The spiritual side of trauma work

In spiritual communities and churches we often hear that the body is not important. The soul and spirit is what matters.

In medical and clinical settings the soul is often forgotten and our symptoms are categorised and put into boxes to fit a diagnosis.

The truth is that God created us with souls, spirits, emotions, mind and bodies. It’s all intertwined.
How can we then justify caring for the soul, while ignoring emotions and the body?

When we are spiritually or emotionally abused we feel it in the body. When we are physically ill, bed bound, the soul struggles too.

If we walk around with unresolved trauma all we see in the world is unsafeness and pain; finding it hard to trust, be and relate in the world.

While the mind makes meaning, the body feels the pain of disconnection. Sending us emotional signals to catch our attention, so that we gently tend to it.

No amount of spiritual bypassing will address unresolved trauma in the body.

When the body is affected the soul is affected and vice versa. We need both solutions.

If we don’t attend to unresolved traumas the spirit has nowhere to land. Then our souls are lost and fragmented. We hurt, our relationships with other humans suffer and our relationship with God suffer too.

Trauma affects the body, mind, emotions and soul.

We only heal when we feel safe and we only feel safe when we are not forced to compartmentalise and are encouraged to care for all aspects of ourselves.