We Are All In Shock, An Introduction To A New Book

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“You are the beginning of the transformed world.” – Eckhart Tolle

“By diving deeply into your origins and the ways in which the elements of nature move through your body you come home to yourself and your unbreakable bond with being. This is the moment when compassion is ignited and brings with it a cascade of neuro hormones that irrigate synaptic pathways of creativity and visionary, innovative problem solving.  You wake up to the miracle of life that lives in your cellular matrix. The way forward becomes known as biological imperative; sensory and indigenous motivation awakening in a time without precedent. It is true liberation to not wait for solutions to be discovered by someone else but to feel them forming within you. That is the potential if not the certainty of this book’s promise for you.”

– Stephanie Mines, We Are All In Shock

Throughout the first edition of this prophetic book I speak to the innate capacity in everyone to heal from even the most overwhelming experiences, regardless of age or background. In the intervening time between then and now I have never, not for one moment, lost faith in what I describe as “the power and skill of the average person to treat and resolve shock.”  If anything, my research since writing We Are All in Shock has underscored that faith. The impacts of pandemics and global crises include but go beyond specific symptoms. The human nervous system is the physiological mechanism driving each individual’s holistic response to shock. The intention of this book, and everything I do, is to be of service on that same comprehensive level.

This book was written for these times. It reveals a stunning yet simple truth that defies popular parlance. The general public is depicted, in virtually all media including film, as emotionally unprepared for catastrophe, panicked and chaotic when confronted with it, desperate for a leader to show the way. That superficial story obfuscates the much greater though less publicized reality that innovation, competence and altruism at the grassroots level is our collective human history and our greatest hope. This applies to health perhaps first and foremost. We saw that in Puerto Rico, for instance, when authoritative agency driven healthcare services were cut off by Hurricane Maria. Determined to be of service, villagers came out to help one another apply the original medicines they learned from their grandparents. They saved lives, sustained wellbeing and healed in community without equipment, pharmaceuticals or medical doctors. 

The renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead said that what marks the beginning and assures the continuity of civilization is compassion. She was referring to healthcare delivery at the grassroots level.  The illustration she proffered was the discovery of a healed broken femur. This was proof that someone took the time to stay with the person who fell, bind up the wound, carry the person to safety and tend the person through recovery. “Helping someone through difficulty is where civilization starts,” said Mead. She spoke pointedly of aiding someone in physical distress and pain, using innovative, practical intelligence with the essential ingredient of compassion. As we approach what threatens to be the end of civilization compassion for one another is what we are called upon to reclaim and re-member, to bring back into the members of our bodies. 

If you use the resources collected in these pages you will tap your authentic wellspring of compassion. This happens organically through the process of uncovering the treasure of who you are and why you are here in a refreshing new way. The compass is somatic. Even under enormous stress the body can be trusted to lead in the direction of health, alignment and balance if you know how to decode its messages and follow them. Connection to our own physicality along with connection to the body of the Earth is the formula for sustainable health.  The applied touch energy medicine protocols that are a significant part of the formula are based on traditional medicine synthesized with the mechanics of the nervous system. These instill the sensory experience of belonging that is your birthright. They root you firmly in the present. They re-ignite the flame of original purpose. 

Without denying, avoiding, wishing away or rejecting the crises surrounding us you can come out of shock into a compassionate relationship with yourself, humanity and the natural world. This is what these times call for in order for humanity to thrive.  I promote a rewilding of inner consciousness and the uprising of somatic intelligence that directs a heart centered, embodied way forward. Your body is your wisdom keeper. It reveals the stewarding intelligence our children and our children’s children need to assure their futures. 

By diving deeply into your origins and the ways in which the elements of nature move through your body you come home to yourself and your unbreakable bond with being. This is the moment when compassion is ignited and brings with it a cascade of neuro hormones that irrigate synaptic pathways of creativity and visionary, innovative problem solving.  You wake up to the miracle of life that lives in your cellular matrix. The way forward becomes known as biological imperative; sensory and indigenous motivation awakening in a time without precedent. It is true liberation to not wait for solutions to be discovered by someone else but to feel them forming within you. That is the potential if not the certainty of this book’s promise for you. By using these resources consistently you become your own teacher and an unprecedented leader for yourself, your family and your community.

