I have written a book for Trauma Survivors and Veterans that is available on Amazon at a discounted price currently.
From Victim Into Victor The Ultimate Guide to Overcoming Abuse, Trauma and PTSD
What is PTSD?
Recently there has been a re-classification of P.T.S.D. and an important change has been made–Post Traumatic Stress is just that. It’s no longer called a disorder!
It is the natural result of what happens when an individual is exposed to potentially dis-integrating stimuli and the body dissociates the events from the mind and body in a perpetual cycle of ongoing trauma.
When an individual is diagnosed with PTS it carries a significant stigma.
This is not only dishonoring to the brave people who struggle with this difficulty, but it creates unrealistic stereotypes of people being unable to control themselves. This keeps people stuck in a terrible cycle.
Let’s get together and find the resources to reach the people most affected by this condition.
The Following Is An Excerpt from the Personal Development Show: The Way of the Phoenix: Turn Trauma Into Triumph Episode 2
“I want to talk about Post Traumatic Stress Now…
Most professionals have finally quit calling it a ”disorder.” This is an especially significant distinction for those diagnosed with this condition. It’s not a disorder! It’s the brain and body’s way of trying deal with the aftermath of being subjected to visual and physical horrors that are life-threatening. and “dis-integrating” to the psyche.
In fact, these responses ingrained in you can be viewed as a highly adaptive way to deal with situations that would otherwise destroy a person.
You are amazing! You survived. Take a moment to acknowledge your strength and courage. Dare to hope for a better life with the right resources.
I believe you can heal. You will never forget the horror, and you may still be triggered at times, but I know that you can live a functional, meaningful, satisfying life, without constantly being in fight or flight.
I am sharing some of the coping skills that helped me heal from trauma in this article.
I want you to have tools to immediately change your nervous system responses from dis-empowering into empowering ones.
A fascinating field of science has emerged called “Behavioral Epigenetics.”
Epigenetics is information that is on top or above the DNA sequence.
Scientists and researchers are studying the effects of trauma on the genes, and especially how the genes respond based on changes around the genetic code caused by trauma.
Recent studies now show that trauma alters the response of DNA through changes around the genetic coding.
Trauma doesn’t alter the gene encoding itself, but affects the function of the DNA and controls which genes are expressed or not expressed.
Which means…of all the genes we inherit, this epigenetic information controls which genes are active.
Basically epigenetics turns some genes on and others off.
Epigenetics is the code that comes from our life’s experiences, and can be modified or re-coded. DNA is the genetic sequencing we get from our ancestors and cannot be modified.
Epigenetics can be changed but DNA cannot.
(There is current research being done on splicing gene sequences and altering them but that is a different subject.)
Trauma Scars Us at a Cellular Level:
Trauma from our lives and our ancestors, from at least 4 generations back, scars us on a cellular level!
One source said trauma leaves molecular scars that adhere to our DNA. These changes affect our physical and emotional health. It also causes chemical modifications around our genes.
Specifically, how this affects you is that you can inherit the genetic tendencies toward physical and mental illness– or health.
You can inherit the personality characteristics leaning toward depression, and anxiety– or resilience and positivity.
Solutions: It is possible to reverse the effects of epigenetics thereby changing which genes get turned on and off.
There is currently a lot of research being done to find effective ways to do this.
One suggestion I found is that if you find, explore, and give a voice to the trauma of your past, and what you know about the trauma of your parents and grandparents, you can release some of the power the experiences have over you and your children.
It may change some of the epigenetic information so you don’t pass it down.
At the very least, it can help everyone sort out what experiences and feelings actually belong to you and which you received through epigenetics.
This gives everyone a chance to heal their wounds and perhaps influence which genes are expressed.”
In an informal interview I conducted with James Rose, Retired US ARMY Chaplain, M.D.I.V., MA, LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) he explained…
“Epigenetics can be changed by new experiences and a different environment”.
