Trauma and Sikhism

Many people are affected by trauma. For Sikhs in the modern age we also have to consider intergenerational traumas from the effects of 1947 and 1984, but even after that there have been continued traumas to our people into the present day as we are seeing in the news right now with the farmer protests. I am appreciative that this has brought to light issues like farmer suicides, and the rights of our people. There can be trauma from when families immigrated to countries like Canada, the US, UK, Australia etc. – financial struggles, racism, or safety issues. There are also individual traumas like intimate partner violence/domestic violence; household violence in extended families; natural disasters; war; or childhood traumas. There are so many possibilities, and the real key feature is that trauma overwhelms our ability to cope (as defined by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, a trauma expert). The capacity to overwhelm a child is different from an adult, and in between adults. Trauma can make us act in ways we normally wouldn't and it can entirely take away our quality of life. 

I have been reading a lot about different trauma therapies on top of traditional EMDR/trauma-informed counselling approaches. There is something called polyvagal theory, which describes that our nervous system gets wired differently when we are traumatized, and we can get stuck in activated states like a fight/flight mode, but also we can get activated in a depressed, immobilized and collapsed state as well. This theory also describes why people feel unsafe in trauma, and that by activating the vagus nerve in the body, we are able to send a signal to the brain that we are safe. As I have been doing my reading, I realized that a lot of these therapies that activate the vagus nerve, and these are things that in Sikhi we have traditionally held close in our lifestyle. The first example is art and music therapy. In Sikhi, we have traditional saaj and kirtan as a form of artistic expression through music and singing. Singing as a collective (ex. sangat) is known to help people who face trauma not feel isolated, but also helps to activate the vagus nerve. Humming also serves this function. When we practice kirtan, we often practice humming the Sa note to the Tanpura to tune our voice, and indeed this is a very relaxing process. Kirtan also has the benefit of being expressive in different Raags, and I think this is a key healing tool that we have in Sikhi to be able to express emotions through different Raags. I’ve often sat in sangat and cried about various shabads as they resonate deeply within. This is the power of the shabad to heal us, and many shabads remind us that even if we’ve made mistakes we are not alone, and they give us hope and a way forward. In modern times people might find benefit out of trying out different instruments and art media like painting, sculptures, clay, etc. Another way would be writing, poetry, and journaling. Our Guru Jis did a lot of writing, and Guru Gobind Singh Ji had a court of poets. The second example is animal therapy. Horses are a very popular way of having animal therapy for trauma survivors and have played a significant role in Sikhi as evidenced by Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s Neela Ghora and Guru Har Rai’s animal sanctuary. Many people who go through trauma might have a hard time trusting with people but have an easier time with having some kind of pet. The third example would be somatic therapy. This is a type of movement-based therapy that reconnects people to their bodies. I found myself realizing a while back that I was totally dysregulated when I couldn’t even sit and eat a meal. I would have to eat a few bites and walk around, and then come back to the food, or eat it on the go. I couldn’t even be still in my body long enough to eat! We have to titrate small amounts of stillness, and this can be done through somatic therapy where we connect back to feeling the places where trauma is stored in the body. Trauma is not a verbal cognitive process, where you talk it out, it is stored as memories that are fragmented, we often don’t remember parts, and there are parts that are just senses like smells and feelings rather than a visual memory. Dr. Van Der Kolk describes trauma as “preverbal” because it is stored in a different part of the brain than language, that’s why it’s so hard to explain. Those areas of the brain shut down when we experience it, remember it or re-experience it. Simply just talking it out or being able to say it doesn’t fix it and if it’s not dealt with the body finds other ways for it to reveal itself (which I learned from the book When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté). Somatic therapy includes trauma informed yoga, tai-chi, qigong, etc. The purpose of this form of exercise is not the high intensity endorphins released when you run, or dance. The point is slow purposeful connection to the breath, and to the body’s sensations. In Sikhi we do have movement-based activities in the form of Gatka. I think the connection of the mind and body was just inherent in the past. Another example is meditation. Some of the ways that people do meditation might be loving kindness meditation (ex. Kristin Neff and Chris Germer), or mindfulness (Jon Kabat-Zinn) where people are able to just observe their thoughts and not judge them. Our equivalent to this would be simran. We also express gratitude in the form of Ardas by remembering those who sacrificed before us and being thankful for what we have. Connection is very important when it comes down to treating trauma as well. Having safe connections via online sangat, volunteering in langar or cleaning shoes together at the Gurdwara (not during covid) are ways that Sikhs have been able to foster connections. During covid we might just facetime other people or cook with someone in the household. For us we have the oral tradition of katha that also reminds us that we are resilient through our history, and that we aren’t alone in our struggles. Talk therapy does have an important role as well (although as mentioned trauma is pre-verbal too) and that probably was fulfilled in the past because the families were really big, and people in the villages were close, with elders helping to resolve problems. Now this is fulfilled via counsellors/therapists. There is something called radical acceptance which I think equates similarly to the Sikhi concept of Hukam. The quality of sleep and food was also probably a key role to the Sikhs processing what they were facing throughout our history. Some other methods that come out of trauma work are acupressure, massage, weighted blankets, progressive muscle relaxation/body scans, grounding (essential oils, jot, incense, etc.), and emotional freedom technique/tapping. A lot of concepts are now being borrowed from other cultures as we realize their evidence base and benefit in science, and I think it’s’ important for us to recognize their inherent importance in Sikhi.

