Resolving the Impact of Trauma in China
In January 2010, I had the honor of taking my work to China to resolve the ongoing trauma experienced by many people even though it was 2 years after the devastating 2008 Seichuan Earthquake. This 2 week, 3 village journey was put together very quickly, and although we produced exquisite results, planning and more infrastructure would have provided ongoing results. In my years of working on myself and with others, I assert that the devastating impact of trauma from events such as an earthquake is similar in energy to the devastating impact of ACEs; and therefore can be resolved using the same techniques.
My first official work began in Beijing, where I worked with a couple who came from their village to Beijing to attend a 3 day workshop called the Landmark Forum. They also heard about me through my host, and wanted to try and learn about my work with the hope of taking it back to their village. The couple lost many relatives due to a neighboring village being buried in rubble, and their son who was travelling in a town which was completely demolished in the quake.
My host had a friend in Beijing who came to translate while I worked with the villagers. After working with them, I worked with the translator as a thank you for coming out of his way. I noticed a common occurrence with all of them. Each of them found the energy exclusively in their head. The wife was able to sense some sensation in her heart with some guidance, and the translator moved very quickly from his head into the energy of anger in his liver--I believe he has some training in Chinese medicine. The consensus from the villagers was that when they thought about the issue, it hurt, and when they didn't think about the issue, it didn't hurt. Quite the conundrum! I muscle tested that there was a collapsing of intellect with feeling.
I came away with two major insights. First of all I have a profound appreciation for Landmark Education and the Landmark Forum. Their work is perfect for causing very powerful breakthroughs using the intellectual mind. The villagers, who had just participated, were able to talk about their son who died in the quake--he had been in Beijing and had come home that day to visit at their request. They can now talk about this experience without tears--this is huge. Nothing is better for getting the difference between what happened and your story about what happened.
The second insight came after talking with the translator after working with him. I did some work on myself to gain clarity. What I got was when conducting the trainings this week, stay out of the head--possibly integrate the organs and their corresponding emotions into what I include in the training. I love what I get to do. I especially love the arrangement that allowed me to get this essential bit of training BEFORE beginning the work in the earthquake zone.
The first leg of our journey took us to Diujaiang, where a group of 15 counselors work with families who are still suffering. I had 4 days to work. On days 1and 2, I worked exclusively with the staff; on day 3 we brought in mothers (and fathers if available) and on day 4 we worked with children. The staff all live in a tiny apartment with 4-6 people to a bedroom; I felt both blessed and a little bit guilty having a room to myself.
Day 1, with the staff, we looked at how we shut down our capacity to feel, and how the lower brain, mid brain and upper brain impact what little we allow ourselves to feel. I asked them if they would like to be able to return to that space of pure awareness that they had as babies and everyone experienced going into this space through one of my modalities.
We looked at how our concerns impact our presence with other people and did a group debug on the different things they worry about when they think about wanting to help their clients--using a technique specifically designed to cause breakthroughs with worry and anxieties about the future, the SEE technique. Then we did a group debug of anger--using the technique which looks into past events, the CORE technique.
Day 2, I muscle tested that it would be best for the group to use muscle testing to fill out their own evaluation sheets--that was the giggliest part of the day for the group. They were coming up with all kinds of goofy statements to check on each other. They were also surprised by some of the numbers that they got on their sheets. I then did a demo on someone who scored high on nightmares. That was really interesting since her intellect swore that this was not an issue. When I had her check her body to see if there was any energy she immediately found some in the small of her back. By the end of the session her score was down from 6 on a scale of 10 to 1 on a scale of 10. Then they paired up and did CORE work with each other. That completed the day except for one on one work that I did with my wonderful translator.
As a group, the counselors and I discussed my working with 10 mothers who had children die in the quake, and then our final day, working with a group of children who were trapped for 28 hours. My final work of Day 1, I was able to work with a father whose daughter died in the quake. His wife is in really bad shape and so he had that worry on top of everything else. He felt much better after we worked through the energy of pain for his daughter, the energy of hopelessness for what to do for his wife, and the energy of worry for her. It was the most amazing work, I was so honored by his courage and trust and vulnerability.
Day 3, and the mothers have come and gone. We were not able to work with as many as I had hoped. There was so much new material covered over the last 2 days that the volunteers for the most part felt a bit overwhelmed. One courageous mother was willing to work with me in front of the group. This led to a couple of interesting things that I was able to learn about the difference in Chinese culture. Grieving here is a process which lasts several years, building up the first year and escalating the second year. So, these mothers are just into the middle of their second year of their grieving process. That alone showed me how much courage this mother had.
Then there is the thing about crying—for the most part, they don't cry except when alone, and then very rarely. So as I worked with the mother, when she welled up, I muscle tested that it was best to allow her to cry. This opened the flood gates of every mother in the room--I would say a Greek chorus of streaming tears. It was their way of honoring and ‘lessening the impact’ of her rare and very public tears. The mother stopped crying and continued working and then suddenly was tired, and I checked that it was best to finish. When she stood up, her legs gave out from under her and two people had to help her to her room, where she openly cried again. Fifteen minutes later, she called me into the room to tell me that she felt much better, much different than when we began. I let her know that this is a process, with many layers to work through, and that she is fortunate that her therapist is so gifted in this work.
