Waking the Tiger

Introduction

Trauma is a universal human experience that can have profound and lasting effects on our lives. Whether it stems from a childhood experience, a violent encounter, or a car accident, trauma leaves invisible scars that can be incredibly debilitating. In "Waking the Tiger," Ann Frederick explores an innovative approach to healing trauma by looking to an unexpected source of wisdom: the animal kingdom.

This book offers a fresh perspective on understanding and overcoming trauma, drawing parallels between human experiences and the natural world. Frederick introduces readers to somatic experiencing techniques, which focus on the body's innate ability to heal itself. These methods provide a path to release pent-up energies, restore resilience, and reclaim a sense of vibrancy and meaning in life.

While the book offers valuable insights and techniques, it's important to note that it's not a substitute for professional help. Those experiencing severe trauma or thoughts of self-harm should seek support from a qualified mental health professional.

The Nature of Trauma

Understanding Trauma's Impact

Trauma manifests in various ways, affecting our physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Common symptoms include:

• Anxiety and depression
• Flashbacks and nightmares
• Sleep disturbances
• Chronic pain
• Dissociation or feeling "spacey"
• Somatic illnesses (physical symptoms with no apparent medical cause)

It's crucial to recognize that trauma is a widespread experience. Nearly everyone encounters some form of trauma throughout their lives, though the severity and impact can vary greatly.

The Animal Connection

One of the most intriguing aspects of Frederick's approach is her observation of wild animals. Despite facing constant threats and dangers, wild animals rarely suffer from long-lasting trauma as humans do. This raises an important question: What can we learn from the animal kingdom about resilience and healing?

The Stress Response: Fight, Flight, and Freeze

To understand trauma, we must first explore how our bodies respond to stress and danger. The stress response is a natural physiological reaction that prepares us for action when faced with a threat. This response involves several changes in our body:

1. Increased heart rate
2. Accelerated breathing
3. Muscle tension
4. Heightened alertness

These changes mobilize our body's resources and energy to deal with the perceived threat. While we often hear about the "fight or flight" response, there's a third, equally important reaction: the freeze response.

The Freeze Response

When neither fighting nor fleeing is a viable option, our bodies may enter a state of immobility, known as the freeze response. This involves:

• A dramatic drop in heart rate
• Decreased blood pressure
• Slowed breathing
• Reduced muscle tone

While it may seem counterintuitive, freezing is actually a smart survival strategy. For example, an impala playing dead might convince a cheetah to stop its attack, buying precious time to escape. In humans, the freeze response can manifest as feeling numb, detached, or faint during an overwhelming situation.

The Energy Buildup

The stress response involves a significant buildup of energy in our bodies. In fight or flight scenarios, this energy is naturally discharged through physical action. However, the freeze response doesn't provide an outlet for this pent-up energy.

Animals vs. Humans: The Key Difference

Wild animals have a natural ability to release the energy accumulated during stressful events. For instance, a polar bear coming out of anesthesia will go through an extended period of shaking and trembling before returning to its normal state. This instinctive discharge of compressed energy through physical reactions like shaking, trembling, and sweating helps animals return to a state of balance and calm, preventing the development of traumatic symptoms.

Unfortunately, humans often fail to complete this cycle of stress response, particularly when it comes to the freeze response. There are several reasons for this:

1. Our higher cognitive functions can distract us from being aware of bodily sensations associated with the built-up energy.
2. Social conditioning often leads us to control our behavior, trying to "hold ourselves together" instead of allowing the energy to release naturally.
3. We may lack awareness of the importance of this energy discharge process.

As a result, we store unreleased energy in our nervous system and body tissues, creating a state of unresolved stress that can affect us for years or even decades.

The Long-Term Effects of Unresolved Trauma

When trauma remains unresolved, it can have far-reaching consequences on our overall well-being:

Nervous System Dysregulation

Trauma can keep our nervous system in a state of either hyperarousal or hypoarousal:

• Hyperarousal: Constantly feeling on edge, anxious, restless, irritable, or angry.
• Hypoarousal: Experiencing chronic depression, lethargy, or numbness.

Both states prevent us from living fully and authentically, keeping us trapped in unhealthy patterns of behavior and emotion.

