Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Use of prayer in healing from trauma



I know…I know… Not everyone believes in God… Not everyone likes God… You do NOT have to believe in God or like God in order to use prayer and benefit from it on your healing journey. I mean it! Please, keep reading. No matter what spiritual path you are on, you can facilitate your healing through the daily or regular use of prayer.
Here is one of the definitions of prayer provided by the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “An earnest request or wish”. Here is another definition that I really like: “A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship” (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com). Here is an interesting idea, make your object of worship anything that works for you. It could be a tree in your backyard or Universe or energy field or your intuition or some real or imaginary
community or Spirit or your Ancestors or….
Our modern psychological and medical science has accumulated an abundance of data showing that practices of prayer, especially the ones that include gratitude, can help in healing of multiple physical and emotional ailments.
When it comes to specifically healing from trauma, I am a proponent of positive affirmative prayer, which includes the following steps:
1.       Positive affirmations of your choosing that are worded in the present tense and as a positive statements about you. They can range from “I am vibrant, whole, and  healthy now” (no appeal to any deity) to “I am healed through God’s Divine love and wisdom” (God is recognized)
2.       Expressions of gratitude for things or changes that you would like to see in your life. It is upfront thanks, meaning that you express gratitude BEFORE your wish is granted. Many spiritual teachers believe in the POWER of gratitude. Rhonda Byrne, a New Thought author, goes as far as saying that “gratitude is the great multiplier” referring to the observation that things you regularly express gratitude for tend to manifest in your life.
3.       Quiet meditation/reflection time. Taking 5-10 min to focus on your breath or mantra (repetition of a word, using it as an anchor, word has to carry positive meaning). Some examples of mantras include: Love, gratitude, om, here now, calm, peace. Bringing your focus to mantra or breath over and over and over again when you notice that you got distracted.
From the perspective of neuroscience, this kind of regular practice leads to shifting brain’s natural negative bias into the new positive vision, establishing new neuronal pathways, calming amygdala (brain’s center of negative emotion processing, over-active in trauma survivors), restructuring negative core believes (so common in trauma survivors).
From my clinical experience, when you take time out of your day on the regular basis to align with the deepest and most sacred part of yourself, you set priorities for your conscious and unconscious mind. You consistently send signals to your brain (for those science types) or your soul (for those spiritual types) of what is the most important in your life right now and what your mind-body-spirit system needs to focus on.
Of course, for those healing from trauma, I suggest that you focus on healing, releasing the past, and moving forward into the life you envision for yourself.

If you would like some more help in establishing affirmative prayer practice, you can read: “Handbook of Positive Prayer” by Hypatia Hasbrouck. Also, there is an excellent resource for prayer support available to any person of any spiritual belief or lack thereof. It is called Silent Unity, the 24/7 prayer ministry. You can call 1-800-NOW-PRAY (669-7729) and a trained prayer associate will pray with you and for you (or your loved one) and will suggest a prayer that you can use for your particular situation. Alternatively, you can submit your prayer request online at http://www.unity.org/prayer  or use UPray app on your smart phone. Once your submit your prayer request, it is put into the Silent Unity Prayer Vigil Chapel, where prayer has been going on non-stop, 24/7 for 125 years.