Somatic Meditations: Healing Trauma

We practice meditation for different purposes. Some seek one of meditation’s many benefits for the body, mind, and relationships; others are seeking personal growth, emotional healing, or spiritual development. Regardless of what your initial intention was for starting the practice, if you meditate long enough, you are bound to discover many things about yourself—some of which may not be pleasant. This could be called the “shadow self”.

Our personality, together with our conscious thoughts, emotions, decisions and interactions with the world, all happen at the level of our conscious mind. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg of our consciousness. According to the teachings of some Eastern contemplative philosophies, beneath this conscious layer of mind there is our subconscious mind and, even deeper, our unconscious mind. Modern western psychology holds a similar view.

The content of our subconscious and unconscious mind is the structure of our personality. They are the hidden motivating forces behind all our decisions, thoughts and feelings. They have a profound influence in our life, and yet we know very little about them. Our conscious mind is so busy and agitated that we rarely get the chance to look deeper.

Isn’t it dreadful to think that what most influences your life are the things you are least aware of?

One of the major benefits of meditation is that it calms your conscious mind, allowing you to get in touch with what lies beneath. At the same time, that is also one of the major challenges of meditation—and one that most people are not aware they may encounter.

Meditation and Your Shadow Self

As meditation deepens, our attention begins to dive into the subconscious. The conscious mind becomes less busy, and the awareness is thus allowed to recede back to deeper levels of our being. With that, things that you had repressed, or chosen to overlook in life, are there waiting for you.

These can include, among other things:

difficult emotions hidden traumas “wild desires” complexes negative thought patterns shame, guilt, regret aggressiveness, anger unconscious fears unresolved emotional processes

When faced with this for the first time, the beginner meditator may panic. They may think, “Since I started meditating, my mind has become busier”, or “Meditation is making me feel more anxious and restless.”

The truth is that meditation is not making your mind more noisy or anxious. It’s simply revealing the noise and anxiety that was already there. Now, with fewer distractions, you see them all too clearly. It’s like allowing a cup of muddy water to settle, so you can clearly see all the dirt that was already in the water.

Apart from making your mind more calm and clear, meditation also heightens your sensitivity, and sharpens your attention—so you will be able to perceive things in yourself that you were blind to before. Trapped energies in your psyche will come up. It’s the opening of the “Pandora’s box” of your subconscious mind. It’s not always a lovely sight, but it is a sign of progress in the practice.

You are meeting—and freeing—your shadow! releasing stuck emotions and energies, so you start to feel and live more fully.

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