Brain Structure and Function

Trauma can affect our brain structure and function in several ways:

1. Impairing parts of the brain responsible for memory, emotion regulation, executive function, and social cognition.
2. Creating neural pathways that reinforce fear, helplessness, and avoidance.
3. Hindering our ability to integrate different aspects of our experience, such as thoughts, feelings, images, and actions.

Dissociation

One of the most significant effects of trauma is dissociation – a split between body and mind. The protective state of dissociation connected with the freeze response may become chronic, causing us to lose touch with our bodily sensations, feelings, and intuition. This disconnection from our "felt sense" of being in the world can rob us of our sense of meaning and purpose in life.

The Path to Healing: Somatic Experiencing

Frederick introduces somatic experiencing as a powerful approach to healing trauma. This method focuses on working with the body to release trapped energy and restore balance to the nervous system. The core principle of somatic experiencing is that our bodies remember and hold trauma, even when our minds try to forget.

Key Concepts in Somatic Experiencing

1. Grounding: Bringing awareness to the present moment through the senses, rather than being overwhelmed by past or imagined events.

2. Titration: Introducing small, manageable amounts of a stressor to provide carefully regulated exposure to traumatic material without overwhelming the nervous system.

3. Pendulation: Alternating between grounding in the body and small, "titrated" amounts of traumatic material, gently swinging back and forth between zones of ease and zones of manageable discomfort.

4. Discharge: Releasing pent-up energies locked in the body through shaking, stretching, or making sounds.

The Felt Sense

Central to somatic experiencing is the concept of the "felt sense," a term coined by psychologist Eugene Gendlin. The felt sense refers to the subtle, holistic bodily awareness of a particular issue or situation. It's an intuitive, pre-verbal sense of something experienced in the body but not yet clearly conceptualized.

Think of the felt sense as the sum total of everything that it's like to be you, experiencing something in a particular moment. It's always present and continually shifts and transforms, resonating with our inner and outer environments.

The felt sense serves as a portal through which old traumatic energies can be released. By developing curiosity about these sensations and exploring them slowly, we can start to digest and transform trauma from the bottom up.

Practical Exercises for Healing

Frederick provides several exercises to help readers begin their healing journey. Here are two foundational practices to get started:

Exercise 1: Developing Awareness of the Felt Sense

This exercise helps build awareness of the felt sense using visual stimuli:

1. Find a book or magazine with plenty of pictures (e.g., a travel book or coffee table book).
2. Sit comfortably and take several deep breaths, focusing on long, slow exhales through the nose to relax and bring awareness to your body.
3. Feel the sensations in your legs, feet, and the seat beneath you. Notice any other sensations in your body – tightness, relaxation, warmth, coolness – without judgment.
4. Look at the first photograph and observe your response to it. Do you like it? Dislike it? Feel neutral about it? Does it evoke sensations of beauty, calm, curiosity, joy, sadness, or something else?
5. Ask yourself: How do I know this is my response? Try to identify the subtle bodily sensations that accompany viewing the image.
6. Attend to these sensations for a few minutes, noticing if they morph, disappear, intensify, or shift.
7. If any discomfort arises, gently redirect your attention elsewhere until you relax.
8. Move on to another picture and repeat the sensing process, noticing how things change.

You can repeat this exercise with different pictures for as long as you like, tuning in to how your felt sense shifts.

Exercise 2: Working with Challenging Sensations

This more advanced exercise helps you work with more challenging sensations:

1. Gather a notebook, pen, and something to measure time (e.g., a digital stopwatch or phone app).
2. Sit comfortably and begin to relax with slow breathing, feeling your body and noting any sensations you detect.
3. Imagine a fear-provoking situation (e.g., an engine failure during flight, a threatening person on the street, or a near-accident while driving).
4. If you feel safe to continue, imagine yourself in this frightening scenario vividly while maintaining full bodily awareness.
5. Notice how your body sensations change as you picture the scenario. Does your breathing alter? Do you feel any tightening, constricting, or loosening? Is there a change in temperature sensation? Your posture? In any part of your body?
6. Write down these sensations in your notebook.
7. Note the time elapsed since starting the exercise, then begin to relax again.
8. Let the scenario go and come back to the present moment. Allow your body to return to balance and comfort.
9. When you've fully returned, make a note of the time again.

