It is just part of being human, that at some point in our lives we will encounter a traumatic event or circumstance that will cause our mind and body to have a traumatic stress reaction. When I have personally, experienced traumatic stress, I have found that the shortest path to healing has been in the hands of an experienced, knowledgeable, and aware somatic focused practitioner. Traumatic events come in all shapes and sizes, however, the common elements are: a) that the events are unpredictable; b) involve an irreplaceable loss of some kind; c) the person’s usual ways of coping with stress become overloaded and confused d) there is a feeling of being out of control. Even if you are a practitioner that does not specialize in working with traumatic stress, it is useful to be informed and knowledgeable about how to treat those clients when they do come into your practice.

You may have a client that has suddenly lost their job; been involved in an accident; had an operation; a loved one has just died or a long-term love relationship has just ended. The impact of traumatic stress on the body is often a tightness in the muscles that causes restricted mobility; lack of energy and tiredness; poor body posture (as the body often takes on a more closed down protective stance) and an inability to relax. Long term this can inhibit and weaken the immune system. In some cases when a person has had multiple traumas and they are suffering from Post traumatic stress then the impact on the mind and body is more chronic, the treatment is more complex and the healing is at a slower pace. As practitioners working with trauma in our clients we need to be prepared with some integration of; technique, the wisdom of the intuitive, and the knowledge of scientific research about the brain and the nervous system of the body. Here is my story of how I come to be teaching the ‘Relieving Trauma in the Body’ classes.

I began learning about the healing power of a therapeutic relationship nearly 30 years ago. At that time I had just become certified as a Massage and Shiatsu Practitioner. My first massage teacher was James Mally who taught me great precision of technique and knowledge about the body. My Shiatsu Teacher, Irene Newmark who was also a Breema teacher asked me to continue my training by being an apprentice for the following 2 years. In 1983 I began teaching and have continued ever since. In those classes with my Shiatsu teacher were the seeds of all that has come after and to which I consistently return on a daily basis in my work with clients, whether I am directly touching a client or I am an energetic healing presence in the room with my client whom I am sitting opposite.

These are the teachings that I bring into my work, the underpinnings of technique.

RELEASE OF ENERGY

I began to learn that relaxation and release of energy, physical and emotional, in my clients came from focused contact and rhythmical pressure. It was this understanding, as well as my knowledge of technique that would make me a competent practitioner. During this time I studied the points and meridians of the body as well as took an advanced course in learning about the anatomy and physiology of the body. The first Shiatsu class I taught brought together 8 students. Over the 12 weeks of the course a great deal of healing occurred. In most classes students would experience a spontaneous release of energy. A lot of emotional energy was released. We were all curious about this releasing of emotional energy and then in the 5th class, we understood. In the class there were 4 people who had experienced abuse as a child and they had experienced enough safety in this class that they were comfortable processing the trauma. This experience caused me to want to study trauma and emotional release body work in depth.

In the early 1980s in the Bay area around San Francisco, there was a wonderful melting pot of bodyworkers and psychotherapists and all types of practitioners in the healing arts that were willing to learn from each other. It is during this time that the many techniques such as the work of Peter Levine and Pat Ogden, Rosen work, Biodynamics and even holotropic breath work were evolving out of this magnificent nutritious soup. At the time I was involved in a 2-year on-going group of bodyworkers and psychotherapists exploring Reichian breathwork, and emotional release with a 72-year-old man Al Baumann. He was a vital, curious, outwardly expressive teacher who loved to play classical piano. Learning how to release emotion was the emphasis of the work as a client and practitioner. An important lesson for me was learning how to be comfortable with the expression of intense feeling in myself as well as in a client. I also began to learn that not all large expressions of feeling ended up in resolution. Some people who had histories of multiple traumas were sometimes retraumatized. Clients with relational trauma such as child abuse or domestic violence, were particularly vulnerable to distrust, lack of safety and fear of being abandoned by the practitioner to their trauma again and again without the necessary resources in place to help them.

REFUGE OF SAFETY

I began to learn that if I could track a client well enough I could understand when to encourage release of emotion and when to encourage a return to a sense of groundedness or safe Refuge. Initially, I relied on the senses to bring the client back to present time if it seemed that the client was disassociating, spacing out or had shallow breathing.

