Simply put, trauma is more than a person’s system can handle at that time. Psychological trauma can stem from physical, emotional or spiritual causes. Trauma is stored in the body until it can be processed and integrated. It cannot be treated through an intellectual understanding alone, but must be accessed through direct experience. Before it is safe to work through trauma, a client needs resources, stability, and a strong holding environment.
One of the tenets of Contemplative Psychotherapy is that our basic nature, our inherent health, is indestructible. No matter what has happened, however minor or horrific, our basic nature is neither diminished nor destroyed. Our basic nature can get pretty covered over and obscured, and it may take some time to find our way through the obscurations (always longer than we’d like!). However, our basic nature is undamaged and ever present. This indestructibility can provide a sense of ground in the often groundless experience of working through trauma.
In working with clients’ trauma, Lodi draws on body-centered techniques, Somatic Experiencing, mindfulness, neuroscience, relationship and clients’ own innate resiliency, courage and inherent health.
Transforming trauma from overwhelm to strength is like the miracle of a flower finding a way to grow and bloom out of rock. Impossibly possible.