Body armour, trauma, David Berceli

[Jetsun]

"All severe life or death type traumas will be connected to the psoas in some way no matter where in your body it is stored in order to energise flight in the fight or flight response brought up by the trauma. "

 

Can you say/write more about this? Thank you

 

All severe traumas trigger the fight, flight or freeze response from the reptilian brain which is a survival mechanism to make you react instantly to threat before you can even think about it. With such a response a great deal of energy is made available to the psoas to enable you to run away, or if you can't run or fight you will freeze like a rabbit in headlights then the psoas will contract making you curl up into a ball for protection. Trauma is essentially an event in your life which hasn't been fully processed or discharged yet, so the memory still contains a charge, so it makes sense whenever a trauma is reactivated in a person that the psoas will either be energised or will contract all over again. If your psoas is permanently contracted it probably means that your nervous system is in freeze mode so you are 'playing dead' as an emergency way of dealing with overwhelming stress from a threat.

[Simplicity Rules]

Depends on the sort of trauma you are working with, EMDR works quite well if you have precise events to work with.

 

I think that is both the advantage and disadvantage of EMDR.

 

Peter Levine's Somatic experiencing is similar shaking but without focus on the legs, although I never got it to work.

 

Same experience here. It also lacked structure unlike TRE and was not very usable for me.

 

Bruce Frantzis Water Method can allow you to let go of trauma.

 

It requires too much of work and is much harder I guess, and I never got around to differentiating it from Vipassana. Don't feel very inclined towards that, especially without taking a workshop with Bruce.

 

 

I know a form of Qigong called CFQ qigong was used to help tsunami victims recover from trauma.

Thanks, I will check this out.

 

I always thought holotropic breathwork was for birth trauma, it's probably less safe than tre because it uses breath.

 

Unsafe? Did you mean because it can harm the lungs or lead to hyperventilation? I have done some breathwork similar to Rebirthing but involving lower dantien and a more relaxed breathing. Seemed safer and more relaxing, but was never sure if it work on releasing traumas.

[mYTHmAKER]

i really wish i had this exercise 15 years ago!

 

it's so simple and effective ime.

 

really unwinding deep, core tension.

 

i feel like like it is saving me hundreds of hours of, say, trying to dissolve this kind of tension through sitting meditation alone.

 

like trunk i also do the last exercise before bed, sometimes for an hour or so.

 

highly recommended.

 

sean

 

Could you give a description of the last exercise.

Thanks

[Jetsun]

 

Unsafe? Did you mean because it can harm the lungs or lead to hyperventilation? I have done some breathwork similar to Rebirthing but involving lower dantien and a more relaxed breathing. Seemed safer and more relaxing, but was never sure if it work on releasing traumas.

 

Yeah I think there are more potential medical complications with hyperventilation type methods plus there is always the risk when you flood the conscious mind with the unconscious with powerful breathing techniques you can bring up stuff that the person isn't ready to deal with. I have done a similar technique called Sudarshan Kriya which is a similar sort of controlled hyperventilation, it didn't help me but I think it does have the potential to help with some traumas, there is medical evidence which shows it helps symptoms, i'm not sure about curing hardcore PTSD though.

[unmike]

In his efforts to undo the traumas associated with being struck by a car at 70 mph while on foot, Bob Cooley realized that fascial tissues, not muscles, are responsible for our flexibility. Because of they way collagen fibers shear, they often store the myriad physical stresses we endure from impacts great and small.

 

His system is predicated upon the idea of learning to apply great amounts of force in specific direction in order to thin the excess "scar" fascia, resulting emotional and physical release. It improves upon existing stretches by adding in the fundamental resistance in the opposite direction, generating the forces necessary to sort of tear things into alignment. There is also an additional massage component occasionally performed by practitioners where the tissues are kneaded with the feet to accomplish something similar to Rolfing, though as I understand it in a somewhat gentler manner.

[JohnC]

There is also an additional massage component occasionally performed by practitioners where the tissues are kneaded with the feet to accomplish something similar to Rolfing, though as I understand it in a somewhat gentler manner.

 

Yea I hear that you can tell a rolfing session is going on by the screaming, haha.