Guiding the client verbally and with my hands, to contact their breath, feel their feet on the mat, the smell in the room, opening the eyes – bringing in a sensory knowing helped. Then, in 1983, when I went back to school to study psychology I came to learn more about resourcing a client before embarking on the journey of trauma processing. I came to understand that A Safe Refuge meant helping clients stay tethered to their internal strengths and resources while simultaneously experiencing great vulnerability in processing their trauma. How could the human brain manage to do this? And more important, how could I help a client’s brain and body do this?

 I went back to school to take a psychology degree to understand better what I intuitively was experiencing through my hands. I dove into a world of cognitions and a rich world of research. Some key lessons that I learned:

1) To survive a traumatic experience, we initially go into shock. Our thoughts and feelings and sensations become compartmentalized from each other. An important part of healing is the integration of all parts of the memory

2) Memory is extremely complex and involves far more than just recalled images; it includes sensory memories and kinesthetic memories and feeling states.

3)  It is not enough to just talk about traumatic experiences to reach resolution, although it is an important part of the healing when the time is right. We need to include the body in action and movement and stillness in the healing process.

4) To have access to the ability to relax by activating the parasympathetic nervous system in a consistent way is an important part of healing from trauma. Physical exercise and Meditation can help as well as therapeutic massage.

5)  When the brain is activated in survival mode then it is not time to expect insight or problem solving to occur (this part of the brain is off –line).

6) When trauma occurs there is a rupture in time that if unresolved can be like a developmental bookmark, to which you continually return, when it is activated in your every day life (and in therapeutic healing sessions). So the client may start talking, feeling and acting like a 4 year old even though she is an adult. Or, a client may keep returning to detailed memories of the car crash she was in when she was a teenager.

INTEGRATION

In 1992 I became a licensed psychotherapist. I continued to explore ways to process trauma. I became trained as an EMDR practitioner (Eye movement desensitization reprocessing) and studied for the next 8 years with a fine healer Laurel Parnell who taught in a way that integrated mind, body, heart and soul. I studied theatrical improvisation for 6 years which taught me how to embody feeling and transform it. This expressive art taught me about moving energy in the body in a whole new dynamic way. I found for some people it was also a very creative and playful way to move and transform that ‘ developmental bookmark’.

SPIRITUALITY AND CONNECTEDNESS

The journey of resolving trauma brings us all on a deep and compelling journey. It is a journey of exploration, of being lost and being found, and hopefully, resolution. It is a deep integration of all parts of being human, the integration of the mind, the emotions, the body and ultimately the spiritual. In studying trauma, I have found that a Spiritual Faith helps me to recognize that there is something larger holding the client and myself. My Faith comes from following the Dharma of Buddhism. I try and pause each day for a time of stillness in meditation; I am learning to live with impermanence and practicing as best I can non-harming. For others it is being in Nature or tending their garden to grow life. If you have experienced trauma then you know how important it is to be connected with another person or your community and how important physical touch can be at those times. In 1993 I began studying Vispassana Meditation at Spirit Rock Meditation Center with specific teachers to whom I was drawn. I attended many 10-day meditation retreats and began meditating for 40 minutes as a daily practice over the next 8 years until I adopted my daughter in 2001. During this time, I had a full private practice and my meditation practice and physical exercise were an important part of my self-care. After a while, my cross-legged body posture became a strong positive re-enforcer for calm and clarity. The mindfulness meditation helped me start the day focused. It can also serve as a powerful tool for ‘detaching’ your own energy from your client’s energy, after a particularly intense session. Identifying a good routine of self-care that works for you is essential for practitioners to prevent burnout and vicarious traumatization.

Since 2001, I have maintained my private practice in Mill Valley, and I have also been learning how to provide successful treatment to traumatized foster/adopt children and families at a clinic in Berkeley. I continue to work with traumatized adults and children, however, I particularly enjoy working with the infants and their caregivers as it is in this very work that I am greeting myself returning from my 30 year journey. And I begin again.
 
 
 
Cherry Jones, MFCC brings much expertise to this day as a bodyworker of 22 years, psychotherapist of 11 years and a mother of a 3 year old! She specializes in trauma. She has extensive training in, critical incident debriefing, and EMDR. She is a teacher of Shiatsu and Mindfulness stress reduction, and has taught playshops for abuse survivors. As a member of the Trauma Response team of Marin she is active in her community during traumatic incidents. She has a private practice in Mill Valley.