Occasionally we find that we can’t let go of
negative, traumatic events of the past. We dwell on them, sometimes to the
extent that our spontaneity is inhibited by recurring thoughts of the event.
This may happen with victims of crime, abuse, assault, war, and severe psychological
shock or pain.
Trauma is suppression in which feelings are involuntarily
rejected, blocking release of the energies. This mechanism seems to be part
of the instinctive defenses. Treating traumatic reactions always has been
the focus of much of traditional psychotherapy. Trauma arises because the
pain involved in the event has not been faced and experienced so that it
could clear. Instead, we remain in the mind, constantly thinking about the
event. Ironically, our thoughts become the shield from our feelings. Even
though we constantly think about the event, we still do not integrate the
feelings, which continue to haunt us.
There is no way to clear traumatic feelings except
by ending resistance to them and experiencing them, as was not done when
the event occurred. You must carefully watch how you reject and resist the
feelings. Enter meditation, activate the Witness, and drop resistance; allow
the feelings just to be. Allow them to work out their own cycle and eventually
dissolve. Try to distinguish your thoughts from your feelings. Often there
is a strong component of blame present in thoughts. This is all that is
needed to prevent acceptance. You then remain unable to clear the feelings
trapped in the energy body. If the trauma is severe, the energetic support
of a counselor can be essential.
