Trunk-level Healing

In my upcoming book, Trauma Survivor to Soul Warrior, I map the healing process onto the three levels of a tree; roots, trunk, and branches. Here’s an excerpt from the ‘Trunk’ chapter:

Mighty soul warrior, you have climbed your tree into the trunk level of healing. Using a combination of psychology and hypnotherapy, we now bring your adult superpowers to the wounded parts inside. If the root stage was dealing with the raw material of trauma, the trunk stage is about understanding. Psychoeducation, inner child rescue, energy psychology techniques, and more, are powerful and essential components of recovery that will set us up to keep climbing into the branches.

Psychology offers profound ways of understanding our trauma and the symptoms which have followed. As we unpack our wounding, we can make sense of our experiences and let go of fear, confusion, and guilt. Our adult self then grows in wisdom and confidence. By adding to your understanding of things like trauma reactions and the inner critic, you will have more arms for your recovery battle. Having a clear perception of what is holding you back will set you up for a strong approach. In the work of recovery, it is good to know your opponent.

As with body-centred modalities, mind-centred approaches also benefit all other levels of being. Every aspect of your body, mind, and soul is interconnected like a giant, symbiotic jigsaw puzzle. While we are climbing the tree bottom to top, our healing can start at any point at any time. A positive shift on one level automatically benefits the others.

You are already a spiritual warrior, venturing down into the murky cavern of human experience. The healing journey is essentially uncovering who and what you already are in your heart of hearts. The uncovering process can be extremely challenging, so we need to be mentally well prepared.

Therapy is like archeology. We need to patiently and persistently dig down through our being, gently brushing away the ancient sediment layer by layer. Resolving our traumatic stress requires more than the physical release of our root-system bodywork. We also need to consciously know what is in us. Trunk-level work is where we shine the light of our awareness on the parts of self left behind in the cavernous depths.

The emerging warrior must venture within to reclaim these parts and build a firm foundation for the rest of the tree above. The stuck energies need to be seen and embraced in order to shift and heal out. As we affirmed before, every part of us is important, even the most endarkened ones. No one gets left behind.