With all of the action going on with the Black Lives Matter movement, people are feeling the tension—particularly people of color. It leads you to wonder what sort of trauma do we experience in preparation for as well as a result of protesting? As a trauma-informed energy healer with Heart Centered Energy, I have dealt with this many times and helped people overcome.
Everything is made up of energy, including our cells. If we go through a traumatic experience, our cells are affected on an energetic level, which can create stuck, stagnant energy. A part of my work is helping to break up that stuck energy, helping to bring the body, mind and spirit back to a healthy frequency and life flow.
How Can We Properly Prepare For Protests?
Activists in the 50s and60s in America prepared themselves for protest for months using a tactic called “Sit Ins.” It was a nonviolent protest to end segregation by peacefully sitting in restaurants while racists would try to provoke violence by pouring drinks on them, shouting racial slurs, and causing physical harm. These activists had to be mentally strong to endure the trauma, and prepared themselves prior by training for the protests through reenactments. Before protesting, you have to be mentally armed as well: it’s important to know yourself and how you’ll react if violence ensues. You don’t want to further your trauma and be triggered, possibly harming yourself or others.
Before a protest, I suggest doing grounding meditations, protection prayers, and breath work. This can help calm your mind and keep you present. Most activists want peaceful protests, but even with that intention, protest can still get violent. In the recent protests for George Floyd and other Black lives lost due to injustice, many protestors who were peacefully protesting were shot with rubber bullets or tear gas. Therefore, I believe everyone protesting should be wearing protective gear, such as shatterproof goggles that can also protect you from tear gas and other chemicals cops may use, fume masks, makeshift chest plates that can be made from metal, plastic or plywood, long sleeve shirts and pants, helmets, and comfortable shoes.
Energy healing is an umbrella term that covers a range of practices that are all aimed at helping patients produce more healing energy, and includes spiritual healing, contact or touch healing, Reiki, and several others. The belief behind energy healing is that energy blockages or imbalances that are preexisting or are caused by some form of experienced trauma may manifest themselves physically. Energy healing works to address such problems.
In other words, when you go through a traumatic event, it can get stuck and stored in the body. Your mind, emotional body, and physical body are now in a traumatic cycle, reinforcing each other. You’re constantly in fight-or-flight mode, and are basically trying to survive. The mind is replaying the traumatic event(s) and believes they are happening, further distorting reality which can cause depression and anxiety. These thoughts then affect your emotions, leading you to feel a myriad of immense feelings such as sadness, shame, guilt, anger and hopelessness. The final manifestation of trauma then reveals itself in the physical body. The good news is that we can create more positive thinking and overall well-being through different healing modalities. Persistence, practice, and consistency is key to the healing journey. You have to keep doing the work to shed old skin and grow.
Please remember that protests aren’t always so traumatic. They can be uplifting, empowering and really get your endorphins going. I would end the protest the same way I suggested starting it, with a grounding meditation, breath work and some palo santo to connect you back to the present moment.
Images: Alex Radelich / Unsplash
