The Brain Science That Shows Why Spiritual Seekers Often Have Trauma – HPP 27

Ted Usatynski, MA

In this episode, Ted Usatynski talks shop about the overlap between spirituality and trauma. Many seekers often describe themselves as having adverse childhood experiences, as well as more acute traumatic experiences. However, they also describe having a natural aptitude for peak mystical experiences and non-ordinary states of consciousness. Ted is going to explain the brain science about why this overlap exists and what we can learn from such a mysterious confluence.

If you’ve been in communities that teach intensive spiritual practices such as breathwork, meditation, and trance you probably know that you’ve met some people that have been through very difficult things in their lives. You may even be one of those people.

Ted is going to go into detail about dissociation, trance, non-ordinary states and the brain science behind it all. He will break down how different areas of the brain gets activated during these events and why many trauma survivors have a propensity for the spiritual realms.

Show Notes:

The three pathways in the brain that signal overwhelm [20:00]

The neuroscience behind healthy integration of meditation into daily life [26:00]

The difference between dissociation and trance [40:00]

Social connection and the bridge between the transcendent realm [43:00]

Why relational mindfulness is so important to healing trauma [49:00]

Ted Usatynski, MA

Ted Usatynski is the author of Instinctual Intelligence and academic articles on transpersonal psychology, the neurobiology of Tibetan Buddhism, and healing trauma as part of spiritual development. He holds graduate degrees from Harvard University in Bio-physical Anthropology and from Naropa University in Counseling Psychology and has completed training from the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute in the Treatment of Trauma. He is the founder of Instinctual Intelligence, LLC, through which he has and led workshops around the world. His newest book, Men: Myths, Lies, and Reality, co-authored with internationally acclaimed men’s group leader Dag Furuholmen, has just been published in Europe.