Intuition Yoga recognises that trauma so deeply permeates the boundaries of physical, emotional, and mental that the need to embrace intuitional healing is overwhelmingly apparent. The tools which the yogis utilise to create this shift are of great value to the trauma victim who desires to restore calm to an energetic system which is hyper-vigilant and overcharged, or frozen in terror.
When a human organism is in a state of calm, both hemispheres of the brain are "switched on" and communication occurs between the two hemispheres through the corpus callosum. The right brain, which processes from whole to part in a spontaneous, flowing, now-oriented intuitive style, communicates readily with the left brain, which is logical, sequential, part-to-whole and systematic. In a low arousal state, both sides of the brain learn and reason together in a coordinated fashion.
Under stress, the brain chooses one hemisphere or the other. The right-brained individual loses the capacity to reason. The left-brained person tries harder but without comprehension, joy, or understanding. In addition to the disconnect between the right and left hemisphere, if the emotional component of the fight or flight response is also triggered, the relationship between the brain hemispheres and the forebrain is diminished. The brain, in an effort to save the life of the organism, shuts down the parts which are related to reason. The nervous system is wired to react rather than to respond.
In trauma survivors, these mechanisms may be hardwired together. A woman may be riding on the elevator with someone who has the same aftershave as her perpetrator, and experience instantaneous dissociation. She is triggered before she has a chance to think. Her energetic immune system sounds the alarm, and she is immediately out of her mind, and out of parts of her body as well. This coping mechanism helped her endure her attack, but is now a dysfunctional pattern held in her cellular memory.
"Splitting" is a term used to describe dissociation. The mother who is enraged at her child is operating from a very different foundation than the mother who sits in controlled anger, in full command of her intellect. The angry mother is fully present and has an appropriate sense of proportion. She can reason and comprehend. The enraged mother is without access to perspective or wisdom. She cannot exercise restraint because the forebrain is not communicating with the brain hemispheres, and dissociation — or splitting — has occurred. Splitting takes place in our most intimate relationships where we work out the patterns we chose to explore in this lifetime.
When split, we become a contraction of our full potential. Many individuals attempt to control their lives by avoiding circumstances which would be emotionally triggering, including intimate relationships. Many parents who were abused as children have not become abusers themselves, but they are unable to bond with their own children due to dissociation.
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