Working with hundreds of clients, I’ve noticed that traumatized people experience physiological symptoms such as chronic migraine, back pain, digestive issues, and heart problems. Without understanding our physiology, we can’t regulate our body and mind. We suffer because of lack of awareness. Today, I will provide you an actionable tool to better understand awareness of your mind and body.
Welcome, my name is Hong Jeong, licensed therapy based in Los Angeles, California. this is our virtual therapy session #2 on how to overcome childhood trauma. In our session together, I will ask you a set of questions and give you time to process your thoughts and feelings. You can pause the video and give yourself enough time for each question.
Let’s review first. I have a few questions for you to review your progress. Please pause the video and take your time to review your progress.
#1. How would you describe your mood in the past week on a scale of 0 to 10 (0 being the most unpleasant and 10 being the most pleasant you can feel)?
#2. What has caused your pleasant or neutral or unpleasant feelings?
#3 What emotional and physical change did you notice when using “Watching the Mind-Train”?
Alright, It is important to check in with yourself and notice your progress and room for improvement. I’d like to stress skill building in terms of self-regulation. We want to have enough skills to become who we are just like learning how to use tools so you can build a car, house, so on and so forth. I’m here to give you information and you take this information into your own creative actions. Okay. so I’d like to use our time to talk about our brain and body. Our brain controls our body. Our brain controls fundamental body functions such as breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Our body also sends signals to our body. My stomach does not feel good and my brain releases hormones to reduce pain or help digest or make me puke. Our brain plays a role like a pilot and our body is like an airplane.
How Our Brain Works
Our brain has mainly three parts (Reptilian Brain, Limbic Brain, and Neocortex). The reptilian brain is connected to many nerves in our body and controls vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, and so on. So when my heart rate goes up, the reptilian brain receives this information and sends it to the limbic brain. The limbic brain is in charge of emotions and memories. Let’s say my stomach does not feel good. My limbic brain will trigger fear and think about what I ate for lunch. And then neocortex, the higher brain will go into problem solving. Oh I had milk today and I need to check the expiration date on my milk or I need to take Pepto-bismol to settle this upset stomach.
The reptilian brain, limbic brain, and Neocortex work together to protect and preserve our body. With that mind, let’s talk about our body and brain function when we are under threat or traumatized. There are three types of survival responses in the face of perceived threat.
Understanding the Survival Responses
The first one is the most sophisticated response, called the social engagement. When we face a threat, we are able to use pro-social behaviors such as negotiating, brainstorming with others, validating others’ feelings, in order to overcome a threat. In this state, we are able to read people’s facial expressions and gestures and self-regulate with human interactions. So It is the most ideal state because our body is calm. We have a resting heart rate, slow and steady breaths, and relaxed muscle.
When social engagement is not an option, we go into fight or flight response. It is a very primitive response. If we encounter a tiger, we can either fight the tiger or flee from the tiger. In this state, we become hyper-vigilant because it is a life and death situation. We have to stay alarmed for anything and everything. In this state, it is hard to engage with people because it is a kill or to be killed state. Social engagement is not a priority. In this fight or flight state, blood pressure and heart rate increase. Also, our breathing becomes rapid and muscles get tensed up. Our body gets ready for action.
The most scary state is the shutdown state or freeze response. It is a very helpless state. Let’s say someone is out to get you and you’re held in a confined place such as a car, airplane, or in the bathroom. We feel trapped in fear. Helplessness and fear due to being immobilized can lead to a decrease in heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tone, facial expression, voice, and immune system. We slow down our physiological functions so we feel numb or dissociate from reality, so called “out of body experience.”
The important note is that these three responses come with different physiological states. Our heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing change due to the autonomic nervous system. The Autonomic nervous system sends information to our brain, which evokes different states in our body and then our response follows suit. The whole process is involuntary. One analogy I’d like to use is Pokemon. In order to survive, our body turns into the fire type Pokemon which fight or flight state. The water type Pokemon is like the shut down or freeze response. Social engagement response is like grass type Pokemon.
Now what! What can we do with this information? Let’s monitor our physiological state and survival response. While our autonomic nervous system involuntarily evokes different states, we can monitor our sensations, emotions, thoughts, and urges to identify which survival response is being activated. Let’s say that I notice increased heart rate, anger, negative self-talk, and urge to yell. It is safe to say that my fight or flight response is being activated.
How To Keep From Being Triggered
So we’re going to use “watch the mind-train” exercise to identify our survival response. If you’re not familiar with “watch the mind-train”, please watch the previous session. The format of our virtual therapy sessions is to build skills and raise self-awareness in a gradual and steady manner.
Let’s practice it together.
#1 Find a quiet and comfortable place
#2 Close your eyes partially or fully and notice your breathing and sensations in your body
#3 Slowly think about a mildly stressful or uncomfortable moment
#4 Visual train tracks and trains with many cargoes passing by
#5 Bring up sensations, thoughts, emotions,and urges associated with your mildy stressful or uncomfortable moment.
#6 Attach sensations, thoughts, emotions, and urges to cargoes and let them pass
#7 Identify which survival response you’ve experienced.
#8 Is this response effective or ineffective?
Now I’m accessing the higher brain to put it into perspective. Is my survival response the best option? Or do I have other options? Let’s say I want to argue with my wife because I think she is cheating on me. Yelling and arguing is the fight response. Is there a better way to express my feelings and thoughts and handle the conflict in my relationship? Instead of yelling, I can use a neutral tone of voice. Or I can stop the conversation when the conversation leads off in a negative and accusatory way. And I can resume the conversation when we both feel calm and ready to talk again.
The secret of self-regulation is awareness. Without awareness, there is no self-regulation. Self-awareness will restructure your brain in a positive and resilient way. So take care of yourself and do your healing everyday.
If you need assistance with letting go of your childhood trauma, please schedule a 20 minute free consultation with me.