| The memory is in the muscle. We hear people vividly | | | | where you normally feel things. Chances are the |
| taste remnants of the feelings surrounding old trauma | | | | experiencing of this memory will be magnified here. |
| when faced with a trigger of the context in which | | | | In relation to this bodily felt sense, you can engage |
| that original trauma was experienced. It's truly as | | | | an innocent inquiry that has the potential for the |
| though the memory is in the muscle. | | | | memory to let go of you, and thereby lose its hold |
| We know this phenomenon to be characteristic of | | | | on your experience in the moment. |
| post-traumatic stress. What's unclear for many is | | | | For example, you may ask yourself 4 questions from |
| how the emotional memory remains dormant in the | | | | the Work of Byron Katie: |
| psyche and in the tissue over months, years and | | | | 1) Is it true? (Is my perception true?) |
| decades. | | | | 2) Can I really know it to be true? |
| It is as though all of the sensory neurons of the | | | | 3) How do I react when I embrace this thought? |
| traumatized memory remain in tack. And once | | | | 4) How would I be without this thought? |
| re-tasted, they carry much of the cognitive | | | | Then turn this thought around..... |
| components associated with that feeling state. | | | | To enhance the success of the procedure, let your |
| There are a number of therapies designed to | | | | attention be filled with breath and stay with that until |
| disentangle the memory on the neuro-sensory level. | | | | respiration relaxes the physiology and grounds your |
| One very practical and cost-effective way of | | | | mental emotional state. |
| accomplishing the diffusion of the affective/physical | | | | If you walk into past trauma that remains dormant in |
| and cognitive flood of such trauma is to ground | | | | your muscular memory, this is something you can |
| oneself at its initial onset and recast the experience | | | | bring into check. And over time, you will be pleasantly |
| to be commensurate with one's current surround. | | | | surprised at your ability to regain your current |
| This is easier than it sounds. In the face of the flood, | | | | balanced demeanor of internal harmony. |
| let your attention go inward to the place in the body | | | | |