When real physical threats arise, human instincts take over and can create extraordinary feats of focused attention and action. The 'awe-full' qualities of horror and terror we can experience at such times share essential roots with profoundly transformative states such as flow, awe, presence, timelessness, and ecstasy as they reach far beyond the limiting mind. The bridging of these states with everyday awareness can be a key feature of spiritual growth and expansion. It can promote the experience of timelessness and presence, sometimes referred to in meditation systems as the eternal now.

Trauma stands in the way of this integration by locking us up in a 'freeze' mode and inhibiting the activation that gives us access to the 'fight or flight' energised states. The ability to access and integrate this bound energy determines whether it will be debilitating or vitalizing. In yoga, an awakening of the Kundalini has long been utilized as a vehicle for spiritual transformation. Trauma produces a similar mobilisation of survival activation, but it is overwhelming with such intensity and rapidity. We are unable to utilise this energy as it is bound to rigid and frozen response patterns.

As we bring awareness to our wounds and gradually access and integrate this energy into our nervous system and psychic structures, we begin to experience greater freedom, expansion, and connection to our true selves. As we integrate those wounds, the instinctual survival response embedded within trauma can catalyse authentic spiritual transformation.

In this online workshop we will explore:

– The intrinsic relationship between trauma transformation and various spiritual states;

– The energetic basis of survival instincts and their relationship to the process of transformation;

– The importance of embodiment for effective (and safe) spiritual practice;

– How to access portals to the deep self and our ancestors through the spiritual components of trauma;

– The inherent continuities between mystical energy systems and the modern scientific understanding of the nervous system;

– The coherent relationship between a wound and its healing, as well as how both are part of an authentic spiritual journey

This online program is suitable for therapists, spiritual seekers, and anyone looking for an experiential somatic understanding of the relationship between traumatic imprint and the spiritual journey. It will include didactic lecture, somatic exploration exercises, small breakout groups, and Q & A.