FLOWING to Wellbeing:
(Part 5)
I for Integration
In the FLOWING Recovery model
described in Unkind Gifts: An Insider’s
Guide to Recovery from Trauma and Loss, the final three letters - ING - refer
to active efforts and processes for maintenance of our survivorship. It might
be argued that the I in the model which stands for Integration is the most important element. Instead of taking a “get over it” approach to
recovery, effective integration efforts require consistent, supported engagement
on a neuro-physical level, within an extensive series of interactions, to bring
the process to fruition. While this
description may sound complicated, the process of integration is ongoing at a
subconscious level, and can be furthered by self-awareness with positive
intentions. In simple terms, integration
is a journey of self-discovery.
The word integration is defined as
a process of combining one thing with another to make a (new) whole, e.g.,
Integrative Medicine purports to add holistic elements to standard western
medical practices. However, when the term
relates to healing at the level of our nervous system it is less about adding
something, and more a matter of removing/releasing that which blocks access to
best functioning. When we FLOW (Feel,
Listen, Open to and Witness), developmental effects and distorted perceptions that
result from traumatic events can be engaged with and released, allowing us to
experience a new sense of self. Into
that newly opened space, we can expand and update life lessons and engage in
repair, by direct participation in the naturally occurring processes of
integration. Once the toxic secrets are out, the present moment can be attended
to and considered as it is – no longer being filtered through past associations
with negative meanings and influences.
Our mindbodies are always seeking
their own repair, and it is from a sense of being neglected or underserved
(according to our nervous system’s preset/default mode) that symptoms of unbalance
arise and are, all too often, reinforced by our interactions with family and
society. Negative implications are
especially likely to influence our self-perceptions, as they tend to have the
stronger “survival based” filters. It is
at the level of those negative understandings that the golden key to recovery
is found.
Integration is both the umbrella
for, and the outcome of, all mindbody recovery efforts; it is the essence of
secure attachment. Dr. Dan Siegel points
to the match between attachment theory’s “secure” status and the outcome of mindfulness-based
integration (Mindsight, 2009). In childhood,
responsive caretaking, family resources (education, nutrition, emotional
availability) and environmental safety are the building blocks of secure attachment,
but in the absence or disruption of these - most meaningfully those supporting emotional
regulation within our closest developmental relationships - our attachment
status will suffer significant damage.
Advancements in brain imaging have
contributed greatly to an understanding that despite such developmental
disruptions, the nervous system stays amenable to repair across the
lifespan. In addition, energy directed
toward change can improve its likelihood.
As we attend to internally held meanings, we can locate physical and
emotional markers of imbalance and reactivity, allowing for more focused
exploration and expression of previously blocked receptors. For example, the memory of a time of loss,
when attended to, can offer validation and context (past vs. present) to
compassionately heal and release those exiled emotions that initially
established the blockage. Those pockets
of exiled energy exist in all of us, having been based upon the availability of
emotional /physical/relational resources at the time of the disruption (loss or
trauma). These complex exiles tend to
exist in a sort of time warp of un-integrated, often child based energy.
Working with the FLOWING model,
multiple levels and areas of awareness and expression can be addressed over
time. Attending to body energies and thought
processes that we so often ignore or dismiss for fear of the emotions that may
be carried there, can offer us ongoing access to integration. Each element of the FLOWING model
holds its own inherent integrative properties and opportunities. When we FEEL we connect meaningfully with
muscles, bones, circulation, as well as the nervous system and the emotional cues
held within, down to the cellular level.
The implications of this practical focus extend even to genetics and internally
held attachment effects. LISTENING
mindfully engages our attention on a level of symbols (images) and meanings to
direct access to our own heart-felt truths, some of which were in “cold storage”
awaiting such an opportunity for release.
Emotional access does not simply emerge casually at the earliest efforts
to engage after long, hard experience at protective withholding - often under
heavy guard. The road to our heart-truths
often winds through dark places, requiring great courage and patience. Maintaining an OPEN receptivity to knowing
about the pain and loss suffered along the way and releasing them, once WITNESSED,
is the essence of engagement in INTEGRATION as a life-long practice.
In support of integration-as-practice,
the elements of the FLOWING model each suggest creative expression of mindbody
experiences as release, and as resource.
Attention to the microlevel of our own sense of “safety vs. harm” (as determined
by the nervous system), along with deliberate efforts to connect with and express
those events/objects/images, will help us to sustain integration on a regular
and flowing basis. From this point, we become more able to
NURTURE our practice through routines, rituals, and celebrations. Further, we
can expand them to include compassionate engagement with others, through a
process known as GENERATIVITY. These N
and G elements the model bring recovery from a mere survival struggle, to fully
expressed, continually renewed, integration, as will be explored in the next
two essays within the FLOWING to Wellness series.
Ellen C. Ranney, PhD. Is a Licensed Marriage and Family
Therapist in private practice. She specializes in work with trauma survivors
and their families. Dr. Ranney is the
author of Unkind Gifts: An Insider’s
Guide to Recovery from Trauma and Loss, (c)2016, available at www.unkindgifts.com.