Trigger Warning: Trauma Survivors, Sexual Trauma, Somatic Therapy.
In Oregon, where my practice is currently based, there is a culture of ground breaking somatic and emotional therapy options. The use of psychedelics for various psychological and emotional conditions is very prevalent here. Oregon also allows internal pelvic floor manual therapy, which Oregon massage therapists are allowed to do, per licensure. Licensed massage therapists, and those whose licensure allows for manual therapy, are allowed to preform this very sensitive internal body work, even if they have had no formal training in how trauma affects the nervous system. From this practice, to the micro-dosing culture, to the psychedelic assisted talk and somatic therapy sessions, one thing I have noticed is a lack of proper, discerning, conservative evaluation procedure during the client intake process for these therapies. I believe any proper intake and initial client screening process should include an evaluation of the potential levels of resilience within the specific physical nervous system that these practices will be stimulating. As discussed in the previous articles in this series, levels of innate resilience within a nervous system can be affected by fascial, visceral, and neural restrictions within the body. Moreover, exploration of childhood adverse experiences, such as with the well known “Adverse Childhood Experiences” (ACEs) questionnaire, can lead to a reasonable picture of inherent autonomic resilience.
I have had the experience that sometimes clients may seek out trauma informed somatic therapy practices in a way that I would describe as “drug seeking behavior.” Indeed, the highs of dis-regulation that certain somatic therapies may trigger, can become addictive, and a body in trauma or chronic stress will tend to want to stay in that space because it feels safe there on that frequency, especially if trauma and stress is all that the nervous systems has known.
The same neuroendocrine chemicals that are associated with controlled substances can be summoned by somatic therapies that trigger the exploration of traumatic experiences from the past. I've seen women that have had experience with violent sexual assault coming into my practice asking me to provide them with internal pelvic floor manual therapy, on a first treatment, because they have had it before and while it has not resulted in a measurable net positive for their physical or emotional symptoms, they “know” this therapy is what they “need.” One client even got to the point of begging me for this therapy after a couple of sessions. In my professional opinion, I did not think this work was necessary, or beneficial for the treatment plan at that time. I refused to do it. That client did improve in some of the cognitive neural issues they were experiencing, that were a result of head trauma, and experienced lessened pain during their monthly menstrual cycle while I was treating them. However, a few sessions into our work together, I was informed by them that they were receiving treatment from another somatic therapist for psychedelic assisted therapy in the form of Kambo treatments. At that point I let them know that I did not advise this therapy path for them, given my observations of the dis-regulation within their nervous system that I noticed at the beginning of each of our sessions, as well as the level of down regulation that they were achieving during and after the focused manual and energetic therapy sessions we had together. I reasoned that the dis-regulation they were experiencing in between our sessions could be do to other therapies that were potentially negatively triggering them. They did not return after that session, which was the fourth session I had with them.
Upon reflection, I realized that this person wanted to be triggered. This struck me as being on the spectrum of self-sabotage, or self-harming behavior. The prospect of the high of the endorphin rush from triggering the trauma response during somatic and psychedelic therapies with other practitioners was something they wanted, possibly in an attempt to feel, and to break the emotional void they had been experiencing. During our time in sessions together, they also had mentioned several extreme sport activities they were actively participating in, as well as having a history of those activities and injuries from these sports. This would fall under the classification of “risk taking” behavior, again potentially in an effort to feel something, but a true awareness would have given them the knowing that these behaviors were just keeping them stuck in the neurologic “fight, flight, freeze or fawn” cycle.
So, what is the potential for a level up with the somatic techniques we currently have available in the trauma healing space, and is there a potential for an advancement in the practice of trauma informed methods, toward trauma inspired care?... Just the essence of the phrase “trauma informed” carries a sense of superiority and power-over; like if we know it, we can control it, and we can manipulate it into “release.” We can discard the memories and the pain... get it out of our body and mind forever.
Unfortunately this is a false reality, as many people that have experienced and survived a trauma know... its affects stay with you. The shift must be toward an honor of that experience, not as something that we want to run away from or “let go of,” but as something that we feel strong enough to face and integrate as a part of our story, while occupying our selves in a brave, sovereign, and powerful space of appreciation for our nervous system's ability to protect us; guided away from the gravity of victim-hood, and the tendency to put the traumatic experience on repeat within our neural program. A liberated nervous system is an aligned nervous system, falling into place once our Spirit feels welcome back into our self.
The work I practice in clinic is inspired by over 14 years of study around the world with the Barral Institute in “Visceral Manipulation,” and my whole life as a trauma survivor. As I have integrated the awareness of the mentors I have studied with and advanced my practice, I have come to appreciate that words matter, especially in a trauma inspired paradigm that I am committed to practicing and educating within. Years ago I started referring to the work that I practice as visceral and neural mobilization, being a trauma survivor myself, the idea of manipulation in any context especially therapeutic practice, has always been a powerful, hard “No” for me. I feel safer in authenticity, and in awareness of how our words carry meaning. The power-over, patriarchal paradigm of control, manipulation, and co-dependency, must get shifted for us to truly evolve into the new energies before us, as a collective. It is part of a process of decolonizing the body and the mind.
The same lens that has given us our current reality must be sharpened with a finer aperture to see all of the subtle things that are holding us back from true evolution and healing, from coming back together, from integrating where we have been, and moving forward with sincere, empathetic, awareness; so that we may all occupy our selves in a way that has previously been out of reach, in part due to a simple lack of understanding.
