We have all heard the cliche, “let it go.” We now, also, have the Disney song
to go with it, but what does that actually mean and how does it work? So many of our struggles are not rooted in our current circumstances, but in the traumas that these circumstances remind us of. The human brain is both blessed and cursed with the ability to connect anything that has led to harm in the past with the smallest of stimuli that might remind us of that pain, in our present. True therapy, then, has to deal with the roots and origins of these triggers in our life; if we are to “Renew” our minds and live at peace. Letting it go, often means letting the feelings go, letting the trauma go, and letting the triggers go. How does that work?
Well, one of our favorite methods of letting go is what we call, “trauma release,” and when our clients are open to it we do so in the form of a prayer. Trauma is stored in many places in the human brain. Especially in the right prefrontal cortex. Trauma that we have suffered that is being triggered in everyday life can be released through prayer and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) by doing what the scripture says in I Peter 5:7, “cast your anxiety on Him, because he cares for you.” Father Andrew Miller calls these trauma release prayers, which is where we ask God to loosen and release specific areas of trauma and cast the heaviness and anxiety of these past events, “on Him.” This scripture will make more sense if you think of how attachment works, specifically by looking at how a baby and its mother relate with each other. The baby expresses itself through crying and the mother gives compassion and validation back to her baby in the form of touch, nurturing, and meeting whatever the need might be.
This is what trauma release is all about. It’s the giving of pain to a person (or God) in a place where you feel safe and the trade of that pain with the return of love and care in that place. Learning about our triggers will help us to recognize the past hurts, pains, and traumas that do not have closure, and to see the pattern of trauma that cycle in our thinking and telling our brain that we are consistently in crisis.
Come on in our offices and give it a try- lets “let it go” through trauma release and see your heart restored and renewed to a place of true and lasting peace.