What Does it Mean to Retrace a Trauma?
Retracing is synonymous with detoxing, and in this case it is detoxing old traumas. We may not even recognize them if they are mild, and if they are more intense it may take some time to retrace it and release it, this time it would be permanently.
Releasing trauma can be traumatic. This just means that as one retraces and removes a trauma, a person can go through healing reactions that are not always pleasant. They may include bad dreams, various physical symptoms from itching to retracing of infections, anxiety, anger, depression feelings and more.
This article specifically discusses how to recognize, understand and handle retracing reactions related to traumas – both those that you know about and those that you are not even aware happened to you.
Recall that trauma always lowers your vitality or adaptive energy. Retracing is always about increasing your vitality and adaptive energy by some means. Correct healing programs are very helpful because they, unlike most medical and holistic approaches, are designed specifically to increase vitality.
Also recall that most trauma make a person more yin in Chinese medical terms. This means empty, depleted, too expanded and perhaps cold. In terms of bio-energetics, the glandular system is depleted, hormone levels are usually lower, and this contributes mightily to the symptoms that occur after a trauma of any kind.
HOW TO TELL IF YOU ARE RETRACING A TRAUMA
Retracing a trauma is not always easy to identify. Some people clearly re-experience a memory of an old incident, accident, divorce, rape, mugging, beating or something else. Often, along with it they suddenly feel very angry, sad, lonely, horrified, depressed, very irritable or perhaps anxious. Sometimes they may feel pain in the body somewhere such as the joints or the pelvic area.
An odd symptom is that part of you is very present here and now, but another part of the brain is often back in the past – maybe even 20 or 30 years back. It is usually impossible to separate the two. If you live with a partner, however, the partner may be able to help you see that your anger, for example, is not about the present, but perhaps toward a parent who mistreated or molested you when you were a baby. This sort of splitting of the mind during retracing is very unusual and yet it happens in many cases.
In most cases, the feelings do not last long – perhaps a few hours to a day or so, and the next morning, perhaps, they are gone. This is often what retracing a trauma looks like and feels like.
More intense healing crises. In some cases, however, the feelings can be extreme. The bad dreams can be extreme, and one can feel horribly anxious, out of control, not present in the body very well, confused, foggy in the head, and rarely a person even feels like they are dying, perhaps. These more extreme symptoms are okay, but it is always wise to tell your practitioner about them and ask:
1. Does your healing program need changing? This can be the case, even if you just started it a few days or a few weeks before. The reason is that your body chemistry may have fundamentally changed. Changing the program without a retest mineral analysis is tricky and often difficult, so you may need a retest if your hair has had time to grow out at least for a month or two since the last test.
However, at other times, the symptoms are mainly psychosomatic and the body chemistry has not changed.
Psychosomatic. The word psychosomatic means that mental or emotional situations are expressed as physical symptoms such as rashes, headaches, fever or something else. The symptoms seem to be purely physical, but in reality, the cause is psychological or emotional.
2. Are there simple and safe remedies that can be applied to calm down the situation? First, let us discuss general remedies.
GENERAL REMEDIES FOR ALL TRAUMA RETRACING
1. Slow down the program. This may help, but not necessarily. One does this by stopping the supplements, for example, except perhaps the digestive aid and perhaps the omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D, although I suppose even these could “feed” the retracing reaction.
2. Drink more spring or carbon-only or sand filtered-only tap water. More drinking water may help because part or even all of the retracing involves the elimination of toxic substances from the body. At times, drinking more water has an amazingly calming effect.
3. Rub your feet and “pop” the toes. Doing a reflexology session can release blocked energies at all levels and can be most helpful in some cases.
4. Take an extra sauna or several extra ones. The hot, dry, yang energy of the near infrared lamp sauna, in particular, is also helpful to bring up certain emotional issues and help release them.
5. Extra coffee enemas are often helpful. The coffee enema, or perhaps a thorough colonic irrigation, can also release toxins quickly and effectively. These can be helpful emotionally as well, perhaps because they move energy downward and inward, which are generally yang directions.
7. Breathe deeply. This is often helpful. Lie down comfortably and breathe deeply for at least one-half an hour or up to one hour or more. This can also be done in conjunction with taking a short, gentle or perhaps slightly brisk walk.
8. Adjust and balance the spine, as this can release chiropractic misalignments. One can visit a quality chiropractor or osteopath who does manipulation, or do it oneself.
9. Take a warm to hot Epsom salt bath. Place about 4 to 5 pounds of Epsom salts in the bath water and lay in it for about 20 minutes. Then lie down afterwards for at least an hour before showering off. This will permit your body to absorb even more of the salts. Do not do this more than twice a week, as it is somewhat yin. However, it is quite relaxing.
10. Distract yourself with some quiet music, watching a happy movie, perhaps or something else relaxing. Going out, talking with friends or other activities may help, but do not do anything that weakens or tires you such as vigorous exercise.
11. Have a good cry. Crying releases certain types of feelings such as acute sadness, but not others. Crying is not always easy or simple if one is living in a family with children, for example, who will not understand what you are going through.
