Fight, Flight or FREEZE

Most people have heard of the fight or flight response which occurs when we are under threat.  And those who understand such a response know that one will either fight against the adverse situation, or outrun it if you view the antagonistic force as too powerful to apprehend.  But studies from neurologists and psychologists are adding a new dimension to this field, and have provided great insights on the topic.  It is the freeze response which takes place when a situation confronting an individual is beyond one's coping capabilities.  That is, one will paralyse in fear.  This reaction is by default what we have concluded within seconds and heartbeats (if not less).  Thanks to our animal instinct from the part of our triune brain referred to as the reptilian brain.  (The other two parts are the limbic brain who governs our emotions and the neocortex conferring the ability for thought, perception and reasoning.)

That said, it is almost as if we were like animals experiencing attacks and we are going through panic and horror (anyone who has watched NatGeo with a lion chasing  a baby gazelle will have some ideas on what this is all about).  We being bio-animals are really in a pretty helpless state at the mercy of our autonomic nervous system.  But what is worrying is whether we are aware of this automated response of ours and know how to release it.  Animals do!  They involuntarily shudder and shiver after their immobilisation as a way to heal their "post-trauma".  But how about us humans?  We may be able to numb ourselves by being physically, mentally or emotionally immobilised, and may even choose to dissociate with the experience unconsciously afterwards.  But it is still solidly embedded in our nervous system waiting for you to embrace it one day and have it healthily discharged.  Unless we are able to thaw out what was frozen, may it be fear, anxiety or panic,  our day-to-day life will provide the triggers for those emotions to become "fresh" and alive, with the cycle beginning over and over again.

Maybe it is time for you to check the sell-by dates of any residual energy that no longer serves you anymore.

(For those who are interested in finding out more about the variety of trauma release methods, please refer to publications by trauma experts Peter Levine and Robert Scaer.)