Coming out of chronic dissociation

When the volcano lies dormant, life goes on. But inside, there is constant stirring, waiting for the right time to erupt. Chronic dissociation is like that. We live in dormancy while our insides stir and stir, waiting for the right trigger to let loose and scorch our bodies like lava scorches the earth.

Around the volcano are villages and cities where people made their lives, knowing there is a potential risk to survival nearby but still idling without thinking about it because of its dormancy. When it erupts, they have planned enough resources and time to save themselves, or they wither away into ash as it hits their homes.

Coming out of chronic dissociation will leave you feeling like your life is at stake, and without the proper support to ride through it, it may re-traumatize you to a deeper level of dormancy. But when we have security, we can withstand the eruption and return to new soil full of nourishment as the hidden minerals from the blast enrich the soil. Our bodies have space to run their systems without constantly stirring suppressed energy and can receive nutrients to thrive.

The key is to ride the lava without getting sucked into it.

Unlike the lava burning everything in its path, the body’s triggers will not do so. Even if we were to let it burn and burn, we would still survive just like we did the first time and every time after.

But we will become more dormant with more stirring underneath if we don’t process it safely. So grab your backpack, fill it with tools of strength, and find your grounding point where you can stand firmly while you watch the lava go by.

• Have a therapist you trust when you need help off the ledge from the fires down below. Support workers or meetup groups work as well. 
• Bring tea, supplements, homeopathy, weighted blankets, music, or whatever you find helpful in feeling rooted in your body with a sense of safety. The ride is going to be bumpy. Make sure you have backup.
• Learn to build places in your body and mind where you feel larger than the eruption. The earth watches the volcano and its path but does not burn everywhere. Your body can become the size of earth, watching the triggers come and go. 
• Touch and more touch. Contact builds roots in our nervous system like trees growing branches. Whether it’s the grass outside, a shower, or hugging a pet, learn how to self-soothe with touch.
• Find resources to help resolve the triggers. Many therapies can take you into the lava and turn it into enriched soil. 
• When the eruption passes, lean into the peace and the new nutrients it produces in openness, presence, clarity, and flow. This helps build new neuron pathways that create strength and resilience for the next wave. It also strengthens our core so each trigger becomes less intense until we can process it entirely and the volcano goes extinct. 

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