Healing from Abuse - How Wakeful Rest Can Heal and Enhance Health for Domestic Violence Survivors

Tell me more about the "wakeful rest," asks my proofreader. Well certainly, I think to myself. There is nothing I'd rather talk (write) about more.

What is the wakeful rest? Ahhh, that is the magic...the gold...the sweet spot, wherein the mind and body mend.

But before I lose myself in this discussion, let's not lose site of your question. How is this relevant to me, as a domestic abuse survivor?

To answer both of these questions, I want you to know had I not been meditating over the years during my own ordeal with family violence and the legal abuse syndrome, I may not have survived, nor would I have thrived as I do today.

If I had the privilege to indulge in only one healing method, what would it be? Unequivocally, it would be the practice of meditation...the road map to the wakeful rest. That is what it would be.

What happens to mind and body during and after wakeful rest?

This discussion is always best as an extension of one's personal experience simply because it is the application of words onto aspects of experience that are actually beyond words.

But that doesn't mean we can't talk and write about it: its mechanics, the process, its short term-effects and most importantly the long-term effects. Its mechanics is a practical training discussion, the process more of an existential-experiential, ethereal conversation, and its effects is a concrete discussion. Let's begin with the concrete.

In the 70's I did my doctoral dissertation on the psychophysiology of meditation and its implications for psychotherapy. I was studying at a very traditional school, Northwestern University. And so in order to make my experimental research most meaningful to the academic ivy-league, I decided to use Chicago police officers as my subjects. I thought it would put my hypotheses up to a very rigorous test. Low and behold it did. And our results were statistically significant.

I tell you this story because after the very first meditation, an officer said in awe, "I just had 'tranquility' for the first time!"

Since 1982, I have been teaching meditation to people of all walks of life in my clinical bio-behavioral, psychotherapy practice and here's what I see:

- Symptom Reduction: less pain, reduced tension, decreased anxiety and greater control of panic attacks.

- Improved Physical Functioning: better sleep, less fatigue, more energy and far less reliance on relaxing agents. Increased vitality, energy and stamina.

- Improved Mental Functioning: enhanced clarity of thought, creativity, concentration and more optimistic perspective.

- Enhanced Emotional Comfort: increased self-confidence, greater self-esteem, calmness and well-being...and decreased irritability.

- Better Social Interactions: decreased hostility, greater ease and comfort in social situations, improved communication.

- Behavior and Performance Enhancement: more organized, increased productivity, greater efficiency and enhanced effectiveness.

These are some of the things I witnessed over the years, not to mention the reversal, and in some cases complete resolution, of chronic medical conditions for thousands of people.

In closing, I can say wakeful rest is the "sweet spot," it's the healing medium and more. If you are suffering from any physical, emotional, cognitive, social or behavioral condition while in, or after, an abusive relationship, seek to find a way to bring wakeful rest into you life.