Much has been discovered and written about the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault in society. Through the ME Too movement, society is beginning to learn to accept the shadow side of unhealthy relationships in family and professional life that cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Perhaps most of us have triggers that lie close to the surface. We get upset, frustrated, angry or sad, and often don't seem to have much control over our quick unchecked responses to any one of these. For many of my clients, these triggers are connected to some traumatic event, often deeply buried. The event may not even be remembered, either because it occurred so early in life or because the psyche needs to protect itself by masking memory.
Emotional, physical and sexual abuse commonly lead to the creation of defense mechanisms which we must honor specifically because they offer a sense of temporary safety. Unfortunately these defenses, innocent enough in themselves, may lead to addictions. Alcohol, drugs, over-eating, hiding from the world, perfectionism—anything that can help one to stave off the 'monsters' involved in a traumatic event of the past—may warp the defenses of childhood and serve to keep the traumatic event hidden so the trauma cannot heal.
We now know beyond a doubt that trauma gets stored in the cellular memory. The body holds on to it and imprints it in the cells. Pharma-Psychologist and Neuroscientist, Candace Pert, PhD, wrote about this in her seminal book, Molecules of Emotion.
My book, Stuck is Not a Place, for which Pert wrote the introduction, explores the importance of healing versus merely fixing. In writing about my work, Pert mentions the interaction between neuropeptides and their receptors which serve as inter-cellular mediators responsible for body-wide communication. I see this as the intersection of unity and energy which I call UNERGI.
In my Unergi practice as a Body-Psychotherapist for the past thirty-five years, I have used simultaneous touch (Alexander technique), body-talk (Gestalt therapy), and micro movement to reach the cellular memory. Together the client and I safely reprogram their abusive touch history without re-traumatization. My primary agenda is never catharsis of emotional release (which could become another addiction for client as well as practitioner), but rather each session establishes deep safety first through listening dialogue via touch and talk in order to move forward gently and slowly. This helps the client develop a strong inner authority showing them effective new ways to respond to the world around them.
Through Unergi Body-Psychotherapy, triggers that may continue to be present on the surface of life are transformed into new ways of being thereby bringing to an end the sabotaging of life’s dreams, activities, parenting, jobs and relationships.
