Trauma Happens Below and Before the Mind ~ Part Two ~

(NOTE* – I capitalize several words that have other cultural, spiritual, and contextual meanings).

In part one, the conversation began with the age-old questions, ‘What is Self Awareness?’, ‘What is a Self?’, and ‘What is a Mind? ‘

Intro part one

If not – 4 wounds

Back of House is Below the Mind

(the term back of house refers to <?>

If Trauma happens below the Mind, where does it happen? In the sense of exactly where, I will share some places that offer you the best possible understanding of how distress and T-trauma can affect your moment-to-moment experience. Especially if you are feeling triggered!

The idea of below the Mind though, suggests something lurking in the basement of consciousness. On one level, the basement is every cell in your body. On another, the lurking aspects of Trauma, effect certain parts of the Brain and Body so directly that their functionality can be a kind of dashboard light, letting you know how far your situation has gone. And, after you begin a healing process, how things are improving.

What follows is a short introduction to your Hippocampus, Reticular Activating System (RAS), your Somatosensory Cortex (SSC), and your Proprioceptive and Neuroceptive fields. I will also introduce some less directly causal connection and associations from Traditional Chinese medicine.

Hippocampus

Your (hopefully happy) Hippocampus is a part of your limbic system, which is involved in your experience of emotion, behavioral tendencies, and your formation and access to long-term memory.

The primary function of the hippocampus is to determine which short-term memories (recent life lessons) to long-term memory. This aspect of Cognitive functionality says a great deal about the wisdom of evolution. If you learn something in a casual way, the memories associated with the experience will be there the next time you ‘Netflix and chill.’ If you learn or experience something in a life of death context, it will be there every time you are surprised by a loud noise.

Your Hippocampus also helps with emotional regulation by ‘knowing’ which situations may be more fun, or serious, or romantic, or dangerous. In a way, your Hippocampus is like a simplified version of context and meaning. The driving forces for most of what we choose to do in daily life.

When it comes to living with PTSD, and many other sources of chronic distress, your Hippocampus is less of a wise mentor and more of a front-line soldier. This part of your Brain is highly sensitive to stress hormones like cortisol.

Prolonged exposure to elevated levels of stress hormones can lead to atrophy of hippocampal neurons and impaired neurogenesis (the formation of new neurons), potentially contributing to the memory and emotional regulation difficulties observed in PTSD.

The amygdala, the proverbial ‘lizard brain’ for instance, often shows hyperactivity in individuals with PTSD, contributing to heightened fear responses and emotional reactivity.

The prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive functions and emotional regulation, may exhibit decreased activity, potentially explaining the difficulties in managing emotions and intrusive thoughts experienced by those with PTSD.

weakened or eliminated. The hippocampus re=conditioning and extinction – phobias and recurrence of affect, or experience/event is critical for this process, as it helps to form new, non-fearful associations with previously threatening stimuli. In PTSD, this extinction process is often impaired, leading to persistent fear responses even in safe contexts.

Your Reticular Activating System (RAS)

This ever-present aspect of conscious embodiment and existence is responsible for your senses (sight, sound, smell, touch as reflexive responses) and how alertly you experience them. It also regulates sleep-wake cycles modulating pain perception.

The R.A.S. regulates reflex tonus (the baseline tension of the greater muscles of your whole body, their reactivity and ability to relax) and sensory performance (your nervous systems ability to respond to what you hear, smell and see). Basically, your R.A.S. determines how fidgety, nervous, tense and/or jumpy you are both in your body and in your world.

The easiest way to understand why this part of you is so important, is through a story.

Meditation and Bears

My absolutely favorite way to introduce the RAS to people is with a story. Using your imagination is like taking a vitamin.

Imagine you are sitting in the forest meditating. Somewhere off to your left and behind you, maybe 30 feet away, a stick breaks. A BIG stick breaks.

Sitting with your eyes closed, you are naturally imagining what could be that size in this forest. It is probably a Bear.