“By bringing up a memory in a different environment like a counselor’s office, or your home with a trusted confidant and interpreting the events of the memory (traumatic) differently; or from a different perspective, you can create a different memory and re-code the trauma epigenetic information.”
He also talked about Mindfulness..
“When you bring up a memory in a state of mindfulness, you can influence and re-code trauma epigenetics. Your body slows down reactions in the Central Nervous System, and fight or flight reactions”.
One of the Mindfulness practices that both James Rose and I use is Qigong. I met him at an Instructor Certification class for Qigong Instructors. We are both Level 3 Qigong Instructors.
PTS
14% of combat veterans and 6% of the general population have been diagnosed with PTS.
I want to demystify what it is, and what it does.
This helps those who have diagnosed with it to feel better understood, better supported, more empowered, and less shame.
The prevailing attitude about PTS for years is that everyone with it is dangerous and unpredictable.
This is not always the case!
The other myth is that there is no healing from it, once you have it you’re never getting better.
This is also not true.
Great progress can be made in healing, reducing the body’s alarm responses and functioning in the life you have purposefully designed.
What PTS Does:
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PTS causes people who have been deeply traumatized to carry on in fight or flight symptoms- possibly indefinitely without appropriate help.
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PTS changes personality traits of the survivor. It alters brain chemistry, and neural and sensory pathways.
Changes in the Brain:
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Structural changes to the brain are evident in brain imaging, causing shrinking in the hippocampus and the amygdala.
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The hippocampus is involved in memory storage and retrieval. The function is altered becoming too fast in memory retrieval and too vague, so that many things resemble the trauma or feel threatening.
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The amygdala is associated with how fear and anxiety is processed. It is smaller in people with brains exposed to trauma regardless of the severity of the trauma.
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The amygdala plays a large role in many brain functions especially regulation of fear and negative emotion.
PTS Changes The Body’s Response to Fear and Stress:
Post Traumatic Stress floods the body with neuro-chemicals as powerful as opiates.
It makes a person more vulnerable to being triggered by a memory of the trauma. This can be stimulated by a visual image, a smell, a sound, or other stimuli.
It also makes their bodies more reactive to stress, creating a more exaggerated response to stressful circumstances.
These physical responses often don’t change with time.
It is the primitive reptilian brain that creates these responses that are meant for your immediate survival.
People who don’t understand what PTS does expect those with it to “Just get over it!”
They can’t!
And it is deeply disrespectful to shame them for the responses their body adapted to deal with the horror they have experienced.
Stop judging people with PTS because they don’t think or act like people who don’t have it.
You can never know what it is like to live in their private hell!”
–Phoenix Alexander
For more Articles written by Phoenix Alexander see the blog posts from past articles on PTS below.
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What is PTSD really? Click on the link to read the article.
We lose 20 Veterans each day to suicide because the resources they have like prescription drugs; such as opioids, and counseling, have not fully healed their trauma.
I personally want to stop the suicides. Please donate to my cause called: “The Warriors Path to Healing.”
Donations Accepted at bottom of page on a Secure Server.
Why: I am creating a movement to support our Veterans to heal through Qigong, Warrior Breathing, and through sharing my own story of healing from surreal abuse and violence.
I have met with many non-profit Veteran’s organizations since being an Exhibitor at the Veteran’s Resource Fair at The Tacoma Dome in Washington state in April 2018.
When I explain to Veteran’s groups how Qigong helps Veterans overcome depression, get out of flashbacks, and suicidal thoughts, and help heal Traumatic Brain Injury– Everyone wants me to bring Qigong to the Vets in their organization, with one criteria, I have to donate my time and do it for free.
As much as I would like to do that it, is not financially feasible. I am self-employed. And time spent teaching the Vets is time away from how I earn a living. I have spent thousands of dollars and years of training to become a Certified Qigong Instructor and Professional Speaker.
I need your help to give those who have given us so much to us a solid chance at serious healing.
I have seen firsthand what Post Combat Stress can do watching my Grandfather suffer.
