First of all, I have to brag. Two of my workshop students are coming out with really important new books that expand the conversation around trauma. Knowing a bit of what went into these projects, I could not be more proud of them. Congratulations, Lisa and Jennifer!  I hope folks will support their brave work by going to their pages and clicking “buy,” “like,” “share,” etc..

Now…

Today I want to talk about trauma.

Words by Ursula LeGuin. Graffiti artist and photographer: Anonymous.

I’m deeply aware of this topic as I start up another Writing from the Chakras 8-week workshop. The first time I taught this course online, about a third of the students self-identified to me as survivors of sexual violence. They weren’t necessarily writing about the trauma (some were) or sharing it with the rest of the class (some did), but they wanted me to know. To hold the space.

People need to heal. People need to create.

Writing isn’t therapy, but…

When we work through deep memories and gently engaging with the body, our most profound stories naturally arise.

Writing, many of us transform our relationship to these foundational memories. Our first hurts. Our origin stories.

Despite the ache that comes from opening old memories, there is something so beautiful about bringing our full, kind attention to a place that is wounded—whether it’s our own experience, our families’, or our culture’s.

Writing isn’t therapy, but…

We can make it a safe space. We can write alone, and then we can choose to share—or not—with a coach, a workshop, a group of supportive peers. These witnesses form a special kind of container, outside the medical establishment (which can be triggering for some folks).

For some survivors, a written online forum turns out to be the perfect medium. It offers anonymity and privacy; no one watches as you weep, struggle for words, or shut down. And yet it provides needed connection and witnessing.

This process isn’t a substitute for professional care, but it can be a wonderful complement to therapy, somatics, and other healing modalities.

Writing isn’t therapy, but…

Survivors or not, a lot of us through our writing are working somehow to heal something — whether it’s personal history, historical trauma, or some kind of conflict in the world.

When we write about conflict, when we write about power, when we write about characters falling apart and dying and killing and having their hearts broken, we are trying to understand humanity. We are amateur psychologists studying motives, psychic patterns, human behavior. Perhaps we are, in a way, practicing therapy on our characters.

Writing isn’t therapy, but…

Its effects are powerful. In a 2013 study, people healing from a simple skin biopsy were instructed to write 20 minutes a day about either trivial things, or about “the most traumatic event” they’d ever experienced. “Eleven days after the biopsy, 76% of the group that had written about trauma had fully healed while only 42% of the other group had.” (http://healthland.time.com/2013/07/13/how-writing-heals-wounds-of-both-the-mind-and-body/)

Wow: Writing about trauma healed a physical wound faster.

As it turns out, there’s actually a whole body of research on whether “expressive writing“—that is, writing about trauma—improves health outcomes. Researchers have found positive results for everything from increased lung capacity to elevated mood to lowered heart rate, as well as longterm outcomes such as fewer visits to the doctor and less need for pain medication and sleep aids. (Here’s the Harvard roundup of studies, and some other studies here and here and here.)

A British study showed the benefit came from as little as 2 minutes of freewriting about trauma, for 2 days.

That’s four minutes of writing.  

Writing isn’t therapy, but… It sure seems worth a try. —

Some trauma resources

This isn’t an exhaustive list, just a starting place:

• Website: RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) resource page
• Book: Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others
• Book: Allies in Healing: When the Person You Love Is a Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse
• Workbook: Courage to Heal
• Writing prompts for survivors, by survivor and coach Jen Cross: Writing Ourselves Whole blog

And here’s a short cartoon produced in India, suitable for sharing with young children:

The link above is English. “Komal” is also available in Urdu, Telegu, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Odiya, Kannada, Gujarati, Assamese, Malayalam, Bengali, and Hindi here.

— Writing from the Chakras is not therapy. But if you want a writing breakthrough—in an energized, supportive environment—please join us. We start May 31; click here to find out more and reserve your spot.