You can repeat this process with different scenarios, observing the changes in the felt sense and noting the elapsed time.

The Importance of Gentle Progression

While these exercises may seem simple, they are powerful tools for regaining control over trauma responses. By keeping awareness open to the felt sense and attending to the full variety of bodily sensations, you train your body out of the automatic dissociation that accompanies a stuck "freeze" response.

Practicing voluntary relaxation shows your nervous system that you can manage stressors without becoming overwhelmed. However, it's crucial to proceed gently and stop if you feel overwhelmed. If you consistently get stuck or distressed, seek support from a trained professional.

The Role of Professional Support

While somatic experiencing techniques can be incredibly helpful in trauma recovery, it's important to recognize that healing from trauma is often a complex and challenging process. Frederick emphasizes that her book and the techniques described are not meant to replace support from trained professionals.

If you're dealing with severe trauma or find yourself consistently overwhelmed by the exercises, it's essential to seek help from a mental health professional specializing in trauma. They can provide personalized guidance, ensure your safety, and offer additional tools and support tailored to your specific needs.

The Wider Applications of Somatic Experiencing

While "Waking the Tiger" primarily focuses on healing from trauma, the principles of somatic experiencing have broader applications in our daily lives. By becoming more attuned to our bodily sensations and the felt sense, we can:

1. Improve our overall emotional regulation
2. Enhance our ability to manage stress
3. Develop greater self-awareness
4. Improve our relationships by being more present and attuned to others
5. Increase our capacity for joy and positive experiences

These skills can be valuable not only for those dealing with trauma but for anyone looking to live a more balanced, embodied, and fulfilling life.

The Healing Journey: A Process of Patience and Self-Compassion

Frederick emphasizes that healing from trauma is not a linear process. It's a journey that requires patience, self-compassion, and a willingness to face difficult emotions and sensations. Some key points to remember on this journey include:

1. Progress may be slow and non-linear. There may be setbacks along the way, which are a normal part of the healing process.

2. Self-compassion is crucial. Be kind to yourself as you navigate this challenging terrain.

3. Celebrate small victories. Even minor shifts in your ability to stay present or regulate your emotions are significant accomplishments.

4. Trust the wisdom of your body. Your body has an innate capacity for healing; learning to listen to and trust it is a vital part of the process.

5. Healing is holistic. While the focus is on bodily sensations, true healing involves integration of body, mind, and spirit.

The Transformative Power of Somatic Healing

As we learn to release trapped energy and regulate our nervous systems, we open ourselves up to profound transformation. Frederick describes how this process can lead to:

1. Greater resilience in the face of life's challenges
2. Improved relationships and social connections
3. Increased creativity and problem-solving abilities
4. A deeper sense of connection to oneself and the world
5. Enhanced ability to experience joy and pleasure
6. A renewed sense of purpose and meaning in life

By resolving trauma at its roots in the body, we not only alleviate symptoms but also unlock our potential for growth, connection, and fulfillment.

Conclusion: Reclaiming Our Birthright

"Waking the Tiger" offers a powerful message of hope and transformation. By understanding the nature of trauma and its effects on our bodies and nervous systems, we can begin to unravel its hold on our lives. Through somatic experiencing techniques, we can access the wisdom of our bodies and the animal kingdom to heal and thrive.

Frederick reminds us that vibrant aliveness is our birthright. Just as wild animals naturally shake off the effects of stress and danger, we too have the innate capacity to release trauma and return to a state of balance and vitality. By befriending our inner bodily experiences with curiosity and compassion, we can restore our nervous system's capacity for regulation and repattern neural pathways of fear and dissociation into ones of groundedness and integration.

The journey of healing from trauma may be challenging, but it's also deeply rewarding. As we learn to listen to our bodies, release trapped energies, and cultivate a sense of safety within ourselves, we open the door to a more authentic, joyful, and meaningful life. Through this process, we not only heal our individual wounds but also contribute to the healing of our communities and the world at large.

"Waking the Tiger" invites us to embark on this transformative journey, offering practical tools and a compassionate perspective to guide us along the way. By embracing the wisdom of our bodies and the natural world, we can move beyond the grip of trauma and reclaim our inherent capacity for resilience, connection, and wholeness.