Jen describes how pain changes our brain and stress hormones. So we need functional tools in our toolbox, so that we can be in a healthy, relationship with whatever we're experiencing. When we do the work, it works. 

43:08  Sally says many listeners will have experienced medical trauma, or gendered trauma, from just being a woman or a man, or racial trauma, just from having a different colored skin from being white, or even economic trauma. Some have intersecting traumas and are not even aware of it. Establishing security and safety is number one, so we can learn how to regulate our nervous system. Learning to breathe, meditation and practice yoga are amongst the best ways to learn how to calm the central nervous system again, embodied somatic practices, therapeutic practices, and learning how to find the voice, the story, and share that with a sympathetic listener, one who's really listening, who's really present. Because when trauma happens, people are really absent from you, and then you become absent from yourself. We call the retelling of the story narrative medicine. It's a way we can heal ourselves. Or by creating visual images, because a lot of our trauma can be pre-verbal. Sometimes there are literally ‘no words’ for what happened. Learning how to find our happy chemicals also helps in healing -  dopamine, oxytocin, endorphins, and serotonin. How we generate neurotransmitters is super important -  to find our pleasure again after pain is critical, because the adrenal system is out of whack. Cortisol, adrenaline are triggering. Creating Happy Habits - regular food, regular sleep, regular exercise, balancing the circadian rhythm, so that our bodies feel soothed and held, by regularity, and trusted rhythms. We can really only meet our potential once our body is in harmony, again. It starts from the body. In his book “when the body says no.” Gabor Mate talks about the seven A's - acceptance, awareness, anger, finding our autonomy again, finding healthy attachments, asserting our story, and affirming our value. Learning how to co-regulate with the people we care about, because we live in a field of resonance is important. Being present with each other's pain. Learning how to listen, without fixing or judging. 

48:11   Jen agrees that hearing and witnessing each other's stories helps us heal on a deeper level. Jen emphasises the importance of tools in our toolbox, that help us in our development and healing, such as mindfulness, meditation, breathing, music, art, writing, grounding and relaxation exercises, tools that we can use, that help us manage our stress and our triggers. These tools help us become conscious, so we can provide those happiness chemicals, and bring our bodies and minds what they need. We give ourselves the medicine we need. Jen describes how her wife has helped her in healing her own trauma. She saw the best in Jen before Jen saw the best in herself. We heal in relationships, not in isolation. Self-awareness has to be mixed with the relational wisdom that allows for the support we need. Healing happens in our personal lives, in our relationships, in our communities, with our companion animals, support groups, with our beloved friends, or soul pod, to be witnessed, like with Sally’s story in this episode.We have to learn to love and care for ourselves, from the inside out, we have to be intentional about it. If we felt unsafe in the world, because of trauma, either as children or as adults, then we've got to give ourselves the love and attention we need, from the inside out. We have to build that field of safety within ourselves, so that we can feel safe when we move with the movement of transformation. Jen cites Bessel Vander Kolk’s book, The Body Keeps the Score. We've got to return to our bodies, be gentle, kind, loving, compassionate and patient with ourselves, especially with our shadows, when our wounds come to the surface, for light. They arise up through that built field of safety. So if we're going to heal our deepest wounds, we have to feel safe within, first. We have to create what's called a trauma-informed lifestyle. There is PTSD - post traumatic stress, but there's also PTG -post traumatic growth. And we all have that opportunity and potential to grow inside. Healing is our natural gift. Next time, Episode 14 is about honouring the wound, and Jen and Sally will go deeper on a more existential, spiritual level, on how we can take the wound and turn it into the gift. Jen then thanks listeners for their time and attention, and honours anyone who felt triggered by this episode. She hopes the podcast brings something helpful to everyone who has suffered a trauma.