Healing Trauma
Recovering from trauma is not simple or easy. However, with dedication, practice, self-love, and compassion, people who have experienced trauma can heal and live a fuller life. Critical to healing from trauma is relying on others for support. This may be difficult for those who have experienced trauma, but if there are people with whom you can be in community, perhaps others who have experienced trauma or a trusted healthcare provider, social connection is key. Dr. van der Kolk reviews steps for trauma recovery. These steps include finding ways to become calm, learning to maintain that calm in the face of stressors and triggers, finding ways to live life fully, be in the present, and engage with others, and being authentic and truthful with yourself (not keeping secrets, including how you have managed to survive trauma). These steps overlap and do not occur in a particular order. van der Kolk also discusses the importance of talking openly about trauma, learning to inhabit your body, and self-leadership to reconnect fragmented parts of yourself. To move through these steps and heal, ancient medicine and healing practices provide us with a wealth of knowledge.
