Healing the Trauma Spirit
Healing the Trauma Spirit with Transpersonal Art
By Courtney Marchesani
Violence and the Trauma Spirit
Often times extreme difficulty in personal relationships are the result of invisible wounds from traumatic experiences. Left untreated, internalization of traumatic experiences lead to a spiritual ‘silent partner’ coming to aid the self, especially in times of extreme duress such as intimate violence. Intimate violence is a shaming experience which requires a spiritual bifurcation or ‘splitting off’ from the mind/body in order to endure an overwhelming event, usually involving someone we know or love. Because of situational helplessness the trauma evokes, the survivor believes they are the only one with a problem and they begin to blame themselves, going inward like a turtle in its shell to hide from perceived danger. Especially in youth, children don’t have the coping skills needed to reach outside of their self-identity and express troubles with their peers. This leads to isolation inside the psyche and by extension within relationships.
The silent partner is a modeled way of relating to the world which automatically fuses to the trauma spirit. The trauma spirit although helpful in times of crisis, because the personality detaches from the physical and heightens spiritual awareness, can also be harmful. If left in the unconscious the traumatic energy resides in the body and calls to it repeated experiences of similar danger. This seems counter-intuitive, but the trauma spirit’s sole purpose becomes re-experiencing the original event with renewed vigor so that the personality will eventually overcome the experienced helplessness, reclaiming power that was once lost.
Aspects of the Trauma Spirit
The trauma spirit’s positive aspects are that it brings a survivor in contact with the spiritual plane, because more pure spiritual energy is required during a harmful physical experience. The negative aspect is that it also forms into a fixed internalized dialogue which protects the self but is unknown to the survivor. The internalization keeps the energy of a disturbing experience trapped within the self. This energy continues to reside within the body. When triggered by fear or false beliefs, the trauma spirit kicks in as a safety mechanism and creates an altered state as a preemptive strike. This will happen even if there isn’t a real threat.
In the brain, when a traumatic event occurs, the higher cognitive functions of the language centers shut down diverting valuable energy for survival strategies. When this happens, language processing develops a form of paradigm thinking instead, or an internal ‘voice’, which establishes itself as a coping mechanism holding together the fragmented, isolated pieces of the self. This voice is an existing modeled behavior rooted in the child’s mind which creates a conditioned response, a voice, or narrative influencing behavior. Since the modelers of this paradigm, usually parents, were most likely not aware of their own structured model of thinking it is passed down inter-generationally.
Antero Alli said, in an interview about an experimental art form called para-theater, “99% of what happens in the body remains invisible to the conscious mind.” Para-theater was first designed by experimental theater director Jerzy Grotowski, whose unique vision used different approaches to performance training. His approach, which he termed ‘Art as Presentation’, used audience members as props, actor’s bodies represented different objects, and he pushed the boundaries of theater by establishing intimate dynamics with audience members for the first time. Modern para-theater views the physical body as the embodiment of the subconscious mind. Through performance artist Alli’s perspective, “the only way to release forces trapped inside the physical body are to unleash deep feelings, energies, and give vocal expression to what lies trapped inside the muscles.”
Transpersonal Art and the Trauma Spirit
You can use art forms such as drama and para theater as transpersonal vehicles to heal the trauma spirit and the fixed internalized dialogue of the silent partner. This is done through the concept of ‘breaking frame.’ In modern theatrical realism, the concept of breaking frame happens when an artist, the actor, addresses the audience by penetrating through the imaginary wall between himself and the audience. As a metaphor in para/theater of the self, breaking frame relates to the breaking through old models of thinking or structured internalized narrative patterning enforced upon the child’s psyche by the parents. The goal of a dramatist becomes reducing conflict of the protagonist, empowering a creative response to rigid fixed patterns of thinking, with the aim of breaking through the internalized fourth wall. This breakthrough comes through sensory work, acting through the original experience in an enactive state of learning, by using affective memory. By coming in contact with the experience using all five senses to give expression to feelings this allows creative movement. Feelings which were unable to be processed by the body shift. As the body releases once blocked energy, this movement allows a witnessing by the internal self of spontaneity, creativity, and originality in thinking and problem solving which was not present before.
Within the internalized identity, the individual breaks through their own mental barrier or “wall” into a new stage, or imaginal realm, where there are infinite possibilities. Breaking through the fourth wall brings energy through the psyche and expands consciousness, allowing room for growth, creativity, and originality. This powerful transformative energy releases the locked trauma spirit residing in the old pattern allowing integration. Healing happens instantaneously as one relates to the former identity with a new artistic perspective. It also changes the relationship to the roles of each side of the self and this offers the protagonist hope, new skills and courage to engage in new and different relationships with the external world (as a natural extension of this growth.) Instant healing transforms the self and allows an environment steeped in rich language, expressive behaviors, and movement of emotions which have lain dormant. This increases orientation to time, place, and person and also facilitates open expression of new forms of self-mastery which are integrated into the self. Confidence, self-image, and a new narrative allow for physical expression and emotional catharsis.
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About the Author
Courtney Marchesani is the creator of Intuitive Soul Language™. She designs breakthrough inspirational empowerment programs for traumatized individuals. As an award winning coach and advocate, Courtney empowers others with her strategies learned from Wilhelm Reich’s character structure, Jacob Moreno’s psychodrama, and intuition. She is attaining her M.A. in Expressive Art Therapy from California Institute of Integral Studies and her works have been featured in The Huffington Post GPS for the Soul, Elephant Journal, and OMTimes Magazine.
This has been my life. Mother sexually abused. Sister and I also sexually abused and even my neice. I remember nothing and I want to break free, but the Psychologist tried to hypnotize and I began to unravel. They stopped. Someday, I want to remember. I can’t have a normal romantic relationship and I’m already 57. Pray for me. Such trauma, PSTD.
I also had experienced trauma as a child, in multi forms. Some as yourself, and some with occult dynamics. It took years of hard work to allow the memories to surface, but with learning different tools I was able to one by one. There are many modalities of therapy, which each one having it’s unique benefits. During the process of recovery, one will have differents needs in different stages. Look into options of therapy approaches & philosophies. Also, 1:1, support groups, vs in/out patient, learning workshops & Holistic Medicine modalities to address mind/body/spirit healing. Hang in there! Anything is better than not moving forward, and staying stuck. Support groups can really be helpful & healing, knowing your not alone.
Thank you for commenting on the article. Typically what you’ll find in most ‘conventional’ therapeutic modalities which address PTSD is a lack of understanding around the trans-personal aspects. It’s one of the reasons I chose to write the article. The spiritual perspective is often left out because according to some therapists it is a dead end. But in my opinion, healing can and will happen within the safe container of an artistic process, especially in a group because the dynamics are powerful. Art is very much about making contact with the subconscious, it’s a natural part of creating and using the imagination to work through the difficulty. I recommend dramatic therapies, psychodrama, and expressive art therapy because they quickly move energy and allow you to express what might be ‘invisible’ or ‘hidden’ to the conscious mind.