Oriental Medicine: Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs Hypnosis, Shamanic and Energy Healing, and
Wellness Counseling
Staying Healthy with Dr. Bonnie
I am at the end of a luscious week of retreat in the North Carolina mountains. I have been feeling fatigued these past few months and have known I have needed to rest and regenerate. A friend has a cabin hear Highlands and offered me to stay there. A fellow healer friend joined me, so I have spent the past week eating a raw food diet, breathing fresh air, reading in the sun on the front porch, doing qi gong and some stress relieving exercises, sleeping ( alot ), and soaking up the amazing energy of these mountains. This morning I hiked down to Glen Falls. I came to write and ended up just resting, regenerating, exchanging healing with my friend, and basically doing my own self-healing. How blessed I am to have been given this gift from The Father/Mother through my friends. A couple of weeks ago I took a weekend course on something called TRE ( Trauma Releasing Exercises ). This is method of self healing developed by a man named David Berceli. The beauty of it is that it can be easily learned and self-applied an is thus self-regulating and very self-empowering. It can be used for a whole continuum of stress reduction from general tension to PTSD from severe trauma. When used for the kinds of general stresses that are prevalent in our population, they do not need supervision; however, In the case of severe trauma it is recommended that the exercises by done under the guidance and supervision of a trained counselor. David draws on his life experiences as a trauma recovery therapist in many war torn parts of the world, especially Africa and the Middle East. The exercises draw from traditions such as Bioenergetics, Tai Chi, Yoga, and other martial arts and eastern practices. Being familiar with all of these traditions, this process has been easy for me to understand and practice. Like acupuncture, they tap into the body's natural ability to re-balance and heal itself. The people with whom I have shared these exercises have also found them easy to learn and highly beneficial. As a natural health practitioner, I know that all healing is self-healing; therefore, I am particularly intrigued with TRE. I would highly recommend the book, Trauma Releasing Exercises, by David Berceli. It is short, concise, and easy to read. I will paraphrase his book as best I can but would highly recommend you get your own copy.
He begins by talking about how traumatic experiences ( natural disasters, war, terrorism, economic stress ) are increasingly occurring on a national and global scale. He calls this "The Invisible Epidemic." He believes that the field of traumatology needs a new paradigm for trauma recovery....one that can be multi-cultural, self- learned and self-regulated, and taught to large groups.
His definition of trauma is "any experience that overwhelms one's normal coping mechanisms." His definition of PTSD is "any physical, psychological, or emotional anxiety disorder following a distressing or overwhelming event." An individual may experience flashbacks, disturbances in sleep, memory loss, lack of concentration, nightmares, and "symbolic avoidance" (can be triggered by seemingly unrelated incidents.) Not only can people experience PTSD from a personal trauma, they can have it from "vicarious traumatization", such as what our population experienced with 9/11. "Compassion fatigue" is another form of vicarious PTSD that can be experienced by people who work in trauma-inducing professions or live in violent environments. Trauma not only hits a person's emotions and mental stability, it affects the very biology and physiology of the body. It is not something that we can simply decide not to have and will ourselves out of having the symptoms. It is a primarily instinctual bodily reaction. Our bodies have built in survival mechanisms, which is a good thing. When we are threatened with possible injury or death, the body tries to protect itself by going into a fetal position where the vital organs will not be injured. Certain muscles, especially the psoas muscles that connect the back with the pelvis and legs. The diaphragm also plays an important part. Like all mammals, humans experience an involuntary shaking when we are scared, nervous, or even angry. But as a society we have been conditioned to hide any signs of these strong emotions, especially fear. Animals still will experience trembling at the end of a chase or fight as a natural part of the fight/ flight response to a threat. They will tremble until the excess charge has been shaken out then move on with their lives. Trembling is the natural process of the body discharging the excess energy that has been stimulated by the threat. Humans over-ride this natural mechanism so the body has to find a way to handle this built-up energy. It contracts the muscles and contains the excess charge. This produces a chronic state of tension in the body. This is the root of PTSD. The muscles that contract during trauma that do not have a chance to release will continue to try to do so at a later date as a way of restoring the body to it's natural state. This excess energy remains trapped in a bio-neural-physical loop that causes a repetition compulsion behavior. Until the body shakes out it's tension it will continue to repeat this chronic tension pattern of protection and defense. The Trauma Releasing Exercises are designed to artificially evoke this shaking mechanism allowing the body to release the tension in the muscles and return to it's normal state. The main chemical changes that the body experiences with chronic stress are those involved with the adrenal glands and the neurotransmitters produced in the brain and nervous system. When animals and people sense danger, the adrenal glands pump out adrenaline to assist the fight/flight response. Along with the adrenaline rush is a reduction of serotonin ( the 'feel good drug' in the body.) This will bring out aggressive reactions which can enhance survival. Another primitive survival response is the production of opioids which deaden pain. There is a combination of excitement and euphoria. Depending on which of these chemical reactions is operating at the time, a person who has experienced trauma may experience hyperalertness or depression, overattachment ( excessive socialization ) or underattachment ( detachment ), explosive emotions o numbness, hyperactive behaviors or tiredness and insomnia.