As an experienced meditator, you can choose stillness (a bit of a gamble), or fight or flight.

Ready…?

Let’s shift the context. Now imagine you are you, going through a stressful time. Bears on the outside and bears on the inside.

Evolution has prepared you for meditating in the forest. It will probably take a while for evolution to catch up on constant external distraction and consequences, and the internal turmoil of trying to fit in and keep going.

Back to those Bears everywhere…

Given that your nervous system is meant to keep you alive, how does your R.A.S. respond to chronic external and internal distress. Since the R.A.S. connects with your external awareness and your ability to move, what is the best use of your Mind? Now that the bear in your lap or in your belly is the most immediate and life-threatening context, paying attention to what is happening 5 feet away is not helping – at least right now. Wrestling with two bears at once uses up all of your reflexes, makes you stiff and sore, and gets exhausting.

It is natural and necessary, when you need to protect yourself outward and inward, to focus on the inward danger, and all too often literally hold on for your life.

If your Reticular Activating System has already done, and is doing 110% everyday, everything possible to keep going how would you feel about life?

Would you be up to a cleanse and a few months in the gym, or would you prefer any chance to find peace and relaxation?

This article is about what is below your mind. Feeling this wound up and burned out is ‘normal’ for people with

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This article is going to go on a deep dive into some of the ways that trauma, Trauma, Chronic Distress (Anxiety, Depression. Etc.), Chronic Illness and Pain, Neurodivergent experience, and many aspects of diagnosable Mental Illness, exist before and below your Mind.

This also related to the way and how fast people age. (There should be a book on the RAS. It is possibly the most important dashboard light in your Brain and your Life. 

Your R.A.S. in Review

• Co-regulates sleep patterns and the transition from sleep, an intermediate state called Hypnagogia, and alert wakefulness. We can all jump out of bed and love to sleep in sometimes, because of your RAS.
• Like the idle of a car, your RAS maintains a consistent level of conscious alertness and can raise or lower your Brain’s activity depending on the situation.
• Actively maintains postural tone, sense of balance, and degree of reflexive preparedness.
• Your RAS can increase your Neurological (Brain) and Neuromuscular (Reflexes) rapidly in short term fight-or-flight reflexes.
• It can decrease your access to sensory information if you are in a long-term fight or flight environment.

Somatosensory Cortex (SSC)

Your Somatosensory Cortex is a region of the brain located above your ears. If you were wearing headphones (not earbuds), your SSC would be under and a couple inches behind the strap<?>pic<?>

It is responsible for processing sensory information and interprets tactile stimuli (touch, temperature, pain, and proprioception -awareness of body position).

for it to locate where specific sensations arise in the body. This allows us to pinpoint the exact location of touch, pain, and pressure for help us determine the weight of an object by looking at it. 

Another Story about Bears

Warning! – This one is Graphic!

Imagine building a log cabin out in the wilderness. By accident, you crush one of your hands. The smell of blood and the sound of your yelling has attracted a Bear. You don’t know about the Bear…, yet!

You calm down gradually and start taking care of your hand. The pain has subsided a little and maybe things are not as bad as they look. The Bear decides that this is the time, and charges from out of nowhere.

Somehow, you find resources to not only run away, but to climb a ladder and push it over. You sit down on the second floor, wondering how you just did that. The Bear paces below you, hoping for another chance.

How does anyone do that?

Now imagine you are the Glial Cells in the SSC in your Brain. Your job, all day, every day, all of your life is to supply nutrients and help make Brain Chemicals. Including morphine-like hormones that make you numb to pain, but still able to climb and carry things.

You get a signal from one of the hands. It is bad. Really bad!

The nerves in the arm are screaming for help. You tell the local connective tissue to make all of the opiates they can. It will not be enough. It is never enough. Those chemicals are hard to make, and building a tolerance happens very fast.

Today, your

Self mutilation

In part three

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