Trauma, Memory, and the Restoration of One’s Self

The function of the brain is to take care of us and to be in sync with the body’s systems. Trauma changes the way our brains process information and the way our bodies engage with the world. Trauma makes people afraid to know what they know and feel what they feel. This is expressed in heartbreak and the state of being out of sync with oneself and one’s surroundings. This course explores how, because of altered biological systems, traumatized people continue to be trapped by their history and react to current experience in a myriad of ways as a replay of the past, shows ways to break the cycles of re-enactment and suffering, and explores ways of representing and befriending our inner experience.

Therapies that work all start from a basic sense of calm and safety. The calmer we are, the more we can allow ourselves to know what we know, and to feel what we feel. We will study and experience the capacity of EMDR, yoga, Internal Family Systems, sensorimotor practices, theater work, and neurofeedback to help people overcome a traumatic past and regain the capacity to be fully alive in the present.

Recommended reading: The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel Van de Kolk