Written By:
The Facts: There Are No Blanket Behavioral Responses To Trauma, Toxic Stress, And/Or Adversity
Though the initial autonomic reaction of hyperinflammatory defense (that causes fight, flight, freeze, etc) is common amongst all who experience trauma, different people experience different things that cause trauma, and, these different people, with their different traumas, go through (and respond to) their different traumas differently.
Healing, however, always comes with body-mind alignment.
And transcendence comes through spiritual integration and/or understanding.
Different people have different support systems, coping mechanisms, internal and external resources, predispositions, personal ethics/values, personalities, levels of tolerance for stress/distress, biology, genetics, histories, understandings, and so forth, and, therefore, no two trauma responses, or outcomes, are the same.
Have I made that point clear enough yet, or do I need to use the word different one more time?
Simply put: there are no fixed trauma “looks,” responses, nor outcomes. Everyone is unique and so is their experience of trauma and everything else in life (though similarities [which implies that things are not the same] may certainly sometimes exist in different people). The only things that remain the same in different experiences of trauma are a) the fact that healing is triggered the moment that overwhelm takes place, and b) the fact that healing is complete the moment that one gets aligned in/with his/her Self.
Honoring Your Uniqueness
If you ever experience overwhelming distress of any kind, simply work out your psychophysical dysregulation in a healthy way that is suitable for you.
Your personal trauma responses and/or coping mechanisms are not the end all be-all. And, you are not limited to any fate (response nor outcome) based on anyone else’s responses or behaviors to either their own traumas or to their observation of your or anyone else’s trauma. You are an unique and whole, intelligent and capable, individual (even in areas/at times where you are one who diverges from any given conditional/situational “norm”), and your uniqueness deserves to be valued.
Always remember that you are best served taking full control of, and responsibility for, your own inner state once biology has done its initial work of automatically kicking in to protect you from overwhelming distress (no matter how uncomfortable it may be).
You must take care of yourself (even if others and nature also help). And you can regulate your dysregulation, soothe yourself back to balance, rest effectively to allow your body-mind to heal, and become calm enough to access the higher functioning parts of your brain that support you to continue to make effective decisions that help you to move forward in ways that are best and optimal for you.
After trauma/stress overwhelm your system(s), remember that the antidote is to safely relax, release the distress/tension, restore your body-mind to equilibrium, and build resilience for better responses and outcomes in the present and future.
Strive to not allow any automatic tensions/hyperinflammatory reactions remain in your body-mind for too long after you create distance from what triggered your trauma response. Over-extended, and/or constantly retriggered, trauma responses can lead to habitual patterns that create damage to your body-mind systems, that can eventually lead to chronic dis-ease.
After any stressful event or experience occurs in your life, let your shock, uneasiness, and any anxiety gradually reduce by remaining grounded in your Self and the Higher Truth (you are well, all is well, you are going through and will get through this), and consciously use proven techniques, tools, and methodologies to regain homeostasis. This will minimize your potential to remain in a state of panic, which can lead to making destructive and impulsive decisions in an attempt to avoid imminent and/or future danger/pain (even when no danger is present), wasting energy that could be used for healing and positive movement forward.
Using Everything As An Opportunity For Learning And Growth, Healing, And Liberation
Know that you are always eternally protected and safe, even in moments when this is not the case for your body-mind in the ever-changing, corruptible, distortion of Maya/the fleeting appearance of ever-changing form and the world. The eternal, Absolute Truth is unchanging and ever-present, despite appearances, and you will be alright no matter what happens to your body or your mind. Additionally, both your body and your mind will heal with time and proper care–they evolved to heal and that is why you had a trauma response in the first place. Autonomic trauma reactions are a defense/protective mechanism; they only become destructive when you overidentify with them as opposed to moving beyond them.
Your body-mind might experience shock and pain while going through life within Maya (this is inevitable), and, in your over-identification with your body-mind as who you are, confusing the experience of living in this world in your body-mind as the ultimate reality, you might forget who you are in spirit and freak out. This is “normal” until you outgrow your ignorant identification with temporary form.
Look within to the eternal Truth, and to your values. Look to your higher understandings, and to your conscience for what is best for your healing and positive movement forward (and ignore all other noise that does not align with that higher–life-giving–Truth/intelligent intuition which comes forth from within you).
And, always remember that, if your choices are actually unhealthy and/or unethical for any reason or at any time (meaning that they go against your ultimate wellbeing and/or universal values–not just that they go against opinions about what is imagined to be “best,” or “right”), do not blame your trauma. If engaging in self, or other, harm, do not look to your trauma as the reason, instead, blame the distortions within you that your trauma brought up and/or highlighted for you to address and rectify.
When you face your pain with honesty, courage, and understanding, you can effectively heal, and then grow into a fuller expression of your unbounded, unbreakable, Self. And this occurs only when you drop everything that gets in the way–even when your distortions are “just” “common” ones, like focusing on negative/harmful stories (ungrounded lies) in your or other’s minds as opposed to staying grounded in the eternal Truth, and neutral facts that help you to intelligently and strategically, move forward.
Trauma will most likely “shake you up,” and cause your illusions to shatter. Use these moments of disarray to identify and clear away your personal disfunctions (which again, are unique to you, so do not go looking for them to appear like those textbook distortions and think that you are clear because you don’t have “those” problems). If you are suffering and/or in despair, you can still do some letting go, clearing and/or healing. Align with the Truth of who you are beyond temporary experience and form and become completely free…Free to be even better in your newly evolved manifestation, better in your understanding and awareness, than you ever were before, because, and despite/regardless, of what you went through.
Nothing can break nor stop you…even if it kills you.
You are the eternal light, and Love, that is in all things. And you are free to grow and to heal successfully in the way, or ways, that is best and right for you. Focus on the effect of the outcome, not on the appearance: bruises, cuts, abscesses, and scars are not pretty, but they signify and indicate that survival and healing is taking, or took, place…that you are strong, capable, and no matter what happens, worthy as a part of life.
Be gentle with, and continue to care for yourself after you remove yourself from unhealthy/harmful situations, places, and/or people, and apply the soothing balm of (as Michael Bolton once sang) “time, Love and tenderness,” of which you have more than enough to tap into and effectively utilize.
Keep moving forward by supporting yourself to heal in the right way/right time for you.
Want To Learn More About Trauma & Healing And Learn Some Useful Insights For Moving Beyond It? Take The Full Course On Creating Resilience Through Yoga And Meditation After Trauma And Toxic Stress
Thank you for reading.
If you enjoyed this post or found it useful, please be sure to like, comment, and share.
You can also connect with me on Social Media for ongoing inspiration on your Yoga and Meditation journey.
And if you have a question that you would like answered in a blog post or video, please submit your inquiry here!
Investigating multi-dimensional holistic wellness as an inter-disciplinary artist and Yoga-Meditation writer, thinker, and practitioner. Doing experientially-based self-agency work grounded in research, reflection, and practice.