The power of non-ordinary consciousness states in healing trauma

Towards a framework of soul-centred trauma healing (1)

[I put the podcast episode above ⬆️​ if you prefer to listen to this piece rather than read it! My podcast ‘Conscious | Unconscious’ is here on the Substack app and also on Spotify, Apple and a few more.]

I remember the precise moment that I realized ‘reality’ was tenuous at best, that it was apparently a weak simulacrum of something vastly more potent. It was the same moment I realized, by extension, that something worked better for healing than all the therapeutic tools humans have evolved over the past couple of hundred years. Oddly enough, it wasn’t when the angel appeared in my grandmother’s backyard, which I wrote about here (probably because at the time, that seemed on the spectrum of normal — I was six). Rather, my reality reframe arrived at the very beginning of my training in the healing arts, when a classmate recounted meeting his guru in India.

But before I get to that story, today’s newsletter is about how we all have something to learn from the many and varied experiences of seemingly improbable, and rapid-in-time healing through altered states such as those that take place in these contexts:

• spiritual/mystical encounters with embodied awakened persons (like gurus)

• NDEs (near death experiences)

• trauma-induced OBEs (out of body experiences)

• psychedelics

• Shamanic journeys

In case you missed the subtitle, here on my free Substack I am creating this series of newsletters: Towards a framework of soul-centred trauma healing. I intend to explore alternative, consciousness-driven, soulful dimensions of healing. I sort out my thoughts best through writing, so this series is part of my process of creating a framework for soul-centred complex trauma healing that is overarching and includes any and all modalities or tools.

Hint: it’s not about what tool you use, it’s about how you use it, and who the person is that is using it. It’s about content, not form. Beingness, not Doingness.

As I wrote in my introduction to my Substack publication:

My aim here is to move the conversation away from a predominantly nervous system approach to trauma/healing into a more human-focused, compassion-oriented and spiritual dimension of suffering.

This may be a long journey, and I am in no rush, so buckle your seatbelts.

The guy who went to India and met his guru

He told me that in a moment of penetrating eye contact with his guru, he experienced an explosive expansion of consciousness and instantly shed a lifetime of traumatic memory surrounding a specific instance of abuse. He had experienced something like Samadhi. Touching the Divine. He returned to ‘real life’ as the same upright human body, the same imperfect self with moods and challenges and the need to make a living, but from then on he was unable to relate to a specific past wound in the same way. Importantly, his identity had shifted so that he regarded his past trauma almost as something that had happened to someone else.

Whew, and all this training I’d done to sit with people in pain and find ways to communicate, listen, facilitate, transform—when out there, somewhere, was a consciousness state that could put all of therapy out of business, and humanity out of its suffering. Okay, that’s a bit tongue in cheek. I don’t think any solution can cure us of the human condition, nor can this experience of — what I can only call grace — be shoved into a therapeutic box and trotted out as a toolkit.

[No, it cannot. More on this later.]

I wanted to understand this experience of his so badly. I didn’t believe in suffering the same way after. Subsequently, I found many other claims like his, from those who met with embodied, awakened teachers, or did ayahuasca or mushrooms, or just, you know, suddenly experienced union with the Divine. I became devoted to grace, because that seemed to be what it was, whatever it was. I knew that whatever I might do as a practitioner was a pale comparison to what this grace / expanded consciousness might do, possibly through me, but anyway, hopefully in spite of me and my human limitations! So I carried on with my own meditative path.

Of course, I still did all the trainings. I was raising three kids and going in pursuit of gurus wasn’t even remotely in the realm of possibility. So I studied. I sat in my own therapy. I sat in meditation, and I sat with clients. I used the power of compassion which I wrote about months ago, to deepen in.

Eventually, a few years into my bodywork training, I had the incredible experience of stumbling upon Giorgia Milne and her school, Touch of Presence. I had trained in myofascial release and craniosacral work, and I was curious about the biodynamic approach which had evolved from osteopathy. I arrived at my first training with Giorgia thinking I was about to learn all kinds of cool things to further my mission to ‘release trauma from the body,’ only to be told,

“This practice is about presence. Doing less. Being more. We are going to do a lot of being over this week.”

She wasn’t kidding. It was like meditating for eight hours a day, practicing stillness and dropping into my own core. I learned from several intensives in BCT over about seven years that consciousness does create change, without the interference (or efference, in that tradition) of the person doing the hands-on bit. From this cultivation of presence, everything evolved with much more grace. I began to have more experiences, with even my talk therapy clients, of expanded states of consciousness. Something was clicking.