 

But I also hear it is fantastic for you.

 

John

[sean]

Could you give a description of the last exercise.

Thanks

supta baddha konasana, feet pulled up close to tailbone, relax for 5-10 minutes. then slowly begin raising the legs, stopping periodically to discover/allow waves of trembling, shaking.

 

sean

[Trunk]

supta baddha konasana, feet pulled up close to tailbone, relax for 5-10 minutes. then slowly begin raising the legs, stopping periodically to discover/allow waves of trembling, shaking.

 

Graphic to help:

basically this position (supta baddha konasana) but without the strap 'n pads,

then raise the hips off of the ground for a little while (so that you're on your back-shoulders and the outsides of both feet), then lower hips back down.

Then bring the knees together and rock gently laterally back & forth.

(based on David Berceli's work, search amazon)

 

~ edit ~

Call it "Supta Berceli".

[mYTHmAKER]

supta baddha konasana, feet pulled up close to tailbone, relax for 5-10 minutes. then slowly begin raising the legs, stopping periodically to discover/allow waves of trembling, shaking.

 

sean

 

Thanks:)

[mYTHmAKER]

Graphic to help:

basically this position (supta baddha konasana) but without the strap 'n pads,

then raise the hips off of the ground for a little while (so that you're on your back-shoulders and the outsides of both feet), then lower hips back down.

Then bring the knees together and rock gently laterally back & forth.

(based on David Berceli's work, search amazon)

 

~ edit ~

Call it "Supta Berceli".

 

Thanks

[Enishi]

This interests me. I just ordered the DVD online.

[Bokonon]

Graphic to help:

basically this position (supta baddha konasana) but without the strap 'n pads,

then raise the hips off of the ground for a little while (so that you're on your back-shoulders and the outsides of both feet), then lower hips back down.

Then bring the knees together and rock gently laterally back & forth.

(based on David Berceli's work, search amazon)

 

~ edit ~

Call it "Supta Berceli".

 

I'm a bit confused. I just received the DVD and did this exercise and liked it but Trunk's description sounds a bit different than what I did. Are you modifying it Trunk? I assumed the position above and raised my hips and held them there until there was some slight shaking (or more like pelvic rocking. Then I lowered the hips, relaxed for awhile letting my knees just hang there and then began gradually raising them, stopping every 2"'s or so to feel the tremors. Is it when your knees are finally raised to the top when you put them together and gently rock them back and forth, Trunk? I'm happy with the DVD but I'm just wondering if there is a variation that I'm missing. Thanks much.

[Trunk]

I assumed the position above and raised my hips ...

..

Is it when your knees are finally raised to the top when you put them together and gently rock them back and forth, Trunk?

They are two different exercises that go together there, is my impression.

 

1st is just what you say there at first: raise the hips (height/s, repetition, sustain variations - though all gentle).

 

2nd is, after you've lowered your hips to the ground that you bring your knees up together and then just gently rock your knees back and forth. It's kind of the opposite of the opening 1st part. It's a coming together comforting feeling rocking the spine gently laterally, back & forth.

 

2 complements, follows up nicely, to 1. That is, if I remembering the video correctly (?).

[Birch]

All severe traumas trigger the fight, flight or freeze response from the reptilian brain which is a survival mechanism to make you react instantly to threat before you can even think about it. With such a response a great deal of energy is made available to the psoas to enable you to run away, or if you can't run or fight you will freeze like a rabbit in headlights then the psoas will contract making you curl up into a ball for protection. Trauma is essentially an event in your life which hasn't been fully processed or discharged yet, so the memory still contains a charge, so it makes sense whenever a trauma is reactivated in a person that the psoas will either be energised or will contract all over again. If your psoas is permanently contracted it probably means that your nervous system is in freeze mode so you are 'playing dead' as an emergency way of dealing with overwhelming stress from a threat.

 

 

Interesting, thanks!

[Friend]

Edited November 16, 2011 by Friend

[Birch]

Didn't feel any sense of "content" or very strong emotions associated with the exercises, but they did produce the type of shaking that is mentioned in the book/DVD.

