The Well of Wisdom Within

The shattering experience of betrayal can leave us feeling lost and broken, but within the quietude of restorative guided mediation, we can rediscover our inner strength and being to mend the fractured pieces of our soul. I came out of betrayal trauma after a long marriage and was told by three therapist friends that I landed on my feet. How did that happen? I attribute much of this to a healing modality called The Journey, which I’ve been doing for others and myself for almost 20 years. It is a powerful form of restorative guided meditation.

How does Restorative Guided Meditation help with betrayal trauma?

You have probably heard of the benefits of meditation including calming the mind and body. While regular meditation often focuses on cultivating mindfulness and concentration, restorative guided meditation facilitates deep relaxation, release of emotional and physical tension and can change the impact of long held trauma and stress. Following are some of the ways Restorative Guided Meditation helps with healing from betrayal trauma:

• Rewiring the Nervous System: helps calm the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) and activate the parasympathetic system (rest and digest), fostering a sense of safety and relaxation.

• Creating Emotional Safety: fosters an environment where the person feels safe to reconnect with their emotions without overwhelm or re-traumatization.

• Releasing Stored Emotions: can assist in releasing pent-up emotions such as anger, resentment, grief, and fear, which are common after betrayal.

• Forgiveness and Self-Compassion: can guide individuals toward forgiving themselves and others, creating space for healing and emotional freedom.

• Rebuilding Trust: allows for self-reflection, helping people rebuild trust in themselves and others at their own pace. It encourages individuals to reclaim their sense of empowerment and self-worth.

Some key components used in Restorative Guided Meditation.                        

·      Deep breathing which helps the body return to its natural healing state

·      Visualization is sensing or seeing with your inner mental eyes. Other senses are used as well to access the unconscious mind. These techniques help to create healing mental imagery such as envisioning protection, self-love, or visualizing a different outcome of a traumatic event.

·      Grounding methods to connect to the present moment, reducing feelings of disorientation and dissociation that often come with trauma.

·      Resourcing refers to identifying and accessing internal or external sources of strength, comfort, and support.

·      Accessing the core self: the higher-self unencumbered by ego, a state of unconditional love that is boundless, and for some individuals may be experienced as profoundly spiritual or of deep personal meaning.

·      Metaphoric healing: instead of directly confronting a difficult issue, individuals explore it through the lens of a metaphor.

·      Affirmations or changing negative beliefs.

o   Beliefs always, always precede reality. A belief is a framework or mental skeleton on which we keep adding incoming perceptions and experiences, on which we store data to support those beliefs. - Lee Pulos

Some results that can be expected.

The Journey also uses Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which helps to access the deeper part of the brain as well as a powerful forgiveness process (think of letting go, not condoning) along with the different components above. Some of the results I’ve seen consistently with my clients are:

·      Decrease in stress and anxiety

·      Increase in clarity

·      Increase in the ability to let go of the past

·      Renewed creativity and purpose

·      Increased connection to spirituality and inner strength

·      Increased resilience

·      Healing of childhood wounds

·      Visible shifts in relationships with self and others

·      Better sleep

·      Increased mindfulness and emotional regulation

You, the receiver, lead the process from a deeper place inside you. Your body knows what you are ready to let go of, so whatever comes up is what you are ready release. As a practitioner, I am a guide, helping facilitate your transition to freedom. I don’t prescribe what will happen or make anything happen, I follow the lead of your inner guidance. I have often heard after a process “Wow, I had no idea that’s what’s been going on.” Or “That was unexpected.” Yes, because it isn’t coming from your conscious mind! There is a whole world inside you that is beautiful and profoundly healing. This place of freedom and love is the truth of who you really are.

Integrating Restorative Guided Meditation into your healing journey.

Talk therapy and coaching are complimentary with this type of meditation. The combination of learning practical tools and doing this deeper work of changing unconscious programming, patterns and beliefs can catapult you forward in ways you hadn’t realized were possible.

One of the results for me

I believe that one of the ways I survived in my marriage was tapping into my creativity and reclaiming the little girl from my childhood. This came out in writing poetry for the first time in my life and was a direct result of the freedom I gained from doing Journey work. Once I was out of the system of control, I published a coloring journal with a drawing for every poem. This process was very healing. What’s holding you back? Are there unconscious drivers in your life keeping you stuck?

Join our group for women using my book, She Said, as a resource and incorporating some restorative guided meditations as well! Find out more here.