weight of the world on your shoulders is
there something in your life that feels
like a pain in the neck remember those
times that you just had that gut feeling
we all use phrases like this from time
to time and as a massage therapist and
body worker I hear phrases like this
from clients it seems we tend to express
our emotions as if they have some
connection within our bodies they have
led this has led me to ask another
question do we hold strong emotions in
our bodies and if so what does this mean
for our well-being my career as a body
worker is only one part of my interest
what has led me to my own answers began
long ago the year was 1972 the little
girl on the left that’s me and the young
man on the right that’s my big brother
we were literally worlds apart at this
time I was here in our hometown of
Austin Minnesota and he was thousands of
miles away in Vietnam our life
experiences were different than his was
one of war time mine was one that would
be the beginning of childhood sexual
violation neither of us would begin to
imagine the depths of the others
experience as a child I would have no
reference for what my brother would
endure through his service in Vietnam
and it would be a decade before my
brother would know the secret that his
little sister had to keep though our
experiences were different in nature the
persisting effects in our minds and
bodies would prove to be remarkably very
similar the effects I refer to can be
considered a wound though not visible
from the outside and very difficult to
describe from the inside the wound of
post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD
has been known by many as the invisible
wound though my brother and I differed
in age gender and circumstances we both
were diagnosed later in adulthood with
PTSD throughout my career that has been
commonplace to also hear phrases like
the mind-body connection the body has
memory the body does not lie and your
issues are in your tissues a phrase
coined by John Barnes bodywork expert
Barnes states that traumas from our past
can become trapped in our tissues they
then create a filter in our lives they
become a rigid constricted habitual
reaction from which we then view life
after trauma holding strong emotions in
our bodies is an understatement
in fact with books written by trauma
experts with titles like the body keeps
the score and the body bears the burden
a considerable amount of research does
validate that trauma does affect our
physical health high doses of stress
affects brain development and the immune
and hormonal systems trauma literally
changes our physiology to clarify trauma
can include one-time incidents like
accidents and surgeries and deaths and
it can include reoccurring occurrences
and events like abuse neglect battering
bullying oppression and combat and it
can include secondary trauma which often
occurs in individuals who are in helping
professions who are assisting survivors
and it definitely includes spouses
partners children loved ones living with
those who have PTSD trauma does not
discriminate nor is it rare the National
Center for PTSD estimates that 60% of
men and 50% of women experience at least
one trauma in their lives what that
means is that over half of us here today
potentially have or will experience
trauma in our lifetimes and what
determines our ability to overcome
trauma varies greatly factors like the
age at the time of the event whether the
event was repetitive whether we knew the
perpetrator and the climate of support
after the event just to name a few in my
experience though the perpetrator was
not an immediate family member he was
known to me I was around the age of nine
and
silenced for ten years and my brother’s
experience politics of the war he was
engaged in created an atmosphere of not
only horrific wartime experience but
lack of support once home these elements
for us individually major decades of
hellish emotional and physical symptoms
stomach aches for me began also around
the age of nine and continued into
adulthood
until the diagnosis of irritable bowel
syndrome I also became anemic and
chronically fatigued and my brother and
I share symptoms like anxiety and
depression nightmares and insomnia I’ve
come to know that even when there are no
words to express the experience even
without specific memories the body still
speaks volumes traumatic experiences can
imprint themselves far beyond where
language can reach several years ago I
began reading various torment trauma
experts methods about how they help
survivors recover from trauma using body
centered approaches not only impacting
the brain trauma impacts our bodies at
our core the nervous system wouldn’t it
make sense to address it and treat it
there too with body centered approaches
our bodies are given the safety to
complete the process of release that we
were not able to at the time of the
event
it was just three short years ago that
my body as one trauma expert might say
presented its bill and I found myself in
a major depressive episode called a
breakdown for very good reason I now see
that it can also be considered a
breakthrough because of this there was a
desperation in me to heal or die and it
was then I was really able to receive
what I needed and for me this has come
in the forms of body centered
approaches like breathwork and yoga and
meditation and a technique called
somatic experiencing the emotional
freedom technique and an eye movement
method called EMDR I believe that it’s
never too late to get to the core but
I’d be lying if I said that I don’t
wonder what my life would be like if I
had gotten to the core decades ago could
much of the collateral damage of trauma
been avoided
substance abuse chaotic relationships
financial hardship and continual
self-loathing since we as survivors tend
to redefine ourselves and our lives
around the traumatic event I believe the
earlier the intervention the better I
understand the missed opportunity to
connect the dots for me forty years ago
but we know too much about trauma now to
continue to address our well-being in a
fragmented way with what we now know
about trauma what if we listened deeply
investigating the mind-body connection
we can tune in to our own bodies and
listen to our loved ones especially our
of all trauma I believe we don’t have to
suffer for decades we can recognize
sooner the crucial role of the body
plays in recovery from trauma and we can
do more than just cope and manage
symptoms I have confidence that we will
not only save lives but we’ll see each
other thrive isn’t that what we would
want for one another trauma is a life
experience but it does not have to be a life sentence thank you