Crying is also quite difficult for some people, particularly men and “strong” women. I had to put on a very sad movie in order to cause myself to cry, but it can be wonderful to relieve certain symptoms as you retrace old traumas.
12. Make simple modifications to your healing program. Among these are taking more trauma buffers. As part of a nutritional balancing program, certain nutritional supplements seem to function as trauma buffers. These nutrients reduce the intensity of the feelings that come up as one heals the trauma.
These nutrients are calcium, magnesium, and zinc, primarily. In some cases, taking inositol and choline may help. These tend to “put a lid on things”, and help keep a person more relaxed and in control of the trauma release process. This is only true, however, when these products are combined properly in conjunction with a properly performed hair mineral test and a complete nutritional balancing program.
13. Other. This might include speaking with a friend on the telephone, a bodywork or therapeutic massage session, or a professional reflexology session, for example.
MODIFYING A NUTRITIONAL BALANCING PROGRAM IN SIMPLE WAYS
Dietary changes. In general, for most retracing, eating more red meat, eggs and chicken, for example, are helpful after trauma. The simple reason for this is that when trauma occurs, it depletes the body of zinc, B-complex vitamins and other nutrients contained in meats and eggs.
Moving to a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian diet after a trauma in an effort to feel better is horrible and dangerous, by contrast. This is very important advice. A raw food diet is also usually very bad, because it makes the body more yin, which is harmful. Eating many cooked vegetables is very helpful, in most cases, because they contain many complex phyto-nutrients our bodies desperately need.
Supplement remedies. At times, changing your supplement program will take care of some trauma retracing reactions. Here are some simple changes that can be tried. A warning is not to take piles of supplements. This can confuse and make the body too yin:
1. For severe anxiety: Take more calcium, magnesium and zinc or Paramin. After rape, for example, more zinc is often needed. Another supplement for anxiety feelings is a supplement containing inositol, choline, and if you wish, adding some methionine and niacinamide.
2. For severe depression: Supplements can usually pull a person out of depression feelings much faster. The best, in my experience, are b-complex vitamins, up to 200 mg per day in extreme cases, and adrenal and thyroid glandular extracts (but not hormones).
Taking extra selenium is often helpful for many types of trauma retracing, but particularly depression and fear. A food-based selenium supplement often seems to work best.
I would avoid, if possible, high-dose vitamin C, which will help but is too yin. I would avoid most herbs because they will help, but may be toxic. I would avoid medical drugs if at all possible, too, as they are all toxic such as anti-depressants and others.
Homeopathic remedies. While these may work, we do not recommend them because they are much more yin in macrobiotic terminology. We would avoid homeopathy for this subtle reason.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF TRAUMA RETRACING
The following are common hair mineral patterns that occur as a person retraces a trauma:
1. One may go into a deep bowl pattern. One can feel completely held down and stuck physically, emotionally and/or mentally. It often occurs near the beginning or a trauma retracing. Sinking into a bowl or just bowling, which means moving closer to a bowl pattern, is a hair analysis pattern called “Into The Mud” or “Into My Issues”.
Some people feel better when this occurs, but it can cause terrible feelings of fatigue, depression, exhaustion and even despair. Specific measures for this tendency are discussed below.
2. One may go into double low ratio pattern. This is actually retracing a type of impending death.
3. One may eliminate the “amigos”, which are unavailable forms of iron and manganese, along with aluminum and perhaps other oxides and irritant minerals. This represents getting rid of compensations and adaptations to your trauma, and is wonderful, though it may cause some temporary symptoms.
4. One may eliminate nickel. Nickel is associated with feelings of intense depression and often suicidal thoughts or feelings.
5. One may move into faster oxidation. This represents acute stress, feelings of anxiety, panic, fight-or-flight, extreme agitation or even excitement. It can be a need or desire to escape in some way. It may take months to come out of this pattern if the trauma was severe.
6. One may move into a four highs pattern. This also represents a more acute situation, a desire to fight back, and perhaps escape, run away, or it can represent a lot of anger. In acupuncture terminology it is a weak yang or yang rising pattern.
Measures to help with a bowl or very slow oxidizer pattern. The main idea to recall here is that the body has been depleted severely by the trauma. What is needed are foods and other measures to build up the body. These include:
- Red meat (mainly lamb at least twice a week), eggs and chicken.
- Spring water rather than distilled water.
- Thyro-complex (thyroid and adrenal support) or Endo-dren (adrenal glandular support).
- B-complex vitamins, but not too much.
- Avoiding all things that are too yin like fruit, juices, raw foods, vegetarian diets, being cold, too much water.
- Sardines (about three cans per week) are very good.
- If you suspect the person’s Na/K ratio has declined, then the person may need more Limcomin, and not zinc. Zinc lowers the Na/K ratio whereas Limcomin raises it. Too much zinc will make the person more depressed and can act as another trauma.
TRAUMA AND LOW ESTROGEN MENSTRUAL DIFFICULTIES
A less common type of menstrual difficulty occurs with low estrogen and is associated with a low Na/K ratio, at least at certain times of the month. These women are in the worst shape:
- When they get their period and maybe a day or two before.
- For a few days after their period begins.
- Just after ovulation at mid-cycle – often around days 17-19.