In my practice, all of the people that have come in to see me, requesting internal pelvic floor manual therapy have had sexual trauma or birth trauma in their past. Not one of them, in my professional opinion, “needed” internal pelvic floor work to heal from their experience at the time they came to see me. As a result of my professional observations throughout my career, I can confidently say the necessity of internal pelvic floor work is rare, and most anything you need to physically or energetically mobilize in the pelvic bowl can be done externally through visceral and neural mobilization techniques and fascial connection.
When I was truly observing these client's energy with Toyohari assessment, their bodies all guided me into the treatment flow relative to the Tan Cycle theory, directing me to support the nexus of the liver primary and divergent channel and the gallbladder divergent channel in the pelvis, and area medial to the anterior superior illiac crest. As the Wood element lifts and supports the Water element; as the xylem and phloem of a tree lift water from the root to the branch, supporting the transformation from water to water vapor, and then to be released to the sky; so does the clear and integrated channels of the Wood element within the body.1
The density in the pelvic area that these clients were experiencing needed lifting support, energetically and physically, within the internal ecosystem. It could be that an anger and resentment related to the trauma they had experienced, was flowing through their body and shifted into the divergent channels of the Wood element, per the Tan Cycle theory. This would indicate the primary meridians were not strong enough to bare the load, and the energy of the Fire element was dulled from the trauma that filled their heart. So, pain and emotion was trapped within the pelvic bowl, unable to be lifted and transformed by the whole body system. Moreover, fascial associations related to the falsiform ligament of the liver, inserting over the uterus, into the pubic bone could have been causing tension in the pelvic floor; or potentially bladder restrictions or nerve impingements, within the area accessed by the obturator foramen, could have been also causing issue. Both of these areas relate to the liver and gallbladder channels of the Wood element. Id.
Esoterically, this would also lead to the potential for the free will of the Water element to lose connection with the divine will of the Wood element. The link to Source energy from the support of the hun, spirit affiliation of the Fire element, through the channels and tissues of the Triple Warmer complex, would be severed. For all of these clients I have seen that have requested internal pelvic floor manual therapy, the key to the self sovereign ability to efficiently come back into their body, and back into resilience and regulation, was located in the energetic and physical channels of the Earth, Fire, and Wood Elements. Together these channels offer stability, resilience, support, and transformation. Id.
We have an option moving forward into the future of working with somatic therapies, as practitioners and as recipients. Do we want to enable trauma seeking behavior? Or do we want to practice and receive trauma inspired therapies that honor the sovereign self, and cultivate a neuroceptive sense of safety? As illustrated through this series of articles, this energetic alignment involves making sure the individual nervous systems we are working with are seen, appreciated, and as physically and energetically supported as possible, before any deeper therapies are practiced that may result in negative outcomes if a person is not energetically ready for that experience.
It is not ethical to ever intentionally trigger someone into a trauma response. If we have the option to help our client's nervous systems align and really support the flow of healing, we should offer that to them first. We have have the potential to honor trauma and help with the integration through proper observation and assessment, and then be the guide for our clients to support the healing that can and will naturally happen within themselves, gently, through a transformative process.
Trauma cannot be healed with more triggering and more trauma. It can only be transformed through observance, understanding, and acceptance.
Imagine going to your practice as a somatic therapist and assisting your client with the support needed to help them integrate their experiences. Imagine most of these clients leaving your office in a supported, sovereign space, to which they describe as feeling “just lighter,” or “less dense,” or “calm” or “easy;” these descriptions being said with a light in their eyes and an air of acceptance around them. These are comments that I routinely get from clients in my practice. The gentle work I practice has swift healing potentials. Very rarely a client will report anxiety, or a stress response after leaving a treatment with me. When this has happened, these people were actively involved in an abusive situation, or home environment, and their nervous system responded to support and deep relaxation with a sense of anxiety and stress because relaxation was so foreign to them. This is an indication of a client needing the very gentle, indirect treatment methods that I describe, specific to the Yu Angles, and to a lesser extent treatment with the Tan Cycle theory, in order to initiate a flow of energy from within that gently lifts and supports the nervous system. These therapies are meant to serve as a guide into a place of ease and transformation. Id.
Shifting the focus from trauma informed, to trauma inspired therapy; away from the concept of release, and toward integration; offers us an opportunity to move from an experience with an emphasis on victim-hood, and into an experience of survivor-ship. While building resilience though physical and energetic alignment, we have the opportunity to come around a corner to see our trauma as a gift, something that has given us a Way of knowing more about ourselves and each other, something that allows us to feel a deeper and more colored spectrum of life. As Rumi very clearly puts it, “the wound is where the light enters;” the light for a trauma survivor is the spectrum of emotion and nuance that we now have access to.
Deb Dana has spoken about how the goal of building resilience and healing from trauma is not to never again be dis-regulated, but instead to be able to come back into regulation more swiftly and completely, eventually living our lives as a more net positive experience. This is the path we need to stay focused on. On this path boundless joy arises in a spectrum that we have access to, because we have been able to grow and advanced ourselves through our experiences.
If you would like to join in this discussion or learn the new Five Element theories discussed in the 'Mining the Gap' series of articles, please visit www.elementaladvancedmt.com/courses for more information and to join The elementalAdvanced Method community.
1. Keane, Nicole Rachelle. The Tao of the Polyvagal Theory: A Five Element Perspective for a Future of Healing the Spirit and Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System. Gratitude Healing Arts, LLC; 2021
תגובות