We’re excited. We recently became aware of the practice of earthing and its potential to improve our health and well-being. More research needs to be done, but it’s possible that earthing may be able to prevent, and even possibly cure, trauma.
When we walk barefoot on the Earth, we are in electrical contact with it. Electrons flow into our bodies to equalise the electrical potentials, thus automatically neutralising harmful free radicals and balancing other systems. But modern lifestyles insulate us from direct contact with the ground. We wear shoes all the time, mostly live in houses that isolate us electrically from the earth, sleep in wooden beds, and walk on insulating carpets. As a result, we become electrically unbalanced.
Earthing involves reconnecting ourselves to the Earth’s supply of electrons. There are several ways this can be done, but - apart from going barefoot - they all involve skin contact with a conducting pad or sheet of some kind. This is connected to the earth through a metal rod pushed into the ground, or via the earth circuit of the building’s wiring. A bed sheet with silver threads allows us to be earthed while asleep, and a pad under the desk can earth us through our bare feet while we work. More localised earthing to treat specific injuries or problems can be achieved with patches or bands attached to the body.
This sounds so simple, it’s hard to believe it can have any significant effect. But research to date and extensive experience shows that it does. Users report better sleep, less pain, reduced symptoms of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and MS, and less stress, tension and anxiety. Wounds heal faster, and top athletes recover more rapidly from the stress of competition or intense training.
In particular, earthing has been shown to normalise the daily cycle of the stress hormone cortisol. Chronic elevation of cortisol levels is one of the effects of trauma, raising the intriguing possibility that earthing might reduce trauma symptoms. If used on a regular basis, it might increase resilience to potentially traumatic experiences. If applied after such an event, it might reduce or prevent the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As there is an association between trauma and some other mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Bipolar Disorder, we believe earthing might help sufferers of these conditions too. It’s certainly worth researching.
In our book, Hope for Humanity, we argue that almost everyone is affected by trauma to some extent. Our resulting behavioural and psychological patterns create powerful barriers to ending war, violence, poverty, social breakdown and environmental destruction. One of the greatest challenges facing us is how to heal so many people - clearly one-on-one therapy is not possible for more than a tiny fraction of humanity. So wouldn’t it be wonderful if something as simple as earthing could make a big difference?
Christine is finding that earthing herself as much as possible is helping her express her unique self. She is experimenting with a new trauma therapy that focuses on the interaction between the energy systems of the Earth and the human body. What better therapist to use for such a huge challenge than the Earth herself? She envisages a time when connection with the Earth will help us all to heal, and to find our own unique contributions to healing humanity. We are in the process of creating a website on which more information will be available shortly.
Showing posts with label therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label therapy. Show all posts
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Conservation Therapy for Drug Addicts
Addiction is both a common cause and a frequent consequence of psychological trauma. It affects not only the users of illegal drugs, but also many users of alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, pain killers, anti-depressants, sugar and other foods. It extends to problem gamblers, and all those consumers who indulge in ‘retail therapy.’ One of the most important ways we can bring hope to humanity is by working to reduce addiction.
Connection with nature can be a powerful healing experience. UK charity Phoenix Futures makes creative use of this to bring hope to many of the drug addicts that it helps kick their habits. The aim of their Conservation Therapy Programme is to help users of their service rediscover themselves through contact with nature. Away from traditional therapeutic settings, ‘the outdoors’ creates a powerful environment which builds self esteem and confidence. Participation in this programme has led to a 28% increase in retention rates in residential rehabilitation programmes, and 53% make a full recovery. An important additional benefit is that it benefits local communities and the conservation of specific areas of countryside.
In a new initiative reported by the Guardian newspaper, Phoenix Futures encourages those who have beaten addiction with the their help to plant a tree in an area owned by the Woodland Trust as part of a larger rehabilitation project. John Crane, their alcohol treatment practitioner said:
Recovery is a journey from ruin to resurrection – it's about growth and renewal and unlocking potential. People who go through recovery remark about being reborn, and a tree growing is a great symbol of recovery and a great metaphor for growth. It was essential for me that service users plant the trees themselves because my intention is that the forest should be a powerful experience for everybody who goes there – this makes recovering a location as well as a word.
Phoenix Future’s chief executive, Karen Biggs, adds:
I want the forest to become a place where people can come throughout the year and bring their families. It shows the growth and strength of people going through the recovery journey and is a living symbol of individual and collective achievement – a beautiful symbol on the landscape.
The last word comes from Jaime Kinsella who is about to complete her recovery programme after being a drug user for 20 years:
It is truly inspirational. A tree is so symbolic. This is a really special day and it is a place I will return to with my children in the future.