My Veteran Grandfather:
I am the proud granddaughter of a WW1 (World War 1)Veteran who served in France and came back from the war not even 19 years old with “Shell Shock” or Post Traumatic Stress as we call it now. He had severe damage to his stomach from drinking water contaminated with mustard gas. He enthusiastically joined the war at 16 and came home hemorrhaging emotionally and physically in his stomach.
In his last years he had nightmares and hallucinations about the enemy he had been forced to kill. He would leave the nursing home at night to go find, and try to fight, the enemy he believed was still after him.
The nursing staff were all afraid he would freeze to death outside when he found his way outside.
It was harrowing to see his suffering. His trauma affected his life in every facet, and his children’s and their children’s lives–like mine.
In fact, studies now show that the epigenetic coding around the DNA, which controls whether genes manifest disease or health, are altered in trauma survivors and passed down through 4 generations. That means me and my children are affected by my grandfather’s trauma. I am a survivor of very significant trauma of my own.
We have Veteran’s now that are emotionally hemorrhaging and need proven methods for healing their minds and bodies. I want to take this 5,000 year old healing practice to our Vets– first in the Seattle area and then nationally.
What Is Qigong?
You may never have heard of Qigong. Qi is the bio-magnetic or bio-electric energy found in every living thing. In Qigong practices, we use deep breathing and simple, easy postures to gather Qi and bring it into our body to use as our body needs it. There is real science behind Qigong and I challenge you to do an internet search of any major illness and Qigong and see how many documented studies have been done to show the healing benefits of Qigong.
Warriors:
Qigong is the practice of Ancient Warriors, and was practiced by the most elite warriors in China who used Qigong as their secret weapon to increase their strength, focus, and heal rapidly after battle. It was a very closely guarded secret and not everyone passed the test and was allowed to learn it. It is a very powerful practice that needs to be available to our modern warriors, and I want to bring it to other warriors. It has been compared to a moving meditation.
Let me tell you about some serious organizations who have extensively studied and recommend Qigong:
Click on the names to see the studies:
- Department of Defense: DOD–
- Veterans Administration: VA–
- Central Intelligence Agency: CIA–
- Department of Health and National Institute of Health: DOH-and NIH–
What Are the Benefits of Qigong?
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Helps overcome flashbacks and deal with PTSD
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Stimulates your body’s natural healing responses
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Calms the mind and body and gets you out of fight or flight and into a rest and digest state.
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May reduce the desire for suicide
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Will give you the best high you have ever had– all on oxygen
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Will help your body to resist disease, bacteria and viruses with oxygen and Qi
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And so many other powerful benefits that I don’t have time to name.
Please help me raise $20,000. to bring Qigong to our Veterans through Qigong Seminars, and Keynote Speeches for healing trauma, and Post Traumatic Stress.
Your contribution will allow me to travel, rent venues where I can teach the Vets Qigong and it will also allow me to follow up with them providing resources for their continued progress.
Your donation will allow me to share my story of hope and healing from surreal violence and trauma, and a life-threatening illness, and how Qigong has helped heal my life.
MY Professional Speaking Site is: www.MyNameIsPhoenix.com
Please join my movement “The Warriors Path to Healing.”© And donate now. Together I believe we can save lives! Let’s stop the suicides.
$20. Donation to Qigong for Veterans Click Here
$50. Donation to Qigong For Veterans
$100. Donation to Qigong For Veterans Click Here
$500. Donation to Qigong For Veterans Click Here
Thank you for your Generous Support!
You will receive a Gift with Your Donation that is Qigong related. Thank you for helping me to help our Modern Warriors to have a shot at some serious healing!
If you have a Veteran’s group that you would like to speak to and present Qigong–email me at: MyNameIsPhoenix2@gmail.com
We can do a fundraiser to bring this vital practice to your group.
This is a Sample of My Program I Teach to Veterans & Trauma Survivors
Click the Link Below For A PDF Copy of The Flyer To Share With Your Event Planner: