Here's a secret that some of the most popular meditation teachers and lineages won't tell you.
Not every meditation practice is right for every person,
And some of them can actually cause harm.
I am a trauma-informed meditation,
Yoga,
And somatic movement teacher with a personal history of complex post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic illness.
If meditation isn't working for you,
You're not the problem.
The meditation style you're practicing is.
Trauma-informed meditation can help everyone to better access the state of being that mindfulness practices set out to cultivate.
Freedom,
Compassion,
Presence.
Before we dive in,
This talk discusses trauma and its effects on the nervous system and body.
If this is a sensitive topic for you,
Know that you can pause this video or step away at any time.
So let's break down what exactly trauma is.
Why some meditation practices fail to meet the needs of people with trauma,
And some changes that you can make to your meditation practice to access more safety and ease.
When your nervous system senses a threat,
In order to protect you,
It activates one of the four F-stress responses.
Flight,
Freeze,
Or fawn.
Psychological trauma occurs when the nervous system does not complete the stress response because it gets overwhelmed by its intensity and is unable to process and integrate the experience.
For example,
Let's say that a child doesn't feel safe at home.
Maybe their parent has anger issues.
The child can't fight the parent because the parent is bigger than them.
But they also can't run away from the parent because the parent is the only thing keeping them alive.
So they stomach the experience and it becomes trauma.
Their body remains in high alert to prevent that sense of overwhelm from happening again.
In order to understand how meditation can be challenging for people with trauma.
It is important to understand the physiological changes that occur when the body activates one of these four F stress responses.
During fight and flight,
Your muscles tense,
Your breathing speeds up,
Your heart races,
And emotions like anger and fear arise in order to spur you into action.
During freeze,
Your breathing slows,
Your heart rate slows,
Your body is essentially trying to hide from the threat,
Or you dissociate in order to avoid the impending pain.
In all cases,
You become hypervigilant,
This state of heightened awareness to check for signs that you are safe.
You might already see how this is a problem with meditation.
If you tell someone to focus on their breath.
They might experience a sudden sense of involuntary anxiety and overwhelm because the last time they were aware of their breath was when they were running from danger.
If you tell them to sit still and that the sensations in their body are just manifestations of the monkey mind.
You're encouraging them to dissociate.
If you tell them to observe their thoughts with neutrality,
You might be re-traumatizing them as they ruminate over the experience.
But if you tell them to redirect their thoughts to a mantra,
You might also be getting in the way of what the body is finally ready to resurface and heal.
What I've seen happen with many of my one-on-one clients is that they're wary of meditation because of the bad experiences they've had in the past.
But meditation,
If taught through a trauma-informed lens,
Has the power to be able to create a safe space for people to process their trauma,
Come back into their bodies,
And find healing and wholeness.
I know this from personal experience and from what I've witnessed in my students.
So what do you do?
How do you practice meditation if you either have trauma or suspect that you have it,
Or if meditation simply hasn't worked for you in the past?
I'll share three recommendations.
First,
I recommend forgetting about breath and mantra practices and exploring somatic meditation.
I have other videos and resources on this,
But the basic principle is bringing conscious awareness into the body with an attitude of welcoming and acceptance.
Second,
Before you start to practice,
Have a sense of something in the room,
In your mind,
Or in your body that brings you a sense of comfort.
As you start to meditate,
If anything comes up that feels like too much for today,
Just bring your awareness back to that place of comfort.
Think of it like having an escape plan.
If you are able to titrate your awareness between the uncomfortable thoughts,
Feelings,
Or sensations,
And this place of comfort,
This will help you in order to heal the trauma over time.
But don't overwhelm yourself.
Remember,
Overwhelm is what caused the trauma in the first place.
Finally,
If you can relate to what I'm talking about,
I recommend that you work directly with a trauma-informed meditation teacher.
This person will guide you to practice in a way that is safe for you,
And they'll help hold the space for you to process whatever is arising.
When I work with one-on-one clients,
I like to bring in complementary practices such as self-compassion and somatic movement to help give you a broader toolkit as you build your own system of support.
Meditation truly has been a powerful tool in my personal journey to heal,
And I hope that this inspires you to give trauma-informed meditation a try.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.
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