Waking the Tigeroffers a new and hopeful vision of trauma. It views the human animal as a unique being, endowed with an instinctual capacity. It asks and answers an intriguing question: why are animals in the wild, though threatened routinely, rarely traumatized? By understanding the dynamics that make wild animals virtually immune to traumatic symptoms, the mystery of human trauma is revealed.
Waking the Tigernormalizes the symptoms of trauma and the steps needed to heal them. People are often traumatized by seemingly ordinary experiences. The reader is taken on a guided tour of the subtle, yet powerful impulses that govern our responses to overwhelming life events. To do this, it employs a series of exercises that help us focus on bodily sensations. Through heightened awareness of these sensations trauma can be healed.Contents Introduction Prologue Giving the Body Its Due Finding a Method • Body and Mind • The Body As Healer • How To Use This Book Section I: The Body As Healer 1. Shadows from a Forgotten Past Nature’s Plan • Why Look to the Wild? • Trauma is Physiological • It’s About Energy 2. The Mystery of Trauma What is Trauma? • Chowchilla, California • Waking the Tiger: A First Glimmering 3. Wounds That Can Heal Trauma Is Not a Disease But a Dis-Ease 4. A Strange New Land Trauma is Not a Life Sentence • The Strange New Land • Trauma! • What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us • A Traumatized Person’s Reality • Get On with Your Life • Who Is Traumatized? • Causes of Trauma 5. Healing and Community Shamanic Approaches to Healing • Somatic Experiencing® • Acknowledging the Need to Heal • Let Us Begin—Calling the Spirit Back to the Body 6. In Trauma’s Rl3j