When we are talking about having a "gut feeling" we are talking about a part of the human body that is not well-known or recognized called the Abdominal-Pelvic Brain. This is a plexus or bundle of nerves located in the lower abdomen and pelvis. This plexus is connected directly to the Autonomic Nervous System. It contains more sympathetic nerves ( fight/flight) than any other part of the brain. This part of the body can sense danger and will react before the cranial brain does. The cranial brain can be divided into three parts: the Brain Stem, which controls the basic functions such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, etc.; the Limbic System, which controls the fight/flight and action/reaction behaviors; and the Neocortix, which controls our logic and reasoning. It is the last part of the brain to mature. Under normal circumstances the brains takes in information, processes it through the emotions of the limbic system, and sends it to the neocortex for analysis, logic, and a reasonable response. This process, however, changes during a traumatic event. In trauma a person must act quickly and instinctively. The brain must rely on the more primitive parts of the brain, the brain stem and limbic system. Instead of the action/reflection/response in a normal situation, there is only an action/reaction response. If a person is exposed to repeated or prolonged danger, this survival response can become a habit and the person will begin to react to even small stresses with an over-reaction of the bodily processes.
Another element of the neurology of the body is how the brain encodes and processes traumatic experiences differently than ordinary events. During ordinary situations the brain functions in this way: Certain areas of the brain ( somato-sensory areas) receive millions of bites of data or information from the outside on a daily basis. Once they receive this information they send it to another area of the brain ( association area ) where memories and emotions of similar past experiences are stored and connected to the new ones. This information is now sent to a third section of the brain ( gnostic area ) where a story is made about the experience. Traumatic experiences are processed very differently. Because the traumatic experiences are taken in as an overwhelming and intrusive arousal of the system, they are taken in as fragments of an experience rather than as the whole experience. They are stored in the somato-sensory area of the brain to be processed later. Until these pieces of information are associated with feelings, memories, and emotions and then sent to the gnostic area to be told as a story, they will remain as unprocessed and thus unhealed memories, only to surface later. These stored and unprocessed sensations are what cause flashbacks, disturbing memories, and nightmares. These can be triggered by similar experiences or stimuli that have a similar quality to the original experience. For example, I didn't realize I had PTSD from Hurricane Ivan until I was pumping gas in preparation for Hurricane Dennis and began to shake uncontrollably. Since the body is a self-healing mechanism, the brain will continue to try to rid itself of unresolved somato-sensory memories.
The exercises themselves are a series of postures and movements that will fatigue the muscles that are holding tension from stress and trauma then allow them to release. They begin in the feet, move up the legs, and involve the pelvis and back. I began to feel a deep sense of relaxation after doing a series of them twice. Each time I did the series I became more and more relaxed. I have slept the best I have in a long time.
Along with the self-healing and self-empowerment of TRE, what I like about this process and the people who are teaching it is the high integrity and genuine desire to spread this information to as many people as possible. I have paraphrased and summarized David Berceli's book Trauma Releasing Exercises, but would highly recommend people who are interested order it themselves. You may find it at www.booksurge.com or orders@booksurge.com.
Warm wishes! Dr. Bonnie
Dr. Bonnie McLean Spirit Gate Medicine Gulf Breeze Florida ,Acupuncture, Chinese Herbs, Oriental Medicine, Holistic Healing, Alternative Medicine, Herbal Healing, Self Healing,Colds and Flu, Shamanism, Pain Control, Stress Related Disorders, Health and Healing Spirituality, Gulf Breeze, Pensacola Traditional Chinese Medicine,Natural Healing and Medicine
