.png){kind=small}
Our pain is such a great teacher and suffering can either eat away at you or propel you to move towards a different path.
“A traumatic experience—we might think of it as a volcano that erupted or a lightning bolt that struck—it is surely an experience that overwhelmed the capacity of our Qi to remain within the boundary of the easy rise and easy fall of a healthy autonomic nervous system. It creates a massive disruption in the organization, flow, function, and vitality of our Qi.” - Tao Of Trauma
Going through my trauma work in my early twenties was Intense, to say the least. One of the first things I learned through meditation and the therapist that I went to who was a practicing Buddhist, Is to Identify the two states that I was operating under not fully realizing they were different.
One state was fear-based, full of anxiety, blind spots, pain, distorted perception, negative thoughts, darkness and all the habits that fueled and sustained it.
The other state was grounded in connection - heightened awareness that came with ease where I was able to attune to my Intuition and common sense. A space where joy was present and positive thought patterns flowed mixed with embodied trust.
I will never forget these words and they have now been incorporated into my practice not just life:
“All you have to do Mihael is to learn the two states intimately and discern when you are operating in the negative state that is fueled by fear and supported by control mechanisms. Once you discern, use tools to change that and you will change with time.”
When I came to the other side of healing my traumas with the help of my therapist, Intense meditation practices and spiritual guidance, having a purpose seemed to be the priority. It seems to be crystal clear that that’s why I had to go through everything that I had to go through.
What is my purpose?
When I discovered that working with Trauma was my purpose, Shiatsu therapy was the vehicle that I chose. I had to climb a tall mountain (metaphorically and figuratively) to find It through my healing journey.
Like many of us, Shiatsu gave me the feeling of “coming home” and discovering a language, a world although abstract initially, but with time, it made so much sense. The more I understood in my healing journey into relationships, how we relate to ourselves, others, nature and the spiritual; Shiatsu gave it a template, It was that missing piece. A way through which I can express myself so honestly in all my layers of being.
Upon Immersing myself into the path of the therapist and self-employment, and starting my practice, luck/destiny came in the form of my first case of a frozen shoulder. The client suffered for years and tried everything with no success. She was a known journalist in my city and the editor of that newspaper who was in my hiking club referred her to me. After a a few sessions, the Issue was resolved to my great amazement after she had an emotional release. Needless to say, she was so grateful and appreciative that she wanted to write a “little story” about me. I was excited of course, she sent a photographer to the clinic I worked at and he took pictures and said look out for the story to come out in a few weeks.
After a few weeks went by, I was coming out of the wilderness on a hot summer weekend my cell phone was full of messages from the clinic owner wondering where I was as the clinic phone was ringing constantly with people looking for “Angel Hands”(My nickname and business name at the time).
He said, “Go read today’s newspaper you are in there with a picture”.
I drove so fast back to town and bought a newspaper opened it and there I was on the second page a page description of her personal experience with me and a quarter-page picture of me.
When I got back to the clinic and listened to all the messages from that day everybody with a bad shoulder called me. This continued for a couple of months after the story came up, so for months I was working on people with shoulder issues.
Shoulders are complicated to treat, in particular, frozen shoulders (adhesive capsulitis) that have different degrees of the “freezing state”. After examining many clients in that period and thousands ones years later, I started to see the pattern that I call the Joan of Arc Syndrome.
The Joan Of Arc Syndrome:
When you think of the historical figure, she was a general a leader and a great fighter—a sword on one side and a shield on the other. Seeing so many people with shoulder issues I could see the sword gesture was on the right and the shield on the left.
It started with noticing that if 10 people came to me with a frozen shoulder 9 out of the 10 would have it on the left side. Once hearing the story underneath the pain you could understand that the person is overwhelmed ( or freeze state). A state of self-preservation and self-protection where Innate resources are limited and can be accompanied by depressive episodes.
The person that had the frozen shoulder on the right side, hearing their story was always a type A personality that only knows how to fight and can be very vigilant, hyper achiever, hyper-attentive, hyper-aroused, hyper-focused hyper-determined and so on. They don’t know what giving up is! They will fight until they break! Or a break will be sent their way by life.
This later was useful as Polyvagal theory came to mass awareness with the fight, flight and freeze states of the nervous system. As the right shoulder for me is the Fight, the Left shoulder is Flight and the freeze brings curvatures to the upper back and a depression in the chest.
Working traditionally on frozen shoulders the way most therapists, doctors and specialists work could be more effective. At times the treatments are even detrimental and re-enforces the state of self-protection and the condition; as the nervous system interprets it as invasive. Even though I found that doing traditional Shiatsu therapy although more effective than all other therapies, still was being translated by the body’s nervous system as Invasive too.
Hearing what the body says and holding that space where people were able to share what’s underneath is one of the gifts that I had even as a young therapist. Trauma always played a role in their state and revealing/releasing their traumas brought on Improvements. Based on these experiences working with complex trauma I had to come up with a sequence that would bring down the alarms of the body and reset the nervous system.
Continue reading next week with part 2.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mihael Mamychshvili: Founder, Angel Hands Integrative Center, Master Lead Therapist (RST) Registered Shiatsu Therapist (RST), Creator NeuroPath Reset Therapy (NPR) , Mindbody Coach.
Mihael has worked with over 15,000 people with chronic pain and the effects of traumas. His speciality is reconnecting the communication between the mind and body. His innovative approach to the body and broad knowledge and experience has lead to his reputation as a therapist who can Initiate transformative change.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeuroPathReset/
Comments