{"id":5280,"date":"2015-10-09T12:21:04","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T19:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/?p=5280"},"modified":"2022-05-20T13:06:05","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T20:06:05","slug":"peter-levine-presence-trauma-spirituality-traumaence-and-trauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/peter-levine-presence-trauma-spirituality-traumaence-and-trauma\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Levine: Presence in Trauma and Spirituality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Peter<\/a>
Peter Levine<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peter Levine<\/a> discusses: What is the relationship between the heightened presence experienced during trauma \u00a0and that experienced during spiritual practice?<\/p>\n

Recently, Peter\u00a0<\/a> discussed this in a talk on “Spirituality, Archetypes and Trauma” before the Jung Society of Austin.<\/p>\n

The following is from the material distributed to the public\u00a0 to advertise the talk, with permission from the Jung Society.\u00a0 It has been edited, with emphases added, to make it easier to follow.<\/p>\n

\n

Presence, Spirituality and Trauma<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. The \u201cawe-full\u201d qualities of horror and terror may share essential structural, psycho-physiological, and phenomenological roots with such underlying transformative states as awe, presence, timelessness, and ecstasy.<\/li>\n
  2. Our organisms are designed with primitive-instinctual proclivities\u2014\u201cslow-motion\u201d perception, and intensely focused alertness, for example\u2014that move us to extraordinary feats when we perceive that our lives are threatened. When these survival capacities are bridged to or \u201cowned\u201d from more ordinary states of consciousness, an experience of timelessness and presence\u2014sometimes referred to, in meditation systems, as \u201cthe eternal now\u201d\u2014is promoted.<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. In addition, the effect of trauma involves a profound compression of activation. The ability to access, and integrate the rhythmic movements of this \u201cbound energy\u201d determines whether it will be destructive or potentially vitalizing<\/i>.<\/li>\n
  4. In the yogas of the East, awakening of the \u201cKundalini\u201d (as studied by Jung) has long been utilized as a vehicle for spiritual transformation. In trauma a similar mobilization of (survival) activation is evoked, but with such intensity and rapidity that it is overwhelming. Naturally, many individuals faced with such energy become frightened by these involuntary bodily reactions and tighten up against them, causing even more fear to develop.<\/li>\n
  5. But if we can gradually access, titrate and integrate this \u201cenergy\u201d into our nervous system and psychic structures then the instinctual survival response embedded within trauma can also catalyze authentic spiritual transformation.<\/i><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"Elizabeth<\/a><\/p>\n

    Note from Elizabeth Bader:\u00a0 In my experience, one major difference between the heightened awareness produced by trauma and that experienced during spiritual practice is that the heart is not open during trauma.\u00a0 We can open to love during spiritual practice, but the heart generally shuts down when there is shock or trauma.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n\n

    \n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Profound words from Peter Levine on the relationship between the presence experienced during trauma and the presence which catalyzes spiritual transformation. Elizabeth’s note on the opening of the heart during spiritual practice and its closing during trauma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,27,26,71,49,55,78],"tags":[106,32,29,108,47],"class_list":["post-5280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healing-trauma","category-mediation","category-peter-levine","category-spiritual-understanding","category-spirituality-and-trauma","category-the-spiritual-journey","category-understanding-spirituality","tag-peter-levine","tag-somatic-experiencing","tag-spirituality","tag-spirituality-and-trauma","tag-trauma-healing","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\nPeter Levine: Presence in Trauma and Spirituality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/peter-levine-presence-trauma-spirituality-traumaence-and-trauma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peter Levine: Presence in Trauma and Spirituality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Profound words from Peter Levine on the relationship between the presence experienced during trauma and the presence which catalyzes spiritual transformation. 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