The Octave Center for Trauma Healing & Research

05/25/2023

Welcome to the final installment of the series exploring the question, "What does it mean to heal trauma?" I share reflections from my own healing journey, ideas from my research, as well as a conclusion reminding us where to keep our focus.

Welcome to the final installment of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” In this post, I’ll share some reflections from my own healing journey, s…

04/17/2023

Healing as traumananda.Welcome to Part XV of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” In this final thread to unravel, I explore an idea that came to me la…

04/17/2023

In this last thread exploring the question "What does it mean to heal trauma?" we look at the connection between the experience of Bliss and trauma healing. Perhaps this is what Peter Levine means when he says healing trauma is a "gift of the gods."

Healing as traumananda.Welcome to Part XV of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” In this final thread to unravel, I explore an idea that came to me la…

04/10/2023

Part XIV continues exploring, "What does it mean to heal trauma?" What I mean by “meta” healing and “tactical” healing is the simple idea of smaller journeys unfolding within and fueling the larger journey that is Self-realization.

Welcome to Part XIV of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” In this post, we explore the idea of bigger picture (meta) healing across one’s lifes…

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/03/06/spectrums-spirals-spheres-part-xi/

Welcome to Part XI of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” While it is highly likely that those impacted by trauma (including myself!) would love it if the journey was simply finding a way to go from Point A (being traumatized) to Point B (living life as if it never happened), the reality is that the imprint of trauma probably never completely disappears. *Which is not the same thing as saying that healing isn’t possible and doesn’t happen.* It just happens that the idea that this is a linear journey is likely not an experience most folks have. As many of us may be seeing nowadays, just about everything exists on a spectrum. Perhaps the same goes for healing.


Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Conscious Life Kinsey Institute Gaia Sounds True Nest Yoga Oakland

Spectrums, Spirals and Spheres.Welcome to Part XI of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” While it is highly likely that those impacted by trauma (incl…

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/03/02/healing-the-gunas-part-x/

Welcome to Part X of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” This framework for healing is distinct from the others we have explored so far in that it is an example of what we might consider to be an “impersonal” approach to healing. But first, as the Sanskrit word guna is probably unfamiliar to most Western readers, let us start by reviewing what the gunas are.

Within several lineages of yoga, the gunas are the qualities of prakrti, or Nature (“Nature” as in the material Universe). There are three fundamental gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas. Broadly speaking, sattva or sattvic qualities are those related to peace, tranquility, insight, wisdom, calm, understanding, insight, and realization. Rajas or rajasic qualities are those that are activating and active, forceful, pushing, energized, exertive, disruptive, and incessant. Tamas or tamasic qualities are those of inertia, freeze, shutdown, slow, collapsed, low energy, unwilling, resistant, depressive, cold, and ignorant.


Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Conscious Life California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Gaia Sounds True North Atlantic Books Nest Yoga Oakland

Healing and the gunas.Welcome to Part X of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” This framework for healing is distinct from the others we have explored…

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/02/27/healing-is-understanding-that-story-follows-state-part-ix/

Welcome to Part IX exploring “What does it mean to heal trauma?” Today, we consider the idea that “story follows state.” What does this mean, and how does it relate to healing trauma?

This idea suggests that healing involves realizing that one’s story, one’s narrative within any particular state, is state-dependent. Deb Dana and Stephen Porges put it this way: “story follows state.” This means that worldviews depend on certain states of consciousness, and that when states change, so does the worldview as well as the experience of the world itself.

Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Kinsey Institute Conscious Life California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) NSVRC

Healing as understanding that “story follows state.”Welcome to Part IX exploring “What does it mean to heal trauma?” Today, we consider the idea that “story follows state.” …

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/02/13/healing-as-relational-part-viii/

Welcome to part VIII of the series exploring “What does it mean to heal trauma?”

Judith Herman and many other trauma workers emphasize the relational aspect of healing a great deal. In Trauma & Recovery, Herman states:

“Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships; it cannot occur in isolation” (Herman, 2015, pg. 133).

The idea comes from the fact that individuals are hurt or traumatized by others. There is always some relationship involved.

Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Kinsey Institute Conscious Life California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) NSVRC

Healing as relational.Welcome to part VIII of the series exploring “What does it mean to heal trauma?” Judith Herman and many other trauma workers emphasize the relational aspect of hea…

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/02/06/healing-as-integration-part-vii/

Welcome to Part VII of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” This brings us to our next consideration of the healing of trauma, healing as integration. This exploration is rooted in Dan Siegel’s framework of interpersonal neurobiology (“IPNB”), which I introduced earlier in this series. Within IPNB, health = integration. One’s sense of health or wholeness is directly linked to the degree of integration they are experiencing at any given point in time. Thus, in order to heal, one must focus efforts on integrating.

Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Kinsey Institute Conscious Life California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)

Healing as integration.Welcome to Part VII of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” This brings us to our next consideration of the healing of trauma, h…

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/02/06/healing-as-recovery-part-vi/

Welcome to Part VI of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” This pathway for trauma healing sprouts from Judith Herman’s three stage model of recovery, described in her book Trauma & Recovery. These stages move through safety; remembrance, grief and mourning; followed by acceptance and a return or reintegration into one’s more “normal” or "integrated" aspects of life (Herman, 2015).

Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Kinsey Institute Conscious Life California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)

Healing as “recovery.”Welcome to Part VI of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” This pathway for trauma healing sprouts from Judith Herman’s three stage model of …

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/01/30/healing-as-curing-trauma-part-v/

Welcome to Part V of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” As we turn our attention to this idea, that of healing as “curing,” it is useful to mention that there is not consensus around what is even possible when it comes to the idea of healing trauma. Therefore, the idea of healing as curing, in addition to other pathways being considered, may be a pathway of possibility for some and not for others. Regardless, this pathway is one in which we are working within the framework of the allopathic medical model in which there are symptoms which point to diagnoses, and then treatments to address both symptoms and root cause.

Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Kinsey Institute Conscious Life California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)

Healing as “curing” trauma.Welcome to Part V of the series exploring the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” As we turn our attention to this idea, that of healing as “curing,…

04/05/2023

https://malachigillihan.com/2023/01/30/healing-as-realizing-wholeness-part-iv/

Welcome to Part IV of the series addressing the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” The next step we take pulls at the thread around wholeness (related to the definition of “heal” as restoring something’s wholeness).

Sacred Sons International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) International Society For The Study Of Trauma And Dissociation Trauma Informed L.A. Kinsey Institute Conscious Life California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)

Healing as realizing wholeness.Welcome to Part IV of the series addressing the question, “What does it mean to heal trauma?” The next step we take pulls at the thread around wholeness (…