Another thing I learned is that crying for the women here really is a either an exclusively private or completely community process, and that the attending villagers were concerned when I did not immediately reach out to stop the crying. It left her exposed and vulnerable—and this exposure and vulnerability was exactly what she needed—like releasing a pressure valve which then allowed her to do the deep internal work which would make a difference. With my help, the staff came up with the means to address this concern with future sessions; doing what is proper for society vs. doing what will provide the biggest breakthrough.
On Day 4, we worked with the children--they are so much more willing to just try whatever you say, it was fun. First I worked with all of the children together--we played a game to see where they felt different things, everyone had their eyes closed. This allows for both ease in ‘looking for the energy’ and provides some privacy in what could be too vulnerable. With eyes closed we looked at--What do you feel when it's your birthday and where do you feel that? What do you feel when your friend breaks your toy and where do you feel that? Then we upped things a bit to Where do you feel sad? Where do you feel scared? And then; When you think of the earthquake what do you feel and where is it? Every single child gasped at the intensity and I gently thanked them and had them return to a happier experience. Once they were settled back in a happier place in their bodies, I had them open their eyes. I let them know that I would be honored to work 1 on 1 with anybody who was open. Every child said yes!
The most profound work was with three children who had been buried for 28 hours, I worked with a little girl whose sister died, I worked with several parents and today was bliss. One little girl was on her way to the restroom when the quake hit, so she was buried alone for 2-3 days before she was found. The lasting impact was that she had to sleep with all the lights on in her home; and even this did not stop her night terrors and nightmares. As a footnote, I heard from this child’s counselor a week later, reporting that the little girl was sleeping entirely in the dark without any night terrors!
It is also interesting to note that each of the children had a different area of the body which held the post quake energy. One boy had energy all in his hips; he had been trapped under a heavy beam. Another boy felt the energy exclusively in his left arm, which had been pinned under heavy rubble. This really illustrated that we store unresolved energy in our bodies, that where the energy resides is specific to the individual, and it is the acknowledgement and release of this energy which resolves the initiating event. I believe that work like mine is what is needed to eradicate the negative health impact of ACEs.
The second leg of our journey took us to Mienzu. There was such grace and ease. Again, I was amidst the warmest, friendliest people. The workshop was held at a workspace set up by Jet Li's One Foundation. There were 6 staff and we had 25+/- people here. Many people in this group recently participated in an NLP workshop--not to compare apples and oranges. However, they were willing to try new things without a lot of attachment and needing to know a lot of things about something before they try it. What a blessing and gift this was to have on this day.
We started again with how a baby will tamp down its ability to feel things when something painful happens, then the adult, who has 20times the spindle cells still only has the capacity to process a small percentage of their feelings. I explained how trauma occurs in the feeling centers of the body, not exclusively in the intellect. We spoke about the state of pure awareness that every baby is born with and then we all had the opportunity to experience this together. We filled out the trauma evaluation sheet and I worked with someone who needed both the CORE and the SEE technique. While it was a rich opportunity to demonstrate a full body of work, it was too much to parse out in one session. There were many questions.
Workshop 3: In Mianyang, I was allowed to do an 8 hour one day workshop today at a center which doubles as a school and women’s shelter--I think it was the most effective one yet. Due to the short time available, we really 'cut to the chase' I reported about the ACE study, told about animals 'shaking off' their bad experiences and linked the importance of doing this to the adverse impacts from the ACE Study. We did the GAP exercise, and I had the two best people to demonstrate the CORE and the SEE techniques. My SEE volunteer didn’t believe that a life without stress was worth living and she wanted to keep the ‘big cast iron pot' of stress on her head even though she found a grassy field with flowers and a warm sky where she felt happy. I told her she could keep her big iron pot if she wanted to and as soon as I said that she let it go and all of a sudden she could see many ways to alleviate the amount of stress in her life. When she opened her eyes she looked 10 years younger!
The following day, we flew back to Beijing then home in 2 more days. There will be a lot of follow up once I return; and then down to Carlsbad to hang with my peeps in trauma resolution at a workshop for veterans. My life is blessed and much richer for having had these two weeks in China. There are many opportunities I have had to be completely in the unknown, surrendering to just being open. There is much love for everyone here and at home.
Back in Beijing awash in memories--thinking of the woman's hands that were frostbitten because she can't wear gloves when she types on the computer; thinking of what I thought was a large man hawking and spitting up a giant loogie; only to turn around and see a petite elegantly dressed business woman; thinking of countless shy stares turning into full twinkling eye contact smiles when I smiled first; thinking of so many volunteers in their mid to late 20's looking like 12 and 13 year olds; thinking of fresh sautéed pea vine, smoked tofu, broccoli, and potatoes; thinking of the spice that numbs the tongue; thinking of stories of earthquake memories from the locals; Diujaiang; Mienzu; Mianyang; Beitran; the village beyond Beitran; the 'relative network' which got us a ride to our bus from the village; $.68 a day for food allowance; down coats with lower sleeve covers--when they get dirty you only have to wash the sleeve covers and not the entire coat; "Gambei"--bottoms up, heard far too many times on our last night in Mianyang, after ending the workshop at 11 pm; hearing my host saying several times daily the mantra of "I don't know"; Jack Nicholson speaking Chinese in Terms of Endearment; and more filling my heart and head faster than I can type. I flew home today; I slept on the plane and watched Inglorious Basterds in Chinese.
Comments (0)