Trauma/Wounding Happened In The Body Not The Brain
David Grand says that he believes most of our trauma occurred preverbal. I would agree and further say that even if our trauma, wounding and the onset of our limiting beliefs happened once we could speak, as children, our brain is not yet developed to be able to “make sense” of, and therefore process, our experience.
When we feel hurt as children it happens in the emotional body. From the emotional wounding, we create limiting belief systems and build a false identity based on those beliefs about ourselves. When we grow older, we might go to therapy and try to finally “make sense” of what happened by analysing our past, patterns and belief systems. However, if we think we can heal by talking, alone, we’re missing a very important part of the process of healing because the wound didn’t happen in the mind and therefore cannot be healed in the mind (neocortex to be precise).
That’s why in my work as a Coach, I go into the body, the sensation, emotion and experience of what you are presently going through. By going into the body, we can directly access the core of our patterning and go straight to the solution/resolution/healing which is giving ourselves the unmet need. Of course from that point, it’s about learning new ways of showing up for ourselves. After all, we are unraveling a very old habit and creating a new, healthier habit in support of who we truly are rather than our false self.
Brainspotting beautifully supports this process as it bypasses the analytical thinking mind and goes straight to the core of the wounding. On that note, trauma can be with a big T or a little t, as Gabor Maté says. Each and every one of us has experienced some kind of trauma even if that trauma was that we felt not loveable, significant or good enough to our parents.