HEALING | Integrative Healing Shock And Trauma Resolution An Interview with Gary Peterson, R.P.P. by Sea Ganschow Have you ever suspected that certain life events you've been through not only stressed you but probably shocked and traumatized you? Ever noticed a loved one go through a difficult time and knew they had not had a chance to fully discharge fear or pain from an accident or emotional hurt? Then you might have asked yourself, after comparing your hurt to that of someone worse off than you, "How can I really justify feeling this way? After all, what happened to me was not as bad as others have had to suffer." Time goes on and little symptoms creep in -- anxiety, sleeplessness, chronic fatigue, pain, or maybe just a simple lack of trust -- that you never consider could be related to your "small" accident or heartache. (After all, you let go of it long ago, didn't you? And if not, you think you should have.) The field of somatic medicine may hold the gentle, yet powerful, tool you've been waiting for. Nervous system overload is being pinpointed as key to resolving a myriad of health issues. Gary Peterson, Registered Polarity Practitioner, of Boulder, Colo., teaches energy therapies around the U.S., bringing with him a wealth of experience and a toolbox of leading-edge skills in pre- and perinatal birth issues and trauma and nervous system overload resolution. All this takes place on a palette of Polarity Therapy, an energy-based bodywork originated by Dr. Randolph Stone, and Craniosacral Therapy, developed by another renowned osteopath, Dr. William Garner Sutherland. I asked Gary to share some noninvasive techniques that can be used by parents and spouses as well as bodyworkers or therapists for nervous system healthcare. You worked on me and made the comment that I was discharging shock. Do I have to have a friend with me to discharge the shock? Gary Peterson: No, everyone has natural resources to discharge shock from the nervous system, but depending upon the amount and intensity of the shock, it's very useful to have support and to do things very, very slowly. Instead of calling it shock, we could also call it nervous system discharge. There has been an overload to the nervous system at some point, and it wasn't given the opportunity to discharge. This could be from birth or any experience the person had, even in prenatal life, that was overwhelming and activated the fight-or-flight nervous system. Then the person was not able to discharge the energy. So, in addition to fight or flight, there is a third option, which is often a very brilliant survival option, the freeze response. For example, a possum can't fight the wolf or run away, so it freezes. People trigger the freeze response far more often than animals, since animals usually can exercise fight or flight in a natural way. Particularly small children need to freeze and sort of dissociate in overwhelming situations as a coping mechanism because some situations are so intense they would literally feel like death. Do you mean rational and/or irrational fears? Peterson: The fear and level of overwhelm happens mainly at the primitive brain, or reptilian brain, and that activates the sympathetic nervous system. When there is a sense of impending danger within any animal or person, adrenaline and epinephrine will start flowing to either run or fight. If we're overwhelmed, that summoning of resources/energy to the muscles will often get frozen and will not get discharged. It will get stuck in the system like a soda can that is all shook up. You are trained to assist people with this as an energy-centered bodyworker and teacher. What would people be able to do on their own, a place to start, so they could help themselves discharge nervous system overload that maybe they've been carrying around for years? Peterson: The best resources to bring to the front are body-oriented resources. In other words, if our body is feeling pressure and acceleration, like things are speeding up, the best thing to do is to find places in the body where things feel slowed down and expansive and relaxed and to keep our attention in that relaxed area. You gave sessions to my family, and you were coaching us on how to do that. It's a very deep relaxation and release, we noticed. You commented that my seven-month-old daughter and myself have a lot of "resource." Peterson: Yes, I love talking about resource. We can start by calling this an acknowledgement principle. The idea is that the whole of us -- body, mind, and emotions -- is intelligent, more intelligent than we perhaps even know. William G. Sutherland, the founder of modern craniosacral work, said that the body holds the intelligence to offer an inherent treatment plan. So if we ask the body to start working in partnership with us, then that makes possible a new model for healthcare. I noticed that you weren't looking for our imbalances but were continually affirming where we are functioning well. Peterson: Yes, that's true. The old model of healthcare was to focus on what is not working, pathologically oriented. My approach is to focus on the health of the system -- not to totally ignore what is not working, but not to over-focus. To find more of what is working before we directly encounter what is not working. In some very overt and also some very subtle ways, to really encounter, to meet and recognize the health of the system. I imagine this is key when working with trauma and shock. Peterson: Having met the health of the system, we can then start to determine how much of the pathology can be addressed at what particular time. Just how much a person can handle. Peterson: Exactly. You would never want to meet more pathology than you can equally meet with resource. There should be at least an equal amount of resource -- and hopefully a lot more resource -- than the pathology. Otherwise the person gets overwhelmed, and the nervous system accelerates. Can you give us an exercise on developing or utilizing and recognizing our existing resources? Peterson: Resources would be whatever is working for the person, including internal resources that are of the person's themselves, or external things outside that help the person feel good. Like hot showers? Peterson: Hot showers, sure. Walks in nature, good friends, pets, healthy food. These would all be external resources. Getting bodywork. Music. These things give you the feel-good brain neurotransmitters. Peterson: These resources will stimulate the neuroendocrine system. They downshift the neuroendocrine system to evoke a parasympathetic response, rest and repose. Resources in general, and in particular ones that help to settle a person, are calming. Let's look at a long list of external resources: family, home environment, art, body-oriented experiences like massage and other bodywork, baths, essential oils, biofeedback, relaxation techniques. Meditation... Peterson: ...yoga, clothing. People often feel better about wearing certain clothing. Jewelry. Certain gems. Whatever helps inspire people, makes them feel better and settles them, is a really good resource. A good exercise on resources would be to just sit down and make up a list of things that make you feel good. Ask yourself how you could put these in your life more regularly. Broaden the list so that even if you do not have a lot of money, you can still set up a solid set of external resources. That's right up my alley: journaling, making collages with recycled materials I learned from my artist circle -- inexpensive or free, and easy on the planet. Peterson: Perfect. So people can look at their list of resources and ask themselves how they could incorporate these more often into their day. How would this apply to someone who might be having a panic attack? Peterson: This is the principle of titration, which is to slow down a reaction so that it doesn't become volatile or overwhelming. A powerful and effective way to slow down a panic attack is to practice conscious breathing: put your attention on the inhale, the pause, the exhale, etc. That starts to downshift the nervous system. Conscious breathing is very effective. I like your idea of having someone there for support. Peterson: If the person had learned some techniques around body orientation -- basically how to find a resource place in their body -- depending on the intensity of the attack and frequency, they might be able to discharge the nervous system by finding a relaxed place in their body. For information about Gary Peterson's upcoming workshops in Minneapolis and St. Paul, contact Lucy Jackson at (952) 472-4692 or Jan Schmidt at (763) 757-6977. Sea Ganschow lives in Bellingham, Wash., with her husband and three children, and has practiced Polarity Therapy for 14 years. This interview originally appeared in the January 2001 issue of The New Times, published in Seattle, Washington and available online at www.newtimes.org. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2001 Sea Ganschow