Trauma, Dissociation, and the Journey to Soul Healing


By Karin Stewart, MPS


All of our problems, personal and societal, are due to a loss of soul. Soul gets lost in our everyday lives whenever we try to force our- selves to fit some norm of health and cor- rectness. ... I want to be the person, who lives from the core of my heart, with the creativity that allows the soul to blossom in its own colors and shapes.


- Thomas Moore 14


The research project “Trauma, Dissociation, and the Journey to Soul Healing” is a narra- tive inquiry into soul pain caused by trau- matic experiences and the effects of soul- loss retrieval as a way of recovery from long term trauma and dissociation. Particular in- terest is placed on soul-loss retrieval’s abil- ity to restore wholeness and power balance in a person’s life. The qualitative methodol- ogy of Narrative Inquiry was chosen for this research project because “our species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories”. In addition to the conventional research analy- sis, therapeutic art was used to discern the researchers more intuitive and subconscious interpretations of the research material.


The inquiry investigated the lived experi- ences of soul loss caused by trauma and of soul healing, as narrated by four middle- aged women. They participated in soul-loss retrieval as part of the Trauma Recovery Certification Program, which was developed and taught by Dr. Jane A. Simington, owner of Taking Flight International. This approach to trauma processing was chosen because it is a pioneering blend of modern psychother- apeutic techniques with traditional North American aboriginal wisdom, and elements of ancient shamanic approaches, still prac- ticed in many parts of the world. Jungian psychology, modern discoveries in trauma- induced brain physiology, and elements of


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contemporary clinical psychotherapeutic techniques are interwoven with aboriginal ceremonies and guided visualizations into soul loss retrieval.


Severe trauma is a very stressful situation that shatters our spiritual, psychological, and physical ability to make sense of the traumatic event and to grow beyond that experience. For a successful treatment and recovery from such an experience, all three elements have to be included in the heal- ing process. Many modern clinical interven- tions address the physical and psychological symptoms of stress related disorders, such as anxiety, depression, phobias and PTSD, with pharmacological medications in addi- tion to psychotherapeutic techniques. More spiritually-oriented methods such as the practice of mindfulness, meditation, energy transfer work, and clinical hypnosis have also been discovered to be helpful but of limited value, when applied without their original spiritual components.


We humans are inherently spiritual beings, hard-wired to the Divine energy, always searching for the Divine connection. Our Soul is the vessel that invites and holds the Divine energy. It is the seat of what Jung called the Higher Self, the God Within. If that vessel is weakened or diminished, our life force also diminishes. Consequently, healing from trauma without inclusion of the spiri- tual component can be very time consuming and of limited value.


From a shamanically-inspired perspective, soul loss happens when traumatic events sever pieces from a person’s soul and trap them in the time and space of that event. This leaves the person incomplete and vul- nerable to further invasions. At the onset, dissociations are seen as the mind’s attempt


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