Connection with nature can be a powerful healing experience. UK charity Phoenix Futures makes creative use of this to bring hope to many of the drug addicts that it helps kick their habits. The aim of their Conservation Therapy Programme is to help users of their service rediscover themselves through contact with nature. Away from traditional therapeutic settings, ‘the outdoors’ creates a powerful environment which builds self esteem and confidence. Participation in this programme has led to a 28% increase in retention rates in residential rehabilitation programmes, and 53% make a full recovery. An important additional benefit is that it benefits local communities and the conservation of specific areas of countryside.
In a new initiative reported by the Guardian newspaper, Phoenix Futures encourages those who have beaten addiction with the their help to plant a tree in an area owned by the Woodland Trust as part of a larger rehabilitation project. John Crane, their alcohol treatment practitioner said:
Recovery is a journey from ruin to resurrection – it's about growth and renewal and unlocking potential. People who go through recovery remark about being reborn, and a tree growing is a great symbol of recovery and a great metaphor for growth. It was essential for me that service users plant the trees themselves because my intention is that the forest should be a powerful experience for everybody who goes there – this makes recovering a location as well as a word.
Phoenix Future’s chief executive, Karen Biggs, adds:
I want the forest to become a place where people can come throughout the year and bring their families. It shows the growth and strength of people going through the recovery journey and is a living symbol of individual and collective achievement – a beautiful symbol on the landscape.
The last word comes from Jaime Kinsella who is about to complete her recovery programme after being a drug user for 20 years:
It is truly inspirational. A tree is so symbolic. This is a really special day and it is a place I will return to with my children in the future.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Trauma affects us all
Do you ever wonder why the planet is wracked by so many crises? Do you ever wonder why humanity seems unable to meet the challenges of creating peace, protecting the living systems that support us, and ending poverty? We believe a root cause is trauma. Trauma warps our personality, blights our health, stunts our development, and condemns us to living well below our potential.
Most of us think of trauma as something that happens to other people as a result of childhood abuse, war, famine, accidents, or sickness. But trauma is universal. Few, if any, of us are unaffected by it. At every stage of life, from conception to death, we are exposed to potentially traumatic experiences. Your mother may have smoked or taken drugs, been malnourished or stressed during pregnancy. You may have had a difficult and painful birth, or put in a hospital nursery away from your mother.
As an infant, your distressed crying may have been ignored, or you may have been treated roughly and angrily rather than with gentle love. In childhood, you may have been harshly punished for bad behaviour, or sexually, emotionally or physically abused. At some stage of life, you may have lived in a war zone, in constant fear of injury or death. Or you may have been a refugee from conflict, famine or a natural disaster. You may have had cancer or another life-threatening illness. And so the list goes on.
Not only are we all exposed to potentially traumatic experiences, but also we inherit trauma from our parents and grandparents. Partly, trauma is transmitted by social learning and education. But the new field of epigenetics is rapidly revealing how it is also transmitted genetically. Traumas suffered by your parents did not change their genes, but they did affect which genes are active - which are switched on, and which are switched off. And those patterns of gene expression will have been passed to you.
This effect even extends to your grandparents. The egg and sperm that became you were formed when your mother and father were tiny embryos in your grandmothers’ wombs, and were affected by their life experiences at that time. This effect has been recognised in practice by the Australian Government which offers some free therapy to the grandchildren of war veterans.
Trauma has been linked to many life issues. In severe cases, it can lead to debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder. It is also implicated in most mental illnesses from anxiety and depression to schizophrenia. It may lead to angry, aggressive and violent behaviours. It is a factor in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. It is linked to heart disease, cancer, immune system dysfunction, chronic fatigue and other major illnesses. It also is associated with migraine, lower back pain and other psychosomatic conditions.
Many of us think of trauma as affecting individuals, but it also impacts on families, communities and whole societies. In the family context, emotional and behavioural effects of trauma can lead parents to abuse their children or each other. At the community level, traditional beliefs, ways of life and social norms may be shattered by war, famine, earthquakes, hurricanes, industrial development and other disasters. Afterwards, it can take generations to recreate community from anarchic chaos. Just imagine the difficulty of rebuilding trust and social relationships after years of civil war and genocide.
Once we recognise the prevalence and impacts of trauma, we can take action to change the situation. In our book “Hope for Humanity: How understanding and healing trauma could solve the planetary crisis”, we document the nature, history, prevalence, mechanisms and impacts of trauma in more detail. We then go on to develop strategies for healing the huge numbers suffering from past trauma, and for reducing the creation of new trauma. We also provide general guidance on choosing a healing modality and therapist.
