If you've been on this earth a couple decades or more, you've got some trauma somewhere inside…read more.. or you haven't really been living.
Trauma builds & causes us to have psychosis, &/or partake in vices; some of us are weaker than others. Working to face this stuff & get it out, strengthens us, helps us beat our demons, & have strength to live as we wish to live; to really live life. There are many ways to do your work, but holistic/Eastern practices & psychotherapies tend to be my best path, & a hybrid of the two is exactly what Airmid offers.
First, my caveat... I've had my share of trauma, & I've done my share of work (& continue to). I had OCD in my teens & beat it, first, by relying on alcohol & other stuff, but I then stopped the use & practiced prayer & meditation in my later teens. However, in college, I was a party girl again, & put myself into more trauma situations. (A lot of people revisit & repeat traumas when they have not gotten to adequate awareness, nor have accepted/processed things.) In my later 20s, I had EMDR therapy, which was developed for/with Viet Nam vets, to relieve PTSD. EMDR goes to your earliest traumas, & tries to abate them with Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing exercises (Airmid offers EMDR therapy too). But for this review, my experience at Airmid was in TRE therapy, which I HIGHLY recommend, although, I give my prior experience above as a caveat, b/c, IMO, you really should have the cognitive therapy piece to help you through this, or you may be a total mess. Last night I went DIRECTLY from my TRE session to my therapist near me, but they do offer therapy right there at Airmid, so if you are local, you can have a more convenient set up than I did.
TRE therapy is Trauma Release Exercises. Your first class is free, & if you like it, subsequent sessions are $30 each, or you can get a package deal. They recommend you have 4-6 of them with an instructor b/c it's a controlled environment, & they don't let you go into it too long or too deeply to unearth too much at once. Once you learn how to feel yourself & regulate it, you can then do it on your own at home. This is a really great piece to the therapy, to be able to continue your own work, & make it yours, without continued reliance on the center.
My Google Maps led me right to this place in the rainy dark. It's in a development of townhome-like office spaces. They are all well kept & the space is nice & fresh feeling. My friend got me to do this with her, & when I notified her I'd be a little late due to traffic, Mike, the instructor, held off on the exercise a few mins for me to arrive, which was extremely kind of him.
Mike explained TRE to us, both as the physical technique, & the brain activity that would transpire, which is what would activate psychological pieces (memories, flashbacks, emotions, etc.). He let us know how to stop if we needed to, made everyone feel safe & comfortable. He also gave a little of his own background & explained how he had epilepsy as a child, which was interesting considering the shaking & tremoring all over your body, that TRE produces. This is not meant in jest, Mike is an expert at shaking, & he well knows this process. I definitely felt he was qualified with the psychological & physical knowledge he had. My friend, who grows deeper every day in vedic spirituality, saw Mike's epilepsy as a systemic need to drain trauma (perhaps from a past life if not this one), & I can definitely go there & see that. But wherever you fall on the belief scale, science has studied TRE, & it has real neurophysiological benefit.
Mike provided mats, cushions, blankets, etc. from the yoga room supplies. He demonstrated & instructed us through the technique, & led timed exercises, stressing that we rest twice as long as we shook. He provided a very calm atmosphere in the yoga room, with relaxation/meditation music. He also came around to visit each of us during the exercises to assist or advise as needed. At the end, he had us rest, & then slowly come out of our inner worlds, to reflect & share. He was very encouraging & helpful about our experiences, genuinely interested in helping. For me, I definitely had memories & feelings come up & I was grateful I had my therapy session. If you don't have therapy lined up, I'd recommend going home & journaling (prep home to be relaxing/calm beforehand). For me, I felt good physically, & I felt like I was lifting trauma. My friend reported initial headache/heaviness, but then she had great sleep & felt so much better today. I definitely want to go back. I now know the technique, but I want to do it in their controlled environment as they advised. Also, Mike knows so much about this, and there is a lot more he mentioned that I can't explain because I need to hear it all again a few times to fully gasp it. But this is definitely a worthwhile technique to learn for anyone's healing/growth life journey.
Remember, first session is FREE! Give it a try!
