The Freeze Response

𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭-𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐞𝐧-𝐨𝐧-𝐭𝐡𝐞-𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚?

Then here's something to consider…

If you do not allow your mind and body to process this trauma it can literally become stuck in your body and manifest as a psychosomatic illness. Plenty of research has been done on the mind-body connection to know that one definitely has an effect on the other. 

When we experience that 'freeze' type of emotion, which is part of the fight or flight response that is inbuilt to keep us safe from harm, we literally shut down. Sound familiar? When you experience a traumatic event, like reading on Google that your child has died in an accident with a truck, then seeing a police car turn into your driveway. Well, you literally do not even want to go there. It's too much for your mind to handle. 

Hana Pavez in Psychmechanics describes it as 

"Sometimes, after freezing, we may not be able to decide between fight and flight but continue in our frozen state because this is the best that we can do to ensure our survival. In other words, we freeze to just freeze. This is an example of dissociation. The experience is so traumatic and dreadful, the mind, like the body, just switches off."

I think because my body had already been in that state many times before and I had experienced many of the illnesses I am about to list, it just went there automatically when I heard the news about Tahl. 

The thing is, unless you are able to shake off and process this frozen state, it will 'out'. It may come in the form of chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, chronic muscle pain, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, headaches, skin flare-ups… really, the list goes on and on.

And it may happen a year down the line, or 10, 20 years down the line. 

This type of trauma is like a volcano that seems to lie dormant then out of the blue explodes… your cup has just runneth over! 

That is what happened to me. I went searching, searching, searching for explanations behind why I felt like I did. For many years every test came back frustratingly 'normal' - and I started to get the non-direct looks accompanying the suggestion that perhaps it was 'all in my head'. I even went down the holistic route, trying one modality after another. This in itself can create more disconnection with us as we struggle to come to terms with how we can feel so dreadful physically, and it all just be in our heads. And there's a lot of emotional and mental stuff that hops on board for the ride. 

Aha! Enter the mind-body connection. As Dr Bessel van der Kolk writes in his book The Body Keeps the Score 

“Traumatized people are terrified to feel deeply. They are afraid to experience their emotions, because emotions lead to loss of control.” 

It wasn't until after Tahl died that I really found the key to releasing this trauma…and I am convinced to this day it was divinely guided. For me, it was in the form of energy healing and specifically the Emotion Code and The Body Code. Identifying the emotions residing behind the symptoms I was experiencing allowed me to start releasing them. I say start because I have over 50 years of not processing emotions well, and therefore leaving their imprint deep within the cells of my body. Am I in good health? Not yet. Though I have reached a place I never thought I would - one of calm, peace, awareness, and the ability to heal from within. Best of all I have a genuine sense of happiness (rather than the pseudo kind I put out for many years and actually believed!).

Want to know what identifying the deeper meaning behind our suffering can often lead us to? 

Comment or send me a message and I'll be happy to share 💜