I’ve experienced some major and minor traumas in my 50+ years of living. One of the “minor” traumas did not happen to me directly (this is called vicarious trauma and for many reasons can become implanted even deeper… a topic for another day). I was biking to work and heard someone get hit by a car. It was a horrible sound. (Speaking of sound, if you prefer to listen, check out the podcast.)
Everyone was on their cell phone, calling for help, but no one approached the guy. I dropped my bike and did the normal first aid greeting and initial assessment. I’d been a raft guide for years and knew my first aid, so at this point, I felt comfortable and calm.
In Vancouver, emergency response is really quick. The paramedics were on scene in less than 3 minutes. Waiting was not the traumatic part for me because I was talking to the guy. I was busy reassuring him, assessing his physical state and besides, I knew help was on the way.
What could I not get out of my head? The sound of him being hit by a car. There were plenty of triggers as I continued my bike ride to work. The sounds of car engines and street noise. I arrived at my office and was still “hearing” the soft, mushy “thunk” of the hit an hour later.
You know when you get distracted and forget what you know? I was anxious and couldn’t focus. I was traumatized. Finally, I got my feet on the ground and realized that the sounds of traffic outside my window were re-triggering me. I started to think and what I could do to alleviate my response which was a combination of dissociation and flight.
The trigger was sound. I started to sing. I sang happy songs that reminded me of good times. As I sang, I walked around my office, looked out of the window and noticed the cars were just driving down the road. No one was being struck by any of them. I slowly returned to the present moment. The singing in my head slowly replaced the memory of the “thunk”. I continued to hum and sing throughout the day. When I rode home, I enjoyed the journey because there was no replaying of the “thunk” as cars rushed by.
A trauma response is flight, fight or freeze. In laymen’s terms, that translates into feeling anxious, being aggro- revved up, or spacey/disconnected. If you want to come back from this zombie reactivity state that the trauma response has put you into, then it is necessary to wake up to your current reality. For more information about chronic trauma response, please check out my article: When the Breath of Life Becomes the Kiss of Death.
Everyone has experienced some kind of trauma. Experiencing trauma is part of being human. Some people have a bigger dose than others, however depending on perspective and understanding, the impact can become either a chronic issue or negligible. Chronic physical pain, emotional distress, depression, anxiety…. are all trauma symptoms. Unknown, subconscious triggers can keep you in a chronic trauma response.
For me, sound was the obvious trigger. Other triggers are not so apparent. An instinctive reaction when there is a traumatic event, is to hold your breath. Therefore, to reprogram a chronic trauma response, breath is an easy go-to. I’ve recorded a special breath meditation for for you to use to move you past the trauma response, starting right now. Enjoy.
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