More and more over the years, it has become evident to me that no matter what is being done, the being part matters more.

There is a quality of being in which reality transmutes. There is a productive stillness between breaths. There is an alive space in the midst of silence. A palpable sense of expansion beyond the normal boundaries of self. We both, the client and I together, are changed. And we have done exactly … nothing, or perhaps even, many different kinds of something. I wrote [here] a bit about how over the past few years, more and more of my clients are experiencing a shift from growing up (conventional healing of past wounds) to waking up (experiencing shifts in identity beyond the ego self).

What’s happening here fascinates me.

I’m not reinventing the wheel

Transpersonal psychotherapy is of course wholly committed to this endeavour of soul-centred healing. Shamanic practitioners have been doing it for probably forever. Many talented therapists, practitioners, spiritual teachers, and coaches out there have an active transmission that supports soul-centred healing work (which includes some of my favourite Substackers that I’ve recommended in my Rabbit Holes section at the bottom).

In terms of marshalling these powerful non-ordinary states of consciousness consciously in therapeutic sessions, there are a million ‘how tos’. In Irene Siegel’s book The Sacred Path of the Therapist: Modern Healing, Ancient Wisdom, and Client Transformation, she explores how transpersonal psychotherapy and EMDR together can open spaces for expanded consciousness and the transformation of both the client and therapist. She even gives concrete advice on how to enter these expanded states in a therapeutic setting.

Yet, there is more to explore. Research in this area is evolving fast, and never before have people had such access to concepts like soul, consciousness, and awakening. There are many missing pieces that are particularly helpful for those who have experienced complex trauma, where, given often life-long experiences of the interruption of normal stages of growing up, existential questions cannot be ignored and must therefore become part and parcel of the healing journey.

Aside from the speed of healing in linear time, the other unique factor in these kinds of healings is the extent to which they alter one’s sense of self. There is not just a new orientation to self, or an expanded sense of self, but also a nuanced (and distanced) reframing of what went wrong, as well as a sudden sense of mission and interconnection to others and the world.

Dr. Bruce Greyson is a specialist in psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences at the University of Virginia—and one of the world's leading experts on near-death experiences. On the matter of the incredible power of non-ordinary experiences like NDEs to create instantaneous transformation, he said:

As a psychiatrist, this is the most fascinating aspect to me because I make my living trying to help people change their lives. That's very difficult to do. But here's this experience that in a few seconds, can totally transform someone's attitudes, values, beliefs and behavior. They typically make people more spiritual if I can use that word. They make them more compassionate, more caring, more altruistic, and they become much less interested in physical things—in material goods, in power, prestige, fame, competition. {my highlight} Source.

There you have it. In Newsweek, no less.

Trauma, dissociative states, and healing

Beyond my day to day experiences, I love to investigate the outliers in survivordom—those who have experienced a degree of healing and grace seemingly contraindicated by the severity of their trauma journeys. This is a totally subjective category, by the way. I don’t know how else to qualify these cases except to say that the horror of their experience is mind-boggling, and so, too, is their subsequent recovery.

I have observed that in some extreme states, in a shut down trauma response, non-ordinary consciousness experiences include phenomena that are experienced as healing.

The Parasympathetic Paradox

I disagree with the conventional wisdom that the dissociative / shut down response to trauma is simply an evolutionary imperative for self-protection, or in its ongoing presentation, a learned avoidance or repression strategy. Rather, I see it as a self-protective state from the level of soul that often links to non-ordinary consciousness states and healing experiences.

(Of course, on a day to day basis immobilisation as a learned response is disruptive to living and the nervous system should be recalibrated to homeostatis, which means operating in the normal range of response to real/perceived threat. This is what ‘vagal toning’ is all about.)

Quickly. The autonomic nervous system and Polyvagal Theory

The parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is responsible for rest and digest states — in other words, the state of feeling safe, chillaxed, and ready for social engagement. We do yoga, tai chi, qigong, forest bathing, gardening and meditation to get into our parasympathetic state, for example.