As a Sikh in Canada, I do feel like we lack some of what we would have inherently had as tools through history to deal with trauma, because we are not in our traditional setting. We aren’t on the same lands – which had different temperatures, climates, support systems in extended families, animals, food, etc. We live in snowy dark regions, where we are spread out by large vast distances. Our jobs are largely now non-physical and our timing and regulation to be able to do other things can be limited by our work. Rather than art and music being daily and a part of Amrit Vela, it’s now a “hobby” if you spend time doing it. Meditation is not daily, 24/7 and learned at a young age, it is something that we learn if we are lucky, and even then, a lot of people don’t have the time in our busy lives to make it regular. We don’t have to incorporate all of these things into our lives, but I think they are useful tools that we have, that have been passed down to us by the most resilient, those who were the strongest of us as way for us to survive what we face in kaljug. There is no one distinct way of moving forward as we heal, and the story is never linearly upward, but rather a series of waves, as we navigate trying to move into a different direction. As we live in different countries, times, lives, we have to be more flexible with how we incorporate these skills, and new skills and tools at our disposal. 

When I think about one of the Gurdwaras in Pakistan I didn’t want to leave, it was warm, sunny, there was a feeling of love, connection, safety, an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and being in the present. We shouldn’t have to travel to make these experiences happen, although it can be really helpful to show us what that feels like. We can find ways to make that experience true and real when we are overcome with emotion, work, and life in the present moment. Through January I found myself overwhelmed with the amount of work I was doing and finding it really hard to figure out how to find these moments where I was trying to make change for myself. I found that time in small moments – 5 minute chunks of reading an affirmation card, or calling someone to do simran, or unwinding before bed. It isn’t easy. I realized I like to plan ahead, control things, have things be scheduled because that’s the only thing I can do. I’ve not had the luxury of predictability in my life. It’s very uncomfortable to know that we don’t always have control and choice in what happens to us and our sense of safety is so easy to snatch away. The very few things I can do, I try to do ahead because I know at the last minute, there will be something thrown at me that I will have no control over. I like to have at least some semblance of control and choice…planning and thinking ahead gives me something to hold onto. I am realizing now how much that wanting to control things has taken away from me. These 5-minute chunks, these moments of stress release just come as they come. The focus is on present moment awareness and not trying to control the next, but that only comes with practice and being able to trust that whatever comes next is not going to eat you alive. It comes with trust in yourself that you can face it as you have survived until now. I couldn't find much online about trauma and Sikhism outside of 1984 so I think we should continue to have these conversations and open up this area of discussion further.

References:

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Z2cAzzn78&t=661s Somatic Practices for Anxiety, PTSD and Stress reduction by Hannah Caratti