How do you release trauma?

“How do you release the trauma that your body remembers?”

(Photo by Joice Huis on Unsplash)

Recently, an audience member posed a question under one of our YouTube videos. Below, I offer my insights in hopes of providing an answer that may alleviate their suffering.

Cathy, while I'm not Dr. Levine (Dr. Levine is the featured speaker in the video), I'd like to share my personal insights on your concerns.

Dr. Levine's method, as I understand it, involves altering how we interpret bodily sensations to prevent the mind from linking these sensations with danger or past experiences. That may help cut off the link between the thought of the past event and the sensation. That liberates the energy, as we won’t keep feeding or associating the feeling with negative thoughts.

A challenge arises when we dislike certain sensations, prompting them to reemerge as our minds check for their presence. And there you go… Our mind is like a storeroom: Whenever we look for a happy feeling, it's there waiting for us. The same is true for painful feelings. We can’t delete any feeling but can transform the feeling by changing the interpretation. When we cease to view ourselves as victims, painful feelings can not only heal but also transform into sources of strength.

In my experience, associating the feeling with positive thoughts or constructive interpretations can diminish our fear, allowing us to befriend the sensation. (Believe me, pain can transform into great passion!) That’s when the feeling gradually disappears.

Rupert Spira offers another approach: rather than wishing the feeling to go away, we should redirect our attention towards an open, loving space of awareness. Feel yourself as that space every time the feeling or sensation appears. You can watch the video on Rupert’s YouTube channel.

My understanding of this approach is that by envisioning yourself as the space encompassing the body-mind, you step outside the body-mind's realm, allowing for an objective perspective. You can look at the body-mind from a more neutral view and better understand its mechanism: why the narrative of the event was created in the first place. This thought is what created both psychological and bodily pain. Now you can see how to cut the root of the pain.

Each pain, when being transformed, brings so much joy and depth to our lives.

'The wound is the place where the Light enters you.’ — Rumi

Best wishes,