Perhaps the most important step is for each one of us to recognise and accept that we are probably personally affected, and to start our own inner journey of healing despite our natural resistance to facing the hidden pain. Spiritual approaches such as meditation work in some cases, but often need the support of skilled therapists to enable us to break through the terror, or to open our awareness of memories that we have locked away in secret vaults. Similarly, therapy often needs the support of spiritual practices to achieve long-term personal transformation.
For there to be real Hope for Humanity, it is vital that we each embark on our own healing journey.
Buy HfH in US Buy HfH in UK
Most of us think of trauma as something that happens to other people as a result of childhood abuse, war, famine, accidents, or sickness. But trauma is universal. Few, if any, of us are unaffected by it. At every stage of life, from conception to death, we are exposed to potentially traumatic experiences. Your mother may have smoked or taken drugs, been malnourished or stressed during pregnancy. You may have had a difficult and painful birth, or put in a hospital nursery away from your mother.
As an infant, your distressed crying may have been ignored, or you may have been treated roughly and angrily rather than with gentle love. In childhood, you may have been harshly punished for bad behaviour, or sexually, emotionally or physically abused. At some stage of life, you may have lived in a war zone, in constant fear of injury or death. Or you may have been a refugee from conflict, famine or a natural disaster. You may have had cancer or another life-threatening illness. And so the list goes on.
Not only are we all exposed to potentially traumatic experiences, but also we inherit trauma from our parents and grandparents. Partly, trauma is transmitted by social learning and education. But the new field of epigenetics is rapidly revealing how it is also transmitted genetically. Traumas suffered by your parents did not change their genes, but they did affect which genes are active - which are switched on, and which are switched off. And those patterns of gene expression will have been passed to you.
This effect even extends to your grandparents. The egg and sperm that became you were formed when your mother and father were tiny embryos in your grandmothers’ wombs, and were affected by their life experiences at that time. This effect has been recognised in practice by the Australian Government which offers some free therapy to the grandchildren of war veterans.
Trauma has been linked to many life issues. In severe cases, it can lead to debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder. It is also implicated in most mental illnesses from anxiety and depression to schizophrenia. It may lead to angry, aggressive and violent behaviours. It is a factor in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. It is linked to heart disease, cancer, immune system dysfunction, chronic fatigue and other major illnesses. It also is associated with migraine, lower back pain and other psychosomatic conditions.
Many of us think of trauma as affecting individuals, but it also impacts on families, communities and whole societies. In the family context, emotional and behavioural effects of trauma can lead parents to abuse their children or each other. At the community level, traditional beliefs, ways of life and social norms may be shattered by war, famine, earthquakes, hurricanes, industrial development and other disasters. Afterwards, it can take generations to recreate community from anarchic chaos. Just imagine the difficulty of rebuilding trust and social relationships after years of civil war and genocide.
Once we recognise the prevalence and impacts of trauma, we can take action to change the situation. In our book “Hope for Humanity: How understanding and healing trauma could solve the planetary crisis”, we document the nature, history, prevalence, mechanisms and impacts of trauma in more detail. We then go on to develop strategies for healing the huge numbers suffering from past trauma, and for reducing the creation of new trauma. We also provide general guidance on choosing a healing modality and therapist.
Perhaps the most important step is for each one of us to recognise and accept that we are probably personally affected, and to start our own inner journey of healing despite our natural resistance to facing the hidden pain. Spiritual approaches such as meditation work in some cases, but often need the support of skilled therapists to enable us to break through the terror, or to open our awareness of memories that we have locked away in secret vaults. Similarly, therapy often needs the support of spiritual practices to achieve long-term personal transformation.
For there to be real Hope for Humanity, it is vital that we each embark on our own healing journey.
Buy HfH in US Buy HfH in UK
Monday, December 27, 2010
Trauma and humanity
(M)uch of the violence that plagues humanity is a direct or indirect result of unresolved trauma that is acted out in repeated unsuccessful attempts to re-establish a sense of empowerment.
Trauma therapist Peter Levine
Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence. Not only can trauma be healed, but with appropriate guidance and support, it can be transformative. Trauma has the potential to be one of the most significant forces for psychological, social and spiritual awakening and evolution. How we handle trauma (as individuals, communities and societies) greatly influences the quality of our lives. It ultimately affects how or even whether we will survive as a species.
Trauma therapist Peter Levine
(A)lmost everyone I have ever met suffers from some sense of incompleteness and emptiness. They sense that parts of themselves are missing and that they are cut off from a deep connection with life. … Few people are fully at home and some of us have been so badly traumatized that almost no one is at home.
Shamanic Healer Sandra Ingerman
… despite our differences, we’re all alike. Beyond identities and desires, there is a common core of self - an essential humanity whose nature is peace and whose expression is thought and whose action is unconditional love. When we identify with that inner core, respecting and honoring it in others as well as ourselves, we experience healing in every area of life.
Joan Borysenko
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