 

It occurred to me there was shaking going on on a couple of different levels at the same time and I wondered if this was because the exercises target both muscle and fascia?

 

 

One "level" was very big bouncy shaking, the other was micro-shaking. I wouldn't compare with "qi-flow" as I've experienced it though but I figure that might just be an even more refined "version"?

 

I ended up falling asleep after it and before I did, I "flew" around places I'd grown up in. I found myself on a street that I often found scary when I was a kid. Just because it was so shady (as in "not sunny") Then I had some fun going to the parks I used to go to. I wonder if that was the "content", none of it was particularly traumatic though.

[steve]

I've read through some of the book. Well put together IMO.

 

I've had some chronic back pain for years and over the past few months I've been much tighter in the low back, hips, and pelvis than usual. I've also been pretty severely traumatized in the past and continue to be exposed to and work through some of the traumatic stimuli.

 

In just a few sessions, I feel a definite improvement in the low back and hip/pelvic stiffness. I haven't had much psycho/emotional release other than a transient but fairly intense burst of emotion the first time I did it.

 

I think the preparatory exercises are important. They seem designed to fatigue the leg muscles a bit which I think probably creates the physiologic environment conducive to trembling. The trembling is fascinating. Some is high velocity and short excursion like quivering, some much longer and slower and rhythmic. You can feel the different muscle groups being recruited in a relatively random pattern.

 

Definitely something I plan to work with for a while.

[RiverSnake]

-Had the book for about a month and just cracked it open today. Skipped to the back and read the last two chapters.

 

-Practiced exercise 1 and got some minor tremors.

 

-I tried exercise 2 found it annoying and put too much strain on my knee.

 

-Then i tried the wall sits. I did 5 minute wall sitts and there was a lot of shaking. Then i dis 3 minutes of the foreword bend and man there was a LOT of SHAKING.

 

-Felt a bit tired but at the same time relaxed after the exercises. Lot of shaking in my legs.

[Smile]

Try this: http://shamanicdearmoring.com/de-armoring.htm

I've heard this goes much deeper into the body if you are strong enough to take it.

Plato went through it, but it's taught only through a workshop.

[Mandrake]

Try this: http://shamanicdearmoring.com/de-armoring.htm

I've heard this goes much deeper into the body if you are strong enough to take it.

Plato went through it, but it's taught only through a workshop.

 

Interesting, thanks! What did Plato think of it, especially, how did he think it compared to the other stuff he has done?

 

 

Mandrake

[Creation]

I think the preparatory exercises are important. They seem designed to fatigue the leg muscles a bit which I think probably creates the physiologic environment conducive to trembling. The trembling is fascinating. Some is high velocity and short excursion like quivering, some much longer and slower and rhythmic. You can feel the different muscle groups being recruited in a relatively random pattern.

Would anyone else care to share their thoughts on the importance of the preparatory exercises?

[Birch]

Would anyone else care to share their thoughts on the importance of the preparatory exercises?

 

I figure they're needed to introduce a strain on the system. Without which you won't notice whatever you're holding. You just continue to hold. I guess it's the opposite of a relaxation "effort"?

[RiverSnake]

Had a question on the exercises. I just read the last 2 chapters and saw that there are several very different exercises for releasing trauma. However, the author does not specify each with a certain function...do all of the exercises bring about the same reaction or does each release different areas of the body?

 

-Does anyone know?

[mYTHmAKER]

I am about to order the book.

I went to amazon and read the reviews.

There is a lot of information in them

[steve]

As I continue to follow this program I've noticed a few things.

The shaking occurs sooner and becomes more intense.

It has spread, at times, to my entire body - arms, legs, hands, feet...

My right hand and arm are particularly involved, whatever that means.

The shaking also penetrates beyond the physical and into the energetic and emotional levels to varying degrees.

 

The physical result is that I don't feel nearly as tight and uncomfortable in the low back, hips, and thighs as I had been feeling.

I feel a bit more energized and motivated - more meditation, taiji, qigong,...

Not much change that I can really identify psychologically or emotionally so far.

 

I certainly feel enough benefit from the practice to continue.

I haven't finished reading the book yet but I like it.