The thing is, the shut down and dissociative response to trauma also emanates from the parasympathetic branch. This once flummoxed scientists because the shutdown response is a primal trauma response, right? Just like fight or flight. So how can it be from the same branch of the autonomic nervous system that is meant to get us feeling chilled out? Prior to Polyvagal Theory, this seeming quandary was referred to as the ‘parasympathetic paradox.’

Then Stephen Porges came along with his Polyvagal Theory and said (not literally, these are my words),

“Aha! But the parasympathetic branch has not one, but two channels linked to the vagus nerve (and a third channel is linked to the sympathetic branch). The shutdown response is from the primal, ancient dorsal part of the vagus nerve. Whereas the social engagement response is from the more recently evolved ventral part of the vagus nerve. Paradox resolved!”

I honestly don’t know how identifying the roles of the discrete channels of a cranial nerve and then naming and differentiating them resolves this paradox. But I am not a scientist. From where I sit, experientially speaking, there was never a paradox to begin with.

The parasympathetic system is all about feeing safe. And nothing feels safer when being sexually assaulted (for example) then fleeing from the human body altogether, and maybe, say, hanging out with a deceased family member or spirit guide and receiving some love and wisdom.

There are so many examples of how this plays out in real time. From my own client base, I have heard numerous stories of how, during a moment of trauma, there was dissociation, watching the trauma from outside the body, and then seeing/hearing/interacting with all manner of non-physical, loving beings. Or experiencing heightened bliss states. Or suddenly knowing why it was all happening and what to do next.

I cannot adequately convey, right now, the healing power of these experiences in the midst of traumatic experiences, but here is one example:

One client routinely saw a mother figure-like-entity (an angel? spirit guide?) who silently reassured her that she was loved while her own physical mother was emotionally and often physically absent. This memory was her only reference point for what the love of a healthy mother might feel like. In some ways, it saved her by giving her a template of what maternal love felt like (and by extension, self-love).

The experience of former child sex slave Anneke Lucas is another example; no need for a trigger alert here. I’m not going to recount her ordeal (here is a great interview for you), but rather note that she now counsels other survivors and leads a riveting podcast. What stands out to me in her story is her experience of non-ordinary consciousness and her soul, and how those aspects of her selfhood interposed in select moments of incredible trauma, altering her framework, and ultimately changing her trajectory.

Like my friend who went to India and met his guru.

Near Death Experiences (NDEs), Psychedelics, and more

Another example of spontaneous healing in an altered state is that of “Buddha Betty,” who had a near death experience that completely changed her previously atheist outlook. The real miracle, however, took place afterwards, when she was cured instantaneously of substance addiction on day three of withdrawal through a voice and a vision, whilst in an altered state of consciousness.

Psychedelics are of course another path to healing; there is no shortage of material on how potent they can be for healing trauma. Yet, experiences with plant medicine also seem inconsistent, and permanent healing is an exception rather than a rule. More to be explored here.

Questions, Exploration & Frameworks

I have a lot of questions, various rabbit holes to go down, and not any answers or frameworks yet.

Consciousness, grace, whatever you call it, offers profound healing, that is for sure.

I do know that there is NO 5 step, 4 pillar method that will harness the power of the soul in a replicable and reliable way. This is not a modality-in-the-making. Again, this path is so much less about doing and more about being, and that is something which requires more than simply training.

In any case, exploring this topic can teach us all a LOT, and potentially, help us each take responsibility for our own spiritual practice and consciousness states, no matter what side of the healing space we are sitting on (and anyway, at some point, if not at every point on the path, we will each of be both the one guiding and the one receiving).

Coming soon, I am going to be writing about the shared field we all live in. Morphic resonance, the aether, resonance, and the magic that happens between us.

A special thank you to my regular readers who make this writing/researching passion project so much more soul-nourishing. It feels like community. [Cue Angels singing].

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Rabbit holes

The Biodynamic Cranial Approach of Giorgia Milne

Irene Siegel, The Sacred Path of the Therapist: Modern Healing, Ancient Wisdom, and Client Transformation.

YouTube video on the difference between the dorsal and ventral vagus nerves by the fabulous anatomy teacher, theologian and Rolfer, Gil Headley

Interview with child sex trafficking survivor Anneke Lucas:

Anneke’s podcast:

Interview with Buddha Betty on her NDE

Substackers who do aligned soul-centred healing-related stuff!

Niki We Heal, Demi at The Starfire Codes, Solarah, ERIN REESE, Shira Starfire, Sally Guthrie.

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