This promise is based on the evolution of life itself. Life unfolds and evolves at every stage of existence but the stages that reveal this the most dramatically are embryological. I prioritize two aspects of human experience that are available to everyone equally: organic development and relationship with the natural world. Both stimulate emergence as well as unity or interbeing. Both are systemic and while they have been deeply impacted by accelerated stress they endure and shift harmoniously because humans and the forces of nature are innately resilient. As we move towards birth from within the bodies of our mothers we learn from the compressive forces around us. We harness enormous courage that is instilled by our commitment to life. We keep softening, opening, reorganizing, moving, expanding and evoking the space we need to come forth. We can continue to do that throughout life. That physiological capacity is always available. It is elected; it is a choice. This book shows you how to make that choice consciously, uniquely and actively. In these pages you will be reminded of how you, in fact, made this choice before and that is what will assure your confidence that you can do it again and again. 

As you read these pages, as you reflect and select the practices that match your needs, you reconnect to the ecstatic ignition of your own life-force. You re-member; return to your somatic truth. This is not a memoir of facts, photographs or events though these may flash before your inner vision. Rather what you will experience most irrevocably is a memoir of sensation. You will re-member your greatest love story through sensation. Claiming your innocent and original victory song, the epic saga of your prenatal life and your birth, certifies your capacity to define your own truth. It gives you the potent agency to tell your story for yourself and actuates the voice that stakes this claim without hesitation. You become what you were always meant to be: a force of nature.

The first edition of We Are All in Shock provided ten steps to resolution. These remain essential for this present moment in which we are privileged to be alive.

Ten Steps to Resolving Shock 

  1. Identify the lesson in the overwhelming experience. 
  2. Sustain this awareness. 
  3. Establish a strong relationship with your body. 
  4. Develop an inner witness. 
  5. Make a bond with nature. 
  6. Know that laughter is the best medicine. 
  7. Use language as a healing tool. 
  8. Use touch to heal. 
  9. Separate past from present. 
  10. Address shock immediately. 

The practices in this book turn on the capacities to take these steps. One of the significant differences between when I wrote the first edition of We Are All in Shock and now is that the combination of the advancing climate crisis and the Coronavirus Pandemic, which are one and the same thing, has illuminated the lesson of our global overwhelming experience. The urgency to find whole body, heart centered intelligence is unavoidably, unquestionably upon us. The future of humanity depends on this. My teacher, Mary Iino Burmeister, who imparted to me many of the applied touch protocols recorded here said that we need to come out of the order of the disorder. It is your body that leads you to the order of the order of the universe. The somatic practices that allow you to surrender to your own indigenous wisdom, your unique genius, are in this book. The discipline to utilize them is the discipline of love. As my friend Charles Eisenstein says, “True discipline is really just self-remembering.” That discipline heightens your attention. Experience the practices of presence and active mindfulness that move you into your center, initialized by touch. 

These times also call for the end of secrets. Life-saving, strengthening and mind expanding wisdoms have, throughout history, been kept secret to protect them, insure their correct usage and sometimes to deny them to others. We need them all right now and the people most capable of using them appropriately are those who mobilize a groundswell for the continuity of human civilization. That is why I have created an appendix in this book with new material that specifically addresses the challenges of these times and which I had previously reserved for advanced students. In fact I am reorganizing everything that I offer to make it all more generally available and I am innovating ways to educate that minimize study without sacrificing the integrity of the material. Tapping into the roots of compassion that have deepened in my years of service eradicates the need for proprietary secrecy and elevates my abilities to reach into the minds and hearts of others to cultivate skill and somatic understanding. Energy medicine is medicine for the people. 

The modalities, protocols and interventions assembled in these pages translate readily into the online formats that allow therapists and service providers to be available for everyone in need. The mental, emotional and spiritual consequences of climate change and the Covid-19 Pandemic are expanding rapidly and will outlast the pandemic itself. The inner climate shifts propagated in these pages promote essential resilience and adaptation as life alters unpredictably in every sector. This is a trend that will only continue. Simple hands-on practices that down-regulate panic and stress within seconds is a gift of great worth, allowing us to evolve fearlessly. These applications translate to every age group, culture and demographic, further increasing their value. 

When the title of this book originally occurred to me I was not conscious of the magnitude of its prophecy. I accept now the destiny of being the messenger.  It is a privilege and a responsibility. I am humbled by the former and loyal to the latter. 

The new, updated edition of We Are All in Shock: Energy Healing for Traumatic Times is available where all good books are sold. Dr. Mines also speaks to the families of veterans, and particularly their children, in her previous book They Were Families: How War Comes HomeInformation about the programs in which the interventions for nervous system regulation that she offers are taught is available at www.Tara-Approach.org.

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